On this week’s episode of The Secure Retirement Podcast, we continue addressing the key issues that affect members of the Florida Retirement System with a special focus on Social Security. Even if you are not a member of the Florida Retirement System, this episode will be particularly useful because Social Security touches everyone nationally.
John says, “For many people, Social Security is really the only guaranteed lifetime income. Folks who have a pension like the Florida Retirement System, they have two streams of income that's guaranteed, but if you're self-employed, or if you are in a job where you have a 401K but not a pension, Social Security might be the only guaranteed lifetime reliable income stream you've got.”
We chat about the impact of the pandemic on Social Security, as well as:
How Social Security is taxed
How the collection of Social Security will affect your spouse
Actuarial equivalents
Expected changes to Social Security and cost of living adjustments
And more
Mentioned in this episode:
John’s podcast: https://johnhcurry.com/podcast
John’s website: https://johnhcurry.com
John’s office number: 850-562-3000
Transcript
Steve Gordon: Welcome to John H. Curry's Secure Retirement Podcast. I'm your temporary host, Steve Gordon, I am here interviewing John. And this is a continuing series that that we're doing on the podcast, where John is really addressing some of the key issues that affect members of the Florida Retirement System. Now, if you're listening to this, and you're not a member of the Florida Retirement System, today's episode is actually going to be particularly useful for anyone because we're going to be talking about social security. John, welcome. I know this is a big issue for everybody.
John Curry: Yes, it is. And it's good to be here to talk about it.
Steve: Now you do seminars on this topic. You do webinars in this topic, I know the last live seminar that you did, was pretty popular. And if I recall, you had about 90 or 100 people.
John: We had 97 people in the room, 97 people in the room, wow. That's a lot for a seminar. I work with a lot of people and doing seminars, and that's about as full as as you get them. And I would imagine, that's because it's a hot topic, people are concerned and it's complicated, hard to figure out, is complicated and is becoming more and more important issue as we see this pandemic spread. And more and more people are losing their jobs and having to retire earlier. We'll get into that in a few minutes about you the different ages to claim benefits, but is going to become even more hot topic, because the politicians are kicking around a lot to the income base is going up. So you have to pay more and more taxes. There's a lot of issues with social security.
Steve: Well, kind of guide us down the path. Where do you begin when you're talking with someone about social security?
John: Well, first, let me say this, our podcasts are typically around 30 minutes, there's no way no way that I can cover this in 30 minutes the way it should be. So what I want to do today is simply wherever the conversation goes, but I've got a few key points I want to make, and let people know just understand the big picture. And then come sit with me or talk with somebody on my team for a while then go to the website. And I'll warn you the Social Security websites got a lot of good information. But then the question is you get information overload, what the heck do you do with it? I've got a summary sheet in front of me right here just shows up dates for 2020. Right off the website.
Steve: Yeah, folks, it was actuall. I chuckled a little bit as we're preparing for this, because it took John longer to get organized for this episode than any of the rest, I'm looking across the table. He's got printouts from the Social Security website, he's got printouts of slides and notes from presentations that he's given on this. The array of information that's in front of us here is quite astonishing. And compared to every other topic we've covered in the series, it's very unique. So I can appreciate the fact that we can't get through it all in a single episode. But where should we begin? Where do people kind of start within their thinking, and their questions about social security?
John: Well, the first one is, okay, when can I start collecting benefits, there is still a lot of confusion on that the earliest you can go in Social Security is age 62 for retirement. And then people will say, Well, I think the system's going to go bankrupt. So I'm gonna start mine as soon as possible. And here people, they mean, well, but they would say to you, Steve, is going to be bankrupt, you better take it as soon as you can get all you can. And then the next step is understanding that if you went into a full retirement age, which could be 66, or 66, and two months, etc, until you're 67.
