How to Beat Inflation and Protect Your Hard-Earned Money During Retirement

10.20.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

10.20.23: 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 the Active Wealth Show with your host, Ford Stokes. Ford is a fiduciary and licensed financial advisor who places your needs first. He'll help you protect and grow your wealth. The Active Wealth show has grown because activators like you want to activate their retirement planning with sound, tax efficient investing. And now your host, Ford Stokes.

Ford Stokes:
Welcome. Activators the active wealth show. I'm Ford stokes, your chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis here, our executive producer with us. And on today's show we've got a great show for you. Today we're going to be talking about the real rate of inflation. We're also going to talk about Social Security's new cost of living adjustment. We felt like it was important for all of our pre-retirees and retirees to understand what we feel like is the real rate of inflation, plus, what is the cost of living adjustment that Social Security recipients are going to receive starting in 2024 for that cola, that all important cola. We're going to give you some inflation updates, important reminders, and how to make your money last. During your retirement years. Many of you are going to be retired for 30 plus years, almost as long as you worked. We do not want you to outlive your money. We want to make sure that your money outlives you. So again, welcome to the show. If you're wondering who an activator is, an activator is somebody who listens to the active well show. We are the number one listened to radio show on Am 920 on the weekends, and we sincerely appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Also just want to give a shout out to several folks who have been long time listeners and first time callers this past week.

Ford Stokes:
They call the Office. Just want to say shout out to Alan and Robin, Brett and Michael and Dwayne. And we just really appreciate you guys and gals and. We're here to help you build a successful retirement future. We're going to try to protect and grow your assets. First of all, we're going to do everything we can to protect your assets. The next thing we're going to do is try to help you build a tax efficient, efficient and market efficient portfolio with. Tactically managed portfolio, strategically managed portfolios. Also with Roth ladder conversions, potentially you're investing in some insurance products like indexed universal life policies if you're in your 50s, or also considering fixed indexed annuities as bond replacement alternatives for you that are going to be much safer. Also, we've got a really important story of a CFO for a major corporation that was working with a local broker dealer here in Atlanta, and what's happened when they put him into alternative investments. You want to be careful about some of those alternative investments these days. And we've got an important guest in. Go ahead. Sam, why don't you share a little bit of information about our important guests are going to join us in segment three.

Producer:
Well, first, welcome to the Weekend Activators. Hope everybody is enjoying fall. Maybe you are getting the leaf blower out. Maybe you're driving around knocking off that weekend to do list whatever you're doing. Thanks for making the active Wealth show part of your weekend and you're right forward. We've got a very important show today, including special guest John Williams, who is the founder of Shadow Government Statistics, which is a newsletter service that exposes and analyzes flaws in current US government economic data and reporting, as well as certain private sector numbers. And so we're going to talk to him about the true rate of inflation and some of the things that concerns him with what's going on in the economy today. And we'll be talking to him in the back half of the show.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. And you can get his information at shadowstats.com. He's he's a great guy. I'm sure he'll be able to tell you how to get in touch with him. He's he's got some interesting information. He's out of Petaluma, California. We have used some of his graphs and stuff and some of our seminars recently. And I wanted to just reach out to John and, and just make sure you guys can hear from him, not hear from us. On what the real rate of inflation is, especially considering that Social Security Administration just came out with a 3.2% cost of living adjustment this past week, and that's great. It's great news for folks that are going to make more money. There's also some bad news there. Couple couple of things on that. Number one is it's likely that the real rate of inflation is higher than 3.2%. So again, our retirees and our Social Security recipients are receiving less and purchasing power from their Social Security income check that they've paid into for years and years and years. And the second one is still just a reminder, because we're trying to make sure that we tell everybody to make sure that they're not missing this. Again, retirement is about income, and our big concern is the Social Security Administration and the Congressional Budget Office came out earlier this year and said, actually, the fund, the Old Age Survivors Insurance Fund, the Old Age Survivors Insurance Fund, Oaci, is scheduled to be 100% depleted to go to zero by 2033.

