Be Mindful of One Way Doors in Retirement
In this episode, we chat briefly about the big Coinbase IPO and the current buzz in the crypto world. Our main focus, however involves retirement planning. Planning for retirement involves many different (and sometimes difficult decisions). Pay close attention to some decisions that can only be made once. Full episode and transcript below:
Michael Baker 0:03
Alright, welcome back to this week's episode of the money huddle. My name is Michael Baker and I'm here with my business partner Ross marry now Ross How you doing today? But hey,
Ross Marynell 0:22
Michael, I'm doing wonderful. How are you? Fantastic.
Michael Baker 0:25
It's a beautiful day outside looking forward to the weekend excited for some of this spring and summertime weather especially with the businesses and life like reopening around around here.
Ross Marynell 0:38
I was gonna say this is my favorite time of the year other than the absurd amount of pollen that's everywhere. It of course I'm allergic to everything outside. But other than that, I love it.
Michael Baker 0:49
It's been really bad lately. I've I've wanted to wash my car for a few days now. And I keep I keep thinking it's gonna rain. And then it doesn't rain. So my car is like this yellow dingy bmobile right now, and, you know, you just drive around town and you just see Ah, but yeah, no, I mean, I swear the other day I fought there was like a yellow haze. And though in the sky because of pollen is disgusting.
Ross Marynell 1:17
So
well, it's good to be here. We've had some interesting market events happen over the last couple of weeks. So this this week saw Coinbase IPO. So Coinbase being one of the largest, if not the largest crypto exchange. Would you hear the US?
Michael Baker 1:37
Here are the us here in the US? Yeah.
Ross Marynell 1:39
And so we're sort of having a crypto revival. So this is what our second third, fourth time that these different various crypto assets have have sort of been? Well, rice, and it's, you know, you know, I've
Michael Baker 1:55
come down there where cryptocurrency is not is not going away, you know, you know, barring some unforeseen regulation that just ultimately attempts to kill that space. I don't think it's going anywhere. But you know, like anything else, like the more longevity it has, and the more exposure it has, the more acceptance it has Coinbase having a huge IPO this week, again, plays into that narrative, you're going to have more and more people that finally say, well, maybe it's time to look at it institutional money, you know, hesitant investors, late adopters, I mean, they're gonna all be taking a look, and it's going to be interesting to watch.
Ross Marynell 2:35
So I have a little personal story related to this, if you want to hear it, let's hear it. Okay. So a few years ago, when the initial crypto craze really bubbled over and went national, you and I sort of dug in to understand those markets a little bit better. You sort of dragged me along to the to participate in some of these because you had to pull me because I'm a little bit more grumpy, you notice and
Michael Baker 3:02
you notice how he's already setting it up for me to be the scapegoat. Just notice how it's already Michael, remember that time when you told me to do this.
Ross Marynell 3:12
So what it additionally bubbled up at the end of 2017 we had participated in one of these sort of all coin crypto currencies and in over the last couple of years, I've sort of forgotten about it. Right? I mean, just move on with life. Yeah, you know, we're, we're growing a business and things happen and I just sort of forgot about it. And recently, I look back and and check the prices like oh, wow, that's that's up a little bit. I need to go in there and find where I have these coins. So if you've purchased cryptocurrency before you know I have a little ledger which is basically like a USB drive. And I have an old PC Michael Michael already makes fun of my current PC, the old one is even older. And which has the the desktop the connection to to that ledger. So Michael, I'm in there rooting through finding all these components to pull this together. I felt like I was Han Solo firing up the Millennium Falcon. Just like banging on Come on, come on startup, like chewies next to me like her. Yeah. And I tried to just hope that the big fires up and So sure enough, you know, computer fires up ledger works. I actually remember passcodes and eventually the stars aligned that I was able to to take advantage of that last price block but man, it's such a strange world just going back through that process again, of how to buy and move assets around that. It's just a whole nother world.
