Start 2025 on solid financial ground with practical tips tailored for the LGBTQ+ community. This episode explores strategies for budgeting, reducing debt and growing savings while addressing unique financial challenges and goals. Take control of your money and make this your best and most empowered financial year yet!

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About Take Pride in Retirement:
Welcome to Take Pride in Retirement: A podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Our goal is to help educate you about ways to protect your hard-earned money while experiencing market-like growth at the same time.

Matt McClure is the host of Take Pride in Retirement. He is a licensed fiduciary financial advisor and Certified Annuity Specialist. The Institute of Business & Finance (IBF) recently awarded Matt with the only nationally recognized annuity designation, CAS® (Certified Annuity Specialist®). This graduate-level designation is conferred upon candidates who complete a 135+ hour educational program focusing on fixed-rate and variable annuities.

Matt currently lives with his husband and two dogs in his home state of Georgia but spent more than 10 years in New York City. While in the nation’s #1 media market, he worked for The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, Spectrum News NY1 and WCBS Newsradio 880. A highlight of Matt’s career has been reporting regularly from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. 

 

 

Episode 37: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 37: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only, and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment, and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Speaker2:
Welcome to Take Pride in Retirement, the podcast dedicated to helping members of the LGBTQ+ community protect and grow their hard earned money. Get set for a show full of education and insights with your host and advisor, Matt McClure. We recognize every family is unique. The goal of the show is to help you achieve financial freedom so you and your loved ones can have the retirement you've always dreamed of, a retirement you can take pride in, no matter who you are, where you're from, or who you love. So now let's start the show. Here's Matt McClure.

Speaker1:
Hello and welcome to another edition of Take Pride in Retirement. It is 2025. Happy New year! First edition of the show for the New Year, and I appreciate you being a part of it. I hope you've had a great, uh, wonderful start to the year so far. I'm Matt McClure, your advisor, your host, your pal, your confidant. I really do appreciate you taking the time each and every time we get together and talk about all things money and all things retirement planning specifically because, you know, it is that important time of life that we all have to plan for. And, you know, the new year is really a great time. As we always say, no matter who you are, no matter where you are in life, where you come from, who you love, how you identify, how much money you have, none of those things matter to me. All that matters to me is that I can help you have a great Retirement. Um, and those things all obviously all those things do matter and will take all of those things into account when we, uh, you know, go through your individual situation. But, uh, obviously this is a no discrimination zone when it comes to all of those things. Right? So this show is if this is the first time that you've joined me, this is a show that is dedicated to specifically helping out LGBTQ+ folks, getting the word out about retirement planning for our community because it's been severely lacking.

Speaker1:
And so a couple of years back, I said, okay, I'm going to start a show that is dedicated to that very thing because there wasn't really anything like this. Well, now there is, and I'm glad to be a part of it and just kind of do my part to help folks out with their retirement and financial planning, uh, for their, you know, really golden years. And they should be golden years, right? The The Golden Girls, uh, were in Miami living it up. So if you want to live like that, I can help you get there. No matter what you want to do in retirement. I can help you get there as well. And you know, it's all based on your individual situation. So I would love, love, love to help you out with your, again individual situation because that's what it is. I'm you know, I operate in a fiduciary capacity, right. So the show is for educational purposes to help you, you know, maybe, um, jog your, um, your your thinking cap, I guess. I don't know if that's even a saying that anyone has ever said, but I just said it, so it is now. Um, but the whole point here is to educate you for, you know, general purposes about issues surrounding finances and retirement planning specific to the LGBTQ plus community, and, you know, maybe more generally as well.

Speaker1:
So, you know, we'll do that. But then when I work with you, one on one, Hopefully I can work with you and will work with you in a fiduciary capacity. That means that I am legally bound and morally bound as well, because this is a standard that I would hold myself to, regardless of whether it was a legal thing or not. I would hold myself to this standard of, you know, saying that I have to work in your best interests, not my own right, because what you want and need and your desires and and goals for your financial life, that is what I focus on. That's what I should be focused on. And if you have an advisor now who you are questioning whether or not they are focused on that. If you have an advisor now who you know, if you're a member of the LGBTQ plus community and they aren't necessarily and you feel like maybe they don't understand where you've been or what you've been through and your situation the way that your family looks, because chances are it's not the husband and the wife, the two and a half kids, the cat and the dog and the white the white picket fence. So, you know, as someone who's a member of the community, I can come from that place and, you know, help you make your life better, your financial life better, get you set up for retirement with some income that is going to last as long as you do with resources, to be able to go and travel and do all the things that you want to do.

