Make It Last – Ep 157 – The 401k Marathon

Make It Last – Ep 157 – The 401k Marathon
December 18, 2021 Site Admin Make It Last Radio 0 Comments

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This week on Make It Last Victor & Mark talk about to do with your 401k when you make a job change. Victor breaks down all of the options available to you as you sprint to the end.

They will also dive into what tools you need your retirement tool kit, and all of the reasons why it pays to keep an open mind when doing your legal and financial planning.

Finally, they’ll wrap things up by revealing Victor’s naughty/nice list!

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Make It Last with Victor Medina is hosted by Victor J. Medina, an estate planning and Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) and Certified Financial Planner professional (CFP). Through his law firm and independent registered investment advisory company, Victor provides 360º Wealth Protection Strategies for individuals in or nearing retirement.

Full Transcription Below

Mark Elliot:  Welcome to “Make It Last,” with Victor Medina. I’m Mark Elliot. Victor, of course, two companies, Medina Law Group, Palante Wealth.

Victor is a practicing estate planning and certified elder law attorney. If you’d like to find out more about Medina Law Group you can certainly go to their website medinalawgroup.com. M‑E‑D‑I‑N‑A, medinalawgroup.com. It’s flat fees. It’s really about client care.

Now the people that were clients, Medina Law Group back in 2006, when Victor started that company said, “Why can’t you help us with all of our retirement planning?” “I don’t know I suppose I could.” Victor goes back to school basically becomes a certified financial planner professional, registered investment advisor.

In 2014, here came Palante Wealth, you can find out more about that company. P‑A‑L‑A‑N‑T‑E, palantewealth.com. That is all about your holistic planning for retirement, your income, your investments, your taxes, and then you tie that in with the estate planning from the Medina Law Group, and you’ve gotten everything you really basically need for retirement.

But you need to have a plan, there’s no question. You do need a plan and that is what the idea behind why we do the show really to try to help you understand a little bit more of some of the challenges about retirement. All right, Victor, I thought this would be a great way to start the show right here.

Victor Medina:  Very pretty, very pretty.

Mark:  In it, you’ve got to appreciate that, but here’s the crazy part of this. Bing Crosby, “White Christmas,” it came out Christmas day 1941, 80 years ago. Then think also what happened December 7th of 1941, Pearl Harbor. Two and a half weeks later, we’ve got White Christmas.

Pretty amazing to think of just the timing of all of that.

Victor:  Yeah, for sure. I never appreciated that. That’s crazy.

Mark:  Yeah. That is amazing. Bing Crosby, what a voice, obviously. Your a cappella group, do you guys sing a little white Christmas in your sets?

Victor:  White Christmas didn’t make it into the set, but we did just do a great little concert in Peddler’s Village over in Pennsylvania. It was the second time we were there. We were there Black Friday to sing and they liked us enough to invite us back and we opened for Santa Claus.

That was really important that we were opening the big man on a Wednesday that we were there singing. That was actually a lot of fun, a lot of fun.

Mark:  Something to keep in mind for the year 2022. You need an a cappella group well there you go, Jersey Transit and Victor Medina. They can help you out.

Mark:  Glad you’re with us today. We’re going to talk a little 401(k)s to kick the show off. We’ve got a lot to get to today. We’re going to play a little naughty or nice when we wrap up today’s show in our final segment.

It is interesting, Victor, and you’ve been doing this for a long time but I think in retirement…If you were a retirement planner say in the ’70s or ’80s, it was really about, “Well, I got to take Social Security and I’ve got to make sure I get my pension set up the right way.” That was it. Income was not a huge problem.

In today’s retirement, income is more of a problem and most of us have 401(k)s. We don’t have pensions. Well, there’s some research being done on all this. There is more than $1.3 trillion in forgotten 401(k) accounts that have been left behind after job changes, so maybe talk a little bit about that.

Should we move them to the next job? Should we move them into our own IRA? Because once you leave a job, you do have more options available than if you’re still working for the company, I would imagine, if you’re in your 30s and 40s and 50s, right?

Victor:  You do have a lot more options in terms of the investments that you have available to you. I think one of the things that people overlook is that the menu of options that they had at a particular employer are the ones that were selected by the plan administrator, whoever adopted the plan or whoever comes in from the outside.

It really is just like going through a shopping cart of potential investments that you could have. So what is actually in there is not the universe of everything. It’s a smaller universe and depending on who was setting it up and whether or not they were looking out for your best interest, it could not be the…necessarily the best options that you want to take advantage of.

We often coach clients that if they’re going to make a job change, one of the things they want to investigate is whether or not they want to roll over their 401(k) into an IRA. Some people don’t recognize that that’s something that they can do, not just when they leave jobs, but also when they reach a certain age in their existing job.

Sometimes, even though they’re still employed, it might be a good idea to roll that over. I understand why, Mark, it is a lot of work. First of all, you had the other thing working there. It was at your prior job. It may be easier to leave it behind and be focused on the new job that you have, but it fades into the background.

When I started to do this, of course, the first thing that I started handling were my own investments. While I was working for the law firm, I knew exactly what I was contributing to my 401(k) here.

When I started to get my wife’s investments together, man, was it a kitchen junk drawer of investments from different jobs that she had had because she had followed me along first when we met to go into law school, then my first job and my second job.

She had about four different dormant accounts similar to the ones that you’re talking about, these forgotten 401(k)s that were just spread across different school districts that she had worked for. I have sympathy because it was a lot of work to bring them over, but we did do the work.

It was important for us to do the work. The investment strategies that we got as a replacement were so much better than the ones that she had when she had them there. It’s worthwhile to go through that.

By the way, that’s one of the first things that we do when we work with you as a client is that we help you understand what you have in front of you. First thing we do is create almost a spreadsheet of all your assets. People sometimes are surprised to learn what they actually own.

It leads them on a little bit of a search to be like, “Oh, you know, there was this other account. I should tell you about that because that’s one of the things that I remember I contributed to in one of my old jobs.”

It’s a really important step in the first initial meetings that you’re having, whether we’re setting up a legal plan, a retirement plan or both, to really get our hands around everything, and that includes these dormant or forgotten 401(k) accounts.

Mark:  It’s not unusual for us to have multiple jobs, unlike our parents and certainly our grandparents. It’s a different time. If you have a 401(k) and Victor talked about the in‑service distribution age, typically it’s 59 and a half. Most companies will allow you to roll out some or all of the 401(k) into your own IRA once you hit that age.