So it comes down to your birth, and we'll cover that. And then the maximum benefit is paid at age 70. So at age 70, you can get the maximum benefit, and you can earn all the money you want. But that didn't have a penalty. Same thing with full retirement age, you can earn a million bucks, no reduction of benefits, but at age 62. And up until full retirement age, there's a reduction. So we'll come back and talk about that. Also, there's a lot of confusion about how social security is taxed.
So we'll cover some of that. And then we'll talk about what happens from the standpoint of like, in my case, I'm divorced, but I was married 41 years. So what happens is that my dad, so we've talked about the widows and widowers benefit a lot of misinformation on that too. And a lot of changes just in the last few years on Social Security. So there's a big picture. And then I want to touch on cost of living because everybody thinks Oh my god, and we got a cost of living adjustment every years my law. Wow, there's a provision for it. But you don't always get a cost of living benefit. So there's a whole lot of stuff. And the truth of the matter is, I'm not even sure what we're going to cover because whatever pops in my head depending upon your questions is where I'll go, but I do want to touch on those things.
Steve: Okay. Well, let's start with the age question, because I would imagine that's probably in the front of everyone's mind.
John: Yes. So
Steve: I'm not anywhere near any of those ages. But let's say that I was right. Let's say I'm 60 years old, and I'm approaching, you know, the first age, I can take it. How do you begin to counsel somebody on when they should make that decision?
John: Great question. And even though you're not 62, let's talk about you for a second. You, you're 50? 49.
Steve: Don't make me too old.
John: Okay, I'm gonna call you 50. To make the math easy. So 12 to 13 years away? What should you know, and be doing between now and then? And anyone who's even closer to 62? Let's use your 60. But I would ask this question. Tell me about after 62. So you turn 62? Will you still be working? Are you full time part time? What would you be doing? So let's suppose you tell me, I have a great future 62, I can see myself still working, earning $100,000 a year, whatever the number is, they tell me. Great. So if you're making that kind of money, are you aware of what your penalty would be? If you're working and making that kind of money? No. Well, you'll lose $1. For every $2, you earn above the limit, which as we're talking today is $18,240.
So you hear people say I can't earn more than $18,000 in retirement. And what they're referring to is the Social Security cap, the earnings limit, if you're 62. And there's another one for full retirement age, which we'll cover in a moment. Now on the drive over. Okay? to see you today, I'm talking with a client, good friend of mine, who's in a position of where he thinks he can't earn any more than $18,240 this year. So that's just not correct. You are now 66. In the month that you turn 66, you can earn as much as you want, and not have that penalty. He didn't know that. So he's been holding back all this year on what he could he could have been earing more.
Steve: Well, that's no fun. I mean, you barely put the gas in the car for $18,000 a year?
John: Yeah, well, although lately, the gas prices are down, that's a good read, let me just give a quick example. Anyone born between 1943 and 1954, full retirement age is 66. And how we came up with this system, I don't know. But then at age 55, it is 66 and two months. And then if you're going to 1956 is 66, and four months, etc. working our way up to if you were born in 1960, or after full retirement age for you is 67. So people say well, I can retire at 66 and getting the full benefit as well as when you were born. So that's browser speed. So they say whoops, I gotta wait a few more months to collect.
Steve: So I would imagine making that decision doesn't just come down to what you know where someone is age wise, or looking at social security, you sort of have to look at the whole, the whole board. You know, if we use the chess analogy, and look at all of their other various financial assets, to determine what income do you need? Are you going to be working on all these different considerations? It's just one factor really.
John: Always a very, very minute factor. Because if you don't look at everything I promise you, you'll look back and say, Well, I made a mistake. Let me just throw something out. So there's 62, you're collecting roughly 75% of what your benefit could have been had you waited four more years or five years to 66 or 67. So it's a 25% reduction for the rest of your life. So that's number one. Number two, what happens in the event of your death? What is your spouse get, and for some people say they don't have enough life insurance. So I'll tell some people you should delay Social Security long as you can. Because in your case, your Social Security benefit is going to be very important to your spouse. It used to be that the spouse got one half of the higher income persons Social Security now it's 100%. So if someone does does not have a good life insurance program, and I see that and they've got very little savings, perhaps they can work to 70 I said this is not just for you this is for your spouse may want to consider this as a survivor benefit. And if somebody doesn't have that issue, so I will work to full retirement age.