Ford Stokes:
And last year they said it was 2034. So we lost two years. We advanced a year in time. We went from 2022 to 2023. And then they also said, hey, wait a second, now we're actually depleting the trust fund even further or the fund even further to now. It's now 2033, and this is an update and a summary of the 2023 annual reports from Tsa.gov. And it is a real concern. And so. You need to have a plan for it. Now, what's going to happen if the Social Security trust fund the fund is depleted? Well. It looks like it right now. If Congress does nothing different, it would be a. 24% cut across the board for all benefits, it wouldn't be 100% cut. But it would be 23 to 24% of a cut. So you need to have a plan for that. And because that's going to be just ten years from now. Sam, any other updates you've got? I know you're kind of scrolling through ssa.gov on this subject as well.

Producer:
Yeah, we're just taking a look at the official message to the public on Tsa.gov. This is something we've been talking about for the last few months on the Active Wealth Show, and really just trying to continue to raise that awareness, because Social Security is such a big part of the retirement picture, and specifically that income picture for so many retirees out there. And if you're a few years away from retirement, Social Security is probably one of the topics that you have a lot of questions about. And so we just want to make sure that all of the activators are aware that Social Security is likely going to undergo some serious changes over the next decade, and Social Security alone is not enough to be a retirement plan. You really need a comprehensive plan so that you can protect your money, but also continue to grow it. Because a big part of today's conversation today, inflation is one of those big headwinds that you're going to be facing throughout your entire retirement. And so in order to maintain your buying power, you're going to have to have a complete plan that includes much more than just Social Security.

Ford Stokes:
No question. And again, what we've talked about on this show so much, and we had a gentleman call us, Alan called us this week. And he's like, you know what? It really resonated with me that retirement is more about income than it is just about building assets. And because I just haven't had an income plan, I didn't have that decumulation phase plan. I had an accumulation phase plan. And now that I'm no longer working, I feel like I just I'm lost and I'm just taking withdrawals and it seems like it's never enough. And also, you know, we've get some Social Security stuff and I've got. You know, I've got a spouse, I've got two children. I've got, you know, a. A sibling that's got special needs that I need to take care of as well. And he goes, it's a little bit overwhelming, but it's also scary because I cannot handle 20, 30, 40, 50% losses in what our assets are. And so what I need to do is I need to just protect what I need to protect to make sure that the income that is going to be taken care of for it's going to take care of literally, he's got. Four total females that if he passes away, they're going to struggle to figure out what to do. And one of them is his special needs sister who's younger. That's going to that needs care 1% of the time. And then he's got, you know, his wife and his two children. And it can't just be here's this nest egg. And I just wanted to make sure I'm just sharing that with with you guys and gals today, because we've got to do a much better job as.

Ford Stokes:
Pre-retirees and retirees planning for that retirement income, also planning for that eventual loss of a spouse and and the loss of 33% of our. Social Security income that comes into the household. Because when one of your spouses passes away, you're going to lose 33%, at least of the Social Security income that's coming into the household. And Social Security is either the number one or number two source of income. For a majority of Americans here in the United States. So I just want to make sure that. We have a good understanding of. We need to get some income planning going, get that retirement income gap plan done. All you've got to do is reach out to us at Active wealth.com. That's Active wealth.com. Click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. We're happy to help you. Also when we come back to the break we've got a pretty big announcement. What's happened recently in a great way for active wealth management. We're really excited to announce this partnership. And also we're super excited to talk to John Williams with Shadowstats.com and segment three. And we're going to talk about the real rate of inflation and what you can do about it. Is the Active Wealth Show right here on Am 920. The answer come right back because we've got an important announcement in segment two. And we're talking to John Williams with Shadowstats.com

Producer:
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Producer:
Thanks so much for listening to the Active Wealth Show. Make sure to rate us everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify.