Sometimes it’s younger. A company will have a lot of different rules. Generally speaking, it’s 59 and a half. If you’re going to retire, let’s say at 65. You’re 60 years old right now, and you never have heard this. You could actually take your 401(k), roll it into your own IRA so it’s more directed because you’re getting closer to retirement. You have a better handle on things.

Somebody like Victor and the team at Palante Wealth can help guide you through this. There’s no cost. But you’re still going to work for another five years, so you’re going to take advantage of the matching. You’re still going to keep contributing. You’ve just taken a portion of that money and controlled it. That’s really important.

If you’d like to learn more, call the team. They’re here to help. This is a very common thing to forget about, kind of the lost, lost 401(k) because we’ve changed jobs. 856‑506‑8300, 856‑506‑8300.

Victor, when we do this in‑service distribution of a 401(k), we’re not ever calling our old employer and saying, “Hey, just send me the check.” We want to go like Fidelity to TD Ameritrade or something. We’re going custodian to custodian not into our own checking account, or we’ve got some problems maybe tax‑wise.

Victor:  That’s pretty funny. I think many of us would like to do that, right? Like, “Go ahead and just send me the check. I’ve been working all these years. That’s my money. Just send me the check.” No, there are some rules we have to make sure that we don’t violate off of it.

The whole purpose of the 401(k) is that we’ve been able to contribute this money tax deferred. Meaning that we took it out both of our taxable income in that year. but it continues to be growing in a tax‑deferred way, which is really awesome. The only reason that that is possible, the only way that’s possible is that we don’t actually own or have custody over that.

If you look at your 401(k) statements or if you look at your IRA statements, you’ll always see that it has the title of the company that’s holding that. Then there is typically three letters before your name. They say FBO. It stands for, for the benefit of. That little magic in there means that it’s actually the custodian that’s holding on to that money for your benefit.

I don’t want anybody to worry. They’re not going to run off with it. They can’t do anything untoward with your money. They’re not going to steal anything from you. They have to label it that way in order for you to not have direct access to that money and therefore have to pay income taxes.

To you point, Mark, about rolling it over, the way that that happens is when you come over as a client, what we do is we open up an account at one of our custodians. It might be like Charles Schwab. It could be TD Ameritrade or something like that. Even Goldman Sachs has a custodian. We’d be able to open up one of the accounts there. We would have that labeled as an IRA account.

Even that one would say, the custodian for the benefit, and then you and your name there. Then what we would do is we would say, “OK, listen, new account go ask the old account for their money.” They would go ahead, and they would ship it over. There are rare times where they would actually send a check, but they actually wouldn’t send a check to you.

They would send a check made out to the new custodian. Then you would forward or we would forward it on your behalf to where that money is going so we can start to invest it.

You made a really good point earlier. If you’re within that five years before retirement, you’re over age 59 and a half, it is important to start to set up what your retirement plan looks like before the big day. If we have those good five years before you’re going to retire, and we can start to align your assets as part of a better retirement distribution plan, making up your own income check in retirement.

If we have five years to put these things in place, you’re going to get a lot more benefit from that than if we’re doing it at the 11th hour, if we’re doing it just on the heels of you retiring. You’re right, there’s a lot of people that don’t understand that they can start this planning before that day that they have marked off as retirement.

It is beneficial for you to do that. If you are within that five years, I would urge you to give us a call, call that 856‑506‑8300 number, and start that process. The first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to meet with you, and we’re going to go over the options that you have. What your picture looks like, and what we would recommend that you do.

Then, from there, you can make a decision that you want us to do. You want to move forward with the plan, or maybe make a decision that was good enough for now, maybe you come back, talk to us later.

We’ve got to start that process. We have to start that conversation. We’re all about making sure that we’re giving you the right information so that you can take action with us as your guide to be in the very best possible position for retirement.

Mark:  A final question on this topic and then we’ll move on. We got a lot to get to in today’s show. The 401(k) being in our former employer’s hands. They’re controlling it. There is a decision to be made, I would assume.

Do we take the old 401(k) or old 401(k)s, and move them to our new employer, which would help our bottom line of that 401(k)? Or do we move it to an IRA? There’s options available. I would imagine there’s not one clear‑cut answer.

Victor:  There isn’t. One of the brilliant things about working with a fiduciary advisor like us, is we actually have to go through an examination to see what’s in your best interest. It isn’t a universal answer said.

Everyone has to roll it over, or everyone must keep it and move it to your new employer. It is dependent on you, your circumstances, the plan that you had, and the plan that you’re going to. All of those things get factored in.

What we want to do is we want to make the best decision for you. I would likely say that in many cases, what we’re finding is that your investment options and your retirement picture looks better if you roll it over, but that’s not universally the case.

There are some situations where the 401(k) that you’re moving to, your new employer, has got such a catalog of a plan and options that may be your best benefit is to make that move instead.

Then, look to make sure that you have everything lined up for retirement a little bit later. We want to make sure that we’re giving you the appropriate advice for your circumstance and your situation, which is why we need to meet with you directly.

This education, this talk, that we’re having here, isn’t going to be something you can do and run with on your own, because the advice that we’re going to give you has to be specific to you.

That’s one of the benefits of not only working with us as fiduciary advisors that have to put your best interest ahead of our own or anybody else’s, but it’s also the benefit of working with somebody independent.

That means that we have the entire universe of financial products and solutions available to us. We’re not constrained by only offering the things that Fidelity has, or that Merrill Lynch has, or what they tell us to have.

It’s an essential part of how we organize ourselves as counselors in people’s retirements lives, is to maintain our independence so that when you came to us, we could give you the best possible advice, because we were constrained or hamstrung to do one thing in particular. We do whatever is best for you, but we need to start, and we need to have that conversation.

Mark:  Again, that number is 856‑506‑8300. No cost, no obligation, no pressure to chat with the team. Remember this, the Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth serve the Pennington, Greater Mercer County areas, as well as Bucks County.

Victor’s got clients in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey. They are here to help you. If you have questions like, “Hey, when can I retire, Victor? Do I have enough? Will my money last as long as I do? My loved ones be OK if something happens to me?”

What we want to know is if we retire, are we going to be OK? Can we maintain our lifestyle? That’s the big question. The team of Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth are here to help, but they don’t know if they can help you until you reach out.

There’s no cost for this. 856‑506‑8300. 856‑506‑8300. Now, remember, the Make‑It‑Last plan that Victor and you will come up with. You’re the CEO. Look at Victor as your CFO. You’re the pilot, he’s the co‑pilot. The team’s, basically, here to help, is the idea. It’s about you. It’s about your hopes and dreams.

