Not Your Average Financial Podcast™

Think different about your money, your economy and your future. Be curious. Be stable. Be sane.

Episode 53: A New Perspective with Les Himel (Part 2)

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In this episode, we ask:

  • If compounding stumbles, do we gain or do we lose?
  • What troubles has Les Himel experienced with Wall Street?
  • What is macrodiversification?
  • What is microdiversification?
  • What about mutual funds?
  • What about bonds?
  • What about stocks?
  • How do we improve on a portfolio?
  • How do we turn our portfolio into a business model instead of Wall Street model?
  • What is 7702 of the tax code and why is it important?
  • How do you minimize volatility?
  • How does minimizing volatility benefit compounding?
  • What is the fabric of our society?
  • How is life insurance regulated?
  • What are the important specifics?
  • How does an insurer participate in the market?
  • What is the dividend pool? How is calculated?
  • What is the type of tax-free growth that Les has seen in the last 20-30 years?
  • What is the cumulative rate of return on the S&P? How does this affect results?
  • What should be the core of a portfolio?
  • How can you know what the reasonable outcome will be as you age?
  • What are you going to do to become wealthy? How can you make sure?
  • How does money affect sleep?
  • What are the three major ages in our life?
  • What are some typical pitfalls at each stage?
  • If we have a 401(k), what happens to our family if we die?
  • What are the takeaways?

Lester N. Himel discovered the use of specific types of Life Insurance to enhance and expand the performance of investment portfolios several years ago; this after spending 28 years in a variety of positions on Wall Street. Like most financial professionals, he considered stocks, bonds and similar instruments as the core of a reasonable investment approach. In those last several years, Les has found the better way.

Les comes to this field with a very broad financial background. He started as a compliance officer, worked in administration, was an institutional bond trader, developed an Emerging Markets business, and was also involved with “alternative investments”. Now, as one of only 200 Bank on Yourself authorized advisors, and with his ability to integrate far-reaching insights, he guides clients to financial success. Les prefers low risk and “guarantees”, and has an ability to simplify explanations of what, why and how. Les has achieved various FINRA registrations, and is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC).
Lester resides in Westchester County, New York with his family and stays very busy working with clients across the country.

 

Episode 52: A New Perspective with Les Himel (Part 1)

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In this episode, we ask:

    • What has Les Himel learned in his 28 years on Wall Street?
    • What are the myths of standard conventional wisdom?
    • What are the rules of thumb we should always be able to rely on?
    • Can you get 10% or more per year in the market?
    • How much lower will taxes go?
    • What was the highest marginal tax rate in recent history?
    • How does anyone pay over 90% in taxes?
    • What happens when you go up in scale on your income?
    • Will you be in a different tax bracket in the future?
    • Are you looking at your finances in a 1 or 2 year time frame or in a 30, 40, 50 year time frame?
    • What are the realities of the stock market?
    • What is a cumulative rate of return?
    • How much was the cumulative rate of return on the DOW from 1900-1980?
    • What about 1980-2000? Why does Les call this time the “roaring 20”?
    • What happened on Black Monday?
    • What was the average climb during the 1980-2000 period?
    • What’s the story with the 401(k) in the 80s?
    • What are arithmetic averages?
    • What is a return?
    • What is the difference between a return and a change?
    • When do you truly receive a return?
    • Does your investment advisor take fees and taxes into account when they present an update to you?
    • How does volatility affect your future?
    • What’s the difference between an average and real dollars?
    • How can you calculate the change of how much you’ve really made or lost?
    • If you take the Standard and Poor’s Index (the S&P) from December 31, 2000 until the changes of December 31, 2016, what happened with volatility, and what was the average rate of return?
    • How do investment advisors anticipate the future earnings?
    • Do stocks perform in a straight line?
    • How can the cumulative rate of return help make sense of actual performance?
    • How can you check your math?
    • How does the math of the rate of return vs. the cumulative rate of return affect you?
    • Are you willingly putting up with the volatility, the fees and taxes for a whopping 3.35% return?
    • How does this affect pension funds and 401(k)s?
    • What is the reality?
    • What’s the difference between what we think we know and what we actually see?
    • When you look at the math, what do you come up with?
    • Do you have time to make it up?
    • Is compounding flexible?
    • Why does volatility destroy compounding?
    • Do stocks and bonds narrow volatility?

Lester N. Himel discovered the use of specific types of Life Insurance to enhance and expand the performance of investment portfolios several years ago; this after spending 28 years in a variety of positions on Wall Street. Like most financial professionals, he considered stocks, bonds and similar instruments as the core of a reasonable investment approach. In those last several years, Les has found the better way.