Producer:
And welcome back to the active wealth show activators. I'm Sam Davis, your executive producer with Ford Stokes, who is your chief financial advisor. And Ford, we have an exciting partnership to announce. We're very passionate about educating pre-retirees and retirees on the radio, on YouTube, on our podcast feed, in our office with clients and prospects. And this is really just a continuation of your passion for educating retirees on how to protect and grow their wealth. And I'll let you go ahead and make the announcement. But we have an exciting partnership that has started here in 2023.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, I'm super proud of and kind of applied to do this and and super proud that we got approved to do this. So I've been invited to contribute articles on Forbes.com as part of the Forbes Finance Council. And my first article is going to be on bond replacement and that strategy. And so we're super excited to work with Forbes, and we appreciate their judgment in, in selecting me to contribute articles to Forbes through the Forbes Finance Council. And just want to say thanks and super excited about that. We're we really work hard to educate pre-retirees and retirees, and this is just another step in that journey. Sam, again, I want to say thank you for your support of my practice and of this radio show and of all of our activators and all of our radio listeners, and also our podcast listeners. Our podcast continues to grow, but this Forbes Finance Council is kind of a big deal for me. I've contributed articles to FOXBusiness.com before. This one is going to be a really big deal. And we're going to you'll see articles from me on a kind of a six week cadence. I think we're going to try to give them articles every 4 to 6 weeks and just super excited to be a part of Forbes Finance Council. That's not something they give away to everybody. And thanks for taking the time to let us talk about that today.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. It's very important. And we've got a couple other important reminders before we get into our conversation about inflation. First off, reminder, if you are Medicare eligible, it is Medicare's annual enrollment period that runs from October 15th to December 7th. So be sure that you're reevaluating your plan, finding out if you can save money, and also be aware of the scams that go on during Medicare's annual enrollment period. Do what Ronald Reagan says trust, but verify, and really make sure that nobody's taking advantage of you during Medicare's annual enrollment period. And if you have questions, give active wealth management a call. Another reminder that Social Security's cost of living adjustment was announced last week, and for 2020, for Social Security, recipients will receive a cost of living adjustment of 3.2%. This is a big drop from the 8.7% adjustment that we saw in 2023, but we're still moving up, and recipients will receive an average of about $59 more in their Social Security paychecks beginning next year.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, absolutely. So excited about the 3.2% cost of living adjustment. That's great news. Super concerned about what's going on with the old Age Survivors Insurance Fund, the Social Security trust fund for old age survivors benefits. And what that means a 2,324% cut across the board starting in 2033. And I'm always concerned about people's retirement income and making sure that they've got enough assets to generate the income, but also make sure they've got a retirement income plan and also just getting an expense plan, too. One big hint that I would recommend. And everybody do is try to take the last two months, especially before we get into November, December with all the Christmas shopping and everything. Take the last two months. Just take, you know, August and September and add up those two months. Every single thing you spent in your credit cards and in your your checking account. And then go ahead and divide that by two. And that'll give you an idea of what you're truly spending on an average monthly basis. I've got some clients that have all of their expenses that run through one checking account between the two of them, and they have gotten all their statements, and they've added up all of their debits for the year so they can understand how much they're actually spending. And they've also been able by going through their statements, they've been able to get rid of some of their nagging subscriptions that were there. And some people are even changing banks and changing accounts so that therefore the subscriptions that can't continue. So try to just try to reduce some of that stuff that's just coming out of the that leaky hole in the bottom of the bucket. Make sure that you're holding on to as much money as you can. As Benjamin Franklin said, you know, a penny saved is a penny earned. That's not our financial quote of the week. Sam, why don't you go ahead and share this week's financial quote of the week, though.

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

Producer:
This week's quote of the week.

Producer:
Comes to us from Jim Rohn, and Jim Rohn once said, we must all suffer from one of two pains the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons.