In income strategy, you got to replace the paychecks are no longer coming in. Your investment strategies, you might be a higher risk person, you might be a low‑risk person, you might be somewhere in between, everybody’s situation is a little bit different, and their needs are a little bit different.

Income, investments, taxes, we need to be tax‑efficient moving forward, certainly, in retirement because in today’s retirement, 401(k)s and IRAs, all these tax‑deferred tools we have in our retirement tool belt, never been taxed yet. Once we start pulling money out, we got some issues.

It’s not our grandparents. When you get to retirement, your taxes will be lower. That’s not necessarily the case today. 856‑506‑8300. If you’d like to learn more about your specific situation.

Hey, we’re just getting started with Make It Last, with Victor Medina of Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth. We’re back with more right after this.

Mark:  Welcome back to Make It Last with Victor Medina, of the Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth. You can find out more about Medina Law Group by going to medinalawgroup.com, M‑E‑D‑I‑N‑A, medinalawgroup.com. Palante Wealth as P‑A‑L‑A‑N‑T‑E, palantewealth.com.

Victor is a practicing estate planning and certified elder law attorney, so that’s Medina Law Group. Victor also has Palante Wealth, which is about holistic planning for your retirement.

Victor’s a certified financial planner professional, a registered investment advisor. You want to find out more, it’s palantewealth.com. Victor is also the author of five books on retirement planning, under his acclaimed Make It Last series. Got some even for women on there as well, don’t you? You got a lot of information.

Victor:  I do. I think that informing the public is one of the most important activities we do, because at the end of the day, what we want, the opportunity to work with every family in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

I wouldn’t be a business owner if I didn’t want to grow. I know at the end of the day, I can’t help everyone. One of the ways that we do share this information as widely as possible, is by writing these books, hosting this radio show and podcast so that people can listen to it, and spreading the information.

I want everybody to have the opportunity to take advantage of the best advice that I know is available and I’m trying to share it as widely as I can.

Mark:  When you know better, you should be able to do better, but until you know better, maybe it’s a little bit difficult to make decisions. A lot of different ways. Victor and the team are here to help you. If you have questions, it’s 856‑506‑8300.

Victor, would your wife,Jennifer, who is a school psychologist, if I said, “Jennifer, is Victor a handyman? Does he do all the little odds and end jobs around the house, or do you have to call somebody in to do it?” What would she say?

Victor:  She’d say, “Yes.” I look for modesty whenever I can, but I am a pretty handy person. I installed my own hardwood floors in the first house that we went into. I can work with electricity.

I have one thing I don’t do, Mark. I don’t do plumbing. I’m really nervous about messing that up. I know water can create a lot of damage. By the way, some of that other stuff that needs to flow can create damage. I stay away from plumbing. Put me in front of carpentry, put me in front of electricity, you’re going to get a good job.

Mark:  When you’re doing those kind of jobs around the house, the right tools make a difference. Is that fair to say?

Victor:  Absolutely, yes.

Mark:  When it comes to retirement, the right tools for what you need to provide for the lifestyle that you’re hoping for in retirement, the things you want to do, the bucket list items, and all of that, it is really important to have the right tools in your retirement toolkit.

Now, Victor, we could certainly go to Google and just put in retirement tools, and there would be millions of search results. There’s a lot of information to sort through. You’re not sure of the sources, “Do I trust them? Do I not? How do I figure this out?” Which is why you really should just call Victor with any questions, you have. 856‑506‑8300.

There is an online toolkit from the federal government. It includes resources to help you learn about Social Security, about Medicare. Makes sense, those can be very confusing decisions to make, and also has the basics about retirement savings plan. The online toolkit from the federal government is Social Security, Medicare, and the basics about retirement savings plan. Is anything missing from that list?

Victor:  I mean, could you walk around and fix your entire house with just a hammer and a screwdriver and a measuring tape? Probably not. You probably need a few more tools to make that be successful. I think in the retirement planning world, it really extends to a couple of different areas that I’ll mention quickly here.

You could imagine that we could have a very long discussion on the different kinds of tools just as much as you would have a completely full toolbox where you’re talking about different kinds of hammers, never mind just having a hammer. It’s going to be the same way in the financial world.

Let’s talk about a couple of additional tools that I think are important. One of them speaks near and dear to my heart. You know, of course, that I started my career as an estate planning attorney. We still have an active estate planning practice, where I’m working involved as a certified elder law attorney with all of our clients’ plans.

When we design those, I think that one of the legal planning elements of retirement is very important. When we think about making sure you’ve got good base legal documents as you enter retirement so that you don’t create a potential problem in the future. You might be thinking, like, “What does that have to do with retirement? I’m trying to figure out how to be successfully retired.”

Well, imagine this. If you don’t have a valid power of attorney, you’re probably going to blow about $10,000 on a guardianship, and that’s really going to impact your nest egg. Having good legal documents is actually a financial problem or a financial problem that you’re solving, something you’re doing.

The other element of it in terms of finances, specifically using legal planning, is how to avoid the impacts of long‑term care. What’s growing right now is a lot of people being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and cognitive issues.

The impact of that is they’re staying more and more in assisted living facilities and having that costs a lot of money. When you’re married ‑‑ unfortunately, the rules require both spouses to essentially be poor ‑‑ legal planning can help preserve the assets so you’re able to maintain a quality of life for that healthy spouse.

The one element I would first highlight on retirement tools that are missing is legal planning ‑ the toolkit that is available in estate planning and, specifically, asset protection planning.

The next thing we look at, and it’s not discussed at all in terms of different savings plans are within there ‑‑ different kinds of insurance products. Generally when you get an insurance product, Mark, the reason why is to shift to the risk of something with a big catastrophic loss that’s involved in it.

For example, if you’re going to end up dying and losing out on, let’s say, pension income, the catastrophic loss is immense on that. We want to insure against that. I don’t know if someone’s going to die, or when they’re going to die. I want to insure against that.

When I do put a little insurance policy in place, what I’m able to do is make money appear when somebody dies that can kind of control for that risk.

The insurance product also does a really good job on getting guarantees that aren’t available by a general marketplace like Wall Street investments. Sometimes we use insurance products as part of a strategy to get and manufacture a paycheck in retirement.

When you look at all of this stuff together, you’re kind of blending. It’s like, “OK, what am I pulling off of it?” Realize that most of the tools out there don’t come with any wisdom attached to it. What they’re doing is basically saying, “Well, here are the basics on this kind of plan. Here’s the basics on social security. Here’s what you do with Medicare.”

