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Mapping the Financial Landscape: Ray Godleski's Strategies for Success
40 Plays7 months ago
Join Ray Godleski from Southeast Wealth Partners as he unpacks the complexities of financial planning and risk management to guide you toward securing a prosperous future. This episode provides essential strategies for anyone looking to enhance their financial stability and prepare for retirement.
Ray Godleski is a Financial Advisor of Southeast Wealth Partners, LLC located in Suwanee, GA. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC. Osaic Wealth is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of Osaic Wealth.
The views expressed are not necessarily the opinion of the podcast host and should not be construed directly or indirectly, as an offer to buy or sell any securities mentioned herein. Investing is subject to risks including loss of principal invested. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. No strategy can assure a profit nor protect against loss. Please note that individual situations can vary. Therefore, the information should be relied upon when coordinated with individual professional advice.
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of the Show
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Growth Catalyst Show where we believe that growth could come in many forms, professional, personal, company, sales, you name it. I'm your host, Dan Mahoney, founder of Transcendent Sales Solutions and a guide to a world of growth possibilities. I've spent my career empowering companies and their people with strategies that accelerate growth.
00:00:18
Speaker
I'm here to bring you stories of these business leaders and their trusted advisors to gain insights into their journeys and learn how they fueled their own growth. Just maybe their journey could become part of your own growth story. Are you ready? Let's grow.
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome to the next edition of Growth Catalyst Show. I'm your host, Dan Mahoney, and I'm excited to have our next guest here today.
Guest Introduction: Ray Goodlesky
00:00:40
Speaker
Ray Goodlesky is a certified financial planner with Southeast Wealth Partners. He is dedicated to helping individuals and businesses navigate the complex world of finance and investment. Ray offers a wealth of expertise in financial planning, risk management, retirement planning, and estate planning. Ray, welcome to the Growth Catalyst Show. Happy to be here. Thanks
Ray's Early Life and Education
00:01:00
Speaker
for having me. It's great to have you, and it's been so long since I've seen you actually, right? right
00:01:05
Speaker
And if you saw you this morning, so, so Ray, I want to learn about you. I love doing research for the show and learning about people. So tell me, where did it all start from you? i'm I'm going to make an assumption. You're a Georgia native. Yes, that's correct. I was born in a North side hospital way before there was a women's center. Yep. That's right.
00:01:26
Speaker
I think they call that the in Northside hospitals, most births anywhere in Atlanta, it's like the baby mill or something like that. So you were born at the baby mill, baby factory. That's right. That's right. Okay. yeah And did you grow up in the Atlanta area or? Yeah, so I grew up here, um, and mostly in Wilbur, which is a suburb in Gwinnett County. And, um, I'm a big sports fan, so I've had a lot of Arctic over the years. Only a few nice moments.
00:01:54
Speaker
Hey, I'm from Chicago. You don't know what heartache is brother. If we talk about sports teams at heartache. So, so I saw that you went and started your education for college at LaGrange college and you started out, uh, in mathematics. What was the plan kind of when you started college, I always like to hear what was the plan going in? What did you want it to do? So.
00:02:21
Speaker
I really wanted to play basketball. That was the number one thing that was on my mind. I just wanted to play basketball. You know, this is what, early 90s. And, um you know, so it wasn't tons of options, right? But it was one that it made the most sense. And they didn't have an actuary program there, but so they had mathematics. So I went there, played a couple of years. And after a couple of years of playing basketball, I realized the NBA was not calling me.
00:02:48
Speaker
So I decided to go to Georgia state where they have a really good actuary program there. So that's, that's kind of like, uh, I went from Lagrange to Georgia state downtown and just, uh, kind of got out of basketball and just did intramurals and fun things. Yeah. So I'm guessing you were either a point guard or a shooting guard.
00:03:10
Speaker
Uh, that's correct. Yeah. i Yeah. i've could be yeah you You didn't, you didn't strike me as like a power forward, but no yeah no I was not hanging up at the rim too much, but I like shooting threes. Yes. So did you, so you were your path was starting was the, was thinking about being an actuary then. It was. Yeah, it was. And as I got into it more and more,
00:03:37
Speaker
I was like, man, I don't know yeah know. Because it was something my mom's like, hey, you're you're good at math. And ah you know they make good money. I was like, OK. As I got into it, I knew I wanted to stay in business, and but I wanted to change majors. And I was so close to just changing a little bit the finance. ah But my dad's like, what about marketing?