Ford Stokes:
And that's just so true. And I would also just say, listen, if you haven't gotten a financial plan. And you haven't started working with the financial adviser. And let's say you've got an old 401. And we'll talk about that here. The rest of the show, and you just haven't figured out what you're doing about trying to delete the IRS from your retirement accounts. You haven't looked at a ladder conversion plan. You haven't considered other ways of investing with life insurance and annuities as a way to replace bonds that have lost literally lost money each of the last three years because of interest rate hikes. Because with bonds you do face interest rate risk that is significant in here and present. And you've got people now that are coming up with the administration saying, well, we really never should have had 2% interest rates anyway. And that's their explanation for losing significant market value for, you know, American investors over the last three years. And the Fed's coming out and giving that type of commentary. It's just a real concern. And there's no reason for you to face that interest rate risk because you can replace your bonds with a, you know, multiple ways of doing it. But I would say the number one way would be to invest in fixed indexed annuities for 20 to 40% of your assets.

Ford Stokes:
That's another really good idea. You can also take 510% of your assets and invest in a structured note ladder. Again, you want to do a ladder, not just one single structured note. And we can talk to you about that. All you've got to do is reach out to us at Active wealth.com, or give us a call at (770) 685-1777. You can also do money market funds and ladder bank CDs with with our custodian Charles Schwab. We can help you there. And we're we're getting clients between 5.24% and 5.65% in basically guaranteed interest. That is also got either spike or FDIC coverage to help out there. But the nice thing about these fixed indexed annuities, they're offering 20% immediate bonuses. They're getting giving away huge participation rates. They're also giving you, you know, up to 8% simple interest guaranteed on your money, the premium you put in or the principal that you put in that's incredibly attractive. You ought to carve out, you know, ten, 20, 30, 40%, up to 50% of your assets into a strategy like that. So you can generate important retirement income that you can never outlive, but also protect your principal and help you protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved assets and get those market like gains, too.

Producer:
And Ford want to share some statistics that have come out recently from Statista about how Americans have responded to the inflation crisis, because, as we mentioned earlier, you're going to be facing this headwind of inflation throughout your 30 plus year retirement. And here's just an example of how respondents have adjusted their behavior due to inflation, 64% of people say they're spending less on non-essentials and paying more attention to bargains and deals. 39% say that they're cutting back on non-essential journeys in their vehicle. 39% also say they're not going out for dinner or lunch anymore, 32%. So almost a third say that they're making an attempt to use less gas and electricity in their home. This one is very discouraging, for 27% say that they actually gave up on some of their hobbies due to inflation, and only 11% of survey respondents said that they have not changed their behavior at all.

Ford Stokes:
It's amazing how it shows that 89% of the people are saying that inflation has affected how they're living their lives, and we do not want people giving up on their hobbies specifically. It includes exercise. You know, all those people that you see with Al Roker on the Today show, I think Smuckers actually sponsors that segment. 100% of the people. The one consistent thing that those people share is that they all walked. They started walking significantly in pre-retirement and retirement. That's how they made it to 100 years old. Please don't give up your hobbies, especially if that's going to help you move your body and stay in shape, because we want to make sure that you know you're living a long lifestyle. We want you to make it to seeing the birth of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. We want to make sure you can live a long time, and inflation should not be something that shortens your life. And one of the ways to deal with that is just go ahead and pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777 or visit Active wealth.com. Now in advance of us talking to John Williams with Shadowstats.com, I want to just quickly run down here. The cost of living adjustments that we've gotten over the last five years. So our 2024 Cola that just got announced this past Thursday is going to be 3.2%.

Ford Stokes:
2023. It was 8.7 2022. It was 5.9 2021. It was 5.9 and 2020 set prior to the Covid 19. Demick was 1.3, so that is a significant cost of living. Adjustments have been given out by the Social Security Administration. Well, we're going to talk to John Williams about what is the real rate of inflation based on his analysis, not mine, not anecdotal, not subjective, but more objective observation of what is going on with the cost of living adjustment and also what's going on with inflation since February of 2020. And I think it's a really important segment, a really important interview that we're going to have with John Williams. You want to come right back and listen to this important interview. And we'll also going to separate this interview out so you can check it out and Active Wealth Show.com and see that episode. And we'll also put it up on our YouTube channel and on our Facebook page as well. We're so glad you're with us. Thanks for making us the number one listen to radio show here on the weekends on Am 920. The answer? Thanks for being an activator. Thanks for listening to the Active Wealth Show, and come right back for an important interview with John Williams with Shadowstats.com about the real rate of inflation in.