They don’t give you any real advice about how to successfully navigate through that, because they’re not coming from the perspective of somebody that has navigated the lives of other people and helped them plan.

All of my clients are in retirement and doing largely successfully off of it, meaning that they are putting their plan in place. It’s working the way we wanted it to.

When we had that big hiccup because of the pandemic and all the accounts had this big backslide because the markets corrected, none of my clients called me because we had a plan in place already to deal with the ups and downs we’re going to be facing for the next 20, 25 years of their retirement.

We need to add that layer of experience and wisdom in order to make all of these things work together. I think that’s all part of what would make a great toolkit in retirement.

Mark:  I would think the one thing you could also add would be taxes, probably. Tax planning.

Victor:  Tax planning. Absolutely. Especially because in retirement the IRS is your biggest partner. They’re a business partner of yours. They get to say how much of your winnings they’re taking and you can’t control what they’re going to change along the way.

I remember there’s an old Will Rogers quote, “The difference between taxes and death is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” For some reason, we’ve got to figure out how to navigate that because we can’t predict the future. Absolutely, dealing and planning around taxes is important.

I’ve hit on part of all four of the elements of every plan that we create for a client. When you come in and you’re looking to do retirement planning, we’re looking at your income, your investments, your taxes, and your estate planning.

We think those are the four pillars that create a great retirement plan and all elements of what would make a great retirement toolkit. We do that for every one of our clients. We call it our Make‑It‑Last checkup plan. What it allows us to do is diagnose what’s working right, where we need attention, what our recommendations are, and it helps us chart a course for the future.

Mark:  I’d tell you this, Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth are here to help you to have a better idea of where you can put your head on the pillow at night, maybe sleep a little bit better, ease some of that stress.

856‑506‑8300 is the number if you’d like to talk with Victor and the team, about your situation. 856‑506‑8300.

Victor, we all probably have some tools in our retirement toolbox, 401(k)s, IRAs, might have some real estate, could have life insurance policies. We could have annuities, we could have some bonds, and stocks, and ETFs. All those kinds of things. All these different tools.

Do you ever ask somebody, “Hey, you’ve got this tool in your toolbox, what’s it for?” because that would stump me. I think to me. [laughs]

Victor:  I know, exactly right. It stumps a lot of people. It stumped my parents when I first did planning for them. It’s like you got these six different things. Walk me through how you decided, why you wanted that, and what made sense?

I get a lot of this, “Well, it kind of made sense at the time. I liked the salesperson.” What we find is that we’ve had this junk drawer of investment products. It’s this mess of things that we’ve acquired over time. There’s not any cohesion between. There’s no real thought saying why it’s earned its place in our retirement toolkit.

I carry a tool bag every time I do any job around the house. It was a little handy, but if I know that I have to hammer something, I actually don’t bring just the hammer over there. I bring all of my tools because I don’t know what problem I’m going to encounter at that time. Then what I’m fixing, it allows me to pull from any of those to make sure I get a job done right. It should be the same thing with your retirement.

Everything in your retirement toolkit, every element you have, your retirement hammer, your retirement screwdriver, your retirement…it should earn its place in that bag. I know the bag that I carry around, it’s small. It’s not the biggest bag in the world. Every tool in there has earned its place and it would be the same thing.

When you’re looking through, you’re like, “Oh, I have this tax‑sheltered annuity, and then I came in and I had this small investment account from a rollover IRA from a job that I had 30 years ago. I bought these CDs because they were giving me a free toaster.”

It goes beyond that. You need some smart planning where you’re going to have each one of these things, figure out how it works together towards your intended success.

You get to retirement, how is it going to generate income for you? How’s it going to generate growth to fight inflation? How are you going to navigate taxes? Does it navigate taxes on its own? How do we protect the asset to make sure if you need to go to a nursing home, we don’t have to spend that thing.

Each one of these need some time and considerations as we put them together. Now you feel confident walking drills. It’s not a junk drawer. It’s well‑oiled machine. Each part is working in perfect concert with the other.

Mark:  Here’s the deal, when Victor sits down with people in the teams of Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth to talk about your income plan, your investment strategies, your tax strategies, your estate plan, those types of things, Victor’s got a big toolbox.

My toolbox is not like Victor’s around the home because I’m not a handyman. That’s the question, what is your toolkit look like? What are you trying to accomplish with your retirement?

856‑506‑8300, if you have any questions whatsoever about where you are on your road to retirement 856‑506 ‑8300.

The interesting thing and last question this segment because I think this is an interesting one. I think it’s one of the more unique challenges that you have at Palante Wealth putting these retirement plans together because everybody is a little bit different in this area. How do you find the right balance between growth and safety?

Victor:  It is a good question. Every time somebody comes in, Mark, I’ll ask them how much of this do you want to lose? Can you afford to lose? I don’t think there’s a person that comes in there and ever tells me I can afford to lose it all.

I do know that people have different risk tolerances, and for them based on what kind of other guarantees they have coming in, income, pensions. Like my dad, my parents, they’re both retired school teachers. They have a lot of risk tolerance because they’ve got series of checks that gets delivered every beginning of the month.

When we’re balancing the difference between growth and safety, I don’t think that it is as binary as choosing like I want one over the other. I would actually start to slot them within time periods.

For example, you want growth as a future planning activity, meaning, it’s important when you look at on a scale of 7, 10, 15 years plus as part of your overall plan. At that point in time, you balanced towards that growth.

When you’re looking to create income, when you’re looking to make draws from a retirement nest egg, now you’re looking at that element of safety, safety plus growth. Of course, certain investment products are better suited for those conditions.

It’s not as simple as just saying I want one over the other. It’s like, which do you need at the time. So now if we start to think about it from the perspective of how long have retirement you’re going to be in, let’s say, you’re going to be in a 25‑ or 30‑year retirement. Now we get a little bit more granular with the recommendations.

For example, we can say, “What really make sense if you had x percentage that’s allocated for our seven‑year plus strategy, and if we had y percentage for our time between now and the next seven years…” That starts to answer a lot of those questions in terms of how much goes in each one of those buckets.

I would actually allocate them across time horizons and not necessarily an either/or decision. You probably want both/and is the answer.

Mark:  Another thing that Victor is created for you with no charge at all is if you would like a report on a checklist, you go to 920checklist.com, you put in your email, you’ll get download this checklist and think about it, how do we know what steps we need to be taking? When do we need to do those?

