In this episode of Safe Money with Gerry James, Gerry explores the financial habits of wealthy people and the habits they build to grow their fortunes. These habits are based on research, studies and interviews with successful entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders. Plus, why are annuities being bought at record pace? Gerry and Jim explore this defensive investment further.

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4.28.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

4.28.23: 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 with Gerry James. Get ready for a full hour of financial information and economic news you can't afford to miss. Gerry 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 Gerry James.

Producer:
Hello again, everybody. Welcome to this week's edition of Safe Money with Gerry James. We're glad to have you aboard on WFOY. And of course, thank you for making us a part of your Mondays and Wednesdays Defending your retirement. Golden years with savvy Americans are doing to protect their retirement. We'll break it all down. Plus, annuities are being bought at a record pace. Why is that? We'll explain. But first, let me say hello to the financial expert himself, Gerry James. Gerry, how are you, Jim?

Gerry James:
All right. Hi, guys. Out there in studio land. Really good to be on this broadcast with you. A lot of breaking news and look forward to discussing some of these topics today.

Producer:
Yeah, and we've got a great show this week. And a quick reminder to Gerry provides comprehensive consultations at no cost to our listeners and there's absolutely no obligation. So you only work with Gerry if it's right for you. So contact him today. Visit SafeMoneyManager.com. All right, Gerry, let's get into some words of wisdom from a Nobel Peace winning economic expert in this week's edition of our Quote of the Week.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the Quote of the Week.

Producer:
And our quote of the week from Milton Friedman. He said, quote, Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as they spend their own. And that's very important, of course, because of what you do as a financial adviser, you have to find the right financial adviser and put your trust in them that they will do right by you financially.

Gerry James:
Yeah. And the main thing that you want to look for in that regard is somebody that tells you the truth all the time and has your best interest at hand as a fiduciary, and that is looking out for your best interest all the time. The other thing that I would say about that is you want to make sure that that financial adviser has a track record of not losing money of their clients. And I can tell you with 100% of surety that I have never lost one dime of my client's money at all. And I've been practicing now for over 12 years, over a dozen years. And you ask why that is. A lot of people may ask that. And it's just simply because I have a zero floor investment strategy that I put into place where when the market tanks and it has two times during the time that I've been investing people's money, my clients lose absolutely nothing. And when the market goes up, they share in that revenue. So when it does well, you do well. When it does bad, you don't lose a dime. That's that's my strategy.

Producer:
And again, our thanks to Milton Friedman for providing us our Quote of the week this week. And a quick reminder to also check out the show's YouTube page, visit YouTube.com and search Savemoney with Gerry James for more. All right, let's get the show started. Gerry. An article this week from CNBC.com discussed Americans investing in annuities at a record pace. I can't wait to pick your mind on this. First, why do you think that is? And second, what are the benefits to investing in annuities?

Gerry James:
Well, and it's what I hit on earlier. Annuities are structured through through insurance companies to have a no loss proposition. You can't lose money because they have a zero floor. And so you can invest with me with and I'll put you with an A-rated company, a plus rated company. The most the company that I deal with the most is nationwide insurance, nationwide financial, and a product that I put out. I recommend for a lot of people, depending on everybody's circumstances, are different. But if the circumstances fit the peak ten annuity, I deal a lot in and basically you have a zero floor with a guaranteed gain in your income account. So that is why annuities are becoming so popular because of these big swings in the market that we've seen over the past 20, 30 years where, you know, people that are getting ready to retire, if you take a hit in your retirement account five years before or five years after you retire, it can absolutely devastate your retirement account to the point where you run out of money at some point during your retirement. And believe me, if that happens, running out of money is brutal, especially in your when you, you know, reach an age when you can't work anymore. So we want to avoid that at all cost. And so I'm an income specialist and what I do is I strategize to have a certain amount of money coming to you monthly for the rest of your life, no matter if you live to 90, 100, 105, it's going to come to you for the rest of your life. Guaranteed.

Producer:
Well, and one thing, too, Gerry, you know, annuity sales, they hit an all time high last year, according to LIMRA, an insurance industry trade group. And early forecasts show another record breaking quarter for the first quarter of 2023 when it comes to annuity sales. Right.