Start your benefits then if you don't want to wait to 70 now every year that you wait though, from full retirement age, you get an April than increase. Now in my case, I took minus 66, I could have waited to 70 and get 32%, more four times like 32. I didn't do that time value of money and working with so many people for 45 years, as I will mine now. And I took that money, sometimes I'll use it to pay for life insurance, sometimes I'll put it in savings, sometimes I'll add it to my investments. But I just use it based on what sometimes I use it to take care of grandchildren. But I didn't want to wait, could I wait, it? Absolutely. Should I only time will tell. Because another factor is how long will I live? There's something called actuarial equivalent. If I live to life expectancy, I'm pretty much gonna breakeven. And you'll hear people talk all the time.
Who does this type planning? What's the breakeven point? In what year roughly? What I received the same amount that's roughly age 83. Roughly 383, because social security uses age 83 for their life expectancy for men and women. And we're living longer. And that's another issue. If your role healthy got longevity on your side? Do you want to collect a benefit at 66 and get it longer? Or wait until 70? Get a higher amount, but for a shorter period of time? These are all issues after we look at another issue is what is your income going to be in retirement? Maybe you don't need Social Security until 70 because of other assets. But in my case, I had the assets I'm still working best and I want the money now. But I did not take it before 66, because I would have a big reduction.
Steve: Complicated stuff. Lots of moving parts, John. So you know, as as everyone thinks about this, the thing that I hear again and again. And I'm in Gen X, so I'm in a little tiny generation that could or maybe couldn't I don't know, we're going to find out. But the common thinking among my generation is that social security's likely not to exist, correct by the time we retire, because all you old guys are going to spend it all.
John: Right. So keep working hard. I hear that all the time. And I tell people, I do not think you'll ever see Social Security go away. I do think you're going to see some major changes. They should have already happened years ago, and neither political party wanted to tackle it. In my opinion, you should never have been allowed to collect Social Security is 62. It was never designed for that. Congress let that happen. That was a big mistake. That's when we started seeing problems with the social security trust fund never should have been allowed. And they should take it away now.
Nope. As of now, no more 62. Now that would create one hell of a fuss because you got so many people that are unemployed right now because of this pandemic. And they need to count on Social Security soon, in a lot of cases. So I'm not sure what the answer is. But I do know this. Back in 1983, there were major changes to Social Security. And things are changing quickly. 2015, Congress, bipartisan, made changes to social security in two weeks, two weeks, they made a vote if done and they implemented it. So things are moving faster, because more and more people are realizing, if we don't fix it, it's going to be in trouble.
And I'll tell you, folks, if you go to the Social Security website, and read the trustees report, every year, you'll get good quality information. They're very forthright in saying that if something's not done by 2033, or 2034, depending on who you listen to which report you read, that the system can only add about 70% of the current benefits. So we might take a reduction, but I don't think it will ever go away. I don't think the system meaning us the democratic system would allow it to go away. I think that'd be such a big fuss especially people your age and younger.
Steve: I'm sure. well, you know, the the bargain is pay into it all your life that you ought to get that money back at some point. Right?
John: Well, that's the thinking. But what people need to be understanding is you're not paying in for you know, you're paying for the people in front of you. And that's hard for people to get their arms around. Yep.
Steve: Yep. Well, so we've talked a little bit about when to claim we've talked about the health of the system a bit. I love the suggestion of going and reading the trip. What are some of the other issues that people worry about? I mean, you knowing about all of your seminars and all of your webinars, this one consistently, this topic can help distantly gets more people to come in. And it's got them concerned. Maybe rightly so maybe not rightly so. But it seems to have this this bigger role in people's minds.
