Join Al Smith on this insightful exploration of financial planning necessities before December 31st. Learn how to optimize your retirement strategy while avoiding last-minute rushes that could affect your financial health. Besides providing valuable fiscal advice, this episode offers a captivating recount of Thanksgiving’s roots, discovering lesser-known facts about the holiday. Al contemplates the importance of freedom and liberty, reflecting on the blessings we often take for granted.
Welcome to Retirement Unpacked with Al Smith, owner of Golden Eagle Financial. You want a retirement plan that alleviates your fears about the future so you know your money will last. As a chartered financial consultant, Al Smith will help you find a balance between the risk and reward of the market and the safety of your retirement income. And now, here’s your host, Al Smith.
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Welcome to another program of Retirement Unpacked. I want to thank you for tuning in, especially since this is like a holiday week, a short week. I know a lot of people are off. There’s a whole lot of people at airports. And if you’re not at an airport and you can listen, that’s probably a better place to be, certainly less hectic. Now, last week I talked a little bit about things that need to be done before the end of the year. And I’ll probably be repeating these because once it’s December 31st, which isn’t really that far away, it will be too late to do some of these things. One, of course, is taking out required minimum distributions. If you are at the age where you need to take out required minimum distributions, I would do that probably in the next week or two. The reason being a lot of financial companies, investment companies, insurance companies, even banks that hold IRAs, they get extremely busy this time of year. Not so much now, but about the last two, three weeks before the end of the year, they get very busy. The other thing that must be done Before the end of the year is to convert your traditional IRA to Roth or to convert part of it to Roth. That needs to be done by December 31st. Regular IRA contributions and Roth contributions, those can wait until April 15th. So the two big things are RMDs by the end of the year. and also converting traditional IRA to Roth or part of a traditional IRA to Roth. And the way I do that when I sit down and work with my clients is we will sit down and take a look at year-end pay stubs or make a good estimate of what tax bracket someone will be in so that when they do convert part of their traditional IRA to Roth, they can stay in the same tax bracket. Usually we can keep people in the same tax bracket. And I think it’s important as people make the transition into retirement that at least part of their income be tax-free because that also will make it less likely that your Social Security will be taxed or at least not as much of it. Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. And in previous shows, I talked a little bit about the history of Thanksgiving. And I think most of us know it’s the pilgrims and that sort of thing. But there’s a few things I’d like to talk about that you may or may not know. The initial pilgrims, many of them were part of what’s called the English Separatist Church. And in order to get freedom of religion, they first went to the Netherlands for a while. And they, for whatever reason, didn’t find fulfillment in their religious freedom in the Netherlands. So they went back to a place called Plymouth, England. And that is where both the Mayflower and the Speedwell, you probably don’t know there was a second ship there. that sailed with the Mayflower. It’s called the Speedwell. And then they settled in Massachusetts and Plymouth, you know, right near Plymouth Rock and so forth. And they prospered largely because of the help of the Wampanoag Indians and also because of an Indian whose name was Tisquantum. That’s spelled T-I-S-Q-U-A-N-T-U-M. He later became known as Squanto, and he has a very interesting history himself. He was kidnapped and brought to England before the first Thanksgiving, and he ultimately returned, and when he returned, he found that his whole village had suffered from a pestilence, a plague of some kind. But he was there and he was able to help translate for the pilgrims so they could communicate. And they were then able to communicate with the primary tribe, which is called the Wampanoag. And the Wampanoag were largely the Indians who were with the pilgrims at the time of that first celebration. in 1621. Their chief was named Massasoit and he brought 90 Native Americans with him along with five deer for the celebration which lasted a few days which later would be known as Thanksgiving. Now I found this incredibly interesting. Now some of the other tribes in addition to the Wampanoag are the, let me pronounce this correctly, the Narragansett, the Nauset, and the Massachusetts. Obviously, that’s where the name of the state Massachusetts came from. And when the settlers, the pilgrims were there, they also learned, well, they not learned, but they knew they were no longer under the king’s jurisdiction. And being very civilized folks that they were, they created what’s called the Mayflower Compact. And the Mayflower Compact we can describe as the first form of legal laws and rules in the New