I feel I've got to run away.

Producer:
Remember, all of Ford's listeners receive a free financial consultation just for listening to the show. Visit Active wealth.com to learn more and schedule an appointment. Thanks for listening to the Active Wealth Show and subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back to the Active Wealth show activators. I'm Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor, and we got Sam Davis, our executive producer, on the board with us here. But we've got a very special guest for us today we've been talking about on the show today. We've got John Williams with Shadowstats.com. He's going to help us kind of understand what's the real rate of inflation. Just we want to make sure that you can make an informed financial decisions and information is power with your retirement. We want to make sure that you've got as much as information from experts like John and John. First of all, welcome the Active Wealth Show. And thank you for it. You bet. And so, John, talk to us a little bit about what drove you to start Shadowstats. And, and I know you do a weekly newsletter as well. And I as a financial advisor, I'll just tell you, I'm kind of geeking out a little bit that you're here because you're kind of one of my retirement heroes. That helps people understand what's the real rate of inflation and how their buying power can get eroded. So it's just a big deal for me to be able to talk to you. So we're super excited about that. But just talk. Tell us a little bit about what drove you to start Shadowstats.com. Well, very specifically.

John Williams:
It was something that happened in the early 1980s. I'd been I've been an economist for 50 years.

Ford Stokes:
Guess God love the experience. That's great.

John Williams:
What happened was something I found an unconscionable. The federal government. Changed the methodology on calculating the Consumer price index for the specific purpose of cutting cost of living adjustment adjustments to Social Security, so that the Congress could increase its deficit spending without raising its the deficit limit, so to speak. This is unconscionable. The Congress had hearings and called in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Katherine Abrams, who is the, I believe, the head of the bureau at that time. Was interviewed by Newt Gingrich, who was, I believe, chairing that committee. They basically told her that if they could find a way to somehow accommodate calculation of the cost of living, that the converse would find some some more money for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When Newt Gingrich was chairing the Committee on the Cost of Living Adjustment, or the CPI calculation, one of the Bureau of Labor Statistics should change its methodology to reduce the the headline reporting of that particular measure and that they could reduce the cost of living adjustment. Congress would find more money for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And that started a process that right now. That's accumulated over over decades with different, different changes.

Ford Stokes:
So, John. You know, last Thursday it just came out that the Social Security Administration is offering or is going to give a 3.2% cost of living adjustment to Social Security income recipients for 2024. That will start phasing in in January of 2024. Yeah. What do you believe is the real rate of inflation over the past 12 months?

John Williams:
That would. That would be 14.6%.

Ford Stokes:
Holy cow. That is a big difference. 11% difference. One big question that I've been wanting to ask, and we had some. I actually had a couple radio listeners that called me yesterday and they I told them I was going to have you on and they were like, oh, please ask him this question. So I'm going to ask it. So starting in 2024. Social Security recipients will have received a 20.5% increase to their Social Security benefits since 2020. Like February 2020.

Ford Stokes:
How far off do you believe.

Ford Stokes:
This is from the real levels of inflation we're facing? You just said it was a 14 plus percent Cola. That should have happened.

John Williams:
That's for this last year. Yeah. So 20 2020 through. That'll be 2024. Okay, so it'd be about 60%.

Ford Stokes:
39.5% off on purchasing power. So you've got you've got retirees that are now getting like 39.5% less purchasing power since February of 2020 on. You know, it's an approximation. But that is remarkable. What are the what are some of the factors that go into you calculating the true rate of inflation?