Gerry James:
You know, the other thing that people don't realize is there are no fees, management fees with an annuity. Okay. The insurance company pays me. I don't make a dime from the clients. The insurance company pays me when I bring them business. Um, but beyond that, um, you know, there are there are also no fees to the client whatsoever. So you invest with in a A-rated company with a with your money and they're not charging you an annual fee. Some of the fees that I've seen charged on, you know, some of their brokerage accounts or range between 1 and 3% A annually. So let's just use just easy numbers here. If you're charged just 1%, which is, you know, the lower end of the fee range on a $100,000 account, you're paying, you know, that broker $1,000 a year to manage your money over 20 years. That's 20 grand that you paid that broker. Whether you lose money or whether you make money, you are subject to that fee. And I like this. The one investor's that says he hates annuities. His name is Ken Fisher. He talks about, well, when you do better, we do better. Well, he doesn't tell you that he's still charging you an annual fee every year on your brokerage account. And then if he does better, if he doesn't lose money for you, he does. He considers that losing. Then he considers that doing better. So he'll take more of a fee from you when you lose money. Oh, he's going to just take the standard fee so you can avoid all these fees with an annuity and have safety and security and a peace of mind that you don't have to worry about your retirement account again.

Producer:
Yeah. And again, the guy who's going to help you quell that worry is the guy talking to you right now, Gerry James. So contact Gerry and learn more at SafeMoneyManager.com or you can call Gerry. (904) 349-7977. Again that phone number (904) 349-7977. That's of course to schedule your free no obligation consultation. All right. We've come up against our first break. Coming up, the top financial habits of wealthy people will explain this is safe Money with Gerry James. We're back in a moment.

Producer:
You're listening to Save Money with Gerry James. To schedule your free no obligation consultation with Gerry, visit SafeMoneyWithGerryJames.com.

Producer:
Are you concerned about market volatility, rising taxes from the Biden administration, and how it all could affect your financial future? Then tune in to save money with Gerry James to learn how you can protect and grow your hard earned money. Save money with Gerry James Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. right here on 102.1 FM. WFOY. Protect your hard earned money today and get started on your own personal pension plan at SafeMoneyWithGerryJames.com. You're listening to Safe money with Gerry James. And now back to the show.

Producer:
Welcome back to this week's edition of Safe Money with Gerry James. Much thanks, as always, for making our show a part of your weekend routine. And if you're a new listener, thanks for checking us out and making sure to check out our podcast catalog as well. That's available on Apple, Google, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We're here to defend your golden years today. We'll talk about it. Plus, Gerry's financial tip of the week. All right. Before we move on with the show, Gerry, I want you to share a little story that where you recently encountered a person who had a little over $1 million in his 401. K without mentioning any names, you kind of went into detail with him. And as his advisor, you helped get the most out of that money and the most out of his 401.

Gerry James:
K Yeah, well, you know, he has saved basically since he was in his 30 seconds, he started saving for retirement. He's now a 64 and planning on retirement and retiring next year. He had 1,160,000in his 401. K. And I asked him and he had an expectation of how much he could retire on monthly with that money. And he got some advice from his current broker that he that he was, you know, working with and had been working with through his employer. And I just simply asked him, I said how much how much money of that million, 160,000 was his. And he he looked at me very puzzled and he said, well, it's all mine. It's 101 million, 160,000. It's all mine. I said, No, it's not. He goes, What do you mean? I said, You have a partner whether you like it or not, and that partner is going to take their share of your money whether you like it or not. And depending on the withdrawal amount and the and the sequence of your your withdrawals will depend on how much that partner takes out and that partner is the IRS. My friends, I mean, if you have a qualified account, which means a pre-tax account in a 401.