Michael Baker 4:44
It is and there are there are people and businesses and companies that are working overtime, trying to make it easier for advisors and you know, you know everyday investors to get out And but there's, there's so many things that you know, it's a very unique space. And you know, a lot of people just that are in the financial services industry don't necessarily have the expertise that the crypto world has. And there are a lot of people in the crypto world that don't have the expertise that is needed to get into financial services. So there there's a unique bridge opportunity happening right there. And we know some cool people that are that are working on that. And so that'll be interesting to watch develop in the in the days and months ahead. Because one, one area that is absolutely 100 miles an hour right now when it comes to growth and innovation is the cryptocurrency space.
Ross Marynell 5:43
Yeah. And I give all due respect to those early adopters that took the time to understand the mechanisms and what to invest in and how to do it. kudos to them if they've if they've made a successful investment. So yeah,
Michael Baker 6:00
Doug Bonaparte put a tweet out the other day that I thought was funny. And it was I think it was something to the effect of like, you know, Bitcoin was created so that millennials could eventually tell everyone that they bought a $780 pizza, you know, me just because back in the day, I mean, that's what people were doing with it. And I have a friend who told me he was buying pizzas, you know, with his with his Bitcoin. And if they would have just left it alone, kind of like you like they they put the computer and shoved it under the bed for a few years. I mean, these people could buy houses. Now,
Ross Marynell 6:33
one of my favorite stories that we that we came across a few years ago was there was the story was that this this young kid had purchased Bitcoin at some point in time stored it on an old hard drive computer and just sort of forgot about it just like I was talking about. And that is the the Bitcoin explosion happened in late 2017. And the price just really hit well almost almost hit 20,000 back then. Right? I remember him like going in and telling the story like he was running down to his dad's house. Remember this story? He was right. Yes, he had 10 I think 10 or 20, or something like that Bitcoin onto this old hard drive, and they figured out how to get it open and get it transacted. What a day. Like, that's like hitting the lottery. You know, you've
Michael Baker 7:21
heard of, you've heard of like putting on an old, you know, a pair of jeans or an old jacket Did you hadn't washed in a while and you find like a $20 bill in your pocket. You're like, man, today's gonna be a good day. Imagine like, oh, gosh, I have 15 Bitcoin on this computer. And I totally forgot about it. I mean, that is a that's a game changing day right there. That's
Ross Marynell 7:43
a cool, like, that's the investment story. I'm here for what a cool moment, you just recall, one, you had the wherewithal to maintain the the hard drive and get rid of it and still remember how to access.
Michael Baker 7:54
My favorite my favorite crypto story is not, you know, probably doesn't reveal high moral character. But I just think it's so comedic, you know, at face value is this guy that was overseas in Italy that had committed fraud. And he had like $60 million worth of Bitcoin stored away, and they put him in jail, put him in prison. But they the government could not get access to the assets. So seize the assets, because they didn't have his past keys, they have his private keys, and they kept saying, Give us the private keys. And he's like, no. And so like, this dude, like, goes to jail, does his time and they can't seize the assets. And I'm like, Man, that's quite a predicament. Now, I'm sure that it's not going to end well for him, because he's a criminal. But one of the things that that story does actually illustrate is the fact of the security side of it, you know, when it comes to cryptocurrencies and these assets is, and that's why I tell people if you do dabble in it, do not lose your private keys, because that could be all she wrote. Case in point a couple years ago, you remember there was the guy who was the head of the crypto exchange who died. And he had the keys for this exchange, and there was like millions of cryptocurrency value lost because they could not access his laptop.
Ross Marynell 9:24
Right? The hard drive was was encrypted so well, that that no one could get access to the right to the exchange to basically distribute people's you know, get it back to them and get them back. Right. Well, we talked about just I've mentioned this briefly, then we can move on. But as a serious note to any of our listeners that do own a significant asset in some type of crypto ledger. It needs to become part of your state document. So if God forbid something happens to you, you want that asset to continue on to your family. There's there's really there's no no real defined way of how you You're going to pass that information along, because like you said, if you if you lose the, the, the codes, it's just, it could be lost forever.