Les comes to this field with a very broad financial background. He started as a compliance officer, worked in administration, was an institutional bond trader, developed an Emerging Markets business, and was also involved with “alternative investments”. Now, as one of only 200 Bank on Yourself authorized advisors, and with his ability to integrate far-reaching insights, he guides clients to financial success. Les prefers low risk and “guarantees”, and has an ability to simplify explanations of what, why and how. Les has achieved various FINRA registrations, and is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC).
Lester resides in Westchester County, New York with his family and stays very busy working with clients across the country.

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 36: How Much Does That Truly Cost?

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In this episode, we ask:

  • How expensive are the different financial products?
  • What are the most expensive financial products?
  • Are you surprised to hear the commissions financial advisors receive?
  • Why are most fees so hard to find?
  • Is it a crime to be paid?
  • Why shouldn’t we get our retirement plans for free?
  • Who pays for the “free” public library?
  • How financially (in)solvent is Social Security?
  • Is Social Security free?
  • Do we have to pay what Wall Street is charging?
  • Did you know there are fees on your 401(k)?
  • How does a 1% AUM fee affect your account over 30 years?
  • How does compounding affect your account?
  • How ugly do compounding fees get?
  • Are there more index funds or stocks available?
  • How much do you lose in fees?
  • How do money managers get rich?
  • How is the government regulating this?
  • How are your accounts doing? FINRA Fund Analyzer
  • What are the most expensive financial products?
  • How expensive is term insurance?
  • Are you paying huge fees in your employer sponsored plans?
  • What is the pure raw cost?
  • Is this cost efficient?
  • Are the costs transparent?
  • Would you like us to run some more numbers for you? Schedule with us here.

Episode 23: 3 Strategies for Becoming A Retirement Planning Expert

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In this episode, we ask:

  • How is “retirement” or receiving passive income like climbing a mountain?
  • How many people make it up Everest?
  • What is it like coming down a mountain?
  • How do we take this finite amount of money and make it last for this unknown number of years?
  • What are the secrets of the Sherpas?
  • What is investment planning designed to do?
  • Why aren’t AUM called Assets Turning into Income?
  • What guarantees are there?
  • What if you have a big IRA with a ton of mutual funds?
  • How long have annuities been around?
  • Which generation in your family was best prepared for retirement?
  • Why are we in a retirement crisis now?
  • What intergenerational cash plays provide security for years to come?
  • What do Congressmen and women have their portfolios wrapped up in?
  • What is our one-two punch strategy for retirement income?
  • How do we work with the problem of longevity?
  • How would it feel if you never ran out of income?
  • How do you know if an annuity is terrible or terrific?
  • How do you know you’re working with the right annuity?
  • How do we work with the need for liquidity?
  • How would it feel if you could access your money anytime without penalty?
  • How do Bank On Yourself® policies factor into retirement?
  • How do we set up pay raises in retirement?
  • How do we work with lump sums and turn that into retirement income?
  • What is laddering?
  • How do we use the “taming the bear” strategy during passive income stages?
  • How do we take income when the market is down?
  • How do you work with an IRA in retirement?
  • How do you work with life insurance loans?
  • Has Wall Street left us stranded at the top of the mountain?
  • Do you want to guess at your retirement income?
  • Do you want the entire pathway down the mountain to be question mark or a certainty?
  • How does retirement income affect quality of life?

Episode 22: [Income in Retirement] What’s Your Magic Number?

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Is income important to you now?
  • Do you see your future self as a stranger?
  • How much do you need coming in?
  • What is the first thing you need to do?
  • What are your expenses?
  • What income do you currently have?
  • Do you qualify to receive Social Security?
  • Will Social Security cover your income needs?
  • How often will your income arrive? i.e. Monthly?
  • Will you have enough?
  • Do you have a gap?
  • What about asset allocations?
  • How does the sequence of how you withdraw affect income?
  • How might we help you?

Episode 21: [Income in Retirement] Streams of Income and Retirement Planning Gotchas

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In this episode, we ask:

  • What are the possible streams of income in retirement?
  • What can you build up now, so you can rely on them later?
  • Would you like passive income? What is passive income?
  • What about passive income from Social Security?
  • What about defined benefit plans?
  • What about personal savings / investments?
  • What about annuity income and life insurance?
  • How much is the average Social Security check?
  • What is the maximum SS amount for this year?
  • What are the best things about Social Security?
  • What do you have set up with your employer?
  • What are the restrictions on defined benefit plans?
  • What are RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions)?
  • When do you have to start taking RMDs?
  • Which plans are considered qualified plans?
  • What is the penalty for not taking RMDs?
  • How does qualified plan savings affect Social Security?
  • What happens at age 70.5? How much does the IRS charge each year in retirement?
  • Who sets the interest rates?
  • How do you allocate your assets to become income providing?
  • What are dividends? How do they help generate income?
  • What streams of income are taxable?
  • What about CDs?
  • What are some efficient ways to generate income?
  • What about cryptocurrency?
  • What about Whole Life Insurance and Annuities?
  • What about Bank on Yourself?
  • What income is guaranteed?
  • What about interest rates and dividend rates?
  • What did Mark find at the Oriental Institute on the University of Chicago’s campus?
  • What are some helpful annuities for guaranteed income in retirement?

