Be More Like Buffett: How You Can Learn from the Oracle of Omaha

6.30.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

Producer:
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.

Producer:
Welcome to Safe Money Masters with Greg Castle. Get ready for a full hour of financial information and economic news you can't afford to miss. Greg works hard each and every day to help hard working Americans like you navigate challenges and reach the financial freedom they desire and deserve. So now let's start the show. Here's Greg Castle.

Greg Castle:
Hello and welcome to our Independence Day edition of Safe Money Masters, where our main goal is to help you become masters of your money and teach you how to keep it safe. And we hope you're having a terrific 4th of July and had lots of hot dogs already. And I'll be your host, Greg Castle, and I'll along with our co-host, producer Matt McClure. Matt, I think we have another great show lined up for our listeners today on 4th of July. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what to expect?

Producer:
Absolutely. Well, Greg and a happy Independence Day to you and to everybody listening to the show today. We've got do have some fun facts about the 4th of July coming up. Some some very interesting things to share on our list. Then we'll have some words from the Oracle of Omaha for our Quote of the Week this week, Warren Buffett. We'll talk about his rules of investing as well. Now, the quote of the week actually has something to do with that, but it's that quote is not the comprehensive list of Warren Buffett's rules to live by and invest by. So we'll go through some more in that segment. After the quote of the week, we'll have Independence Day travel news as well. We'll give you a little bit of an update and some stats as everybody's been on the roads and been in the sky traveling for the long holiday weekend. Some recession fears continuing and why 1 in 5 baby boomers are delaying their retirement. We'll talk about that as well, along with why Americans are doubting their retirement plans. We won't leave you with doom and gloom on that, though. We're going to talk about how you can feel confident in your retirement plan. Three ways. Retirement planning is like planning your summer vacation, and we all know how that can be. So, you know, it's I wonder if part of that and don't don't spoil it for me Greg but I wonder if part of that is trying to get everybody to agree on the destination that that could very well be a thing because I know it is in the the history of my planning of summer vacation. And also speaking of history, this week in history is going to wrap things up for us as well.

Greg Castle:
All right. So, Matt, today is the 4th of July. So it's the day we celebrate the independence of our nation.

Producer:
Yeah, that's right. I mean, you know, July 4th has a lot of fun traditions as well. I mean, a lot of us really celebrate the 4th of July with, you know, one of my favorite things, looking at the beautiful fireworks displays, barbecues. I always love to eat. Yeah, exactly. Um, you and me both a lot of great concerts, parades, things like that this time of year as well. And we celebrate Independence Day on July 4th because that is the day that our founders signed the Declaration of Independence. But that's actually not really technically true, right, Greg?

Greg Castle:
It really is not. So, you know, even though the declaration was adopted on July 4th, 1776, it was actually July 2nd when the Continental Congress voted in favor of declaring independence from Great Britain. So most people don't know that. However, the actual declaration that was written by Thomas Jefferson wasn't signed by most people until a month later in August. And with that said, here are some more fun facts about this very special day that most people really don't know how to look these up. Took me a while to find them all. But anyway, you know, Americans typically eat 150 million hot dogs on Independence Day. That's enough to stretch from D.C. to LA more than five times. Now we're going to make it 50,000,001 because I've got 50,000,002. I'm going to have a couple today myself when the show is over. So.

Producer:
That's right. I'm going to say, I was going to say, think about 100 million of those are at my house. But you go.

Greg Castle:
Over the years. I could I could I could agree with that. You know, on the sad note, though, you know, three presidents have died on July 4th. And those presidents were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Monroe. John Adams believed that American independence should be celebrated on July 2nd, as that's the actual day that the Continental Congress voted for independence in 1776. He was kind of annoyed that Independence Day was celebrated on July 2nd, and he repeatedly turned down invitations to July 4th celebrations for the rest of his life. So nobody, you know, nothing like being stubborn.

Producer:
That's right. Apparently, John Adams was.

Greg Castle:
Now, even though he didn't die on July 4th. Another fun fact is that President Zachary Taylor died in 1850 after eating spoiled fruit at a July 4th celebration.

Producer:
Oh, yeah. You got to be careful what you eat. A life worth barely.

Greg Castle:
Yeah, he's a laugh at that. But that's kind of sad. We all know about, you know, Macy's fireworks display and their parades and stuff. But the famed Macy's fireworks show in New York City uses more than 75,000 fireworks and it cost about $6 million per show. Yeah, many of us, me included, are very familiar with the the Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest. Well, that contest is held annually on July 4th. And in 2018, champion Joey Chestnut ate 74 hot dogs with buns in just ten minutes. That's pretty amazing. It takes me that long to eat one.

Producer:
It is. I used to when I lived up in New York and I worked for a TV station up there. We would cover that every year and I never understood how they how they could do that. It's not that big a guy.

Greg Castle:
I mean, it's just No.

Producer:
And then there was the guy who was like the champion for several years before Joey Chestnut kind of started his run. You know, he was just this teeny, tiny little guy. And I'm like, Where does it all go? You know? Yeah.

Greg Castle:
Just, you know, at some point what goes in would come out and it's going to be a sad day around their house. So we digress here.

Producer:
Yes. They'll be taking a lot of medication. Yeah.