John: It does, I think, is for a couple of reasons. I think one, for many people, Social Security is really the only guaranteed lifetime income, they have folks who have a pension, like the Florida Retirement System, they have two streams of income that's guaranteed. But if you're self employed, or if you are in a job where you have a 401k, but not a pension, Social Security might be the only guaranteed lifetime reliable income stream you've got. The burden is then on you to take that money that you have, whether it be 401k, 457, deferred comp, your IRA, your Roth IRA, 403B, whatever you got, the burden is on you to make it last for the rest of your life. Now, if you understand how to do it, then you could take that money and create your own guaranteed pension to take care of just you or you and your spouse.
But another big issue that you'll hear people who have retired talk about is cost of living adjustments, because we're getting kind of cocky about that. And I have a short number referred to here. We'll go back to 2009. The cost of living adjustment that year was 5.8%. That's hard to believe. Because remember what the economy looked like in 2008 and 2009? I think that was Congress's way of saying we've got to do something because people are in trouble financially. But then in 2010, and 2011, zero cost of living adjustment, nothing. And then it was 3.6. And then it hovered around 1.7.
Then in 2016, zero again, for this year, they raise at 1.6%. So people will complain, okay, I got a cost of living adjustment. But with the increase in Medicare, which we'll cover in another podcast, my premiums went up for Medicare Part B. So the wiped out my pay increase. And I'll touch on this because it's important to understand that when you take Social Security, Medicare Part A as part of that, Part B you have to pay for. Now, if you don't have enough quarters, to get full benefits is 40 quarters, 10 years of employment. If you don't have enough quarters, then you may have to pay out of pocket for part A people don't know that. Then Part B we all have to pay for there's an out of pocket cost for that. It could be higher, depending upon your income in retirement. So it kind of sneaks up on you.
Steve: Well, we're going to cover that. And I think the next episode, we're going to get all all into Medicare. Yes. For folks who have questions about that, because that's a whole other complex topic.
John: Another issue is taxation. I still meet with people, they don't realize Somehow, I think they do it. But they forgot that when they start collecting Social Security, that it would be taxed, because at one time your benefit was not taxed. You pay tax on the way right, put the money in. And so what do you mean, I'm taxed? Well, depending upon your income level, and individual or married couple, up to 50% can be taxed as high as 85% of your income from Social Security can be taxed. There's a formula that your your CPA or who does your taxes can calculate for you. But the bottom line is married couple earning over a certain amount of income. I won't get into specifics, because it's changed each year. But you may find that up to 85% of your Social Security benefit is considered income for tax purposes.
Steve: Bet that's a shock for people.
John: It is for some. Others, no. And it impacts me I don't like paying that much tax on Social Security. And so you take 85% of your benefit times whatever your tax bracket is, you just watch that money go right back to the government.
Steve: Well, when you're having your seminar's John, and you've got people in the room, what are some of the questions that come up with, you know, when people have the opportunity to to ask you about certain aspects of the work. The other questions that we haven't touched on?
John: Excuse me, one would be okay, what am I really paying into social security? And I find that interesting, because on your Facebook tells you the number of most people just don't pay attention to it. I think they're paralyzed by I'm just it's too complicated. Don't bother me, I don't want to know. Just tell me the answer.
Steve: Well, I can tell you on the front end, I mean, as somebody who pays that, it sort of just goes into the ether.
John: It does. It does. But let me give you the specific numbers and this is right off of Social Security's latest update 6.2% is what you pay on your earnings up to $137,700 a year. So anything over 137 in this tax year 2020, you don't pay tax on that, however, on the Medicare portion, you pay 1.4 or 5%. No matter how much income you make, if you make $10 million, you pay 1.4 or 5%. And there's a lot of people in the political world are saying, hey, it's time to get rid of the cap. And 6.2%, no matter how much and that's one of the big issues as being debated among politicians.