John Williams:
Well, I've based it on is the what used to be the CPI in 1982. Up through 1982 back to 1917 or so. When they first started calculating it, it was it was an estimated consistently. In 1982, the the Congress had its hearings. The Bureau of Labor Statistics was told basically to change the method of calculating the consumer price index, which was used for, for for determining the cost of living adjustment. And the one thing that I'll say about the government is that at least they've been consistent in reporting what they're doing. Are any number of things that they they can shift around from the weightings to other adjustments. And whenever they make a change, they publish the what they estimate it will how it will affect the aggregate CPI. What I've done is I've tracked it since since they started making the changes back in 1982. And.

John Williams:
You add.

John Williams:
All those little things add up and it might be a percent, might be half a percent. It's a differential in the range of 8 to 10%. They get wow, that gets cut short gets cut short here.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah that's that's remarkable. So also one of the biggest drivers or inflation when you're calculating to it. It's one of the things that a lot of people talk about. As you you mentioned the headline CPI. That's usually CPI which stands for urban. But what we're seeing is CPI, which stands for elderly, which is for all the retirees. That's usually about 5% higher. Is that correct? It's usually yeah.

John Williams:
That that would be proportionately affected here against my numbers, maybe a little bit less. But the.

John Williams:
The press.

John Williams:
Particularly for the elderly. This is a horrible circumstance.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. No question. And also, based on all your research, what do you find is the most concerning specifically for retirees in America today? Is it loss of purchasing power? It's not being told the truth. Is it? You know what? What are the big concerns? Or you're just there to report the truth?

John Williams:
Well, I reported as as I as I see it, based on the way the government's reported it, the changes they've made. I'm trying to get the truth out there. It's criminal as far as I'm concerned.

Ford Stokes:
I've been wanting to talk to you for so long, and was so glad that you took my call. Now can people sign up for shadow stats and how can they get your information?

John Williams:
I have a have a website shadowstats.com. Send me an email John Williams at shadowstats.com. I'll and be happy to communicate with you.

Ford Stokes:
Great. Well, John, it's been a pleasure and a privilege for me to talk to you. I'm a huge fan of yours and thanks again for fighting the good fight and giving us the real data. You're a revered economist in my eyes. And and thanks again. And and have a great time out there in Petaluma, California.

John Williams:
Well thank you.

John Williams:
Thank you very much. And thank you so much for having me on your show. I'm greatly honored.

Producer:
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Producer:
Inflation is hitting us all in the wallet and changing many of our habits. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network powered by Mirror Life. While there are some signs inflation could be easing off, prices for goods and services are still significantly higher than this time last year. Across the country, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says consumer prices rose 8.5% in July compared to a year earlier, with the cost of everything from groceries to appliances to travel going up at levels not seen in four decades. Americans are changing the way we behave with our money, the New York Times recently reported. Quote, some are starting budgets and shopping at discount stores. Others are skipping red meat and fish, walking dogs for extra cash, canceling subscription, meal kits and more. The paper spoke with one man, who even tries a psychological trick, filling up his gas tank when the level only goes down by a quarter. That way, a trip to the gas station only costs about 25 bucks. But some people are taking things a lot farther. Try more than 1000 miles farther. With many of us still being able to work from home, many Americans are moving to places like Mexico City, where the cost of living is much cheaper.

Eric Rodriguez:
In San Diego, my apartment was probably $2,500 for a one bedroom, for a studio, for a studio. Here I have a one bedroom and I pay $800 a month.

Producer:
That's Eric Rodriguez speaking to CNN. He says the transition to Mexico City has gone well.

Eric Rodriguez:
I think there was a sense of we want people to come here to stimulate the economy. Thank you for being here. But I know that recently there's been kind of complaints from locals about the effect that expats living here has had on their own lifestyles.