Greg Castle:
Really sad thought. Anyway, Independence Day became a federal holiday in 1870. Another fun fact as of 2016, July 4th was the number one day for beer sales in the US. So that just can't imagine that. Beer and hot dogs.

Producer:
That's right. I mean, nothing more American than that, you know? Yeah, really an apple pie.

Greg Castle:
Apple pie in 1778. This is another fun fact to celebrate. George Washington gave his soldiers a double ration of rum to celebrate the July 4th holiday. There you go. No wonder he was voted our first president.

Producer:
That's right. Was he was he buying votes at that point with the rum? No, no, no, no, no.

Greg Castle:
He passed out the ballots while they were still drinking. I don't know what was going on. But. All right. The every every July fourth, descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence tap the Liberty Bell 13 times in honor of the original 13 colonies. Uh, this is something that may be in my future. Eating salmon is a July 4th tradition in parts of New England. Huh? I'm a big Salmon fan, so that may be dinner tonight.

Producer:
Yeah, I did. I did not know that. And that's one of those things, too. I love salmon as well, but it's not necessarily something that I associate with the 4th of July either.

Greg Castle:
So I don't know. That's a new one for me. Now, small towns in the United States typically spend between 8000 and $15,000 on their fireworks displays.

Producer:
Um.

Greg Castle:
Now President Calvin Coolidge. Was the only president who was born on the 4th of July. He was born on July 4th, 1872. About 16,000 July 4th. Firework displays happen around the country each and every year. Now. Now, starting in 1818, new stars and new stripes were added to the American flag each July 4th to make the creation of new states. I'll talk more about that later on in another fun fact. Uh, now, as we all know, you've heard the expression before. You know, sign your John Hancock. Sign your John Hancock right here. Well, John Hancock has the largest signature on the Declaration of Independence.

Producer:
So yes, he does.

Producer:
And I've often wondered why he signed it that large. It's almost like he was the first guy to sign. And then they're like, Oh, thanks for leaving room for the rest of us there.

Greg Castle:
Well, actually, what you just said is true. Another one of the fun facts we'll get to in a couple of minutes is that John Hancock was one of the first two people to sign the Declaration of Independence. He actually signed it on July 4th. However. The rest of the signers, you know, signed it periodically ending up in the August, I think August 22nd. The same year. But since there was no no other signatures on there, a big signature was fine. So. Yeah.

Producer:
Wow, That's. That's crazy. I didn't know. Who knew that my wild stab in the dark was going to be right.

Greg Castle:
Now, The very first July 4th celebration took place at the White House in 1801, and it was hosted by Thomas Jefferson. Now one World Trade Centre, not the ones that blew down and not the ones that were destroyed in the terrorist attack. But one World Trade Center in New York is 1776ft tall. To mark the year, the United States declared its independence from Britain. Now it's exactly at 1776.

Producer:
And I remembered that from when they announced the the plans for the construction, the reconstruction of the World Trade Center, that that was going to be the height of the tower as that, you know, number of significance and just a really, you know, a really great symbol of American strength and resilience there as well.

Producer:
It really.

Greg Castle:
Was. I mean, to be able to. For the architect to be able to actually, you know, design it to be specific. Height Exactly. 1770 six feet. It's pretty amazing. Now, former correction former President Barack Obama's older daughter was born on the 4th of July. Of Independence Day was once celebrated. One time at one, at one day. One one year was celebrated on July 5th. The reason for that was the holiday fell on Sunday in 1779. So Americans celebrated on Monday, the 5th of July, the only year this happened.

Producer:
And well.

Greg Castle:
Now there are some copies of the Declaration of Independence. This is I never knew this either. One copy of the some copies of the Declaration of Independence with a woman's signature on it. The woman is Mary Katherine Goddard. She wasn't one of the official signers of 1776, but the printer and publisher added her name to the Declaration of Independence after she was hired by Congress to print copies. Nothing like little adding yourself to little history there.

Producer:
Right, Exactly.

Producer:
Yeah.

Greg Castle:
So. The 50th Star was added to the American flag on July 4th, 1960. And. In which state that was. You remember which state it was?

Producer:
Why I know that it was Alaska and Hawaii were the last two states to be added, but I believe Alaska was the 49th, so it had to have been Hawaii.

Greg Castle:
That is correct.

Producer:
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Yay. All right.

Producer:
Bring out my sound effects.

Greg Castle:
Yeah. As we mentioned already, you know, the despite what you might have thought, only two men signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. Though we know that one of those is John Hancock, and the second one was Charles Thompson. I guess he's overshadowed by the large signature by John Hancock.

Producer:
Right.

Greg Castle:
This is interesting, too, and I don't doubt it for a minute. Americans spend over $1 billion a year on fireworks every 4th of July.

Producer:
Wow.

Greg Castle:
Growing up, I was part of that 1 billion, I'm sure.

Producer:
Well, growing up in Georgia, we when I was a kid, it was illegal to, you know, have your own fireworks display. It was illegal to sell fireworks in Georgia other than just, you know, like little sparklers and kind of thing. And so everybody would go, you know, that's why along the Georgia Alabama border, along the Georgia South Carolina border, especially those two, there are just a bunch of huge fireworks stores because everybody used to have to like Taco Bell used to say everybody used to have to run for the border.

Greg Castle:
You know, those folks in Georgia were deprived of children.