World. And that was extremely important because that’s what guided their behavior and so forth. And jumping back to Squanto, he was incredibly important because of his ability to speak English and his familiarity with hunting and agriculture, without which the pilgrims would have never, really never survived. And the chief of the Wampanoag, his name was Massasoit. And he’s the one I already mentioned that brought 90 other Native Americans and five deer to the celebration. They had a treaty with him that lasted actually over 40 years. And that treaty continued until something that was called King Philip’s War, which began in 1675. Now, there was no King Philip. Philip that was a British king, and the British king, I don’t know for sure who was the British king at that time. I know in the time of George Washington, it was King George. But in any event, King Philip was actually a Wampanoag chieftain. And this was after Massasoit had died, and there became some real fighting between between several of the tribes and also the settlers at that point. And as more and more colonists came over from Europe to the New World and so forth, they displaced a lot of the Native Americans, which is truly sad. It was their land and that sort of thing. But that’s basically what happened. So what other traditions do we have around Thanksgiving. Well, that’s interesting, and it was sort of celebrated. I know Washington celebrated it, and the actual date kind of jumped around in the fall, so the real celebration of Thanksgiving wasn’t made official until a lady whose name was Sarah Josepha Hale. She was the editor of of what is called Godey’s Lady’s Book. And in 1863, she beseeched President Lincoln, asking him to create a national holiday that was to be Thanksgiving, which is what he did in 1863. And ever since that time, we have celebrated Thanksgiving normally on the fourth Thursday of November every year. And there are other countries who celebrate Thanksgiving also. What’s interesting about Canada is they celebrate it on the second Monday in October. And also, because of their French and Catholic heritage, the province of Quebec, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving because it was sort of a Protestant tradition. not a revolt necessary, but a Protestant bunch of pilgrims who initially came to Plymouth. And so French Catholics in Quebec do not celebrate Thanksgiving like the rest of the folks in Canada do. I have a son who lives in Canada. I was in Canada some years ago on Thanksgiving, and it’s celebrated quite differently. It’s on a Monday. Over the course of the weekend, they have great big parties of any kind you can imagine. There was a demolition derby. There’s all kinds of carnivals and things like that. And Ontario, where my son lives, is still pretty warm the second Monday in October. So it’s usually nice weather. a lot of celebrations over Saturday and Sunday, and then Monday is when they normally have the dinner, just like we have our Thursday dinner and so forth. So they don’t have a Black Friday or anything like that. And what’s also interesting is going back to Roosevelt’s administration, he wanted to make a longer period holiday celebration that’s going to hopefully was going to benefit the economy. So he, for a short term, changed the date of Thanksgiving from the fourth Thursday in November to the third Thursday. And the problem with that was that many of the states celebrated it still on the fourth and other ones celebrated it on the third. And there was really no consistency or continuity between So in 1942, he passed a provision that would guarantee that it would be the fourth Thursday in November, which isn’t always the last Thursday, but obviously the fourth Thursday is the fourth Thursday. So what other traditions do we have on Thanksgiving? I have not been to New York for the Macy’s Parade, but I enjoy watching it On television, the enormous floats and the bands and everything that’s in New York on Thanksgiving, I find that very entertaining. They’ve been doing that since 1924. That’s pretty amazing. Since 1920, Gimbel’s, a big department store in Philadelphia, they have also had a really big celebration. Well, football. What about football on Thanksgiving? That’s not a recent development because going all the way back to Princeton playing Yale in 1876, there has been football played on Thanksgiving Day. Two teams which always play on Thanksgiving are the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. this year detroit is playing chicago bears and that game starts i believe at 10 30 eastern time and dallas plays the new york giants i don’t have the time of that it’s probably in the afternoon but the detroit lions have been playing on thanksgiving since 1934 that’s quite a tradition that’s like 90 years old and The Dallas Cowboys have been playing on Thanksgiving since 1966. So there’s some real traditions that have been continuing and are continuing during Thanksgiving. Some things that a lot of you may or may not know about. Well, what does this all mean for us? And that’s something that I… have contemplated it a little bit. But Thanksgiving is the time when we’re supposed to be thankful. And I believe we certainly have a lot of things to be thankful for, not the least of which is our freedoms. And we’ll talk more about some of those freedoms right after the break.