How do we do it? How do we put this all together? Victor’s created this checklist for retirement. All you have to do is go to 920checklist.com and you can download it right there. 920checklist.com. There’s no cost. There’s no obligation for that. 920checklist.com if you’d like to download that checklist. A lot of great information inside of that.

Of course, you want to sit down with the teams and talk about your situation. 856‑506‑8300 is the number. 856‑506‑8300. It’s time to get started. There’s no cost. There’s no pressure for this. 856‑506‑8300.

When you are packing up your retirement toolkit, one thing you want to leave behind is your feelings towards certain financial tools. Victor is going to explain that when we come back, stay with us. This is Make It Last with Victor Medina of the Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth.

Mark:  Remember that first paycheck when you started working all those years ago? You looked at the net amount and thought, “Whoa, what happened here?” Well, it could be this way with your retirement accounts. You know how much you’ve saved, but if you haven’t planned for Uncle Sam, you could come up short in retirement.

With tax laws constantly changing, there’s a lot you need to know to make sure you’re not paying more than your fair share. The Palante Wealth Advisors team can help. They’ll help you create a retirement plan that shows you how taxes could affect you now, and in the future. Set up a visit with the Palante Wealth Advisors team today, call 856‑506‑8300.

That’s 856‑506‑8300. Make sure you know how these changes could affect you so you can avoid those whoa moments in retirement. Call 856‑506‑8300. Firm offers insurance services and may not give tax advice. Investment advisory services offered through Palante Wealth Advisors LLC, a New Jersey and Pennsylvania registered investment advisor.

Mark:  Glad you’re with us today for Make It Last with Victor Medina of Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth. I’m Mark Elliott, and here’s the deal. It’s about retirement. That’s what we talk about every week on this program.

Again, the number if you have any questions 856‑506‑8300. We’re talking about the retirement toolkit. We’ve decided that I am no handyman around the house, Victor is. His tools at home are much more in depth than mine where I have a hammer and a couple screwdrivers. Good luck to me. Everybody’s a little bit different, too, in our retirement toolkit world.

There are thousands of different financial tools out there. In a way, Victor, it seems like there should be a solution for just about every situation or problem that we might face, but sometimes we have an emotional reaction to certain tools or products. We reject them based on what we’ve heard or just what we assume. Can that be a dangerous line of thinking?

Victor:  It absolutely can be a dangerous line of thinking and before I go into the reasons why, I just want to make it OK, if you’re in that position. If you have a particular belief like, “Oh, I think annuities are terrible.” “Oh, I don’t want to be in the market at all.” “Oh, I think all the banks are horrible because they don’t give me any interest.”

If you’re coming into that with that thought process, it’s OK. I understand why and how you likely got brainwashed because you met one person that had a particular ax to grind. Then they taught you about that in some fashion, maybe was on TV, maybe was in a book that you read, and then you understood why they had that position.

I have taken the opposite position of that, which is that I don’t hate anybody. I’m agnostic. I’m Switzerland when it comes to retirement planning. I will use whatever my client needs in order to be successful.

One of the benefits of being an independent financial advisor the way that I am is I’m not beholden to anybody for any particular product. I am essentially able to choose from anything that’s out there, as long as it works for my client. Then having that perspective, it now allows me to look at everything and sure we want to be examining.

I want to be sure that it works, but I can be open to any solution as long as it works for clients. What will happen from time to time is you come in with a statement, let’s say, and I actually did this for a client that came in. They came in with a portfolio, they were about half million dollars or so in terms of where their net assets work, and they needed a retirement plan.

In there, there were products. There were some variable annuities in there, there were some investment accounts, and there were some fixed annuities. My conclusion for her, for her situation, is one of the things that you currently own, you should keep. These two other things we should change and here’s the reason why.

Now, if I came in with a particular ax to grind, I would say everything that you own is stinks and you should buy everything that I recommend you should, but I didn’t do that because that’s not what we do at Palante Wealth. What we do is we figure out the plan that works for a client.

I think it should be the same thing for everyone in terms of their open mindedness. Right now, in the world of retirement planning, the most successful retirement plans pull from all of the best products that are out there. There’s no one particular demon that you shouldn’t be considering as part of it.

There are principles that you should follow. For example, you shouldn’t pay a lot for your investments. You should be avoiding high fees. There’s probably a category of high‑fee investments that are bad, you shouldn’t have those, but we have replacements for them in their categories. We have low‑fee mutual funds, we have low‑fee annuities, we have low‑fee bank products if we needed to them.

The idea would be that if you keep an open mind from the recommendations that are coming, you actually might have a better retirement. You might think about somebody who’s close minded, who’s just bullheaded about what they’re doing. You know those people. If they keep their mind closed to new ideas, they’re probably not going to end up so great.

They’re going to close the door on something that might really help them just because they’re so strong willed about not accepting a recommendation. We work on a lot in my firm. We work on for every client is empowerment through education. It’s part of the reason why there’s five books published.

It’s part of the reason we’ve got videos that are available on YouTube. It’s part of the reason why we do the radio show is what we have discovered is that the more that we educate, the more transparent we are about the education process.

The more we empower people to act and follow the recommendations, we’re going to take people who hate annuities and have them understand that one product might be appropriate for them in their portfolio.

I have people who hate being in the market and recognize that they may need a portion of the 70 percent of equities in order to meet their goals and they become OK with it because we’ve invested all that time to make somebody comfortable before they actually pull the trigger.

We talk about it all, educate people on it completely so that before you move forward with anything, before you accept any recommendations in there, you’ve actually asked all the questions that you need answers to. Gotten everything in line to be like, “You know what? You’re right. That’s what I need. Let’s move forward with that.”

As long as we keep an open mind, we might actually get one of the best results that we could.

Mark:  In the investment world, Victor, the team operates under the fiduciary standard. You’ve probably heard that term before. It’s really an important term. Maybe 20, 25 percent of advisors around the country actually operate under the fiduciary standard, which means that Victor is morally, legally, ethically obligated to do what is in the client’s best interests.

There’s groups that actually keep an eye on him to make sure that’s how he operates, which he does obviously. That’s really important, the fiduciary standard. Again, the Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth serve the Pennington and greater Mercer County areas as well as Bucks County.

There are clients in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, and they are here to help you with any retirement questions you may have ‑‑ estate planning, taxes, investments, income. Where is it coming from? How do I do it? 856‑506‑8300 is the number. Again, this could be a 15‑minute phone call.