Producer:
That's right. I mean, you know, unless we were wanting to be lawbreakers and and a little adventurous and I'm not saying that I'm confessing to ever having done that. I'm just it's just a sentence that that is coming out of my mouth.

Greg Castle:
Yeah. I fully understand. You know, you really haven't experienced pain until you have a firework go off. Not necessarily in your fingers, but as you're just leaving your fingers and you feel the jolt of it.

Producer:
So if.

Greg Castle:
And I've been guilty of that. So I tell you what, it stung for a while. I'm just I'm just glad it wasn't a split second earlier that I let go of it or later that I let go of it because it would have been really pretty devastating. Now, the 4th of July wasn't an official holiday until almost a hundred years after the Declaration of Independence was signed. That was in 1870 whenever they first started the official holiday. There are over 330 million people living in the United States today. However. There were only around 2.5 million people in 1776. So we've grown quite a bit since the birth of our nation.

Producer:
Yes, we have.

Greg Castle:
This does not surprise me at all either. But it is interesting. Hospitals receive a surplus of patients on the 4th of July due to firework related injuries every year and going back to 2020. In 2020, there were 15,600 people reported to hospitals with fireworks related injuries. I'm sure there were probably half that many more that didn't go to the hospital that, you know, just wrapped up in Band-Aids or. Um. Treated it at home. Now, we talked about the 13 descendants of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence who tapped the Liberty Bell every year on 4th of July. However, the Liberty Bell hasn't been rung since 1846, and the last time the bell was rung was when George Washington's birthday in February 1846. When a major crack appeared on the bell. So since then it has not been rung.

Producer:
Yeah. I wonder what it would sound like if it was wrong at this point, you know, and just a thud kind of, I guess, since it's.

Producer:
I don't know. Um.

Greg Castle:
And then this is interesting to one of our last facts here. A time capsule was buried by Paul Revere and Sam Adams on July 4th in 1795 under the Massachusetts State House in Boston. It was discovered more than two centuries later by workers fixing a leak. State officials opened it, they discovered a few things. They discovered a pine tree shilling coin, a copper medal engraved with an image of George Washington. Several newspapers from that period and a silver plate thought to be engraved by Paul Revere.

Producer:
That's crazy. And to not, you know, to to have have that, but, you know, in place by a couple of, you know, very significant early Americans and then to not really have any record of it being there just to kind of find it there by happenstance. Yeah, that's, um, that, that had to have been just a really cool kind of mind blowing discovery for them.

Producer:
That would have been wild.

Greg Castle:
Hey, Matt, before we continue, you know, I'd like to take a moment just to remind our listeners what our show is about when it's not 4th of July. The whole premise of this show is to bring you our listeners topics and tools that'll help you grow and protect your wealth and retirement income. We hope you keep tuning in. You can catch us every Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. on Moneytalk 1010 and on your local FM stations, 92.1 and up north, 103.1. So if you happen to miss an episode, by all means you can catch us at Money Masters.com. Click on the podcast version and you can listen to the podcast of the show. Or you can listen to wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, for that matter. You can also check out our YouTube channel and subscribe to see weekly video highlights and special accounts and and see why a face made for radio and not TV. Now, if you've got any questions or comments, you know, we'd love to hear from you. Feel free to email me at Greg at SafeMoneyMasters.com. Or you can call us at (813) 430-7100.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Producer:
Our quote of the week. This time around, Greg comes from, as promised, the oracle of Omaha himself, Mr. Warren Buffett, who knows a thing or two about investing, I would say, and Warren Buffett said this, quote, Rule number one, never lose money. Rule number two, never forget rule number one.

Greg Castle:
I've heard that time and time again. It's just so, so true. You know, as a as a financial strategist, I love that quote because that's exactly what we're trying to help our listeners do through safe money. Safe money strategies, actually. And actually I worked for a company once that was owned by Buffett's private equity company. And it was quite a quite an amazing guy. Come around And he was he was matter of fact, you know, if his private equity equity company actually bought a company bought your company, the game plan was they would buy it at what they thought would be a discount. They would put money into those companies to help them grow and prosper and increase their revenue and their EBITDA, and then they'd put on the market for sale. And the senior partners of the company, the ones that were actually running the company, all had equity stakes in where they actually get, you know, buyouts and stuff. And of course, if the company didn't sell, those folks just basically were out of luck. They got their salaries, but they didn't get the bonuses they hoped they were going to get. But by the way, there is another Buffett quote that I have hanging on my wall. It's a quote that I read is basically, if you don't learn how to make money while you sleep, you'll work until you die.

Greg Castle:
So you can do that by either starting a business and not a job, but starting a business where the people work for you. And so you can take a vacation as money still coming in while you're gone. Or you can always take a look at some of the safe money strategies where you don't have to worry about watching the stock market all the time. You can basically let the money work for you and eventually turn into a guaranteed paycheck for life that comes in over and over and over again. You got our number. Try and give us a call. So some of the rules that Warren Buffett lived by and how to apply them to your own life to retirement plan. You know, rule number one, as we've already talked about, is never lose money. In other words, you need to protect a sensible portion of your assets from bank failures and stock market volatility. A one way to do that is actually use the rule of 100. In other words, you take 100 and you subtract your age to determine the percentage of your assets that you could strategically invest in smart risk strategies. For an example, take 100. If your age is 65, you subtract 65 from that. So that means that 35% of your money can be at risk and smart risk investments.