Gerry James:
K or an IRA, your partner is the IRS, Internal Revenue Service, and they are a brutal collection agency and they will take the money from you. Now, you can mitigate that through working with an advisor and figuring out how much money you need per per month and try to mitigate that down. Because if you're taking a lump sum in a year, as this man was planning on doing and purchasing a new car and a well, actually a new truck in a in a trailer to travel the United States with in a big lump sum, he was going to get hit quite hard by his taxes. You know, the tax bill was going to come. So we navigated through that. And, you know, I showed him how he could save substantially in his tax bill for the following year. So, you know, there depending on whether the you know, you have qualified money or you have non qualified money, which simply means you've already paid tax on that money will largely depend on how much tax you're going to pay after you're withdrawing. Um, budgeting with me and my safe money solutions is how I will give you peace of mind. And in some cases I teach people how to avoid paying taxes altogether.

Gerry James:
That's that's why you need to come in and see me, because there are vehicles that I know of that I can show you how to save, especially if you're younger. That will avoid taxes altogether. And as crazy as that sound sounds, there are still vehicles left like that that I can show you how to save within an account and then take loans from that account and avoid paying taxes when it comes to, you know, your retirement. And I can spread those loans out for really the rest of your life. And and then when you pass away, have a death benefit attached to that that will actually pay that loan back. So there are there are situations that I know of and how to navigate our current laws that explain how to basically retire tax free. So that's just one instance in you know, people they get hit with penalties and taxes all the time just because they don't know the the laws and how much to, you know, take out of their retirement account. And sometimes you can even borrow smartly against your retirement account if you want a huge purchase and avoid paying the taxes on. So I go into some of that as well.

Producer:
And again, Gerry will help you analyze your financial situation. Remember, and this is important, it's your money. And if it matters to you, it matters, of course, to the guy I'm talking to right now, Gerry James.

Gerry James:
Absolutely right.

Producer:
All right. Let's continue our discussion from last week when we talked about the lost decade. And if you didn't hear that from last week, the Lost decade, it's referred to as the period of time between January 1st, 2000 and December 31st, 2009, during the period when the stock market experienced a significant downturn. Gerry, you've got some additional statistics from that time period. A lot of it is in red and that's that's no good read in anything really. But especially when it comes to stock market finances. Anything in red not good. Yeah.

Gerry James:
Well, you know, the funny thing is, is when you have a 9.1 negative return in the stock market, 11.9 is in 2001, 22.1 in 2002, people think, well, just let's just use let's just use one one number. In 2002, 22.1%, they lost in their 401. K or IRA on average. In order to make up that that loss, you would have 20% loss. You would have to make the next year, 25% just to break even. And that's with making nothing. So a 20% loss, you'd have to you'd have to make next year. And that's a good return, by the way, A 25% return. Oh, sure is a you know, a bull market for sure. Um, what people don't realize is if we suffer a 50% loss in the market, which could happen, I'm telling you, there are things going on in that we're doing in forecasting that we're looking at a major downturn in the market. If you took a 50% loss on your portfolio, so you had $100,000 in your 401. K, you left it alone, you're in certain stocks that that didn't perform well and really took a hit. Um, you would have to the very next year make 100% return on your money just to break even and that's without losing making any money at all.

Gerry James:
So it can be catastrophic for people that are getting close to retirement. Like I say all the time, five years before and five years after your retirement is a time when you can't lose money. You I mean, Warren Buffett's rule I use all the time, number one, never lose money. And when you go to number two, look back to number one. He says never lose money in your account. That's his rule. And I've kind of adhered to that for the last 12 years. I never lose a dime of my client's money, and I show them a way to increase their account balance every year without any possibility of risk. So you really have to pay attention to, hey, can I lose money in this account? And if there's a possibility, you need to come and see me and I can show you how to avoid that. With A+ rated companies, that will guarantee you that you will never lose money. And by the way, the companies that I deal with are more secure than the banks that most people are dealing with on a daily basis.

Producer:
Yeah. And so this is why you need to consider scheduling a free.

Producer:
Consultation with Gerry. And he'll give you a plan that allows you to capture stock market like gains but without stock market risk. So again, visit the website SafeMoneyManager.com or give Gerry a call. (904) 349-7977. All of that you're mentioning and the advice that you just gave Gerry from Warren Buffett, that's all contingent on having your financial house in order and five years out of retirement. You know, it seems pretty self-explanatory. And some of the things we say on a weekly basis seem pretty self-explanatory financially. But for some people, they kind of overlook these little things that messes up their financial house. And their financial house just simply isn't in order when it needs to be at that time of their life 100%.