Speaker1:
So that's what the show is all about. That's what I do each and every day, and I'm so glad to be able to do it, to help people from all walks of life who need help with their retirement plan. And of course, if you want, if anything, you know, sort of jogs your jogs, your thinking cap. I don't know if anything, you know, sort of piques your interest, I guess I should say today on the show. Well, you can do a couple of things. One of them is you can go to take pride in retirement. Com take pride in retirement.com. It's easy to remember because it's the name of the of the show. Dot com. So go there. You can actually schedule a consultation with me directly right there on the website. Just click schedule a consultation. It will go to a page where you can see my calendar and my real time availability, and you can schedule a consultation with me. You can do it remotely or if you happen to be in the metro Atlanta area, we can meet in my office, which is in Midtown Atlanta.

Speaker1:
So if that works for you, remember, there's no cost. There's no obligation to continue working with me. We'll only do that if we mutually agree that it is right for you to to work with me, okay? There's no pressure. There's none of that kind of stuff that I. It's just not the way that I am as a person anyway. But I am, you know, someone who will do my best and work my hardest for you. And that's really what it's all about. So you can go to take pride in retirement. Kind of the easiest way to schedule a consultation with me directly. It's free of any cost, any obligation. You could also give me a call if you've got any questions or to schedule a consultation that way. If you prefer the number (855) 246-9211, that's 85524692 11. And I'll be glad to talk to you and to, you know, get things on track for you in your financial life. Really, really would. So yeah, give me a call and we will start you on the road to a better financial life. Well, as I said, at the very top of the show, it is the first edition of the show for 2025. And I'm going to take you through some New Year's resolutions in a financial checklist kind of a format here. Right? So as we start off the year of 2025, some things, as we flip the calendar to take a look at and to reassess and maybe step back and say, okay, I need to look at this thing or that thing or the other thing I haven't maybe even started really planning for my retirement in any sort of way.

Speaker1:
Yeah, maybe I have a 401 K or an IRA or something like that. That is a retirement account, a retirement, um, you know, tax advantaged account in some way. Maybe I have that, but do you have an actual plan in writing? We're going to look at those kind of issues today and what you can do here at the start of 2025, since it is a good time to, you know, obviously people make New Year's resolutions. You know, the gyms this time of year get really busy. By the time February rolls around, they're dusting away the cobwebs, you know, so that that is I don't necessarily like to even use the word resolution, but at the beginning of a new year, it is a great time to make a new start, right? So that is kind of the way that we'll look at it and frame it this time around here on Take Pride in Retirement. We'll talk about that coming up in just a minute. First, though, let's get some inspiration for the conversation we'll have today. It's our court of the week.

Speaker3:
And now for some financial wisdom, it's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker1:
If you've listened to the show for any length of time, you know that there are probably two people that I quote most often for the quote of the week. One is Warren Buffett, because, you know, the Oracle of Omaha and all of that. He is the most prolific investor, in my opinion, um, to ever grace the face of the earth. And, you know, not just in my opinion, but a lot of people's opinions as well. So Warren Buffett and the other is in a completely different line of work. And that person is Dolly Parton. And so I love quoting Dolly Parton, whose birthday is actually coming up here in just, uh, I don't know, a few days. Born January 19th, 1946. 46. She's roughly the same age as my mom. So there we go. Um, so Dolly Parton says a lot of wonderful things, and this is one of them. And it's very appropriate for today's show and the topics we're going to discuss. Dolly said, if you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one. If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one. Said in true dolly fashion, you know, if you don't like where you're headed right now, start going a different way. Start going down a different road. It's almost like, as Yogi Berra said, you know, um, if you when you come to a fork in the road, take it. Um, if you don't like the one that you're on now, if you don't like the road that you're headed down, if you don't like where you're headed in our context here for your retirement plan, then start paving a new one.