Greg Castle:
But that still leaves 65% that should be put in safe money strategies to make sure that you don't lose that money. It needs to be much more conservative. So ask yourself, how much am I savings? Am I willing to lose? Or the way I ask my clients specifically is how much of what you've got do you not want to lose? Because nobody's really going to lose anything because they always give me the same answer. I don't want to lose anything. So it is a little bit different. So rule number two. We've already talked about is never forget rule number one, which is be inform, do your homework. Trust but verify. You know what you're doing is the right thing to do. Buffett invest only in strategies that he thoroughly researches and understands. Again, I can vouch for that from experience. He doesn't go into an investment prepared to lose. And neither should you. So if you're tired of working about your future and you're ready to learn how to create safe money retirement, simply pick up the phone, Give us a call at (813) 430-7100. Or email me personally at Greg at SafeMoneyMasters.com. Because we help pre-retirees and current retirees with this issue all the time. But we've talked about rule number one. We've talked about rule number two. Uh, what is rule number three? Matt.

Producer:
Or rule number three from Warren Buffett.

Producer:
His rules of investing says if the business does well, then the stock eventually follows. So it's basically that like that fundamental style of investing where it's like if the fundamentals of the business are in good shape, then if that business continues to do well, then the stock is going to also eventually do well.

Greg Castle:
You exactly right. So when Buffett searches for a stock to invest in, his approach is basically to seek out businesses that exhibit favorable, long term prospects. In other words, does the company have a consistent operating history or does it have a dominant business franchise? Uh, is the business generating high and sustainable profit margins? And if the company's share price is trading below expectations for its future growth, then it's a stock that Buffett may want to own. So we can help educate you on different smart risk strategies for growing your hard earned wealth. Just don't be an emotional investor. Don't go it alone. Let us or someone else help you plan your work and work your plan. So a couple more rules that Buffett has to What's what's rule number four, Matt?

Producer:
Yeah. Rule number four.

Producer:
Here. It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.

Producer:
It's.

Producer:
It's almost like I like to think of this one as, like, it's probably if it's in the bargain bin, it's probably there for a reason.

Producer:
Yeah, probably.

Greg Castle:
Uh, you know, when when the markets tanked during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis. Back during the housing bubble. Above. It was stockpiling great long term investments by spending billions in names like General Electric and Goldman Sachs. Savvy investor sees companies that offer durable products or services and also have solid operating earnings and an ongoing potential for future profits. Finally, the right investment at the right price with a margin for safety against unknown risk is the ultimate goal that Buffett looks for.

Producer:
I think there's.

Greg Castle:
One more, Matt. What would it be?

Producer:
Yeah. Number five is the very last rule of investing for the ones that we're going to cover today from Mr. Warren Buffett. And it is our favorite holding period is forever.

Greg Castle:
Well, in Buffett's case is not always forever, but his intent is to keep it as long as possible. You know how long you know, how long should you hold a stock or invest?

Producer:
Um, you.

Greg Castle:
Know, Buffett says that in things I've read about Buffett that if you don't feel comfortable owning a stock for ten years, you shouldn't only for ten minutes. So even during times of volatility, Buffett has loyally held on to the bulk of his portfolio because he believes in the long term viability of his investments. You know, again, do not be an emotional investor. Repeat, do not be an emotional investor. You know, be an overly fearful or too greedy can can cause investors to sell stocks at the bottom or buy at the peak and destroy portfolio appreciation for the long run. You don't want to do that. It's important to keep in mind why you're investing. What is the reason? Is it primarily it should be to protect and grow your wealth? We want to help preserve and increase the value of assets so that you can thrive in retirement and and leave a legacy for your loved ones. So if you want to develop a safe money retirement plan that incorporates Buffet's five core five core rules, then contact the pros at Castle Financial Solutions Group. Just give us a call at (813) 430-7100 or send me an email at Greg at SafeMoneyMasters.com. Yeah, as a bonus. Also, if you like what you hear on this show myself, Castle Financial Solutions will be hosting a Safe Money Strategies seminar. On Thursday, July 20th and Tuesday, July 25th. It's a repeat seminar at Carrollwood Country Club starts at 630 those nights. So I will be the presenter. We'll have part of our team there as well. So hopefully you get a chance to come out and meet us and learn some strategies that will help you keep your money free from volatility.

Greg Castle:
Keep that money safe with significant upside potential. Mayor, you mentioned earlier when we talked about the the overview for the show that 1 in 5 baby boomers are delaying retirement. And here's why. Amid uncertain economic conditions, baby boomers aren't feeling confident in their retirement plans. In fact, according to what I read, 70% of baby boomers expressed uncertainty over whether their retirement savings were healthy enough to carry them through retirement. Retirement Living also found that 69% of baby boomers are worried about potential recession and that because of this, 22% of baby boomers plan on delaying their retirement. You know, most are planning to stay in the workforce for another five years or more. Know a lot of folks that are working well beyond 70. I talked to a lot of retirees that have no plan to ever retire, partly because they want to in some cases and in some cases because they can't afford to. So if you want to work, that's great. I'll plan to be like George Burns, Betty White and Queen Elizabeth. And as long as I'm physically, mentally and emotionally able to to work, I plan to to keep going. I've already retired from one company and and enjoying what I do, so I have no plans to retire anytime soon. Besides, my wife will let me. She's younger than I am and said I can't retire till she does so either. She retires earlier. I keep working.