Gerry James:
Most people, you know, they've they've made pretty good money in the market in the last. Yeah. You know, ten, 12 years and they just think it's an ongoing situation. Well, I'm telling you, don't get complacent. Do not get complacent, especially with this administration. You know, I'm a I read the Bible basically every day. And one of the things that I know for sure is when God's judgment is on our nation and its and its people, he he removes noblemen from leadership. And when he removes the entire population of noble men in leadership, there is nothing left but weak and noble men. I don't know about you folks in this audience, and I don't want to be too harsh, but I see. I see weak, cowardly men in leadership in DC right now, and I wouldn't trust them to manage a candy store, let alone the largest economy in the free world. So folks, get your money safe and secure. I ask you, please. Used to do that. Give me a call. I can show you how to do that. I can show you how to make the money that you have last for the rest of your life. And it's it's not rocket science. I'll lay it right out there in front of you. There is absolutely no cost to you for me to do that. You can get a hold of me at SafeMoneyManager.com or (904) 349-7977. And I'd be glad to speak with you free consultation. None of this costs you anything ever so be glad to speak with you about it and get your money into a situation. I call it sleep insurance. So you're you have safety and security and you can sleep well at night.

Producer:
And again, go back in the podcast archives as well and listen to the show Apple, Google, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Great advice in the first couple of segments of today's show. And you can listen to the program, by the way, to every Monday and Wednesday at £0.06 pm on the radio side right here on WFOY. And if you are listening on the radio side, we thank you for the support. All right. Coming up, 15 financial habits of wealthy people. This is safe money with Gerry James.

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You're listening to Safe Money with Gerry James

Producer:
Chapter 13, The Annuity That is just right. The fixed indexed annuity. Big idea. A fixed indexed annuity gives you a portion of market like gains without market risk. Your investment is tied to an index but not directly invested in it. How does it work? An FIA gives the owners or annuitants the chance to earn higher yields than fixed annuities when the index they are tied to performs well. They typically will also provide some protection against market declines. The rate on an FIA is calculated based on the year over year gain in the index or the average monthly gain over a 12 month period. Fia often have limits on the potential gain at a certain percentage. This is known as the participation rate. The participation rate can be 100%, which means the account would be credited with all the gains. Or it could be as low as 25%. Most FIA have a participation rate between 80 and 90%. Benefits. Guaranteed income stream with Americans living longer and spending more time in retirement, many retirees are concerned about outliving their savings. In turn, they are searching for a product that can help ensure a steady income stream. Phas are designed with guaranteed lifetime income so you can never outlive your earnings. Diversification of portfolio. A balanced portfolio is essential for managing risk and reward in the financial markets. Designed for the long term, PHAs are a great retirement vehicle to ensure you are not putting all your eggs in one basket. Phas offer the ability to make some money without the risk of losing it. Secure principal. Even with market volatility, investors will not lose value on their fixed indexed annuities. Your savings aren't exposed to market fluctuations, so even in a negative market return, you will not fall below zero.

Producer:
You can never lose your interest once it is credited to your principal. Tax deferred growth. Feas Offer long term tax Deferred savings. As long as your money stays in the annuity, you will not be taxed on the interest earnings once you receive a payout. The annuity will be taxed just like ordinary income. Predictable earnings Because Feas offer predictable income, Americans feel more comfortable when withdrawing funds from these retirement vehicles as opposed to an IRA or 401. K. Choosing an FIA is an efficient way to plan for your future as your interest. Earnings rate always remains somewhere between the interest rate floor and the cap. No matter what happens to the market, you can still count on payments throughout your golden years. Potential drawbacks of fixed indexed Annuities Surrender charges. A surrender charge is a type of sales charge you must pay if you sell or withdraw money from a fixed indexed and even a variable annuity. During the surrender period, a set period of time that typically lasts 6 to 8 years after you purchase the annuity. Surrender charges will reduce the value and the return of your investment. Withdrawal limits. Almost all fixed indexed annuities play surrender free withdrawal limits within the annuity contract that generally range from 5 to 10% of the principal. While all annuities must be RMD friendly and provide for a penalty free withdrawal from a qualified annuity account equal to the RMD requirement for the client's age carriers limit the amount of withdrawal to enable them to grow the money invested for themselves and the client. Not suitable for short term investing if you want to grow your money, but you also need access to 100% of your money, then a fixed indexed annuity may not be right for you.