Producer:
And many locals told the news channel that prices have gone up for them. While some businesses are being displaced to make room for luxury apartments. So what changes are you making because of inflation? That's a key question to consider as we all pinch pennies with the Retirement.Radio Network powered by Amira Life. I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to the Active Wealth Show. If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch videos from this program and other recent episodes.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back! Activate the Active Wealth show on Fort Stokes. Chief financial advisor I've got Sam Davis here with us, our executive producer, and Sam, that was a very informative and concerning interview with John Williams of Shadowstats.com. It's interesting. He's been at the game since 1982, kind of monitoring and managing the information and how the US government, specifically Congress, has changed how we view cost of living adjustments and how that's dramatically reduced the real rate of inflation for cost of living adjustments on Social Security. That's allowed them to not have to increase the debt limit. And. I just I learned a lot in that interview. And, I mean, the guy's been doing it 50 years. Just really appreciate him doing that. We are paid subscribers to Shadowstats.com. If you want more information on the latest report from Shadowstats, all you got to do is send me an email at Ford at Active wealth.com. That's Ford at Active wealth.com. And he's got a lot of news organizations that subscribe to his stuff. He's got over a thousand subscribers to his information. He sends out a weekly newsletter. Um, and I just thought it was great. And again, thank you, John Williams, for everything you're doing for pre-retirees and retirees and also for financial advisors like me that help our folks understand. Listen, you're losing purchasing power out there. You've got to stay invested. Just your thoughts on that interview, Sam.

Producer:
Yeah. Well, first off, thanks to John, and it's great to hear from someone who's been studying as an economist for over five decades and also some good validation that some of the things that John is most concerned about are things that we're most concerned about over here at Active Wealth Management and mean, according to John and his figures from Shadowstats, the US government is way off on their calculation of the true values of inflation, especially for seniors. I mean, we know that there's nonprofit organizations like the Senior Citizens League that have been advocating for that sort of thing. John Williams, clearly an advocate for that idea, and it's just so important and underscores the fact that you need to have a plan for your Social Security and also understand that that's not going to be your entire retirement plan. It just can't be.

Producer:
Want to know where your hard earned money is going. It's time for an inflation demonstration.

Producer:
This week on our inflation demonstration we're going to talk about Girl Scout cookies. Of course, many Girl Scout regional councils are getting together as they start to make plans for their annual Girl Scout cookie sale. And unfortunately, they're going to be raising the price of the popular cookies because the two commercial bakeries that actually produce Girl Scout cookies are having to increase costs. Because just like the rest of us, they're paying more for everything. So your favorite box of Girl Scout cookies that used to be $5 a box, will soon cost $6 in most parts of the United States. Many cookie lovers are surprised that their Thin Mint purchasing power is thinner than it used to be. A $20 bill used to be able to get you four boxes of cookies. Now it's only going to be able to get you three with a couple of dollars left over. And here's a really interesting fact I was surprised by this for Girl Scouts sell 200 million boxes of cookies annually. That's more than Oreos. And even though Girl Scout cookies are on sale for only a few months a year, the young ladies are able to get together and round up 200 million boxes of cookies annually. My favorite is the Caramel Delites, sometimes called Samoas. I'll get a few of those and pop those in the microwave for a few seconds, and that is just a great treat. And of course, Thin Mints are a classic. You can't go wrong there.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, I'm a big Thin Mint fan and I'm also a Samoa fan, so I like both of those. Those are my favorites. I don't I'm not a huge fan of of the rest of them. There's a lot of people that really like the Tagalongs or the, you know, the lemon ups or the peanut butter sandwich, all that stuff. I'm a little bit more down the fairway here with, you know, Thin Mints and Samoas, but we definitely put the Thin Mints in the freezer and pull them out and do a glass of milk with them. And it's it's it's a good family tradition for us. Our girls were doing cheerleading. So they did not do, um, Girl Scouts, unfortunately. And or brownies or Girl Scouts, uh, wish they had. I did Cub Scouts and did a year of of Boy Scouts, but um, but it just there's just too much to do in the day for these kids these days. But it was, I don't know, remarkable stuff there. And I can't believe that we keep going up and. Just give me an idea of the easy math on that, everybody. Girl Scout cookies went up 20% in one year, and you got a 3.2% cola, so it's a big difference. Now, Sam, what I want to talk about is the folks that have stray, for one, because we've got to do a better job activators at dealing with our old 401 and our IRAs. Many people neglect to roll over the funds from a previous employer's retirement plan, creating what we call a stray for one or orphan 401 K, and we can absolutely help you with that and help you get more investment options, help you optimize that for sure.