Michael Baker 10:08
No, absolutely and, and so and to piggyback on that, if you are involved in cryptocurrency in any way, or if you're investing in that, you, it needs to, you know, you need to take it serious, it's not just a hobby anymore, it you know, treat it like any other asset, any other thing that you own, you know, make sure you have, you know, a thought out, you know, careful planning strategy for what you're doing, make sure you account for it on, you know, having backups to your, your accounts, your keys, you know, make sure you've got the right protocols in place, make sure you have it part of your estate plan, because, you know, this is, you know, a new emerging asset class, and I think it's going to continue to grow. So, you know, treat it with respect, you know, don't just pretend that it's, you know, something out there that, you know, is hot is a hobby unless you're just willing to, you know, burn your burn your gains.
Ross Marynell 10:59
Absolutely, it is true. And, and certain people, like I said, who got in early are working with really significant balances now. So, take that risk management to heart and, and do yourself a favor and make some take some some common sense protections. Alright, so let's move on. So I saw a really neat thread come through this week about Jeff Bezos and some of his sort of lasting approaches to management and investing. And as most of our listeners probably know, Jeff Bezos is going to step down as the CEO of Amazon, and move on to the next phase of his life. He may go down as one of the greatest CEOs of all time, I mean, maybe the best, I don't know. I mean, I guess that's that time will tell. But he's been an incredible CEO of a company that a lot of people discounted when it first started in the late the late 90s. And so some of his, I would say approaches to management are starting to be documented and shared a little bit more now that he's stepping down. It's interesting, Michael, and maybe this is just from where we live. And in our location. I just don't see Jeff Bezos in the news on interviews, is as widely as some other the most of the some of the wealthiest people in our country like Elon Musk, and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, these people seem to be on television every day. And I just don't see, you know, Jeff Bezos having that level of presence in the media. Am I wrong? Or is that? Do you see that?
Michael Baker 12:25
No, I don't see him too often. He keeps a pretty he's a pretty low profile, for the most part, I'm sure he's involved in, in some things, but you know, he's not. You know, the most of the time when I see him involved in the news, it's, it's he's getting, you know, put down by some of these politicians like, you know, Cassio Cortez, because he wants to have tax credits for his headquarters and, and stuff like that. That's usually what I see.
Ross Marynell 12:55
Okay, so I want to take one of these, one of these points and share it and then kind of expanded into the retirement planning space. So this was something let me let me dive right in. So he said, there are two kinds of decisions. One way door decisions are irreversible. So make them slowly, two way door decisions are the opposite. Since you can go back on them, you should make them quickly. So they had a different methodology, depending on the type of decision it was. So if it was a one way door decision, they became very methodical, careful, slow, have more deliberation, if it was what they considered a two way door decision, something that you could go back and make a quick reversal on, move faster. And in identifying them most decisions were were to aid or decisions and interchangeable. So as I think about some of the retirement planning decisions that people face, I think there are some one way door decisions. And I think there are some two way door decisions. And I want to chat about that a little bit. And maybe I can just dive in and share a couple of one way door decisions that I see as being really important items to be careful about.
Michael Baker 14:05
Yeah, go ahead.
Ross Marynell 14:06
So the first one I thought of was for anyone who has a cash balance pension plan, and you're and you are retiring, you have a one way decision to make, which is do you activate the income through that pension? Or do you roll that balance over to let's say, an IRA and, and invested in a different manner? This is a decision that needs to be made carefully, slowly and methodically because one, there needs to be considerations into how much income can it provide? Who does it cover? How long do you think that will last? What's your health, your your expectation for your life expectancy? How much does that balance represent your total net worth if you want to have a net worth transition to errors down the road and you're concerned that maybe you won't live long enough to fully reap the benefits of that? That's a very complicated decision making process. That I think sometimes gets made a little quickly.