Episode 20: [Income in Retirement] So Easy! Even PhDs Can’t Figure It Out

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Does your birthday fall between 1946 and 1964?
  • How much of the American population is in the Baby Boomer generation?
  • Which Americans qualify for retirement?
  • Are you ready for retirement?
  • Will you have enough cash (for basic living expenses)?
  • Will you have to work longer?
  • Are Boomers prepared for retirement?
  • What happened to pensions?
  • How much is enough? How do we know?
  • If we have $1M saved in a nest egg, how do we know how much to take out each year?
  • What is the 4% rule and why is it problematic?
  • Who is Morning Star?
  • What is their Low Bond Yields and Safe Portfolio Withdrawal Rates study?
  • How does the current economic environment affect seniors who are mostly in bonds?
  • How does a 60/40 blend in retirement affect retirement income?
  • Who is David Blanchett?
  • Who is Wade Pfau?
  • Why do we need to look at a 2.8% (or lower) withdrawal rate in retirement?
  • Will you remain independent and healthy in retirement? Will Long Term Care needs affect your income in retirement?
  • Is your future self a stranger?
  • What will you look like when you’re older?
  • Can’t we cross that bridge when we get there?
  • Can you live your best lifestyle in your retirement years?
  • Will you be forced to choose between buying medication or food for the week?
  • What is your story?
  • What are the steps?
    • Start saving
    • Save more
    • Increase your savings every year
  • What does retirement even mean?
  • Where did the retirement age come from?
  • Why is the ability create so central, regardless of age?
  • What’s the next chapter going to look like?
  • What are you passionate about?
  • What work do you love?
  • What do you want to do (for as long as you are able)?
  • In our next episode in this series, we ask: What are the different possible income streams in retirement?

Episode 17: A Tale of Two Brothers (Part 2)

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Fast forward 29 years – how’d it turn out for George and Sam?
  • What are the long term effects of the decisions they’ve made earlier?
  • How did Opportunity Cost, Liquidity and Interest work out for George and Sam?
  • Who is DALBAR? What information do they report?
  • As of this year, how much did the average investor earn over the last 30 years?
  • What happened to each of their retirement accounts?
  • What were the AUM fees on the accounts and how much did it affect their balances?
  • What debt did George and Sam carry through?
  • How much do they pay on the debts?
  • How much did George pay in interest?
  • How much does George get on returns on his 401(k)?
  • How much does George pay to banks each year?
  • How much would Sam have for income annually in retirement?
  • How much did Sam earn?
  • What’s the moral of the story?

Episode 16: A Tale of Two Brothers (Part 1)

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Are you ready to join us fireside for a story?
  • What opportunities bring interest, opportunity cost and liquidity together?
  • As you listen to the parable of the two brothers, what do you notice?
  • How are these twin brothers, George and Sam, the same?
  • How are they different?
  • What does George’s financial blueprint look like?
  • What does Sam’s financial blueprint look like?
  • What beliefs does each hold?
  • How are their choices the same?
  • Where do their choices diverge?
  • How do they view the world?
  • How does security factor into this story?

Episode 11: The 401(k) – How’s That Working Out For You?

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Was the 401(k) meant to be the primary vehicle for retirement?
  • Is there more risk early on in a 401(k) or toward the end or retirement phase of the 401(k)?
  • How have the 401(k)s improved our retirement outlook?
  • What guarantee does the 401(k) present? (Hint: it’s a four letter word.)
  • What are some of the fees on the 401(k)?
  • How much does an average investor pay with a 1% fee over the life of the 401(k)?
  • How much does an average investor pay with a 3% fee over the life of the 401(k)?
  • What is the average investor paying in fees?
  • What is a 403(b)?
  • What’s Katrina’s story with the 403(b)?
  • What about the employer benefit?
  • How do different companies handle vesting?
  • What did Holly’s husband, Jacob, say when he saw his 401(k) statement?
  • How much can you contribute to a 401(k)?
  • If you contribute the maximum amount, can you retire on the 401(k) alone?
  • What are the taxes on the 401(k)?
  • What are the penalties on the 401(k)?
  • How long are the penalties active on the 401(k)?
  • At what age are you required to take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)?
  • What happens to those with 401(k)s at age 70.5?
  • Can you leave a 401(k) as a legacy to your kids and/or grand kids?
  • Is the 401(k) a liquid vehicle?
  • … More!

This is the third episode in a three part series on qualified plans, like the 401(k). Continue with us on our deep dive into thinking differently about the 401(k) in Episode 9 and Episode 10, too.