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Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial believes that retirement planning must be relational, not transactional. You need a retirement advisor who understands what you want out of retirement, and Al Smith will help you achieve the retirement of your dreams. In order for Al to do that, he has to get to know you. There are no systematic ways to ensure your dreams come true in retirement. That’s why he draws on decades of experience to set you on your path to success. Sure, he’ll give you details and charts with analysis and all of the necessary things, but he also knows that you’re more than a financial spreadsheet. You’re a person with hopes and dreams who has a picture of what you want your retirement to look like. When you’re ready to get started creating a strategy that puts you on the right path towards those hopes and dreams, You need to contact Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial for a free consultation. Just go to klzradio.com and click on Advertisers to get in touch. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
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Welcome back to Retirement Unpacked, the Thanksgiving Day show. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I did a little bit of history about that, which I found interesting. A lot of it I knew, and quite a bit of it I didn’t know. A lot of it was news to me, and I think when I experienced a Canadian Thanksgiving, I think that was a cultural enlightenment on my part. But besides that, The celebration that we do in honor of the pilgrims and their better crops and their relative success at that time, I think we have a lot of things to be thankful for. I think gratitude is something that we should truly embrace because there are a lot of things that we certainly could be thankful for, not the least of which are our freedoms. And before I dive into all of our freedoms, one thing that I am thankful for, which I knew it was coming anyway, but it seemed like it would never end, is regardless of your political persuasion, I am extremely glad that the election ads are over. I was watching TV one time and I had a program saved and it was after the election. but I was still seeing election ads because I had saved the program and the commercials came with it, which I thought was humorous hearing the ads even after the election. So a lot of freedoms that we experience. I sincerely believe we are the freest country in the world, and that’s not without its challenges, but there’s a lot of things we have, freedoms that are you know, just right out of the Constitution, not the least of which is our freedom of speech. We can get on a soapbox, and as long as we’re not disturbing anyone else, we could speak to people walking by on a corner. And some people, you know, actually do that. But we also have the opportunity to write letters to the editor, call in to talk shows, We can start a blog and create a website and attract people to that so that we can share our ideas, whether it’s for a commercial purpose or just to share ideas that you think might be beneficial to other people. And that First Amendment right was under a certain amount of challenge because over the past number of years when certain platforms were limiting speech, especially around the time of COVID, if you had an opinion that was contrary to the governmental opinion, it was difficult to get that opinion out. And you could also come under severe difficulty. People lost their jobs during that time for not only for speaking out, but for choosing not to follow the guidelines on health care and so forth. And I’m clearly glad that that period of time is behind us. One of the freedoms I don’t know if we think much about that is not shared by people all over the world is our freedom of association. We can meet and hang out with whomever we want to, We can gather, whether it’s for worship or for a political gathering or for a gathering like we’re going to experience tomorrow, for family. That’s something that is not shared by everyone on our planet. There are places I know in China where people get a certain score based on how closely they follow religion. the governmental guideline and so forth. And I don’t know this for a fact, but I would be willing to wager that if someone were caught in gatherings with people who were critical of the government or something, that would clearly lower their score. And having one of those high scores following exactly what the government wants you to do that probably entitles someone to certain privileges. And if you were critical of the government and China, and I don’t know this for a fact, so everything I’m saying is second and third hand, but I think it’s safe to say it’s not what one would describe as a free country. So that’s freedom of association is something that’s incredibly important. Second Amendment, we have the right to bear arms. And certain cities and certain states and so forth, that has come under scrutiny. And certain states, it’s more difficult, for example, to get a concealed carry permit. But for the most part, you have the opportunity to own a firearm. You have the opportunity to you know, to practice. It ranges with that firearm and you have the opportunity to take classes so you can get a concealed carry permit and you can take follow-up classes to make certain that your skills are sharp because along with that freedom comes an enormous responsibility. And I had a concealed carry class a while back myself and a majority of what we talked about in that concealed carry class is how to handle yourself with a firearm under an enormous variety of circumstances. So the concealed carry isn’t going to tell you about your firearm or about ammunition or how to use the firearm or anything like that. It’s primarily geared toward situational awareness, how you can protect yourself and others without getting yourself in trouble, so to speak. So our freedom to bear arms, that is a big deal of our freedoms. And things to be thankful for in addition to our freedoms, we have a lot of things to be thankful for with respect to our health. Now, not all of us are healthy, but we have choices. We can choose to eat certain foods. We can choose to exercise or not exercise. We can choose to consume alcoholic beverages or not to consume them. And in doing so, we have some control over our own health. And I think that’s largely because the health of our economy permits us to make choices about what we put into our bodies, whether it’s alcohol or drugs or food. And I know myself when I’ve sometimes eaten some things or done some things that I wish I’d done something differently, but it’s that freedom of choice that we all truly love. And I think one of the things that we have to be thankful for also is the fact that we live in the United States. There are a lot of other countries, and some of them have a lot of pluses. A lot of them do not nearly have the freedoms that we have here. Both Canada and the United Kingdom, for example, they don’t have First Amendment rights. So if you say things critical of the government in either Canada or the UK, you can end up being in trouble. Now, as we get closer to tomorrow, tomorrow is, of course, Thanksgiving. We’re also getting close to the end of the year. If you would like to find out if you’re on target for your retirement, give my office a call at 303-744-1128. In the meantime, God bless you. Thank you for listening. Let’s continue to pray for our friends in Israel. And again, have a truly blessed Thanksgiving. And hopefully you will be here next week. Bye now.
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Thank you for listening to Retirement Unpacked with your host, Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial.
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The opinions and advice on the preceding program are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of this station, Crawford Media Group, its staff, management, or sponsors.