Producer:
Is the Banking Crisis over? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by a life. Two of the largest bank failures in US history happened just this year when Silicon Valley and First Republic banks collapsed. It happened after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates several times in its effort to tamp down inflation. A secondary effect of those moves is it cuts the value of government bonds, which banks commonly hold. That means when those banks need to sell bonds to improve their financial picture, they do so at a loss. That's what happened with SVB, and it was not able to meet its obligations during a run on the bank. So what happens now? Glenn Hubbard is chair emeritus of the Columbia Business School and served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisors for President George W Bush.

Glenn Hubbard:
You're seeing deposits move from smaller and regional banks into money center banks. You're seeing a lot of questioning of the financial health of many regional banks.

Producer:
Hubbard recently told Bloomberg News. One big question is what will happen to deposit insurance? Currently, the FDIC ensures deposits up to $250,000.

Glenn Hubbard:
The current law wasn't right. The limit was too small to deal with the modern economy, and the Treasury or the Fed would try to move to increase it whenever we get into trouble. So that's not good.

Producer:
So he says changes are needed. But exactly what will happen remains to be seen. Whatever does come our way. Hubbard told Bloomberg. The regulators need to. Get back to the basics.

Glenn Hubbard:
Banks are very important in lending in some activities. So I think we need a more fundamental conversation about what do we want banks to do and how are small and mid-sized businesses and real estate going to get credit?

Producer:
New research shows several other mid-size or regional banks have hefty loads of uninsured deposits, so they are at risk of potential failure to. Jp morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently said the banking crisis could push us closer to a recession. But the silver lining? He does not think it will be as bad as 2008. So how can you protect your hard earned money from a banking crisis? That's a key question to consider as uncertainty makes us all feel uneasy with the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by a Life. I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Like what you're hearing? Subscribe to the podcast and listen to Save Money with Gerry James anytime, anywhere. Hey, welcome.

Producer:
Back to this week's edition of.

Producer:
Safe Money with Gerry James. Coming up, what savvy Americans are doing to protect their retirements. Stick with us for that. You just heard that report, by the way, to updating the bank failure from Matt McClure and the fallout from about a month and a half ago. That's our most recent tradeable report to date, and it details the bank failure from that time period and what it means for consumers and retirees. So if you book a complimentary consultation with Gerry, you get these tradeable reports with an abundance of information and you can get started on building and optimizing your financial plans for retirement, plus all of that detail with the bank failure and how it could affect you. All right, Gerry, are you ready to go? Let's get into your financial tip of the week.

Gerry James:
Well, again, I reach back to, you know, never lose money. And wherever you have your 401. K ira at, you want to make sure that it's safe and secure. And by the way, if you go to cash, you're going to lose money because inflation is eating it up. You need to make a return to keep up with the inflation. That's been basically thrust upon us through the mismanagement of our entire economy. When you shut down oil and pipelines and you make the cost of goods overall more expensive and you start printing money and the Fed is just printing money and putting us into that, that devalues the money and it's going to inflate the money. So if you're not making at least a 6% return on your money, your money is getting eaten up. So you got to at least keep up with inflation.

Producer:
And that's very important in today's.

Producer:
Economy, keeping up with inflation. The best way to do that is to book a complimentary consult. I keep saying it right, but.

Producer:
It is there's truth.

Producer:
There. Booking that free complimentary consultation with Gerry. That's part of your job, Gerry, is to help people get ahead of inflation, which I don't know about. You do you see it slowing down anytime soon?