00:04:01
Speaker
ah like Okay, um they got really good looking girls in marketing, i think and it's still in business. And it worked out because um what happened in marketing, most people that are in that major, I noticed, weren't good at math. And so I ended up being a de facto group leader, and then the professors love it when you would, you know, kind of um ah support your thesis, if you will, you know, by math. So it was great, I loved.
00:04:29
Speaker
getting that business degree at George State. It was a good experience. It's funny. It's the same thing with me. I started out in accounting and I ended up moving to marketing as well.
Career Beginnings and Challenges
00:04:39
Speaker
And then I think from if ah if your if your LinkedIn profile serves you well, you went into sales at Bortle Bricks. Yes. Yeah. They're a multinational company. um That's pretty much where I had a a lot of good memories still, I mean, it's been a long time. But coming out, you know, late, late 90s, and building materials was a lot of fun. And it was good, just a good experience. Yeah, kind of an entry level sales. And my
00:05:13
Speaker
first boss if you will was a retired Air Force colonel and We had a great relationship. So a lot of good relationships there kind of just kept moving up, you know and got in the management and is a distribution yard, ah that is a grind doing that. But you know as you fast forward many years later, being able to go through a grind is ah is a really good a life experience. and um But anyways, yeah, a lot of those people you know kind of got crushed and I kind of already left that industry before 08, but most people that I knew back then are not
00:05:55
Speaker
in that industry anymore, only a couple of people that I know. Yeah. Yeah. OA changed a lot for a lot of people. Definitely. Definitely so. So then so then ah you went into real estate.
00:06:09
Speaker
Yes, from there. yeah Didn't know that. point through yeah As I go through it, does it doesn't quite make sense. As I reflect back, everything's working out for the best. So at the Boral Bricks, multinational company, you know you learn you know there's these big budgets right and you try to expend it all so you can get the same budget next year for entertainment or whatever it is. Then my mom was a top one of the top realtors around.
00:06:35
Speaker
and kind of say, hey, why don't you get into real estate with me, residential? So I did that and really didn't have great training on it, to be honest with you, because I went from a big company that you got to spend a lot of money and then go in there, buy out her business.
00:06:52
Speaker
And I'm running a small tech you know business and I'm not managing expenses well. ah ah My focus was on serving the clients in sales, but just did not, wasn't super profitable. When you think about 07, 08, 09, those are tough years. ah You're the only person I ever knew that actually i did um got into real estate. I did know what I liked, right? I liked meeting with people, I liked analyzing it. Got out of it, right?
00:07:19
Speaker
you know, just the analytical part of it. um So is it was a really good experience and my my parents retired. And so it's kind of on my own with it. And so that was my first experience with the financial advisor, you know, doing a 401k rollover.
00:07:37
Speaker
They didn't really talk to me about life insurance. So I just talked so i just gave somebody I knew from high school a call to get some life insurance. um But that experience did mean something because in 08, when I was you know looking at my portfolio, get you know crushed, the old saying into a 201K,
00:07:59
Speaker
you know, there wasn't really a great explanation for it other than it's just the market. And while that might be true, you know, I think it could have been communicated differently. Yeah. Well, so that was your kind of entree of, I never heard that term to go to a 201 K to like, maybe this is my path to get into financial planning.
00:08:23
Speaker
Yeah, definitely to see if the sea was planted. Yeah, and also just wanting more answers. So, you know, tax questions. I mean, I know, you know, financial advisors, CPAs, you don't give ah financial advisor won't give tax advice per se, but you know you'd like a little more ah direction, and I just didn't get that. So that kind of set with me that I'd rather be a hands-on kind of person and have people come to me for answers versus you know having them do having clients go do their own homework. So tell me about the American College of Financial Planners in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, something ah somewhere I understand you attended.
Professional Development in Financial Planning
00:09:07
Speaker
Yes, so it's like mostly online. It's a great school there they're for getting different designations. ah My purpose for going there was to go through the CFP program certified financial planner.
00:09:20
Speaker
and very thorough, well well-led, just a great program, and it's truly comprehensive. You cover so many areas of financial planning, and so ah not every person that earns the CFP designation is going to remember 100% of what you learn, but what you do know is hey, there's a lot out there and there's a lot of people, there's a lot of things that you don't know what you don't know. And so for me, it's important to, um you know, if if I don't know an answer or if there's something that, that anytime we can, you know, just do better, you know, let's, let's do some, let's do some digging and let's do better for for clients. And now I got a good, you know, resource to go to if it's a really advanced kind of question.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah. and And really, you know, and I don't know if I know the full answer to this, but you know, the difference in, there's a lot of folks that do financial planning, but then there's certified financial planners and fiduciaries. Really? What's the difference? Right. So, uh, to become a financial advisor, you gotta pass some, uh, exams, right? So for me personally, you know, uh, I passed a ton of, a lot of exams and in, in, um, 2014.