Now, is a debate these issues in Congress. Why is there a cap? Why wouldn't you pay 6.2%, if you make $500,000 a year, we want you to pay 6.2% on the entire 500. So a lot of things happening there. This has been addressed so many times, and every time they get closed, there's so much political pressure. I mean, just just think about all of those gray haired people out there. AARP is such a big lobbying force, that every time Congress wants to do something on their own, and full disclosure, I'm a member of AARP, support what they do. But at some point, we've got to say, You know what? It's got to change. It's got to change, or it will go the way the dinosaurs became extinct. But I don't think I don't think people will let that happen to bend changes to make it work.
Steve: John, this is a this is fascinating stuff. Are there any other key issues at a high level you want to cover?
John: Well, I want to touch on a little bit more detail about the earnings cap for 62. So if you're 62 years old, you people will say, I can't make more than $18,000. And this year is 18,240. But there's another one that people forget about. And in my seminars and webinars, I like to ask this question. It's a bit of a trick question. What happens in the year that you turn full retirement age, and in the year you turn full retirement age, you can earn $48,600 without having a reduction. However, for every dollar over that, every $3 over that limit, you lose $1 of your benefit. But in the birth month, birth month that you turned full retirement age that year, then there's no camp, you could earn a million bucks a year. So it's a little bit confusing, because I'll see people who say, Well, I'm gonna start my Social Security now. So you might want to wait two months, because in two months, you'll be full retirement age. There's no difference.
Yes, sir. Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, have social security calculator for you and come back and tell me what you buy. No, hold the cows and lose a bunch of money. Yes, your work. Because if you earn a lot, then it impacts you. Another issue that we should touch on what happens upon your death. If you've been married for 10 years, or more, key prizes, 10 years, then upon your death, your spouse would be entitled to a widow or widowers benefit a spousal benefit. While living in retirement, your spouse will be entitled to a retirement benefit based on your earnings, either theirs with this higher or yours if yours is higher, a lot of questions about that. And it's a little confusing, because I just had a situation where a man died, we thought she was gonna collect his full Social Security benefit. And I said, That's not gonna happen. You got to go talk to them, or at least get him on the phone, because you're going to have a reduction because of your age, and the amount of money you make. And she said, that does not apply to me as a widow. I said yesterday, that was changed at one time. You're correct. But that changed a few years ago. I can't tell exactly what year, but it was changed. And I'm telling you, I have to constantly review can update myself?
Because it changes, Congress will make changes sometimes it's widely known most time is not and Social Security Administration. I don't even know how many 1000s of regulations are I don't even at one time I could tell you there's like 5000 plus rules and regulations regarding Social Security. I don't know what it is. There's probably 6000 by now Who knows? Doesn't matter is complicated. And there, there's frustration out there because you're talking to one person with Social Security, you get one answer and then another person another answer. So it's truly up to the individual to retiree to do their homework and get some help. And full disclosure.
Say it again. I don't claim to be an expert in socialism. I'm pretty darn good at it. But I don't work for Social Security, they don't pay me. I don't have access to everything they've got any more than you do. I have to go online to look at it, I will tell you that I'm part of a study group where we pay close attention to what's happening with Social Security, Medicare, retirement income planning in general, and tax planning.
Steve: I think this is one of the probably most challenging and frustrating things, is just trying to keep up with it. Because you're right. I mean, the Congress has almost an incentive not to publicize when they're making changes, because it's going to ruffle feathers as you say.
John: Yes.
Steve: And so to stay on top of all of these things, I mean, you have to be simultaneously a lobbyist or congressional reporter, and a financial planner, and an accountant, you know, to really keep up with it.
John: What's interesting, in the 80s, there was hardly any press coverage about the changes that Social Security made. And the little bit that was, it was talking about the taxation of the benefit. But there were major changes. And I would encourage people, if you, if you if you're into this, like I am gonna look at it is public information. But it does take time. And you have to have an interest in it. And most people will do it as a swan tell people, if you can do it yourself, we want to go do it. But if you don't want to do that stuff, come see us. And we'll have a discussion. And if we can help you, we'll go to work.