Gerry James:
I don't. Especially with the fiscal policies that are coming out of Washington DC and the Fed and less. And this is this is a crazy thing to say, but unless the Fed starts dropping interest rates, you know it's I don't and ease the borrowing again inflation is just going to continue to burn. And I don't see any of this happening. I mean, look, we we're spending billions and billions of dollars to Ukraine, Ukraine under the premise that, you know, we have to protect their borders. Well, what about our own borders? And, you know, folks, I am a candidate for state Senate, District seven in our area, Flagler Saint Johns, Putnam and northern end of Volusia County. And the reason I'm running is to bring truth and integrity back to our political landscape within our at least on a statewide level. What you see coming out of Tallahassee isn't real right now. There's a lot of fake bills that are coming out. They're just, you know, they got just they're working right now on an election reform bill. Well, it's it's 2839 lines of election reform. All right. I can give you a form line election reform bill. Some people in this audience may not agree with me, but this is my election reform bill.

Gerry James:
One day paper ballot voting with verifiable ID. The only exception to that would be write in for military and verified ill. So we did that for a matter of 200 years and everybody voted well and our elections were run well and and we had integrity. 202,839 lines of an election reform bill, which, by the way, in in that bill is a is a is a couple of lines on how to let Ron DeSantis run for president. Now, I don't know what that's doing in an election reform bill, but it's it's in there. So we'll see what happens. It's not passed yet. It's still in in session at in Tallahassee. But there's just all kinds of you know, they just passed an immigration bill, but they didn't use E-Verify for this immigration bill. So, you know, just these bills, you know, they just passed a gun bill and but it doesn't mandate open carry to any Florida citizen. Um, so, you know, we're one of only four states if you believe in the Second Amendment, that that doesn't have some form of open carry. We're lumped in there with California, New York, New Jersey and one other state, I think maybe Massachusetts.

Gerry James:
I don't know. But, you know, I'm a I'm a firm believer in the Constitution. And and I'm a truth teller and I'm a principled man. And what I'm telling you that you bring your financial statements to me and I can show you how that you'll never lose money and how to gain a reasonable return. You can take that literally to the bank and cash it and you can sleep safe and secure knowing that you have your nest egg and that you're not going to lose any of it. So that's what I do. Safe Money Manager is my website SafeMoneyManager.com. The phone number is nine and 43497977. You can book an appointment with me. No obligation, no cost. I'll take a look at your entire portfolio and your statements and say you're good. I may say you're good here, but you're leaking oil here. And you know, we need to take a look at this situation and get you to the point where you're guaranteed no losses. That's what I do. Trying to get your financial house in order because we're coming into a storm, folks, and we those of you that are listening, I need to pull you out of the storm.

Producer:
All right. Very good. Coming up next, building your dream retirement scenario. This is safe money with Gerry James. Stay there.

Producer:
Money Questions. Money answers. You're listening to Save Money with Gerry James.

I've got to take a little time. A little time to think things over.

Producer:
At James Asset Management. We know you've worked hard for your money and you've worked even harder to save it. When it comes to wealth management and planning for retirement, Gerry James of the Safe Money Show is passionate about helping people protect and grow their wealth while educating them on all their options so they can choose what's right for them. Visit SafeMoneyManager.com to schedule your free retirement consultation book yours now at SafeMoneyManager.com. Like what you're hearing. Subscribe to the podcast and listen to Save money with Gerry James anytime, anywhere.

Producer:
Welcome back to this week's edition of Save Money with Gerry James. Thanks for making Gerry and I a part of your weekend. Hey, don't forget to check out our YouTube page, visit YouTube.com and search save money with Gerry James. All right. This week in History.

Producer:
It's this week in history.

Producer:
On this date, April 29th, 1933, American country musician Willie Nelson was born. Nelson became one of the most recognizable country stars across the genre following the success of his albums, Red Headed Stranger in 1975 and Stardust in 1978. Also on this date, April 29th, 1954, American stand up comedian, actor, writer and producer Gerry Seinfeld was born. He is best known for playing a semi version of himself on the television hit Saint held a show that aired from 1989 to 1998 and route to becoming one of the best television sitcoms of all time. You like that show, Gerry, right?

Gerry James:
Yeah, it's a good show. It's, of course, a lot of fun. Yeah, Good humor.

Producer:
I don't know any man, myself included. That does not at least has that has not at least seen five episodes, say of.