Speaker1:
If you if you're on a gravel road and you want to be on some pavement, then I can help you pave that financial road and make it a lot more smooth to get you where you where you want to go in your retirement years. You know, I can handle, um, advising you on your investments, whether they are, you know, in the stock market, whether they are bonds, whether they're alternative investments, you know, insurance products, things like that. I can help you with all of those needs, and we can help you, you know, make it a new year and a new fresh start for you. And that, I think, is a great thing to have in mind as we go throughout this show today, but also as we go throughout 2025 and kind of preparing for whatever is to come. You know, there are changes coming in Washington, um, which is a big thing and a scary thing to a lot of folks, but a lot of other folks don't see it that way. But it's a scary thing to a lot of us. And, you know, you want to have a plan that's in place that is good no matter what happens, right? Because we don't know exactly what's going to happen over the next four years.

Speaker1:
We don't. And no matter what does happen, you want to have a plan that you can count on. And the importance of that I cannot overstate, but a great quote from Dolly here. If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one. I absolutely love miss Dolly Parton, and just all of the ways that she lets her light shine. And, um, that's all I'm gonna say about that. All right, so, um, I got a little bit of a financial checklist here for you. Again, I said earlier, I don't necessarily like the term resolutions because those go out the window seemingly very early in a new year. So here's a financial checklist for you that I'm going to run down over the next little bit and talk about how important each one of these points is and how I can help you with it. And also, um, you know how you can think about checking some of these things off of your list, right? So let's go with this financial checklist to start the new year. You know. Okay so and I've used this illustration before. If you've if you've heard it bear with me for like 20s. So I like to think of finances a little bit like a financial GPS. A financial plan like a financial GPS. Right. You get in the car, you go somewhere that you've never been before. What's the first thing you do? You type in your destination.

Speaker1:
You type in that destination, that place you want to go. Well, in our sort of scenario, here it is. That destination is retirement, right? So, you know, that's where you want to go. But how in the world do you get there? You can't unless you've got your location services turned on and you know where you are right now. So the very first item on this checklist is to know where you are right now. Calculate your net worth. That's a big part of knowing where you are right now, what's coming in, what's going out, debts and obligations versus assets and income. Right. So any changes that you need to make really become more obvious after doing that calculation. So you total up all those assets. And those are things like account balances, your real estate really anything of value. And then you subtract those liabilities that I was talking about. So that's mortgages, debts, anything that you owe. And that creates a clear picture of your net worth. How much are you worth from a financial standpoint that'll give you that calculation, that number. And then you can say, okay, here's where I need to go. And you can start working with a financial advisor like me, hopefully go to take pride in retirement. Com click on schedule a consultation. And um, you know I can can help you Get to that road, get you, you know, from your destination where you are from your starting point, where you are right now, I should say to that destination and and get you that turn by turn navigation that you need to make it through.

Speaker1:
And that really is what it's all about for me, helping people manage those twists and turns in life and making things make sense, because a lot of times, you know, finances don't. To a lot of people I know that was the case for me for a very long time. And I took the initiative to get education, to get certification licenses and all of the above to be able to now do what I do. And that's another reason it gives me such joy. It really does what I do. Because, you know, I come from a place where I didn't really necessarily understand a lot of this stuff, and now I do, because I've been working with it for quite a quite a while. So, you know, go to take pride in retirement. Schedule that free consultation. Another thing that you want to do to jump start the year is to make a plan to pay off debt. You know, I mean, it's great to have an idea or a goal to do anything, whether it be, you know, paying off debt or getting healthy, losing a certain amount of weight or, you know, whatever. Um, goals are great, but how are you going to get there? You got to make a plan to do it.

Speaker1:
And you want that plan to be in writing, right? So you want to have some accountability for the things that you are trying to accomplish and the goals that you set for yourself. So this time it's you know, we're talking about making a plan, an actual plan to reach this goal of paying off debt. So decide, you know, take a just a sit down for a little bit, look at that net worth figure. Look at what's coming in and what's going out, and decide how much you can pay towards any loans, any debts, any mortgage accounts, and consider paying some extra, some extra principal toward your mortgage payment each and every month. And if you do that, you'll actually earn a risk free return on that money equal to your mortgage interest rate, and cut down on the number of years that it's going to take to pay off your mortgage. It's a good way there to give you a financial leg up on life. Also want to pay off those credit card balances, especially especially those high interest credit cards, which are a lot of them. You know, credit cards aren't low interest things in general, but a lot of them, you know, we're talking 20% and up, up to almost 30% interest. So you want to minimize those credit card debts starting with those highest interest rates. And then, you know, don't carry a balance from month to month, especially those with high Aprils.