Steve: Well, let's, let's talk about that for a minute, John, because I mean, this is complicated stuff. And I think for most people, they're going to look to a professional to help them whether it's you or somebody like you, they're going to look for somebody who can kind of hold their hand who does this day in and day out. I mean, you've got the advantage of, you know, in a, you know, a given day, maybe you work with half a dozen people on these issues, or your team with a dozen people on these issues. Right. And, and so you see a lot of different variations, which gives you a perspective, you know, and a knowledge of it that that most people wouldn't have, as you know, same with other professionals in your business. They're looking at this all the time. So if someone is, is thinking, Okay, I need to go get get some help. What is the process look like for somebody to go through? They come in? And maybe they meet with you? And how do you how do you walk them through what to look at first, because it's not just Social Security. Doesn't happen in a vacuum.
John: That's correct. Well, and each person we started different places, for example, maybe you can say, I'm 49 years old, and concerned about saving for retirement. So each person is different. But my process is this. First, we either start with a telephone appointment, which is, you know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, find out if we really need to get together. And then we'll either have a face to face appointment or do it online. I have clients in 13 states. So we do a lot of online meetings, even before the virus had. But then it's a matter of, Okay, let's have a constant conversation.
Let's talk about what you're trying to accomplish. Let's find out if what you're needing, and my skill set will mesh? If so, then we go to work. For some people it is I am paying way too much in taxes, can you help me reduce taxes, as well? I'm not a CPA, I'm not a tax attorney. But let me look at it. And I might have to refer you back to one of those professionals. But let's look at it. For others. It is specifically Social Security. I am so confused. I've got my benefit, we have a spouse benefit. When do we take each other's you know, do I work longer and delay to 70 and my wife take it now. It's all over the place.
But the first step for us the very and I won't, this I will not shortcut period, I will refuse to deal with the client. If they don't do this part. You have to give me full facts. I have to know exactly what you've got. We put it in the system that we use to look at everything. Everything from car insurance, home insurance or health insurance, your legal documents, your life insurance, long term care if you have really good everything. And then we look at assets, liabilities and cash flow. But occasionally, sometimes I don't I just sell me a product. Okay, if you just want to buy a product, you have to be a salesman, right? You know where you want to buy.
But once we get into that they never do it that way. Because they realize it doesn't make sense, just a byproduct. But for me, the first step is we lay everything out. We discuss what's working, discuss what needs work, prioritize. And then the question is, are you going to do this or are we do for you. And if we're going to we'll sit down talk about what the fee is, and go to work.
Steve: Pretty simple process.
John: I think it's very simple. It's not easy, but it's simple. The hard part is bringing together all the pieces. So you bring me all these pieces. It's like you dumping a jigsaw puzzle on the desk, and my team and I have to take all these pieces and put them together. And most people when they're serious about it, and once they engaged and they find all the pieces, bring it to us.
Steve: Let's talk about that for a minute. Because I think that's, that's a real challenge. I mean, particularly, for people who maybe have had, you know, if they've been employed, maybe in multiple places, maybe they got multiple retirement plans, yes. Or when you know, we're talking with, you know, people here in the Florida Retirement System, there are a lot of different options there. So pulling, just the act of pulling all the information together can almost be overwhelming, I would imagine.
John: It is for some people is very overwhelming, and they don't get started. And they haven't gotten started because of that. So I say, come sit with me. And we'll make it easier for you, we'll give you a format that you can go get. And if you don't know what your benefits are, we can help you contact the former employer and get that the biggest frustrations they have as they as people within the university system. Because they may have worked in four or five different universities, they got a benefit here and a benefit here and a benefit there. Now, how do I pull this together, and then it with multiple accounts that got to do something with and we get into the episode talking about required minimum distributions, that gets complicated there. And we have to remind them, all these all this beautiful money you've accumulated on tax deferred basis, guess why?