00:10:41
Speaker
And so that was what they call Series 6, 63, 65. And so you got to pass these exams. and And when you pass them, that will allow you to do different things. So whether it's a, you know, mutual fund or advisory accounts.
00:10:58
Speaker
um Some people have insurance license. I have you know life and health license also. So the CFP exam, that's a a whole different level. you know It's a different thing. in I don't know what the percentages are anymore, but not that many people carry that designation. You've got to go through a lot of studies and you got to pass an exam to get that designation and you got to do continuing education. So there are some people that get it at some point in their career and then they don't retain it anymore. And yeah I plan to to keep doing it because I like to always learn more and anytime we can be creative, I want to do it.
00:11:40
Speaker
Tell me a little bit about ah south ah is Southeast Wealth Partners or Southern Wealth Partners? Southeast Wealth Partners, yeah. Okay, tell me a little bit about them.
00:11:51
Speaker
Okay, so this industry gets really confusing, right? When we're talking about broker dealers and RIAs, there's so many ah different ah acronyms and words are out there. But for Southeast Wealth Partners, that is my DBA, so I own that. ah Before I got that name, I actually asked some clients, I said, I got it narrowed down to these three, I'd like your input.
00:12:17
Speaker
And they all came up with this. I was surprised it was available. So I was happy to- The Southern Wealth Partners? Southeast Wealth Partners, yep. Okay, okay. So so i can I keep saying Southern Wealth Partners. So it's actually Southeast Wealth Partners. Yes, Southeast Wealth Partners.
00:12:34
Speaker
Oh boy. All right. Mistake one of the day. So, yeah so you know, I'm under a big ah company, if you will, a big independent broker dealer, you know, they're one of the largest, they're called Xampp Wealth Incorporated. And so, you know, they're, they're kind of where everything is done in a compliant manner. They're overseeing all the paperwork, that kind of thing. Got it.
00:12:59
Speaker
Okay.
Evolving Landscape of Retirement Planning
00:13:00
Speaker
All right. So, you know, one thing that's interesting and I look at retirement planning is I think about the evolution. And I really want to talk about it. and I think of back when, you know, my, my my parents are who are not retired. I mean, yeah, they had, but my dad had a retirement plan with a company. He worked for 20 plus years, which, you know, doesn't happen very much anymore.
00:13:23
Speaker
You know, and then years there's that, you know, the social security pension, you know, the, ah the 401k and the IRAs coming in the late seventies, early eighties, then Roth IRAs. I mean, it's really, I mean, the way that people plan for retirement is really evolved really over the years. Agreed. Oh, absolutely. A hundred percent. Definitely. I mean, you know, it used to be so many people would have a pension, right? You have pension, you got social security, you got some savings that might, that might.
00:13:53
Speaker
enable you to have a really good retirement. And of course, a lot of the pensions have gone away. There's still plenty out there, but there's also quite a few that have kind of gone away. And so the 401k is what has kind of replaced that. And for the employers, right, they like that because now, you know, they don't have but a liability to to worry about. They have ah what's called a defined contribution. They know exactly how much they're having to put into these plans. For the average ah person that wants to retire, nobody's really pushing you to put enough money away. It's got to be something you're compelled to do. and so you know Obviously, I work with a lot of folks that have done that. They have put a lot of money away, but there are people out there that you know there's behind.
00:14:43
Speaker
you know um and It's not uncommon that people are behind right now, right? And it doesn't mean you can't catch up, but, you know, it does usually take some, you got to be a little bit intentional to get there. Well, and I think about when I was, you know, corporate world day and working for corporations, you know, I had my 401k, you know, my wife is in healthcare. She has a 401c and I didn't really think about it. I was like, you know, he just acts out and put as much there. But then, you know, the complexities of the retirement,
00:15:16
Speaker
when you're a business owner, and I've been learning that over the past several years, is it seems like there's just a lot more options as a business owner than I didn't even really think of before when I started my business six years ago.