Speaker1:
Those April interest rates, right? No. This is something that I have had to tell myself over the years, is that nobody's ever become rich off the airline miles and hotel points, right? They're good things and they're great things to have. But make sure that you pay off the balance on those credit cards each and every month. One way that I have done that is I, you know, have a particular card that's not really a credit card, it's actually a charge card. If you have one of these, you know which company I'm talking about. And so I will use that as if it were a debit card. I won't, you know, spend any more than I can on that card each and every month. And it has to be paid off. That pressure of it having to be paid off is really kind of the accountability that I need for myself. And so make it a goal if you need to do something like that or if you, you know, some other way of accountability, have, you know, a plan in place to pay off that balance each and every month. And a credit card. By the way, another thing that I need to mention with it here. Credit cards should not be your emergency fund, right? Your credit card should not be your emergency fund. You need to have 6 to 12 months of expenses set aside for unforeseen emergencies. You know, minimum six. A lot of people will say like 3 to 6.

Speaker1:
If you have three, you know, if that's if that's what you have. Now, if you've got about three months of expenses set aside for those emergencies, that's that's great. Keep growing that number until you get to that six month, nine month, 12 month, you know, goal. Set a goal for that as well. But just make sure that you have an emergency fund because you don't really know what's going to happen. You might say, oh, well, my company is very stable and they're not. No layoffs are happening and I'm not going to You don't know. Trust me when I say this from past experience, you don't really know, um, what's happening under the hood. And you don't really know what the C-suite people are thinking when it comes to maybe a restructuring plan or something, and you get caught up in the middle of it, and then if you don't have an emergency fund, where's the money coming from to pay the bills every month? Give yourself that buffer by having an actual emergency fund, not a credit card, but an actual emergency fund set aside. Number three on this financial checklist. To start the year, maximize your tax bracket and do it with a Roth conversion. Now okay, you say, Matt, what in the world is a Roth conversion? Well, if you you've probably heard, um, the word Roth. It's actually the name, the last name of a senator who, uh, is, you know, the bill is introduced, the bill to create these types of accounts, but they But they were named for him.

Speaker1:
Senator Roth. And if you've heard of them, you probably know that there are certain tax advantages. They said, well, I've got tax advantages already in my retirement account because I've got a 401 K and I haven't paid taxes on that yet. It goes in pre-tax and it grows. And that's the tax advantage. Yeah. But you will have to pay taxes on that money eventually. Right. When you get that money out of that account, when you start making withdrawals in your retirement years. And you're going to have to pay taxes on it. You're gonna have to declare that as income and pay the taxes on it. Not so with a Roth. And that's why we say minimize your tax bracket in retirement with a Roth conversion now. Because if you've got a traditional IRA or a 401 K, or, you know, some plan like that TSP, if you're a federal employee, a Sep, IRA if you're self-employed, any of those type of things. You will eventually have to pay the taxes on that money. And right now, when you reach the age of 73, you'll have to take what's called an RMD. You'll have to do that every year. An RMD stands for required minimum distribution. That means Uncle Sam standing there with his hand out, wanting his money, because you've had this tax benefit for your whole working life, putting that money away tax free into these retirement accounts.

Speaker1:
And it's been growing ever since. Well, Uncle Sam says, yeah, you've taken advantage of this, um, tax advantage that I've given you for a very long time. Now I want the money. So thanks for that. And that's just kind of what Uncle Sam is going to do if you've got any of those traditional accounts. But not so with the Roth, because with a Roth, you put post tax dollars inside the account, right? And if you take and do a conversion from a traditional account where no taxes have been taken out. You take the money, you roll it into a Roth IRA. Go ahead and pay those taxes now and then. The money that's in the Roth not only does, not only are the distributions tax free, in the end it also you know and people get kind of I can't tell you how many times people have asked me this. Wait, I can't I don't have to pay any taxes at all on the withdrawals in retirement. No, that's what a Roth is. You don't have to pay any taxes at all in retirement on that money that you withdraw from a Roth account. And there are no required minimum distributions. Another good thing Uncle Sam is not going to make any money from you. So he says, okay, you don't leave it in there for as long as you want.

