John very good to see you. Happy New Year! Today we are talking through five resolutions to set ourselves up for a happy and successful 2024. So we are revisiting this annual favorite but with some new resolutions and today we're sharing our top five. So the first: Meet Your Match. Or as my dad says, “Don't leave free money on the table.”

Yes, yes. So Happy New Year. Happy New Year to everyone else, your dad who has been a subscriber to our podcast, very wise man, very wise man. Yes, I agree completely with your dad. Never leave free money on the table. If your employers are offering a match and you're making contributions, at least contribute up to the matching amount that your employer gives, because that's just free money that you're getting.

Next: Contribute more to your retirement accounts. But I'd like to know, what percentage do you think we should be saving for retirement and what percentage of that should be going into our Roth accounts?

Yeah, so let's tackle the first one. The rule of thumb is always you should be putting 10-15% of your paycheck into your retirement account. Nowadays that may be a little bit hard because of inflationary pressure and the overall higher prices. So if you can get it to that 10-15% level great, if not try to get it as high as possible. The second part of that, is how much should go into the Roth? In a perfect world, I would say everything. Again, this kind of looks at a tax issue. If you're in a higher bracket and you're looking to really get that tax deduction and postpone your income tax, then you may shift more towards a traditional 401k. If you are in that middle bracket or lower bracket, especially a lower bracket, or if you're new in your career…as much, if not all, should go into that Roth account. Remember we are at the lowest tax rates in history. The way our government debt is going, taxes have to go up in the math process. Take advantage of the lower taxes now.

Right. All right, resolution number three: Create a budget. I know that's a dirty word for you though, John. It's such a dirty word, we don't use it in our office Erin. Because budgets are restrictive. Retirees don't want to be restricted, nor should they. We'd like to call it a spending plan. And why is the spending plan important? Well, number one, we want to be able to see if our spending plan allows us to have that sustainability of income that's going to last our lives. Number two, for a lot of retirees their spending determines their tax bill. So when we look at the spending plan, you know, looking back at past videos that we've done Erin, we want you to spend your money. So we want to have a plan that sits here and says listen is this spending, while we're encouraging you to spend, is it sustainable? And at that point in time, if it's not, then let's just be proactive and make some minor adjustments, whether that's doing some part-time work, or just getting making some adjustments in the spending plan itself.

Next: Build that emergency fund.

Yeah, so we talked about making contributions to your retirement accounts. This I would put before that. If you don't have an emergency fund, you need to build an emergency fund. This is money that's in the bank, right? It's not being managed, no advisor, you're not investing it. It's there for an emergency. Traditionally, you know, many people say you should have an emergency fund of three to four or even six months. I wholly, wholeheartedly agree and err more on the side of the six months. But if your expenses are really low, then what I will tell you is have a magic number, right? I have some clients that say listen, I just want to have 50 or $75,000 in the bank as an emergency fund. That makes them feel good. That's great. Do that.

Yeah, what helps you sleep at night. Right and last you say insure yourself, an emergency fund is a great first step but insuring yourself means that you and your family will be okay in case the worst happens.

Yeah, and this is a very important part and we are doing a lot more of this in our office in terms of helping our clients with property and casualty reviews. Right? We have a process called the shield of your retirement and we want you to be able to shield your life savings, the wealth that you've built your entire lifetime from catastrophic events. So you know, really 2024 is a good time of year to review all your PNC policies and determine whether you have enough coverage. The other area that isn't property and casualty, but it's just as important for asset protection is protecting yourself against criminals. Now is a great year a great time of the year to do a credit freeze. Right? You know unless you're buying a new car or something I don't think many people are refinancing their homes. So do a credit freeze on yourself. It's free. You do it through all three credit monitoring areas and this will protect you from identity theft.

Free and easy. Really good tips there, John. If somebody has questions about any of those resolutions, or they'd like to talk this through a little bit more with you, how can they get a hold of you?

Yeah, well, you can always visit our website www.gosecurus.com. While on the website we're gonna have a ton of information, we have podcasts and videos for you throughout the website. And while you're on the website, you can visit the Contact Us Tab. And from there you can schedule a 15-minute phone call where we can answer any questions that you may have. Or you can schedule a free vision and clarity consultation right there on the website. If you'd like to do things the old-fashioned way, you can get his call at the office at 858-935-6210 And Emily will get you put on our calendar.

And one more thing before we go Erin for our email subscribers. Be on the lookout because we're going to be sending a financial fitness checklist for you here this month. Right actually, John, that kind of comes with a bonus resolution that I forgot to ask you about. Remind me that one again.

Well, your health is your wealth. So I encourage everybody and this is something that we've gotten very proactive in the last year with our clients is you know everybody has a new year's resolution. The gyms were absolutely packed this morning. But give yourself a resolution that's sustainable, and really start to focus on little changes. Easy changes can improve your health because, without your health, there is no happy retirement.

All right, John, thank you so much.

Thank you, Erin.