Greg Castle:
But anyway, it's much better to to work because you want to. Not because you have to. So if you really don't want to be like me and you want to retire and enjoy yourself and relax all day and play a lot of golf, you should basically get with your financial planner. Or if you don't have one, you know, by all means, you know, give us a call and let us help you develop a plan that will see you through retirement so you do not have to work or become a Walmart greeter, as we mentioned before. Americans are already working longer to save for retirement than they once were. And a Gallup poll from last year found that the age that individuals expected to retire has risen from 60in 1995 to 60 6 in 2022. And I think part of that is probably because of the Social Security age increase.

Producer:
Yeah, that.

Producer:
Just sort of like, you know, puts people's expectations in a certain place and then, you know, and life expectancy has also, you know, gotten longer in that time period as well. So a lot of different factors at play here. And then, you know, according to that study from retirement living, some respondents said they plan some things to to do some things, I should say, rather to better their retirement. The most common thing that they said, this was 47% planning to better their retirement by decreasing their spending. Also 30% increasing savings and then 26% saying invest in safe assets. About the same amount saying continuing to work full time around that same number, diversifying investments a little bit less, said they build. We're going to build up an emergency fund and then 20% said applying the part time jobs. And there that goes back to kind of you know what you were saying about only working if you want to, not because you need to. And you have to in retirement. You know, if you want to go out and get a part time job, that's great. Like if your dream thing to do in retirement is go be a Walmart greeter because you love people and you like saying, hey to everybody in town who comes into this, great, that's wonderful because somebody's got to do it. But if you, you know, are doing that because you feel like your situation has forced you into it, that's not a good place to be.

Producer:
No, it's not.

Greg Castle:
When I used to think of retirement, I would think of my grandmothers, you know, they were.

Producer:
I would go with.

Greg Castle:
She she was a farm lady and she lived to be 100. But, you know, she worked and she worked hard all the time. And she, you know, sit on her front porch overlooking the creek and. It is. Basically by the time you get 60 or so, they look kind of haggard because they worked all their life really hard out in the field and. They just have a retirement for them. Was being able to sit on the front porch and watch people pass by and wave. They lived out in the country. But times have changed. I mean, people dress differently. People dress, you know, more youthfully. People are exercising more. People are out and about. More so. The thought of retirement is definitely changed. If people bite their age, a lot of times, you know, it's kind of like they want to look younger. They want to feel younger. Nothing wrong with that at all. But as we get older, sometimes our bodies can't cash the checks that our that our mind is telling us that we need to be doing. So a little bit different. But you know, moving on here. Different reports says that financial jargon is 34% of Americans doubting retirement plans. So this is coming from. A survey from unbiased.com. So what they said was that know financial jargon is so confusing that 34% of Americans say that they don't know where to start when it comes to retirement planning.

Greg Castle:
In fact, the sort of paraphrase what's going on. In fact, the analysis found that the majority of adults say that they have no confidence when it comes to dealing with retirement planning options. So here's some more of what the survey found said that 25% of respondents to the unbiased retirement confidence survey. Who said they didn't feel confident about choosing retirement options, said their confidence was their confidence. Where they had confidence was the result of working with a financial adviser or financial professional. Other retirement related areas for respondents felt shaky was with the two largest, most unpredictable expenses in retirement, one of those being health care, the other being inflation. The health care was cited as a primary concern by more than half of the respondents, 56% to be exact. You have a good reason to worry. Health care is definitely increasing in each and every year. We don't expect that to go down anytime soon. And so you can expect your health care to health care costs to go up once you retire. You know, for instance, the one widely circulated Fidelity study found that an average retired 65 year old couple in 2020 3rd May need approximately get this number, $315,000 saved to cover medical costs during retirement. So you got to find a way to make sure that you've got money set aside or have access to money that will help cover those health care costs and.

Producer:
And that and that's just for the health care cost. Just that $315,000 according to that Fidelity study. That survey also mentioning that in addition to health care, you know, maybe we should share about inflation as well here, because inflation, you know, is one of those things that are, as you said a minute ago, unpredictable, like, you know, a few years back, who would have thought that we would have seen inflation as high as it's been over these last couple of years? So let's go through here and share a little bit about that other uncertainty and about inflation, because it just makes it difficult, I think, for the average person to sit and say, okay, this is what I'm I'm going to do, This is my plan. And then but they're like. You know, this inflation situation has gotten them thinking, okay, what about all the what ifs? You know, because there are a lot of them and and they've been proven that they can happen.