00:15:28
Speaker
Oh, true. For a business owner, you've got lots of options. And so I would say I work with quite a few solopreneurs and and some small business owners. I don't get into the mid markets or anything like that. But ah it' there are really a lot of ah available options out there as a business owner, how you might ah invest and right and whether you want to um You know, there's solo 401k, there's all kinds of there's cash balance, there's lots of different tools out there. And it's just a matter of sitting down with somebody. And I always say, just say what you want. What do you really want? What do you want now? What do you want later?
00:16:06
Speaker
And then hopefully you got the, you know, an advisor that can help you, you know, kind of show you the steps to get there a lot of times from a tax e efficiency standpoint, not just this year, but like, where are you at retirement? What chess pieces do you have on the board to move? Because there will be changes that are going to happen, whether that's in the economy, the tax code, personally, things will change.
00:16:33
Speaker
And so it's really important to have a plan where you got different types of accounts so that you can make adjustments when those changes happen. Well, you are a hundred percent correct and, you know, catching up and, you know, are you behind? And, you know, I never really even thought about, and I'm sure there's other people out there same as like, yeah, I mean, I'm saving and I'm saving my retirement. but Then you hit a certain age and you're like,
00:16:57
Speaker
Oh wow. Like I used to think about, so, you know, I didn't even think about retirement in my twenties or thirties or forties, but now you hit your fifties and you're in your mid fifties and you're like, Oh wow, this could happen like in less than 10 years. And it really does creep up on you.
00:17:14
Speaker
Let's take a moment for a quick word from our sponsor. this episode of the growth catalyst show was brought to you by transcendent sales solutions whether your company is facing uncertainty declining sales or resource limitations transcended sales has the solution their team has decades of experience helping businesses find alignment to meet their growth goals in transforming underperforming sales organizations and into revenue producing market leaders they take a hands-on, results-oriented approach to solving sales challenges. Visit TranscendenceSales.com to learn more and subscribe to the biweekly Growth Catalyst newsletter for insightful growth strategies. Transcendence Sales Solutions, empowering businesses to reach new heights. And now, back to the show.
00:17:56
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And the good news is for some people, you know, you're getting those peak earning years, maybe a little behind, but maybe the the expenses are less perhaps, you know, maybe if you have kids, maybe they're off the payroll, you know, so you really can catch it up ah later on. So it's all about just picking a direction and and get going.
00:18:20
Speaker
You know, as kids on the payroll, one can only hope, right? yeahp So, you know, a couple of things I'd love to explore with you is, you know, you look at insurance and I know there's, you know, again,
00:18:31
Speaker
If I were to listen to everyone that told me to get in a whole life policy when I was in my twenties, you know, who knows, maybe we'd be doing this today. Right. But, uh, yeah, you look at, you know, when is it, you know, you look at a lot of folks have life in whole life, which is definitely, I learned as an investment vehicle as a business owner, but then also you have term insurance. You know, when do you get a point in your life when, again, if the kids are off the payroll and everything and you're secure, when people start winding down their insurance or is that something that they typically don't do?
00:19:04
Speaker
Right. So it really is an individual conversation based upon your goals. And so for life insurance, you know, when you, when you do it, if you are married and you have kids, especially that are depending on you, it's so important that you get the right amount of coverage. That's, that's the most important thing. For example, you know may not want, you know, a small policy that's called a permanent policy that doesn doesn't have enough coverage, right? So it's really important to have enough coverage.
00:19:34
Speaker
just in case you're that other guy, right? Because nobody who leaves are the other guy, but sometimes it happens. Whether you're you pass away early or become disabled or have a chronic illness, whatever it is, you know that can happen. So anyways, as you get older though, then it's if you did, let's say you had a term policy, right? Then you start to evaluate, what do I have in this term policy? you know Is it convertible? that's That's a good question to have.
00:20:00
Speaker
How's my health? Is it the same? you know and then so Do you want to explore term policies in your 50s? Do you want to explore permanent life insurance? Whole life is just one of the ah flavors of that, if you will. and so It's good to sit down and really do some analysis based upon what you want to do. There is some, I would say, ah almost evolution, if you will, in these ah life insurance kind of policies that you can access the death benefit while you're alive for chronic illness or long-term care. So there's a lot of options out there and it can get a little bit confusing. So it's important, I think, to really sit down with somebody and don't be afraid to ask questions. And if you don't understand it, you know at least at a high level, you know you may want to take a little more time before getting it you know selecting one.
00:20:52
Speaker
You know, when you're talking about, and that's great advice, when you're talking about planning for, you know, the long term, you think about, you start thinking about healthcare care and you start thinking about health and, you know, and, and, and I don't know, again, I guess everybody has an opinion, but, oh, you know, I don't really need to worry about healthcare as much when I get retired because I'll have Medicare.