Gerry James:
You know, speaking of Willie Nelson. Yeah, I did a tournament every year called the Darryl Ben Willie Tournament in Austin, Texas. And basically it was a get together of writers in the music industry coming out of Nashville and the Texas scene as well. Um, and we raised money for various charities. I don't know where it all went in terms of that, but I would sit and talk to Willie for hours on end every year because I just I enjoyed his music and he's a very interesting fellow. I mean, really laid back. And they would have what was called a picking party after the golf tournament. And so it was a two day tournament. And after the first day you went to this picking party and it would literally last till three in the morning. And so the next day you're supposed to be up and playing golf at 9 a.m. It didn't it didn't work out too well for a lot of the the golfers there. I tried to get out of there by a good time, 11:00 or so and get some sleep and then be up the next day. But, you know, that was what I did for a profession at that time. And it's being a professional golfer had a lot of benefits, side benefits, because I got to meet a lot of celebrities. And I did. I met just tons of well, I was even I even played golf with the president of the United States at one time. So I've been very fortunate in that regard. So kind of on a side note.

Producer:
All right. Well, moving on with the final.

Producer:
Segment of today's show, Gerry and I are here to help you defend your golden years. This week, an article Gerry was released by Yahoo Finance listing the top 15 financial habits of wealthy people. So a couple here that I highlighted, I guess, and you talked about earlier in the show, setting your financial goals, making smart investments. You certainly help people with that, saving for emergencies, taking advantage of benefits, strategizing for taxes. Right. You've mentioned it the last couple of weeks. You can help people pay little in taxes, right? I mean, that's what you've been talking about, correct? Correct me if I'm wrong. So anyway, those are just some of the things that I highlighted when it comes to 15 financial habits of wealthy people.

Gerry James:
Yeah. I mean, my strategies are always to pay less. Everybody's going to have to pay taxes. Okay? That's one thing that's assured. You're going to die and you're going to pay taxes all the stuff that you're doing between, you know, defines your life. But my strategy, just like our former president, Donald J. Trump, when asked, you know, did you pay your taxes, did you pay or didn't pay anything, you know, I listened to all those debates and they always accused him of not paying his so-called fair share of taxes. Well, honestly, he didn't make the laws, though. No, he didn't. That's the point. That is exactly the point. Very good.

Producer:
He was the one who made the laws. He was just following.

Gerry James:
Somebody that's smart enough to navigate you, to help you navigate the tax code and not pay the taxes that other people pay. I would say that would be a pretty smart move, in my opinion. Um, and is life fair? Should everybody pay the same tax? I mean, if that were the case, we would have a bolstering economy right now if everybody paid the exact, say, a flat tax or a what I would call a fair tax, we would have more money in the Treasury than people could probably spend. Although Washington, DC, I guarantee you, would go through it like a hot knife through butter because it's a never ending spending program up there. But nevertheless, I look out for my clients retirement and paying the least amount of taxes possible. And when I'm talking to younger people that want to have a retirement other than Social Security, God forbid that you rely on Social Security. Um, because I don't even after 2030, 20, 35, I don't even know, quite frankly, if Social Security is going to be there. I mean, it's been in trouble for a long time.

Gerry James:
We have young fewer and fewer young people participating in Social Security. And, you know, I would just strongly advise start putting a little bit of money away all the time. And if you're. 25, 30 years old. Great. That's the best time to start doing it even. I know a lot of people even younger, and I can give you vehicles to contribute to your retirement that will have you paying literally no tax on your retirement through a system of loans once you get to a certain. And by the way, the same thing applies when I do retirement plans with people, they can actually borrow against their retirement and pay themselves back for such things as a down payment on a house, or even if they had enough money in their retirement account, maybe for their full house and then pay themselves back rather than paying a mortgage to a bank. So these are things that I can, you know, kind of guide you and show you the possibilities of banking on yourself, literally, and working a correct retirement and working with your money the right way. My talk.

Producer:
I'm sorry, Gerry. No, I was just.

Gerry James:
Telling my my website is SafeMoneyManager.com. My phone number is 904 3497977. As I've mentioned a few times, I am running for state Senate in our district as well. So if you want to look at that, you can go to Gerry. The number four the the number for senate.com and you can see some of my endorsees on there. People that have endorsed me that have great reputations. So, you know, that's this is what I do. And check me out. Check me out in every way.