Greg Castle:
Yeah, you know, we think we mentioned this before on another show. Um, if you consider high blood pressure to be the silent killer for health or for people. Uh, then, when it comes to retirement planning, inflation is the silent killer for your retirement plan. You know, for example, as of May 2023 of this year, the food cost at home has increased by 5.8%, just under 6%. Electricity has increased almost 6%. New cars, a new price of a new car has increased almost 5%. The transportation services are up 10.2% and then that big one housing has increased at 8% level. And just to show that point, since we're, you know, in the local area here, I live up in the Champions Club. I was looking at a letter that came around for some realtors and stuff the other day and a house that was bought in 20, 20 $600,000 here is now valued at over $1 million. So just in three years, you know that housing costs have definitely gone up here in the Tampa area. So if you want to create a plan that'll help keep pace with inflation while keeping your money safe from market volatility, you've got to have a plan and you need a professional to help you with that plan. Whether it's us or somebody else, you know, you need help in creating that plan. It's a roadmap for you. It's a retirement roadmap. So a Castle Financial Solutions group, you know, we'll work with anyone who wants and needs our help. You don't have to be rich in order to come work with become one of our clients. If you need help and we're here for you, you just have to be nice. That's our. That's our key thing. If you're hard to get along with and you're going to be a problem client, then please go someplace else because we want our clients to be nice.

Greg Castle:
We're nice to you, want you to be nice to us. And we will bend over backwards to to make sure that you get what you need from us. So, you know, just some of the things that we do, we provide our services at no cost to you. In other words, you never pay us a penny. We are a no cost, no fee based. We're not a fee based adviser. There's never an obligation when you work with us. So you only work with us if it's best for you. You know, we can help you do a number of things. You know, one thing that will help you do is develop a safe money retirement plan that's safe from market loss and and it's inflation adjusted. You know, we have we can actually use strategies that will help you keep pace with inflation in some cases or in most cases outpace inflation. If you have an old 401, for example, from a previous employer, we can help you with a Roth conversion. If you choose to do something like that for tax purposes, or we can help you roll it into a safe vehicle that provides market like gains and guarantees, no loss due to market volatility. And then this is a biggie too. Most people don't consider this to be a biggie, but we can also help you with Social Security planning strategies because there are strategies that will help maximize your Social Security and other than your home and in some cases more than your home. You're the greatest asset you have currently is Social Security. It can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for you over your life.

Producer:
Um.

Greg Castle:
Now we can also help you compare your current situation to what you currently have with what's possible to help you achieve the vision that you have in your mind of what retirement should look like for you. If you work with us, so just remember it's your money. So if it matters to you, trust me, it matters to us. So give us a call at (813) 430-7100 or shoot me an email at Greg at Safe Money. Masters.com.

Producer:
Greg, You know, there is, of course, as we've been talking about today, summer is now officially here. You know, it's sort of unofficially started back around our last big holiday that we had on Memorial Day. In between then and now, it has officially started. And so it's time to enjoy those summer vacations. You know, relax, unwind, have some fun in the sun. But would it surprise you to know that most people spend more time planning their vacation than planning for retirement? I mean, that's to me. It is, it should be more surprising that it is. And it's sad on many levels that people just spend more time planning, let's say, for a week of their lives rather than for, say, you know, 30 plus years of their lives. Like it's kind of crazy.

Producer:
Yeah.

Greg Castle:
You know, vacations are exciting. And so people, you know, they love to plan for vacations. Even at the spur of the moment vacations, they'll spend some time making reservations and doing other stuff. But when it comes to retirement planning, you know, that's something that people see. This is going to be way out in the future. They don't need to do it. I can't begin to tell you how many people that I work with that. Have never played a thing for retirement. And they're there. They're retired now or pretty soon planning to retire. So. Tara maclean is one of those things that creeps up on you. Don't wait till the last minute to do it. According to a recent survey, nearly 1 in 5 people, just a little over 20%, are actually 20.1%, to be honest with you. American adults spend more time planning their vacations than managing their money. Another 34% said that they spend an equal amount of time on both tasks. Now planning for retirement in general can look a lot like planning a vacation. Trust me, it does. You'll need an itinerary, a destination and a budget.

Producer:
Yeah, it's.

Producer:
It's almost like your financial GPS. You need, you know, to know where you're going and know where you are. No, no, the. The route to get there and all of that. So the itinerary that you should have and those three steps, let's go through those things. Itinerary being the first because it's the itinerary, destination and budget. Those are the three things you mentioned. Explain to the listeners exactly what that means to have an itinerary.

Producer:
Okay.

Greg Castle:
Uh, an itinerary for retirement is actually planning what to do. So just like a summer vacation, you got to figure out what it is you want to do in retirement. It's important to have a plan to transition from your working years into your retirement. What this means having a list of vacation destinations you want to go to for travel once you retire, or a hobby to turn to, to stay busy or an organization to volunteer with. The giving yourself some options can help you remain active and and engaged instead of simply doing nothing. So now some of those things the reason, the reason that is important for retirement planning is that some of those things might earn you some money. If you make money on your hobby or you volunteer, you won't. It won't make you anything, won't lose you anything. However, if you plan to travel extensively in retirement, you got to plan some money to do that. You got to make sure you have money in your retirement plan to make sure that you can do the things you want to do. Uh, you play golf? It's not cheap any more. I do it. And trust me, it can cost you. Especially if you play like I do. And you lose a lot of balls. And those balls aren't. I mean, they're $4 a ball if you buy a good one. So you can easily go through, you know, 20, 24 bucks of balls in a game. Uh, especially with a lot of water around. So anyway, make sure that you're planning your itinerary for what you want to do when you retire. What? Our retirement. Look for you. Make sure you got money to do the things you want to do.