You might just say, “Yeah, I don’t think that you’re the right team for us.” Victor will say, “OK, well, good luck. Here’s what I think. Maybe here’s some options for you.” Because it’s not always a great fit, but it’s a two‑way street, because this is long‑term relationship. This is getting you through retirement, not just to retirement.

There’s a lot of moving parts here. If you’re not really sure about some of these areas, I think it’s a great time to call the team and find out more about your situation. 856‑506‑8300. Glad you’re with us today for Make It Last with Victor Medina of the Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth. I’m Mark Elliott.

We’re talking about the retirement toolkit. One thing back to the emotional thing. Have you ever had this happen, Victor, where somebody comes in and says, “Look, I know that stock may not be the greatest but…” or, “That stock may be the greatest. My granddad gave it to me, so I don’t want anything to happen to it”?

You’re like, “Well, I bet granddad gave you that stock that you could use it for something that you needed down the line. He didn’t give it because that stock meant the world to him.” Or maybe it did, I guess. Do you ever have that where somebody gets emotionally tied because somebody handed down something to them and they’re like, “Well, I can’t mess with that”?

Victor:  I have. It’s come up two different ways. One of the ways is exactly that. It’s been in the generation, granddad gift to me, that’s part of the last memory of that. The other way that I’ve actually had it shown up is sometimes I’ll have a widow come in, where…Not to be too gender specific, but they often happens with women, where the husband passed away.

Their husband was chiefly responsible for financial management in their household, and they don’t want to upset anything that the husband had done with the planning. It’s like this is the way he had set up.

We have to actually spend a lot of time with both of those groups. The first one that we have to understand in terms of all of the emotional attachment to it is that we don’t have to own all of it in order for it to carry the same weight off of it.

I’ll often say to them, “Look, it’s OK that in this world that you keep, let’s say, five percent, of what is in your total nest egg, in order for you to keep that particular holding, and then we’ll kind of manage the other 95 percent towards success.”

That’s OK for me, because I know that by putting a great plan in place for the other 95 percent, I’m going to help them be successful. They didn’t submarine our plan.

The phrase that I use, Mark, is I say, “Listen, we’re in a boat, if you keep five percent, you’ve drilled a hole above the waterline. That’s OK. You want to keep more than that, you want to keep 50 percent of your money in this one holding, you’re drilling a hole below the waterline, and I’m not staying in the boat with you, because we’re not going to make it to shore.”

I think that we’re OK with that at certain levels. When it comes to the actual strategy that we inherit, and they don’t want to move from the strategy because it had helped them be successful in the past, I actually spend a little bit more time with those families.

What I say to them is, “I think that the biggest goal that that person had was for you to be OK. That’s what they were worried about. They wanted to make sure that you were OK, and they were putting their best ideas in place that had not created too many problems ‑‑ that’s why you still have the money that you have ‑‑ for you to be OK.”

At the end of the day, you’re going to have to figure out whether or not being OK also includes changing the strategy, because I would imagine that if we were having this conversation, and this person was still around, and we gave them the same education ‑‑ because a lot of people are already inclined to the education we’re giving.

They understand the purpose for the plan that we’re putting in place, and they started agreeing with it, but they’re hesitant, because it’s changing what it was that was in place before.

I’ll say to them, “Well look, you know, if it comes down to it, if this person was still here, do you think that they would probably agree with you? Like, they would feel the way that you do, that these ideas make sense?” Then the answer is usually yes, and I say, “Well OK, well then let’s do this.

“Let’s try it for a little while, because, you know, the overall goal for your husband was for you to be OK. That’s what they care about, and I have the same care. My team has the same care for you. We want you to be OK, and what we believe at the bottom of our heart is that if you follow these strategies, you’re going to be OK.

“You’re going to be the best form of what you can be safety‑wise, making sure it’s there for you to be able to navigate changes that happens in the future. This is going to help you be OK. If you want us to do that, we’ll actually do it.”

Some people get to that point in time, quite candidly, Mark, and some people don’t, and sometimes they’ll come back later, but I need them to be OK with our strategies. I never want it to be a heavy‑handed approach. I want them to be largely an idea that they accept, that they agree to.

That emotional thing always overwrites their rational thought until we get to the rational thought, more importantly, the emotional. We attach the emotion to the rational decision that we’re making. It’s always going to overwhelm it, but we’re willing to invest the time that it takes in order to get them to that spot because we firmly believe they’re going to be better for it.

That’s one of the best thing when working with us. Working with the law firm, working with the financial services firm. Nobody here bills by the hour. Nobody cares how long it takes to get it done, except obviously if you want it done sooner because we know it’s going to be better.

You don’t have to worry, for example, getting bills for portions of an hour. We’re going to spend as much time as it takes to get you comfortable with the plan that we have in place before we move it forward, because we know that your emotional attachment to what we’re proposing, and the fact that you believe that you will be better for it is just as important as the emotional attachment that you had before you came in.

We’re willing to invest as much time as it takes to get you there.

Mark:  It’s well said. I appreciate that. If you think about it, we’re talking about the retirement toolkit today on the program and you think about all the things you have whether it’s IRA’s 401(k)s, real estate, whatever it is. Stocks bonds, mutual funds, insurance tools, whatever.

What’s the purpose? Is it doing what you need it to do for you to retire the way you want to? Do you have questions about income, investments, estate planning, taxes? Would you like to work with somebody that actually specializes in retirement planning? Retirement planning is much different than just being, and there’s nothing wrong with insurance agents or stock brokers.

They all have their purpose, but retirement planning is a different deal, because now we’re trying to make sure that everything lasts for the next 20‑30 years and make sure that we don’t run out of money before we run out of life. How we are going to leave things at the end of the day, the estate planning and all of those type of things?

That’s a lot of stuff on your plate if you don’t have somebody to be a team mate, a coach to help guide you along the way. Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth and Victor Medina are here to help you. 856‑506‑8300 is the number. Again, there’s no cost, there’s no obligation and there’s no pressure and there’s no judgment.

We have all made mistakes. 856‑506‑8300 again is the number. I don’t know why you wouldn’t pick up the phone, because there’s no cost. Let’s find out more about where you are. Victor and the team are here ready to help. 856‑506‑8300. We’re back with our final segment right after this. This is Make It Last with Victor Medina of Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth.

Mark:  Glad you’re with us today for Make It Last with Victor Medina of Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth. Again, if you would like to find out more about the Law Group, you’re thing about, “I need an estate plan. I’m not really sure. Do I need a trust? What about the powers of attorney for healthcare and finances, all of those things?”