Michael Baker 15:04
I would agree with that 100% I think that one of the biggest mistakes that people can make is not carefully thinking through the true value of a pension. And there are multiple approaches to take to that, you know, probably it could be this could conversation could be its own podcast in and of itself, to explore on a deeper level. But you know, generally speaking, it seems like a lot of the generic advice has been, when we've seen we've talked with people is, you know, to roll it out, instead of doing like a thorough analysis on the value of the pension. And, you know, on top of that, where we always come down and stuff is like, well, let's look at the overall plan, like what, what's the, what are we trying to accomplish? And so for people who are looking to retire, most of the time, they're saying, hey, well, I want to retire, I want to have a certain amount of income from my lifestyle. And I don't want that money to ever end like I don't want to run out of money in retirement. And so there are a couple of factors that need to be taken place there. And pensions, one of the things they do offer is a lifetime income benefit. And you have to kind of know how to evaluate that in context of what's being offered as a lump sum buyout. And most people don't, don't know how to do that, what, where we err, a lot of times as humans, is we look at the size of the number. And we sit and we see Wow, that's a really big number, and it looks enticing, kind of like a flaming neon steak, or like, Oh, I really want that steak. Instead of thinking about like, well, well, what does that how does that number translate into income? What does that what does that look like from an income standpoint? And so that's an area that I think a lot of advisors can really help people. And like, you're saying to your point, a lot of people should pump the brakes. And when you're given the opportunity to consider or evaluate a pension, rollover or pension buyout, you need to make that carefully because there is no do over.
Ross Marynell 17:07
Exactly. And so in that vein, when it comes to income, Social Security is another one of those, it's not completely a one way door decision, we know that you have 12 months to make a reversal, one time repay the benefits that in actuality, once you start, once you start social security to start receiving that income, it becomes a little bit of a challenge to go back. If you decide, oh, I made a mistake, I want to change my mind, you've got to repay those benefits, you've got to do it within a timely manner. And you have that one sort of get out of jail free card. So for all intents and purposes, that's pretty much a one way decision, kind of in the same vein as to when you start the cash balance pension plan, but I want to throw another one at you. Which is a lot of times at retirement, we are we have the opportunity, do we continue a life insurance policy? Or do we cancel a life insurance policy? So a lot of times you will think, well, I've made it to retirement, I've saved all the money I'm going to save, we have a pretty substantial nest egg here to protect future generations. And if you go back then and cancel a life insurance policy that maybe you've had for 10 2030 years, it may be a one way decision, because you may not qualify for that same level of coverage, you may not qualify under those same terms. And that's another decision where it should take some pause and just think through what are the ramifications if I terminate any type of insurance agreement that time? Any thoughts on that?
Michael Baker 18:32
No, I mean, that's a that's a great one. And the other one is, you know, a lot of a lot of life insurance, you know, has the ability to be converted, you know, term can you know, term policy sometimes can be converted, but I agree with you there, there are a lot of times, folks that have you know, been paying for a life insurance policy, you have to go back, what was the original intention of the coverage? was the original intention of the coverage to protect you all the way to retirement? Or was it to protect like, you know, your spouse and your family if something were to happen to you, because I think a lot of people still want their wives, their kids, their husbands, their spouses, whomever you know, is is their inner interrelated with, you know, financially or, you know, relationally to be okay, if something were to happen to them. And so while the, the original intent may have been one thing doesn't mean that that's a dead asset, or something that just needs to be, you know, thrown out and discarded. It could be used in a different way. And again, it's it's, like you said, goes into the one way doors that you know, the segment because, you know, somebody that's 70 years old, wanting to get life insurance is going to be looked at very, very differently than someone who was, you know, applying for life insurance at 45. Exactly.
Ross Marynell 19:48
And in that same vein, so just just kind of transitioning, that sits to some of the two way decisions. There's quite a few of those too. Right. So let's should we roll over an IRA to this management firm invest in this portfolio model, we can change our Maybe rollover to something else know what your parameters are for the agreements that you set up? Do you have the ability to terminate a relationship with an advisor is the assets that you're owning, liquid transferable, those are pretty, those don't have to be necessary. I'm not saying they're not important decisions, but you have the ability to pivot and change if things don't work out the way you thought, one of the one of the ways that we sort of have a two way door as well as you know, when a client newly retires, and they're starting their retirement income budget, so maybe there's a pension or social security, but they know they need some type of supplement from their savings. A lot of times, we don't know exactly, it's hard to pinpoint in the first few months of retirement because you have been retired before. So you don't know what you're going to need yet. You know what your fixed expenses are, but what's the travel budget? How? How much are you really going to spend? And so a lot of times will just encourage, you will just take a midpoint, what do you think you're going to need? Let's start there. And guess what, in three months, if it's too much, we'll pull, we'll scale it back. If it's not enough, then in the in the plan allowance, and we ratchet it up a little bit. And so I think sometimes it's Don't, don't lose too much. don't have too much worry over some of that starting point, as long as there's flexibility to move up or down.