Healthcare and Retirement
00:21:14
Speaker
And, you know, and I'm sure that's not the first time you've heard that. Any, any thoughts on that?
00:21:21
Speaker
Yes, so ah one of the main reasons people work till they're 65 is because of health care. The one that I group plan, um that's one of the reasons. But when you do turn 65 or prior to that, I would recommend ah meeting with a you know an expert in that field, right? Somebody that really knows Medicare, they know the supplement ah market, you know, they really want to look at it because there's not, again, it's not a, you know, one is better than the other. It really depends on your situation. Some of that's your health history. Some of that's what you feel about the future. So having an expert that really specializes in in the Medicare age, I think is ah is a good idea.
00:22:05
Speaker
um HSA accounts are important or should be important for your planning. So one of the benefits of an HSA account, right, is not just that it rolls over every year if you don't use it, but you're getting a tax deduction on the way in. And then if you use it for a qualified reason, you can take it out.
00:22:26
Speaker
you know, tax-free as well. So there's very few things you can find like that. So that can be a good tool. Could it be used to pay for qualified ah medical expenses or retirement? Yeah. Could it be even to pay for ah maybe a long-term care? Yeah. You know, you could do that. The only thing just to remember on HSA is how is it inherited? So that might be a little bit of a rub, but, you know. As far as an inherited, what do you mean by as far as an inherited? What do you mean by that?
00:22:54
Speaker
you don't have much time to take it out. So, and depending on when this is recorded, just always remember that anything that we're saying, there is a government, there is legislation, things change. So you wanna keep up with it. That kind of leads us to require minimum distribution, right? Those change dramatically with the SECURE Act. And then it changed again with SECURE Act 2.0. So, um you just kind of kind of have to pay attention with the changes that have been made.
00:23:23
Speaker
and It's so hard to navigate all this stuff because it changes They don't even know when it's gonna change then it's in half of the people that change that might not even know a change So it'ss it's it's it's it's it's very complex to to navigate all this stuff. No doubt about it Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So a couple other areas to explore is, you know, ah you know annuities and guaranteed type income vehicles Right so Annuities right can mean so many things. right There is a definition of it, but it's essentially within the annuity space, ah that is really everything in financial services has evolved. Annuities have evolved, life insurance, investments. i mean Think about it. 20 years ago, were ETFs that popular? No. so On the annuity space, you know some people think of it, it's usually one or two things. It's either a noun or a bird.
00:24:19
Speaker
The verb is, I've annuitized something, and I'm going to get income for the rest of my life. And maybe you have access to the lump sum you started with, maybe you don't. Or it's that noun, which is, I haven't turned on the income yet. And sometimes you never have income attached to it. So there they can be complex, or they can be less complex. But essentially, think about, from a secure income standpoint, when you're retired,
00:24:48
Speaker
A lot of times what some people might do is they look and see, well, what is my ah basic expenses, right? They're kind of minimum out to kind of just live and not have to figure out what are the grocery store counter items, right? Like you don't want to be that person where you're having to put stuff back and you're 70 years old because you can't afford it, right?
00:25:11
Speaker
So, in my opinion, a lot of times, you might want to have enough income coming into your household that's almost like a bottomless cup of coffee. You're just drinking it, right? And it's income coming in the door like you're used to with the paycheck.
00:25:26
Speaker
Right so if you have enough income coming in to at least meet those basic needs that's not a bad spot to be in.
Annuities and Retirement Income
00:25:34
Speaker
For some folks depending on how big those expenses are they might be a little light or maybe they don't have a whole lot of social security income maybe they were there any number of reason they may not have some could be some.
00:25:46
Speaker
Pint and offsets could be there a small business owner that wrote stuff off the real estate whatever it is and so what some people will do is i have a income annuity solve that. Can i get between their income that's always coming in and their basic expenses.