Speaker1:
And that's fine inside the Roth, because Uncle Sam wouldn't benefit from making you take it out at a certain age. So there's there's that as well. But, you know, people kind of get confused and say, so the money that I put in there. I pay the taxes on it now. I put the money inside the Roth, the funds that I put in there. Obviously I won't have to pay taxes on those because I've already paid the tax bill when I did the Roth conversion. Right. But the growth is also tax free in the end. Yeah, you put the money in, it grows tax free. And then when you make withdrawals, those are tax free as well. It's one of only two tax free investments available to Americans. And that one of them is the Roth. The other is actually life insurance tax free income that's available to you through life insurance. And I can tell you how to make that happen as well. And so with a Roth, you minimize your tax bracket because you don't have to declare that as income when you make those withdrawals because it's not taxable income. Right. So you don't declare that among your taxable dollars you don't have to pay the taxes on it because Uncle Sam's already gotten his cut, as we said. So also complete those Roth conversions before age 73. That's when RMDs kicking in right now, eventually, because of the secure act 2.0, it's going to go up to 75.

Speaker1:
But as of right now, complete the Roth conversion before those required minimum distributions kick in. That's the age of 73 as the law currently stands. Number four, check up on your retirement accounts. I mean, I can't tell you how important this is. If you you know, you started working for a company several years ago, you've set it and forgotten it, set it and forget it. Like the old infomercial said. Um, you don't want to just do that. You want to take advantage and make sure that you're taking advantage of everything, that the retirement account that you are invested in has to offer. So you want to be taking advantage of any contribution matches that are offered by your employer. So let's say your employer offers a generous, um, contribution match. Let's say they'll match up to 6%. Let's just throw that out there as a number for an example. They'll match 6%, but you're only contributing 3% of your salary to the 401 K. If that's the that's the the deal. That's the type of account that you have. That 401 K, you're contributing 3% of your salary, but your employer will match up to 6%. That basically tells me you don't like free money. Um, and I think that you probably do. So take advantage of that employer match fully at least. And I would encourage you to even go above and beyond that. But at least get the employer match, because, you know, just because you're contributing doesn't mean that your employer is going to, you know, match 6% of your salary no matter what.

Speaker1:
You've got to be contributing that on your side, and then they'll match it up to that percentage, right. So get that, you know, quote unquote free money from your employer in the form of those contributions that are matches on their side of the equation. Check up on those retirement accounts. You can also, you know, contribute extra money if you're 50 or older into things like 401 K and IRA. Um, if you're self-employed again, get in touch because I can help you with setting up a Sep, IRA or another type of even an individual 401 K if you own your own business kind of a thing. There are a lot of different options out there. And here's the thing. If you don't know your options, how in the world are you able to take advantage of them? You're really not. Because if you don't know about them, you can't do anything. So take advantage of the opportunities that are out there, and I can help you go through all of what might be the best for you. Take pride in retirement.com is the website. Once again, take pride in retirement. Click on the Schedule a consultation button there at the top of the screen. You can also call me. Call me 85524692. 11 85524692. One one. Is that number? Another important thing to do here at the first of the year.

Speaker1:
Because, you know, life happens and things change. And you're going to want to update your savings goals and set a monthly budget for your retirement. Question is how much income is required to meet your needs and to meet your wants? Because let's face it, you've done your entire life, you've worked and worked and worked, so you've done what you needed to do, right? In retirement, it should be all about doing what you want to do. So your needs the roof over your head, the food that you eat, the water that you drink, and all the things like that. The clothes that you wear or your needs, your wants or the other things. Those bucket list items, the big, you know, month long trip overseas or wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do with your partner, with your spouse, with kids, if you have them, with your chosen family, whomever you want to do that traveling with, make sure that you can do it and you've got to have savings goals. You've got to have a budget or a spending plan if you want to call it a cash flow analysis that we can do for you, if you want to call it that, if you know the word budget doesn't sit well with your tummy. Um, but yeah, you want to keep that in mind. And especially here at the first of the year, it's a new year.