Ford Stokes:
Savvy pre-retirees and retirees take those funds from a previous employer's retirement plan, and they roll it over into an IRA with more investment options and lower fees. You can even establish a personal pension by purchasing an annuity with these funds. Set it and forget it is often not a good strategy. We help people manage their hard earned and hard save money in a more efficient and effective way that fits their needs. Reach out to us to get started on your own customized retirement plan today. Visit Active wealth.com, or go ahead and pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777. Our new headquarters offices are located in Alpharetta. We're off exit 12 and really near Halcyon. And we've also got a midtown Atlanta office. We've got a Kennesaw office, we've got a Cartersville office, and we're happy to help you at any of those offices. You can also meet with us via zoom. All you've got to do is visit Active wealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. And here's one really great piece of information you're going to meet just with me. You're going to meet directly with the host. We put your needs ahead of our own. I want to do everything I can to seek to understand what's going on with your retirement. Your retirement is different no matter how much money you have. If your money's important to you, it's important to us. And we're going to put your needs ahead of our own and try to help you protect and grow your wealth and build that tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient portfolio.

Ford Stokes:
Also, if you've been eroding your market value through bonds, which is the income portion of your portfolio, you really don't need to do that. If you don't have tactical asset allocation and strategic allocation placed within your portfolio, you ought to consider and do a side by side comparison of what that would look like. Also, if you don't know what your expense ratio is within your portfolio and how much money is coming out of your portfolio in fees each and every month, that don't show up in your statement, but shows up in the actual fees that are removed from the overall value of, say, mutual funds that are in the prospectus of your mutual funds you never read. I would encourage you to go ahead and pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777 again, (770) 685-1777. We're going to give you a portfolio analysis, a retirement plan to your 95th birthday with your current assets, one with our recommended portfolios and also one with a Roth ladder conversion and two other bonus things. We're going to give you a retirement income gap plan, whether you've got a negative income gap or a positive income surplus going into or through retirement. And we're also going to give you a Social Security maximization report. We've talked a lot about Social Security today. You're going to want to maximize all the money you're going to get within your Social Security income benefit. For sure. It's one of the most important decisions you can make during retirement. I would encourage you to go ahead and visit Active wealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner.

Producer:
So let's recap what you may have missed. It's the final countdown. The final.

Ford Stokes:
So on today's show, we talked about Social Security's new cost of living adjustment, which was 3.2% going forward for 2024. We also interviewed John Williams of Shadowstats.com and segment three to really go over what the real rate of inflation was, and he felt like it was over 11% off. They felt like it should have been 14.3%. That is a remarkable difference. Also, he felt like it should have been right around 60% from February 2000 to today, whereas Social Security recipients have gotten 20.5% in cost of living adjustments from the Social Security Administration. So we're off by like 39.5% or more. You've got to do everything you can to stay invested so you can keep pace with inflation. We have ways to do that. We can help you do that safely with replacing the bonds in your portfolio also help you eliminate interest rate risk. All you have to do is visit us at Active wealth.com and click that schedule consultation button in the upper right corner, and you'll get booked directly into my calendar. If you don't have a plan for your retirement, you haven't sat down and met with a fiduciary and a licensed financial advisor. I would encourage you to go ahead and pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777 or visit Active wealth.com.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to the Active Wealth Show. You deserve to work with a private wealth management firm that will strategically work to protect your hard earned assets. To schedule your free consultation, call your Chief Financial Advisor, Fort Stokes at (770) 685-1777 or visit Active wealth.com investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, BCM, a registered investment advisor. Bcm and Active Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

Producer:
Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients, and to make full disclosure of any conflicts of interest, if any, exist.

Producer:
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Producer:
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