IRS is waiting, and they are licking their chops, because they're gonna you're gonna pay tax on every dollar that comes out. And so you start, we talked earlier, another episode about people think they'll be in a lower tax bracket. Well, fast forward, you retire, you have a pension, or you have your 401k. And you got money in deferred comp, maybe you have the drop program, but the chunk of money, and you're collecting Social Security, Social Security, your pension all taxed, every dollar from retirement plan taxed. So don't just assume that because you retired, you'll be in a lower tax bracket, it's probably not going to be lower, it would probably be the same or higher.
Steve: I think that's shocked most people. Well, John, bringing this all to a close, what, I guess from a sense of next actions. Somebody listening to this, and they're thinking, okay, well, I'm getting close. What should they do next?
John: Well, they should find someone or there's me or my team or someone else, I should find someone, they can sit down and say, Look, this is all my stuff. Help me. And I'll make a plug for me and my team permitted here? I've been through this for myself. Going through, okay, we'll take it at 60 to 66, or 70. What about Medicare Part B, and all this stuff? I've gone through that. And I've done it also, for a lot of clients, literally hundreds of clients. And what's happened with me see is I'm I started in business at age 22. I'm 67 now be 68 in December. So I'm in a situation where I've grown with my clients.
So as they got frustrated with something, they would come see me so do you know anything about this? No, but I'll research it. So I would do my homework help that person. Next thing, and I've got this, hopefully some wisdom because of having that experience of helping people. So I've been there done that. Plus, I'll just remind people who may not have heard the first episodes, my grandfather and my father retired and all they had was social security in their pension, that was it then have dropped back then they'd have deferred comp, they didn't do not do a great job of accumulating other assets. They had no debt. They were debt free in retirement, but they didn't have a lot of assets. So I've been there. I grew up in a state employee family. So if I understand the issues, I understand I understand a lot of it, let's just put it that way. And I would encourage people if you're not sure, have a conversation with me, or somebody on my team. And if you'd like to get a copy of my book, I'll send you that. And you can check us out.
Steve: Very good. Well, folks, if you've if you've tuned into this, and have not heard the other episodes in this series, go to johnhcurry.com click on the podcast link up at the top and you can find the whole series there. And, and certainly subscribe in your favorite podcast player because we got a couple more episodes in this series ahead of us. We're going to be talking about Medicare in in the next episode, so you'll definitely want to stay tuned for that. And then in the final one of these episodes, we're going to talk about required minimum distributions. And I know that's a big hot topic, John.
John: It's is a hot topic and the secure act last year made some major changes that people don't know about yet. I'll mention it to them they go, I never heard of that. I understand. There was no reason for you hear about it. I'm telling you now. So it's 15-20 years in advance because your kids or grandkids are going to get hurt if you don't address this.
Steve: Well, well, folks, tune in for that. Again, subscribe in your favorite podcast player. And go ahead and leave a five star rating for this in Apple iTunes so other people can find it, share it with your friends. Mr. Curry, wrap us up by letting everybody know how they can reach you if they want to have a personal conversation.
John: The best way is to call me at the office. Tallassee number 850-562-3000. 850-562-3000 and just ask for a telephone appointment. Or if you know you're ready to go to work. Just say I want to come see John or book a more detailed appointment. And see if you mentioned the website, johnhcurry.com, johnhcurry.com. Check it out occasionally, because there's some good information on there, all the podcasts and there's some information in there about social security from time to time.
Steve: Very good. Well, thank you for investing a little bit time with me today and sharing with everybody. Folks. We'll be back in the next episode. We'll see you then.
Voiceover: If you'd like to know more about John Curry's services you can request a complimentary information package by visiting johnhcurry.com/podcast again that is johnhcurry.com/podcast or you can call his office at 850-562-3000 again that is 850-562-3000. John H Curry chartered life underwriter charter financial consultant accredited estate planner masters in science and financial services certified in long term care registered representative and financial advisor at Park Avenue Securities LLC securities products and services and advisory services are offered through Park Avenue securities a registered broker dealer investment advisor.
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2020-113398 Expires December 2022.