There are so many moving parts. Medina Law Group is here to help you figure that out. M‑E‑D‑I‑N‑A, medinalawgroup.com. Then Victor’s other company, Palante Wealth, is about planning for your retirement. Income strategies, investment strategies, tax strategies. The companies work really well together, so it’s an opportunity for you to learn more.

Palante Wealth’s website is P‑A‑L‑A‑N‑T‑E, palantewealth.com. You can always go there and do a little research of your own. Medinalawgroup.com and palantewealth.com. If you have questions or concerns, the easiest thing to do is call Victor and the team, 856‑506‑8300. Did you hear me tapping my papers?

Victor:  I did. I was wondering what was going on.

Mark:  Yeah, this is a big segment. Big segment, because you’re going to be Santa. You’ve got a lot of pressure on your shoulders for this entire segment Victor. Are we going to be on Santa’s naughty or nice list? Now I imagine growing up, you were never on your parent’s naughty list. Were you, Victor?

Victor:  [laughs] I don’t know. They didn’t tell me if I was. I think I was a pretty good kid. It’s funny that I grew up mostly as a single or a lone kid. It was about eight or nine years after that, my parents divorced, they remarried, and I started to get a half brother and sister.

You only start to get on to the naughty list once you start to get siblings, because it’s really about the fighting between them. When you’re the only child, it’s hard to be on the naughty list, because all the attention showered on you.

That was my life for the majority or the first 9 to 10 years. Those formative years. After that, after I got my little brother, my little sister, who probably deserved me being naughty to them, just laying that out there. Making sure everyone knows that I’m pretty clear about that.

Anyway, once I got my brother and sister, I’ve probably begun to get naughty. I would tell you say the same thing in our own family. We got Aiden, Lucas, and Dylan. All three of them are great, but it is the youngest one that seems to get on the naughty list the most, and probably getting placed there by his older brothers.

Mark:  Aiden, a senior in high school. Lucas, a freshman in high school. Dylan, in third grade. Dylan’s got a lot of pressure. We always know the middle child is the forgotten one. We hope, Lucas, he slides along. He’s doing fine. Aiden’s got pressure as the oldest, the leader of the pack. Then, Dylan’s trying to do what his older brothers do. It’s a fun time.

All right, so here we go. I’m going to give you a scenario. We’ve got four of them. Then, you’re going to tell me, is that on Victor Santa’s naughty list or nice list? You ready?

Victor:  I’m ready.

Mark:  First scenario, Bobby. Bobby is 62. He’s ready to retire. He is the breadwinner of his family. He’s worked hard all of his life. Bobby has decided he’s going to take his full Social Security payment at the age of 62 because that’s all he knows about retirement planning.

His wife, Becky, is eight years younger. That puts her at 54. Becky is eight years younger than him, and has worked small jobs, but has mostly stayed home with the kids. Retirement Santa Victor, would Bobby’s decision fall under naughty or nice for retirement planning?

Victor:  Man, I got to give Bobby some coal on this one. He’s definitely going to go on the naughty list. There’s going to be three reasons why I’m going to do this. He’s going to be naughty three times in my world.

The first one is that he’s making an election on Social Security at his youngest age without consideration for the value of that Social Security as it might be as part of his overall plan.

One of the first things, it’s difficult to make a decision in isolation, about one thing like Social Security or one product or one item that you have, without understanding how it affects the totality of your planning.

This concept of Social Security as a guaranteed income source, the thing that will be with you in the rest of your life. That has these other flavors to it, like the ability to increase in value, eight percent a year if you continue to defer it. That’s going to go into the math. You can’t make a decision about that, without understanding how it affects the other things that are part of your overall retirement plan.

That’s naughty strike number one. Naughty strike number two is you mentioned that his wife is eight years younger than him.

If she’s eight years younger than him, then her longevity by both the age differential and the fact that as a female, she is historically going to live at least four years longer than he would, say if they were similarly aged, means we have about a 12‑year anticipated differential means that he’s got to factor her into that planning.

Just because he elects at 62, it might be very good for him, but like the siblings that are fighting, he’s not doing well by his wife on that.

That’s especially the case, by the way, because of the fact she was working smaller jobs, but has been mostly home, with the kids, which means that she was sacrificing to be with the kids.

Sacrifice in the sense that she didn’t have as high of an earnings record, which means her own Social Security, she’s not going to have a chance to claim a very high benefit, because she didn’t have the same earnings record, it’s really dependent on his. That’s a second strike for that.

The third strike that comes from it is, as we start to think about how to put a plan together, we have to understand that the Social Security component of it. If we start to take it at 62, is going to limit his ability to collect on that if he ever needs to go back to work.

There’s nobody who reaches full retirement age at 62, these days. If you’re starting, and you’re going to look closer to age 67. He’s got five years. If he happens to go back to work, they’re actually going to take back some of the money that they’ve been paying him over Social Security.

It’s going to affect how much Social Security he has. He didn’t keep open his options about how much value he was getting from that. My man is not getting a big gift this year. He’s not. He’s done.

Mark:  What if I change the scenario, though. I said, “Hey, by the way, Becky just inherited $10 million.” Now, we’ve got a little different scenario where the Social Security is not going to be that important, probably.

There’s a lot of moving parts in the decision on when and how to take Social Security. Palante Wealth, they can help you. That’s part of the holistic planning part, the income part. Social Security falls into that if you’d like to learn more. It’s a big decision. You want to make the right decision.

Some people, it is right to take it at 62, others at 66 or 67. Others still to wait till 70 to fully maximize it. We’re all in a little different situation. The idea is when you sit down with Victor and the team at Palante Wealth, it’s about you. Where does it make the most sense for you?

They can use all their computer software and go, “Here’s a scenario. Here’s a scenario. What do you think of this? What do you think of that?” It’s about you. 856‑506‑8300. Social Security, though, is one of those big questions you want to get right. You don’t want to make a mistake. 856‑506‑8300.

Santa Victor, the next one, Helen. Helen always enjoyed visiting the casino. She loved to gamble. She enjoyed that feeling of competition and coming out on top. It was the same way with how she invested in the market as well, throughout her life. She plans to maintain that aggressiveness in retirement.

Now, her husband, Ted, on the other hand, he’s the more conservative of the two. He is not comfortable the amount of risks that Helen takes. Now, Helen has made more money than Ted. He doesn’t want the same retirement plan that she has. Ted says, “I’m going to go talk to a financial professional about my options.” Santa Victor, Ted, naughty or nice?