Producer:
Yeah, great advice there. And then you also mentioned, you know, the second step here was a destination. So. So what do you mean by that, that destination? Because I you know, I know. For planning a vacation. Right. The destination might be the Bora Bora or something like that. So if we're looking at you can't pick this destination. I wouldn't I wouldn't think off of a map. Right. It's it's kind of a different bit of a concept here.

Greg Castle:
It's a little different concept, and it's the similarity between vacation planning and retirement planning is basically we're talking about destination. We're referring to where to go. There was many retirees are going to spend a lot of time traveling now that they no longer need to worry about coming back to a pile of work or rationing the limited number of vacation days or sick days or PTO days. You know, as you spend time traveling during your working years, you know, take note of some of the destinations you'd like to return to more than just longer vacations. Retirement may also mean traveling to a new home. Whether downsizing, moving closer to a family or even heading to a senior living community. So it's a for example, here in Florida, we don't have a state income tax and in some cases, Florida is very favorable to retirees. However, we do have very high property taxes in some of the larger cities like Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville. So so when people retire, even if their home is paid for, they've still got to pay for those taxes. So a lot of folks would choose to sell their home, move to a different location, perhaps back to where family is, back to somewhere where it's lower cost. That still has some tax advantages, like Tennessee, for example, which is originally home for me.

Greg Castle:
Their sales tax is higher, but they have no state income tax and their property taxes are much, much lower than they are here. For the same home that I have here for the same price home where I pay. Of five figures for for property taxes. Property taxes in Tennessee were less than $4,000 for a year. So it. Sometimes moving is going to be your destination. So where to go? You need a plan for that. If you're going to move to a higher cost destination like New York or some of the northeastern states or California, for example, you need to incorporate the increased cost in your budget. So where you go is a is a big part. For example, if you take a vacation and you decide to go to, you know, from Tampa to Key West, for example, we just went for our anniversary a few weeks ago, the cost for that is going to be much less than taking a vacation from here to England or Ireland, for example. So the places you want to go. Just want to make sure that you've got money set aside for what you want to do when you retire and how to how to. Um, those things on the map that you want to do.

Producer:
Yeah. And, yeah, if you can go somewhere locally or at least regionally, like you said, and just, and drive there generally a lot cheaper than going somewhere you have to fly. And last time I checked, it may be different now, but last time I checked they had still not built that big long bridge over to Ireland or to England. So keep waiting for that.

Greg Castle:
I've got a joke about that, but I better not say it on air.

Producer:
Yeah, let's not.

Producer:
Let's not. We don't want to get in trouble. Um.

Producer:
No, The.

Producer:
Good folks at Money Talk 1010 might not appreciate it. Exactly. So then the third step here is creating a budget. And, boy, that's an important step. It's also one I feel like people tend to kind of get overwhelmed by a little bit because they're like, you know, it's almost like budget is a little bit of a four letter word that has more than four letters in it, you know?

Greg Castle:
Yeah, we're talking about budget. Basically taking a look at the previous two steps and decided, okay, how are we going to pay for what we want to do? That's the element in retirement planning is just as it is in planning a vacation, how are you going to pay for it? So, you know, how do you afford your current lifestyle? What expenses do you expect to lose in retirement, if any, and which ones might you gain? You know, for example, you might be currently paying on your mortgage, but it might be paid off in a couple of years after retirement. So whenever that your debt bill is paid, your income is going to actually increase. All your disposable income will actually increase. So. Just like planning a vacation. You know, planning how you're going to fund your retirement can be a complicated process with many moving parts. This planning can begin by evaluating how much your retirement lifestyle is going to cost you. Then figure it out, how much income you're going to need to afford it. And sometimes you'd be surprised. You're going to need a lot more than you think you're going to need. But looking at your retirement savings, pension, Social Security, any other savings that you need to figure out the most tax efficient way to fund your retirement. You know, retirement planning can take time, effort. But just as you wouldn't embark on a vacation of a lifetime without doing a bit of preliminary research, you also don't want to leap into retirement without some sort of a plan. And that's where we are here to help you.

Producer:
Uh, if you. Need it. Um. You know.

Greg Castle:
If you need a plan, let us help you develop a safe money retirement plan. All means, give us a call at Castle Financial Solutions Group at 813. Seven correction 4307100. Or give me an email personally at Greg at SafeMoneyMasters.com.

Producer:
It's this week in history. Some big events on this date. Of course, because it is July 4th. So we know we kind of know the first one, I think Greg here. Talk about what happened on this date back in 1776.

Greg Castle:
In this week in history. On this day in history. Uh, as we recognize today, we've talked about throughout the show, Declaration of Independence was formally adopted in the Continental Congress, had voted for the independence two days before on July 2nd. A couple of days from now on July 7th. On this date in 1930, the construction of the Hoover Dam began, and the concrete Arch Gravity Dam sits above the Colorado River took nearly 30 years to complete. But have you ever been over that dam? That dam is a very, very impressive. If you look over top of it, it's also very, very scary because it's a long way down. Colorado River has taken a big hit because of the drought conditions out that way for a while now. Hopefully some of the rains and stuff they had, even though they were pretty devastating rains, some of those rains, you know, provided some additional water for Colorado River, but it's still well below normal. But Hoover Dam works hard to try and regulate the water within the Colorado River. Another thing on the July 7th is that on this date in 1981, American retired Attorney Sandra Day O'Connor. Became the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. I remember when she was actually confirmed and it was a pretty impressive day. And women all over the country celebrated. And, you know, she was she was quite proficient, active and fair judge on the Supreme Court bench. On July.