Speaker1:
It's a fresh start. Right. You want to update all those goals, set that monthly budget for retirement so that you can accurately plan. And we'll get all that in place for you. You know most people don't want a lifestyle change during retirement. I know that that is certainly true for myself unless I'm living better. Um, you don't want a lifestyle change going going the wrong direction. So, you know, we need to plan for things like inflation. We need to plan for things like future tax increases if they come. And a lot of people say when they come, you know, I mentioned the name Warren Buffett just a little bit ago. And he actually has some advice on this score. Don't save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving. In other words, pay yourself first. Pay future you first. Put money in savings. Money in your retirement accounts. Money for, you know, a rainy day. That emergency fund that we talked about. Do all of those things and then, you know, meet your obligations. Right. Pay your bills and then spend what's left after you do all that. Take care of job one. And job one should be taking care of yourself and your loved ones future. You will really thank you and give you a big old hug if that were possible, and maybe with a time machine or something, I don't know, but that is the goal and should be the goal.

Speaker1:
Spend what's left after saving. So to turn that common wisdom common logic out on its head, right? Number six is review your credit report. Make sure that you check that credit report regularly. You should be doing that throughout the year, but especially at the beginning of beginning of the year. There are several apps and all that that can can do, um, you know, credit scores and things like that. And periodic, um, checks of your credit reports. The different credit bureaus I know will have that. You're able to get a free credit report each and every year. Annualcreditreport.com, I believe is a great site to go to for that. Right. And you should be able to sign up for that. And, you know, seeing your score is one thing, but also seeing that, you know, pretty thick document with all of the accounts that are in your name and or have been within a certain number of years is a great thing because then you can check it for errors. You can see all of the details about your financial standing, and then you can make changes. You can take steps to repair any of those negatives that are there, whether they're accurate or inaccurate. If they're inaccurate, you can get them removed, right? There's no excuse, just none, for not reviewing that information. Errors are not uncommon, so you want to take care of that.

Speaker1:
Number seven is to develop a plan to pay off your house. This is kind of part of that, you know, paying off your debt thing. And I wanted to reiterate it because it's important if it is right for you. And I will say this, the happiest retirees that we work with and my the firm that I work for, locally active wealth management, the happiest people we work with are the retirees who have no mortgage payment, because that frees up so much money for them to actually live on in retirement, because it's obviously your biggest investment in your life. Generally speaking, for a lot of people, your big, biggest, big ticket purchase, right? So if you get rid of that payment, then you've got a lot more disposable income. The easiest way to increase your net worth is to eliminate your debts. So do that with paying off your mortgage as well. Maximize your Social Security income benefit. You say, well, I have choices when it comes to comes to Social Security. Yeah, you actually do. You can make a difference in what Social Security is because it's not one size fits all. Um, it's kind of like maybe more like one size fits most. But there are things that you can do to affect your amount of income that you will receive in retirement. You know, obviously, the more money you make while you work, the higher your income is going to be as a result from Social Security later on.

Speaker1:
But then also, if you're able to and if it makes sense in your situation, delay claiming Social Security because you can increase your benefit by 8% each year that you defer up to age 70. And it doesn't make any sense to delay beyond that, beyond age 70, because you won't get that increase because that's the maximum age at age 70 that you can delay to at this point. And I think that's a smart idea for a lot of people. Now, obviously, if you have health concerns and all that and or other things are going on that make it make more sense for you to claim at the earliest age that you possibly can, then that is another consideration. That's a conversation that we need to have. But if you can delay, you will get more in monthly income. And that can be a very smart idea, especially if you have longevity on your side and in your family. Right. Rebalance your portfolio as well. You know, markets go up and markets go down. Some sectors overperform some sectors underperform. You think back just a couple of years ago, 2022 was pretty grim for most sectors in the economy. And that was not long ago. So you want to rebalance your portfolio whether you balance it to its original allocation, you know, like a certain percentage in stocks that are in the tech sector, a certain percentage in healthcare, a certain percentage in all of these different things, but also a certain percentage in bonds or other fixed income instruments.