Producer:
Well, you mentioned younger people in there and talked about.

Producer:
Putting money away little by little. Another story here from Yahoo! Finance. How much do you currently have in your savings account? For nearly a third of average Americans, that number is $100 or less. Now, this according to GO banking rates, which recently surveyed 1000 Americans ages 18 and older to learn more about their banking practices. And they found that just under 33% have no more than $100 in their savings account. So 22 for further context purposes, 22.4% ages 18 to 24. But here's the number 25 to 34, 22.1%. And then it gets a little bit higher, 33 to 40 or excuse me, 35 to 44, 23%. So to your point about younger people saving money, their savings accounts, whether they have 1 or 2, they still have $100 or less in those savings accounts?

Gerry James:
Well, Jim, I'll tell you what a big part of this equation is. Our education system and how it's set up. Now, first of all, we're not teaching financial independence in our education at all that I know of. And our education system. As far as I'm concerned, public public education is broken and we need to revamp it and get the indoctrination of all of the Marxist tenets and theories out of our, you know, critical race theory and and all of this. It should not be in our education system whatsoever. I mean, all of this nonsense that they're cheating, you know, they're trying to push onto our kids. We need to, you know, basic math, English, the true history of our country is what we need to be teaching. The second thing is that you get into these colleges, it's worse. You know, I call some of these people that are coming out of some of these major colleges now educated idiots. Do you realize this is something that hasn't I haven't discussed on this program before? There was a survey done of Yale and Harvard graduates and 44.9%, almost 45%, could not define the gender of a of a of a human being after it was born. They said, well, we can't tell what gender the this is Harvard in Yale graduates. They they said, you know, gender is fluid. Okay? That's when when asked about is gender a fixed thing? And they go, no, no, no. 40. 44.9% said gender. Now, these are the two highest learning education supposedly in our systems in our country, Harvard and Yale. And what these are educated. Idiots. I don't know what they're learning, but if you don't have common sense enough to know that and by the way, and what I was going to get to here, um, to go to these schools, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Gerry James:
You come out of that school and you're burdened with that debt. No wonder they don't have any money saved for retirement. That's the last thing they're thinking about. They're trying to pay back their college loans in some cases. Now, I get it that some of their parents are well off or whatever, but I can teach. Matter of fact, I just worked with a doctor and there was planning on setting up a savings account for his for for his child, which is a four year old girl. And I said, look, let's just do a index universal life policy and create a policy on with very low cost of insurance and just start sticking money into that policy. And it's basically an insurance life, a life insurance policy. And when she's ready to go to college, she can pay. She can, you know, either take all the money out of that policy and and pay for her college or she can take a loan against that money and pay for her entire college experience and then pay her loan back as she's paying herself back, as she's starting in the workforce and as she's paying herself back now she's building her retirement again. See, these are the things that most financial professionals don't think about. Or do they just stick you into the market and your subject to, you know, gains and losses. And it's great when you're making gains, but it's devastating when you're making you know, when you're experiencing losses. My you know, my whole philosophy is never take a loss. So that's where I come from. You know, look at my website SafeMoneyManager.com or give me a call and we'll talk about it. Three four 904 349 7977.

Producer:
All right. Well, great show this week, Gerri. Great information. Be sure to join us again every Monday and Wednesday right here on WFOY on the radio side. And if you missed any part of today's show, please subscribe to our podcast catalog, Apple, Google, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks again for listening to this week's show and we will talk to you again next week.

Gerry James:
Take care. Thanks for listening.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Safe Money with Gerry James. 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 Gerry. Visit SafeMoneyWithGerryJames.com Not affiliated with the United States government.

Producer:
Gerry James 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. A better life 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 of the results obtained from the use of this information.

Producer:
Fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees and surrender charges as described in the annuity contract. Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer.

Producer:
Are you concerned about market volatility, rising taxes from the Biden administration, and how it all could affect your financial future? Then tune in to Safe Money with Gerry James to learn how you can protect and grow your hard earned money. Save money with Gerry James Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. right here on 102.1 FM. WFOY. Protect your hard earned money today and get started on your own personal pension plan at SafeMoneyWithGerryJames.com.

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