Producer:
9th.

Greg Castle:
This is a birthday. In 1956.

Producer:
Actor, an.

Greg Castle:
American actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks was born. And remember, a lot of his movies, you know, Forrest Gump. Now Saving Private Ryan. Passed away many, many more movies than he had. What was the one where he played a where he was jumping on the makeshift piano?

Producer:
That's actually the one that I was going to mention next. That was big when he.

Producer:
Yeah, Yeah.

Producer:
When he was doing that. And that was at, you know, filmed at FAO Schwarz up in New York City. And I remember going into that very store after I moved up there looking for the the keyboard. And they still had one, you know, because they knew people would come in for that to dance on the big keyboard.

Producer:
You know, he.

Greg Castle:
He was such an impressive actor in such a such a range of of ability. In other words, going from a comedic actor and being a being a comedian actually early on in his life to becoming so serious in dramatic roles, you know, like Cast Away. He lost a lot of weight for Castaway, a Saving Private Ryan, where he played a you know, a military guy, played it very, very well. And then Forrest Gump, of course, that's probably one of the one remember most, because so many memes out there of of him, you know, making the run, saying things or just a box of chocolates.

Producer:
That's right. That's that's what.

Producer:
Life is like. Chocolates.

Greg Castle:
All right.

Producer:
So, you.

Greg Castle:
Know, there's a special days today besides mean, of course, we know that today is Independence Day.

Producer:
But there are.

Greg Castle:
There are a couple of other interesting days of this or national days of this is the National Independence from Meat Day, which is followed by on the same day national barbecued spare ribs day.

Producer:
And pretty much impossible to.

Producer:
Celebrate both of those on the.

Producer:
Same day. I know.

Greg Castle:
Um. Um. And then finally, today is National Caesar Salad Day. So if you really want to combine two national days and be, you know, celebrate with fashion, you can go out on an Independence Day, forget about independence for Meat Day and have some barbecued spare ribs and Caesar salad.

Producer:
There you go.

Producer:
Well, my dinner menu is figured out.

Producer:
I'm still going.

Greg Castle:
To go for the salmon, I think, but still. There you go.

Producer:
Well, I'll put it on top of your Caesar salad. I think that's. That'll be pretty good. Pretty good deal.

Producer:
Yeah.

Greg Castle:
So you got you got plans for the rest of, uh, 4th of July today, Matt?

Producer:
Pretty quiet. We're going to try and watch some fireworks, but I think that's going to be about it for us. Whatever it is that you do. I hope that you have fun and celebrate the country.

Producer:
I'll be I'll.

Greg Castle:
Be holding on to a small dog and gets shell shocked by fireworks. So it'll be my lap the rest of the night.

Producer:
Been there?

Producer:
Yeah.

Greg Castle:
Yeah. So, anyway. Well, Matt enjoyed it again. You're always great company. Great co-host. So guess I'll see you next week at same bat time.

Producer:
Same bat channel.

Greg Castle:
All right. Have a good 4th of July, Matt Listeners, take care. Be safe and watch out for those fireworks. They can be dangerous.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Safe Money Masters with Greg Castle. You deserve to work with a financial expert who has a track record of helping clients exceed their financial goals by implementing safe and proven strategies to schedule your free.

No obligation consultation with Greg. Visit SafeMoneyMasters.com not affiliated with the United States government. Greg Castle does not offer tax, legal or investment advice. Consult with your tax advisor or attorney regarding specific situations. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. These opinions are not intended as investment advice, nor do they predict future performance of any product. All information provided is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of any statement. This information is intended to be educational in nature and does not provide a guarantee or specific result. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Amerilife assumes no responsibility or liability for the content of this message. The information contained herein is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, timeliness or the results obtained from the use of this information.

Producer:
Our banking fees, sucking extra money from your wallet. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by AmeriLife, life loan, interest and bank fees can drain money out of your retirement bucket. So it's important to be aware of and budget for these fees. Personal Finance Website nerdwallet reports Banking fees alone can cost many consumers $300,000 over their lifetime. One of the fees that catches consumers off guard the most is the account maintenance fee on a lot of checking accounts. You'll pay it every month unless you maintain a minimum balance. Kimberly Palmer with Nerdwallet recently told Nbcla There's also another solution.

Kimberly Palmer:
Most powerful move that consumers can make is just to find a new bank.

Producer:
Overdraft fees can also be hefty. Many banks charge 35 bucks or more per transaction. Palmer says these can really add up, especially if you end up paying the fee on several small transactions. So what can you do?

Kimberly Palmer:
You might prefer to have your transaction declined then get surprised with that overdraft fee.

Producer:
Atm fees and charges to receive paper statements or others to watch out for to avoid them. Use only your bank's ATMs and elect to have digital statements emailed to you each month. 401 K and IRA fees are sometimes the trickiest thing.

Kimberly Palmer:
You have to scroll all the way down. It's in fine print and so people just don't realize what these fees are and how they add up.

Producer:
So do you really know what you're paying in bank fees? It's a key question to consider, and it's one of the 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023 with the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure.

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