00:26:03
Speaker
Other folks, Social Security or a pension, that's more income coming in than their basic living expenses. So they might not look at annuities for income reasons, um but they could look at it for protection reasons. you know There's things that are out there. I can't get super specific because some of them have a fee, some of them don't, but no matter what it is, I think it's important anytime you look at one,
00:26:29
Speaker
ah Or two of them. What are the pros and cons because they all have pros and cons. It's kind of like I like dogs, right? yeah So and this is not ah for annuities per se but you know When you get a dog, you want to get the right dog for the right reason so you don't want ah you know a tiny a house dog and then go hunting with it, right and and You don't want a giant you know dog if you're looking for a small dog. The same thing is true with anything that's financial planning, whether it's annuities, life insurance, investments. just you know the None of them are bad by themselves. You just have to really find out what it is that you're looking for and making sure that whatever ah solution is being presented that solves it. solve
00:27:19
Speaker
And then, you know, what about Roth IRAs? I mean, I've, you know, I'm, I'm still learning about those. And I know, ah you know, there's, there's potential that because of certain incomes, you can't always, um you can't always ah invest in those, correct?
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah, so Roth IRAs, you know, typically you're going to put money into a Roth IRA. Let's first kind of say what it is. With after-tax dollars, and there's a maximum amount you can put in, I believe it's 7 grand this year for under 50 and up to 8 grand for over 50.
00:27:54
Speaker
So you put it after tax dollars, but then it grows tax free and you can take the money out later tax free. There's a few rules there, but essentially that's what it is. And for from a planning perspective,
00:28:07
Speaker
If you can have maybe got a 401k, maybe got an employer matching you, or maybe you do your own solo 401k or something like that, and you got what's called pre-tax dollars, as I put money in those, I'm getting tax benefit on the way in or reducing my taxes, right? Both of them grow tax free. There's no taxes along the way. The difference is when you take money out of a Roth, you know later on, it's not taxable.
00:28:32
Speaker
and Now, there's there's there a couple of caveats there, but essentially, ah the growth, if you will, after five years, you can take it out tax-free, whereas that you know that retirement account is pre-tax. Every time you take it out money there or distributing that at retirement, those are to be part of your income, and that's pretty taxable.
Roth IRAs and Tax Strategies
00:28:53
Speaker
so ah There are raw 401ks also, so if you were looking for a higher limit and you want to put more away in a raw 401k, you can do so.
00:29:02
Speaker
You can recharacterize money that was pre-taxed, and you can move it to a Roth, a Roth conversion. and So when you do that, yes, they're going to pay tax when it converts, but you you know what that tax is, and then later on you can use that money.
00:29:19
Speaker
ah hopefully tax free. So from a planning perspective, I meet with quite a few people that have pre-tax accounts. I call it tax me later. They got a Roth account. Hopefully they're not getting taxed on that later. And then maybe you have like a brokerage account, a taxable account that's like a tax me maybe on the year, actually maybe account. So those are, that's not a bad position to be in if you want to be able to Especially when you get out there in your 60s, it's interesting how capital gains is taxed, how your social security is taxed, there's Medicare surcharges. There's a lot of nuances there. And for people that that really get you know sit down and and have a strategy in place to try to be tax efficient along with all the other things with financial planning, and then you could be tactical within each year.
00:30:13
Speaker
If you're tactically moving each year, kind of being tax efficient, you'd be surprised at how much more money you could actually spend or or give ah during are those retirement years. So what I just heard from you is your planning is you should look at balance. There should be some type of a balance portfolio as far as tax, pre-tax, that type of thing.
00:30:38
Speaker
I'm a big proponent of that. ah There are quite a few people that might have most of their money, maybe 80% or so in pre-tax accounts. And so when that happens, if you have a certain lifestyle and you don't have, you know what I mean? That's where you're going to get the money from. It's going to be tax and should the tax rates change, the income tax goes up or the actual brackets shrink, it may not be what you're looking for. You may be paying a little more in taxes in retirement than you were hoping.
00:31:16
Speaker
so Nobody knows what will happen, but you got less room to maneuver. Ray, what I picked up from our conversation today is no matter what, there's a lot of strategies that you can use in retirement planning, but you have to have a plan.
Importance of Planning and Contact Information
00:31:33
Speaker
Absolutely. Then you got to stick with it. You got to be able to make some adjustments along the way. Absolutely. Ray, last question. If someone wants to learn more about Southeast wealth partners, and have a conversation. What's the best way to reach you? You can go to the website, which is southeastwealthpartners.com. ah We have another one called yournextstepfinancial.com. Either one of those will get you more information. Those are probably the best ways. The other one would be phone number, right? So that's 404-456-0600.
00:32:12
Speaker
Ray, I appreciate you taking time today and thanks for being a guest on The Growth Catalyst Show. Thanks for having me. Have a lot of fun. Thanks, I look forward to our next journey together. If you've enjoyed the show, please subscribe and leave a review. Until next time, keep growing.