Michael Baker 21:14
I agree. And I think what you're talking about is a great opportunity for people who have not retired yet, but they are looking at, hey, in the next couple years, we're really thinking this is the time, what are what, what an opportunity for you guys to practice retirement. start tracking your expenses, like really tracking them, you know, start seeing like, Alright, what are we paying for this? What do we need for that? Come up with in your mind, a retirement budget, see if you can live on that. Like, don't give yourself a bailout? Like say, okay, you know, our budget was $5,000 this month, and oh, there's not enough month at the end of the money, you know, where there's not enough money at the end of the month, whatever. Because it becomes a lot different when you do make that leap, right. And what you're saying is, is like, yes, you can make some adjustments. But you know, this is why we talk about planning, the way that we do is like these are you can give yourself a trial run before you actually go and follow it and avoid some of that.
Ross Marynell 22:21
So I want I want to put one more potential one way decision out there, and then maybe this will roll into the next conversation. Yeah. Which is if you are in a corporate setting, maybe you're with, you know, large corporations in town, you've been there for a while. 2030? We are we have a lot of folks that come to us that have been working at the same firm for over 10 years that have a group health insurance benefits, life insurance benefits, etc. When do I, when do I stop working there. Now, of course, you could retire from your corporate job and go find an alternative employment. But it's a little bit more challenging to duplicate some of the benefits that are at that original job. If you've been there for a number of years, you have seniority, you may have additional benefits that starting a new employment somewhere else, whether it's temporary, you know, contractor base, or whatever may not be there. So yes, of course, you could go on finding another line of employment, if you decide, oh, I may have retired a little too earlier. I'm not happy at home. But that first job that you leave, in some cases might be a one way choice.
Michael Baker 23:37
Yeah, again, it's you know, you have to weigh it out. I mean, I we meet people with all different kinds of stories. And this is a great to me, like a good segue, and something I was gonna share. I was, you know, Seth Godin, I think is a brilliant marketing mind. And Seth, he, he literally, he writes every day, so I get like a little drip from Seth, Seth in my inbox every day. And this was, he wrote he wrote about today was every everyone is rational. And he says, but if, if that's true, then why don't we all agree on the right next step? It could be because everyone has a different experience, or different data and different goals. Or it could be that you are the only one who is rational. And it could be that we all like to tell ourselves that we're doing the right thing. But ultimately, all we can do is make choices based on how we see the world. The way we see things drives our choices. And of course, our choices change the way we see things. And you have to understand Seth is he's he's what he's saying is is like we're all different. And we all view things differently, see things differently. And there are going to be people that are just like us that, you know, we look at the exterior. We look at them on paper, but they see things completely different. And so to your point, like some of these choices, where it may make total sense for one One person to have a certain set of actions, it may make complete opposite, it may be total opposite path for someone else in a similar circumstance. And that's why, you know, the human side of finances, you can never pigeonhole people into that there is no cookie cutter approach for dealing with people, you know, yes, there's math. And there's, you know, and there's statistics, and there's things that, you know, we can quantify, but then there's stuff that we can't, we got to get in there, roll our sleeves up, and figure out what really works best for you, Mr. Mrs. Jones, you know, and that's, and that's what's exciting for me, just as a planner, I enjoy that. And I know you do, too. But that's part of the message that we want to help people understand. And what I'm taking away from this article that you're sharing Ross is, yes, there are some decisions that are irrevocable. And we have to think through those. But the other ones, it doesn't mean they're unimportant. But it does mean that we have some flexibility that if we decide to go down a path, and we change our mind, it's better for us to figure out, we want to change our mind quickly, you know, and do that, then get caught up in analysis paralysis, you know, and sometimes it's better just to, you know, try some things, knowing that we can reverse it, but the stuff that we get one crack at, we need to get it right.