Speaker1:
Right. And maybe alternative investments. All of that. Take a look at the big picture. That's what I would love to help you do. Actually, I love kind of digging in there and seeing where we can improve things. And, you know, you rebalance your portfolio. You take advantage of doing that. At the beginning of the year. You take steps to actually lock in gains from the sectors with the best returns, and then purchase shares in the sectors that have lagged behind. If you rebalance your portfolio with a broker, caution danger will Robinson. Believe it or not, they're charging you up to probably 5.5% in a lot of cases, 5.5% rebalancing fees. That is not a fee efficient strategy. So we recommend you work with someone like me and look to save you money, not lose more of it, right? So I will work in your best interest in that fiduciary capacity. I have a good friend who works in this field as well, and he has a saying that the longer I'm with my broker, the broker I get. And that can be very true if they're charging you those fees we were just talking about. So work with someone like me who has your best interests in mind and not their own. They're looking out for your wallet, your pocketbook. Take pride in retirement. Go there. Schedule a free consultation.

Speaker1:
Number ten. Implement a bond replacement strategy and erase unnecessary fees to stop the bleeding in your safe money. You know safe money is supposed to be. Your bonds traditionally. Right. But they actually, in 2022 had their worst year on record. So consider alternative fixed income options that can provide you with a guaranteed income for life with zero fees. And yeah, that's an option. Low fees or zero fees. That is an absolute option for you. And I can walk you through, show you exactly how it works. And, you know, actually hopefully pull off the blinders a little bit and let you know that there are some things out there that maybe some people who don't have your best interests in mind have badmouthed over the years, and they don't really understand what these investments are like. And so I who have studied them, I'm a certified annuity specialist, received that designation this past year. And so I can take you through these income instruments and show you exactly how they work and how they can say that it's a it's a guaranteed vehicle, right? Because it's guaranteed, um, based on the claims paying ability of the issuer. Right. So that is an important thing to do. The most important thing, though, is that you schedule a retirement consultation with me. I had to put that plug in here. Take Pride in Retirement is the website once again take pride in retirement.com. You can also call me 85524692 11 52469211.

Speaker1:
I'll be glad to talk to you, walk you through some of your options, perhaps take a deep dive. And really, you know, what I want you to do is to get in touch with me. Because I always say this everybody's situation is different in the LGBTQ plus community. Everybody's family looks different. And it's not. I don't deal in one size fits all. Everybody. You know, it's all about your individual place and situation and goals, where you are in life now and where you want to go. You and your partner, you and your spouse, you and your partner slash spouse or kids, you and your friends, your chosen family that you want to spend time with. Maybe in retirement, you and your parents. If you are taking care of elderly parents, you know, whatever your situation is, I want to help you manage all of that, and I want to build your financial plan. I want to help you navigate your financial plan. And when it comes to something as important as your money, I want to provide you or you and all those people that I just mentioned or whatever your situation might be a one on one opportunity with me to ask questions about your specific situation. Give your money the attention that it needs, the attention that it deserves in order to grow for your future. I'm going to show you the fees you're paying, the risk that you're taking with your current investments.

Speaker1:
I'm going to compare that to the plan that I would recommend for you. Show you the difference, because I'm going to create a retirement income plan to fit your budget, and that is a New Year's resolution. There's that word again that I can actually help you keep. And it's not like that, you know, gym membership that you're going to be paying for the rest of the year that you're never going to use. I want to help you make the most out of your money and help you have a retirement that you can take pride in. Take pride in retirement. Com is the website once again that's take pride in retirement.com. A lot of great things to come up here in 2025 folks. I hope you'll join me next time for another edition of the show and have some great guests this year and all of that, so keep tuning in. Like the show? Subscribe. I want you to leave good positive ratings and comments out there that really helps the show grow and helps us get the word out about all things LGBTQ, plus retirement planning and um, yeah, just just spread the good word and, you know, take part in this, this movement that I hope to build to really help out the LGBTQ plus community with retirement planning and get to a better place and have a retirement you can take pride in. So until next time, take pride in yourselves and take care of each other. We'll see you next time.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to Take Pride in Retirement. Members of the LGBTQ+ community deserve to work with a fiduciary financial adviser who puts their needs first. To schedule a free, no obligation consultation with Matt McClure and the team at Active Wealth Management, call (855) 246-9211 or go online to take pride in retirement investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC. Bcm, a registered investment Advisor, BCM and Active Wealth Management Incorporated are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Matt McClure, an active wealth management, are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency.

Speaker1:
Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not in any way refer to investment advisory products. Rates and guarantees provided by insurance products and annuities are subject to the financial strength of the issuing insurance company, not guaranteed by any bank or the FDIC.

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