Victor:  I’d say I don’t have a big problem with what Ted’s doing right here. I put in him overall in the nice category. I got to be honest. The majority of our clients are people that are in relationships, where their minds meet about what they want to do. They’re not this far off between Helen and Ted.

We don’t have to struggle too much. We do have to struggle a little bit when they’re not quite aligned because we have to get them together. Part of our discussion, is we create a Make It Last plan around income investments, taxes, and estate planning. Is to get them both aligned in here.

The central point of this is that everyone needs to have a retirement plan that is right for them. There’s no one size fits all. It’s not coming into it exactly the plan that you need.

By the way, I don’t have a big problem with Helen either. This isn’t to say that by Ted being nice, that somehow Helen is naughty in this scenario. She has a retirement plan that fits her vision for what retirement needs to be.

I might have some opinions about being risky with money in retirement, just as a philosophy. We tend to be more conservatively based. Helen may not be a great client for us. Ted might be a great client for us.

Somebody who’s focused on making sure they get smart and conservative investments that help money last. By the way, Make It Last moniker is with us. That might be a better fit for us. I’m OK with him pursuing his own retirement plan.

The truth of the matter is that the most important part isn’t necessarily the plan that you select, but the commitment to doing planning even as circumstances change. If we were in a scenario like you were talking about before, where all of a sudden, Becky, inherits $10 million.

If Ted starts to inherit different money, or if Helen loses her money at the casino, they’re both going to need to re‑evaluate their retirement plan. The good thing is that if you’re working with our firm, we have lifetime relationships with our clients.

It’s not about setting a plan and pushing them on their way. We’re working with all of our clients on a regular basis to make sure that their plan and the success that’s going on, or the circumstances that are going out in the world, whether it’s tax planning or changes in the market, are still going to fit what their goals are for retirement.

I like Ted’s commitment to doing planning and seeking out advice that is not only maybe different from his wife’s, but is something that a good professional can help them, specifically help him or specifically work on his retirement. I got him in the nice category for two different reasons.

One, it’s OK to have a different plan, and everyone should be comfortable with their own. Second, the idea that he’s asking for help means that he’s probably thinking about this in a way that will help him be very successful in retirement.

The truth about it, Mark, is that when we’re in a scenario like this where we’re getting into something that’s brand new, you do need an expert that’s going to come and do it. When I was working in my house. I’m pretty comfortable doing some electrical work, I can replace outlets, I can replace switches. I’ve been installing smart switches in different parts of the house.

I recently bought an electric vehicle and that required me to install an outside charger. The work was similar. I was running a line from the box out and there was going to be a 240 outlet that was going to be outside.

I recognized that at this point in time, I needed an expert. I need somebody that did this all the time, and I didn’t just go with any electrician, but I went with an electrician that really knew about electric vehicles and this is what all they did. They were to come out and they put everything in. It took them just a couple hours to get it done.

The way that I knew that they had done the right work is that when it came time for me to get my permit approved, so that way I could clear the permits and know that I got the work done the right way, the inspector that came out is like, “Oh, you hired X to do your EV installation? Not a problem. We’re good on it,” and they just did a cursory look because they knew that that person was an expert.

It’s the same thing with retirement planning. You want to work with somebody that is an expert in that area. I really like the fact that Ted is invested in making sure that he’s going to work with an expert like our firm to make sure that he’s getting the best retirement plan for him.

Mark:  856‑506‑8300, if you’d like to chat with Victor and the teams to get your planning underway. Final one, you’ve got less than two minutes to do it though so I’m going to throw it out here though.

Diana has moderate success being a ghostwriter for CEOs and celebrities. She’s also written a few of her own novels under a pen name, and she has been able to amass quite a small fortune for herself and her family.

Now, she is going to write a will so she can leave her family a legacy but something always seems to get in the way of making it happen so she struggles to find the time to get this process done. Is Diana’s procrastination naughty or nice?

Victor:  The procrastination is naughty and I do like the…at least recognition that she needs to have a will in place. I’m hoping by the way that you did the narrative that she’s not suggesting that she’s going to write the will, what she really needs to do is get in front of an estate planning attorney, and yesterday.

There’s a lot of stuff that’s going on here in terms of her business interest, the assets that she has, the stuff that is copyrighted material and how to transfer that. She has a lot of complexity. In fact, she’s what we would consider in the legal world, an issue‑spotting nightmare. What’s going in there really kind of juicy fact pattern for us to take our hands and work on.

She’s a great client for Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth, because she’s going to benefit from having these two disciplines under one roof, so that she knows that she gets a plan that helps her from beginning to end with all of the aspects that she needs.

We can help her with the financial component of it, we can help with the legal component, and she can know that she’s getting the very best advice of melding those two worlds together.

Mark:  If you’d like to learn more about the Make It Last plan, the Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth team‑up in the income, investment, taxes, and estate area, then this a great opportunity for you. There’s no cost whatsoever. There’s no obligation. I don’t know why you wouldn’t take advantage of this.

You could do a 15‑minute phone call, you could come in and sit down with the team. It’s your option. They’re here to help, why not take advantage? 856‑506‑8300. 856‑506‑8300. Again, no cost for this. 856‑506‑8300.

Victor, to you and your family and your team, Merry Christmas to all of our listeners. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. It should be a fun 2022, at least that’s what we’re hoping right?

Victor:  Merry Christmas to you, Mark. Absolutely.

Woman:  Taxes are just a fact of life. You can’t avoid it even in retirement, but what if I told you there are ways to minimize what you pay in taxes. Victor Medina and his team can help. To learn more, visit 920taxes.com to get your free copy of Victor Medina’s tax guide. 920taxes.com That’s the numbers 920taxes.com.

Mark:  Palante Wealth Advisors are an independent financial services firm that utilizes a variety of investment and insurance products. Medina Law Group is an independent estate planning and elder law firm. Investment advisory services offered through Palante Wealth Advisors, LLC, a New Jersey and Pennsylvania registered investment advisor.

Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. Any references to protection, safety or lifetime income generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investments. Insurance guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims‑paying ability of the issuing carrier.

This radio show is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used as a sole basis for financial decisions nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual situation.

Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth Advisors are not permitted to offer, and no statement made during the show shall constitute tax or legal advice. Our firm is not affiliated with or endorsed by the US government or any governmental agency.

The information and opinions contained herein provided by third parties have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed by Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth Advisors.

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