Ross Marynell 26:23
That's it. That's that's sort of exactly how I took took away that that little bit of conversation is, sometimes we need to think slow, and be methodical. And sometimes it's it's okay to move a little quicker. Alright, so, Michael, we're in South Carolina, York County. This is I was talking to a real estate agent who's been in the area for 30 years. She's a wonderful agent. And she said something to me, that just floored me. She said, Ross, there are 70 Homes for sale in all of Rock Hill, South Carolina 70. Yep. This is the this is one of the more intriguing times of homeownership housing price valuations I've ever seen. And there are a number of contributing factors to this. But this has given some of our clients an amazing opportunity to get to a retirement just to make an important housing decision that they have been thinking about for a long time. We are in the process through transitioning from an office employment to work from home, video conferencing having employment options that may be completely virtual. Having clients that have wanted to move to a retirement destination, whether it's to the coast, whether it's Southwest, whether it's to family or just to a smaller, easier to maintain home, in a more of a retirement community setting. What has happened in our housing market in the last year has given them a world of opportunity. We are seeing homes go under contract in days, if not a day, we're seeing homes go for over market value closing quickly it is. And I asked her point blank, have you ever seen anything like this? And she would have said no. This is the this is the most insane housing market that she has experienced in this area? What are your thoughts on this? How it's helped a number of our clients but also just what does that mean for people moving new to the area? What is what does this look like?
Michael Baker 28:29
Well, now I know why everybody I seem to bump into wants to become a real estate agent. Because, you know, I mean, what a time to be in that business. My thoughts are, you know, there, there are a number of factors driving things, we are very fortunate in that this area that we live in, there are lots of areas that are similar, but the area that we live in is experiencing just dare I say this word, unprecedented economic growth, we've got the Panthers organization that's moving from Charlotte, down here into Rock Hill in York County, bringing a ton of economic investment with it. We've got other businesses looking at Rock Hill as a destination spot now. And so we're just going to, we're just continuing to see this plus, if you couple the fact with everything that you just mentioned with the differences and work from home, people being able to not necessarily be locked into a certain location if they want to work for a company. And then you have to think about home building costs. One of the one of the factors that's driving this is commodity prices. And I was reading an article today that was saying, you know, a certain stack of lumber was, you know, over $1,000 were a year ago it was like 350 bucks. And so that's driven up the cost to build which you know, drives the value of Other homes that already exists, you know, so it's, you know, and then throw in low interest rates. So this is this is an interesting environment. The one thing that I would say, though, is for people that are looking to take advantage of these prices and possibly sell and downsize, one of my people that I, and he's been on the podcast before he's on webinars, Jay Reinhardt, one of the things that Jay says is, know where you were going, because these houses are moving quickly. And if you could find yourself in a situation, if you want to downsize, where you home, your home is sold, but yet you don't have a place to go. And so think through it carefully. But in this type of environment, man, it's great to see people thinking through and doing well, I know that a lot of younger people are having their first home, they are they've done extremely well because of home price rising and they have equity to move into a maybe a larger home if they can find one for their family. And then you have these, you know, existing people that are looking at using their home equity wisely to consolidate, you know, high interest credit card debt, that's been a trend that we've seen, or you know, consumer debt. And then of course, people that are looking to downsize, they're probably dealing with a little bit more equity than they would have thought a couple years ago. So it's a it's a nice position to be in for a lot of these folks.
Ross Marynell 31:33
He no doubt. And so you said something at the top of your, of your conversation there, that there are a lot of real estate agents right now, I found this statistic and said at the end of January, there were a little over 1 million homes for sale. That's down 26% year over year and the lowest on record since 1982. And there are 1.4 or 5 million real estate agents. So at the moment, there are more real estate agents than listings.
Michael Baker 32:06
Yep. That I can't believe it.
Ross Marynell 32:08
It's just that's a mind boggling statistic. We have a housing shortage, we don't have enough homes to accompany I think the new first time homebuyers, the millennial generation, the rave for that family formation stage that are ready to own a home. And there's just is not enough supply. And that challenges, like you said, all the supply chain down from getting the materials to getting the lots to getting the actual construction companies freed up to actually build them. I mean, you got to have the labor force to build them. And we're running short on a number of these areas. But for the time being, this has given a lot of people a wonderful opportunity if they wanted to make a housing decision. To do it, it's given them flexibility. And as long as they you said they have a place in mind to go and a number of our folks that we work with do. And they've been waiting for this these types of moments where maybe they can move a year or two earlier than they anticipated but actually continue their jobs, right, because now they have the ability to work in a virtual nature. And maybe they visit the corporate office a few times a year, etc. But for the large part, they may be able to find themselves working where they want to retire. Now, what a wonderful opportunity.
Michael Baker 33:21
That is a pretty neat opportunity. And hopefully, you know, like you said, talking back to our original conversation the one way door two way doors. You know, that's not necessarily a one way door. But it's a two way door that swings slowly so I would say you make a wise choice don't run into that, you know, without having you know, clear eyes and being in thinking through all the options that may be laying before you.
Ross Marynell 33:46
You're absolutely right. And the real estate decision is not irreversible. We've had clients make them change their minds find themselves with opportunities where they weren't expecting where they they had equity appreciation in a home and realize wow, I can actually move maybe move again and and pocket and downsize a little bit further. And so hopefully this continues, I don't know this doesn't feel like the type of fad of the Oh 708 run up where so much of that activity was just the availability of credit. The types of loans that were being handed out back then it's a very different situation they every these, the credit criteria standards have not swung open. Like they were back in the mid 2000s. It's just not happening. So this is really fueled by just the amount of people who want to buy home and is particularly like you said in areas like our so Alright, what else you got for us?
Michael Baker 34:46
I think that I think we're good man today. There's there's a few other things I'll leave with one one kind of like technical nugget. And this is a to be determined. But just this week, the IRS dropped A threw a curveball, I should say, on everyone that's inheriting retirement money. So this goes back to the secure Act, which was passed in late 2019, you know, secure act, and, you know, basically ended stretch IRAs and quick primer on stretch IRA. This was if you had inherited assets from someone who had a 401k, or an IRA, and you were a named beneficiary, you know, if you were not the spouse, but you are named beneficiary, you have the ability to stretch the required minimum distributions, according to your life expectancy. And so a lot of people it was a neat planning technique, a lot of planners would would encourage and help people figure that out, incorporate that into a financial strategy for themselves. Well, the secure act did away with that, in the secure Act established a 10 year rule. And up until this past week, the assumption was that the 10 year rule simply meant the account needed to be empty, 10 years after the date of death, the IRS says not so fast, they said now there is required minimum distributions from these accounts. And in the same report, they contradicted themselves. So all that to say is, we are going to be monitoring this very carefully, I can't imagine that they are not going to have to go back and re release clarifying language. But for people that are inheriting assets right now, I would encourage you talk to a financial planner, talk to somebody who understands this stuff, you do not want to get this messed up, because required minimum distributions are what they are required. If you don't play by the rules, you could face penalties, and nobody wants to deal with that. So that's something we're monitoring, it just came out, it is hot out of the oven, we still don't have all the details, but is something we're watching. And, you know, in the meantime, I think if you know, just to recap our show, it definitely sounds like you know, people that are facing retirement is one of the biggest life transitions that I can think of. It's and it's so many people take it and approach it in different ways. And that is okay. But there are some things that you have to consider that are a one way street, like Social Security can be a permanent decision. It's it's got a little bit of a window where you can change your mind. But it's one of those ones where usually when you pull the lever, it's done. Same with enrolling in Medicare, you know, enroll in Medicare, that's a big deal to cash balance, pensions, all of this stuff. It matters. And one of the things we like to tell people is if you can consistently make good decision after good decision after good decision, the compounding on that can have lifelong impacts for you. So we encourage you if you are in the local area, reach out to us we love helping people plan and prepare for retirement. We love our young families that are growing and building their wealth. Give us a shout, shoot us an email, email, you can email us at the money huddle, VC planning COMM And we'd love to chat with you. And Ross. I guess we'll just talk to these folks next time. What do you think
Ross Marynell 38:19
we got? Great job is good chatting with you.
Michael Baker 38:22
Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai