Speaker 1: You know, now we're at all time market highs and
I'm pretty much still an all time market history. So
there's never been a better time to take some of
those chips off of the table and take some profits.
Because people will give you phrases like this when the
markets are down, like, oh, it's only a paper loss.
You know, it's not a lot until you sell out
of it. But it's also it's only a paper game.
Speaker 2: You are listening to Carrie Letz's Financial Survival Network, where
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Speaker 3: And welcome you are listening to and watching the Financial
Survival Network. I'm your host, Carrie. Let's say we're in
mid to late February. Here, we got a lot of
uncertainty going on in the nation's capital, new administration and
a new way of doing things. And if you're thinking
about retirement, or you're say five to ten years away
from retirement, this could dramatically affect you and special guests
on with us Patrick Muller Bellet Advisors. You find him
at Belletadvisors dot com and if you have any questions,
as always, you can shoot me an email. Klat Kerrie
Lutz dot com. Patrick, first time guest on the show.
Speaker 4: Welcome.
Speaker 3: So uh hey, planning for retirement, even under the best
of circumstances is difficult. What challenges are we looking at
now with all the uncertainty in Washington and taxes and
House cuts?
Speaker 4: What do we do? Well?
Speaker 1: It's going to be interesting coming up here, especially this year,
because we've got the Trump tax cuts that are going
to be expiring at the end of this year, so
next year. A lot of people don't realize that we're
going going back to twenty seventeen rates, which is dramatically different.
Speaker 4: Yes, so we'll see that happens here.
Speaker 1: And I think right now in the Senate it's you know,
not looking great at them being able to agree on anything.
So hopefully we can get an extension of the current
tax rates at least through the end of the Trump
administration and we'll see where it goes beyond that. But
you know, a lot of those big moves that Trump
is talking about as far as getting taxes off of
your soci you know, not being taxed on your Social
Security benefits, or it's going to be it's going to
be a tough road to prefer that.
Speaker 3: So what are you supposed to do about it? How
do you plan when you don't even know what kind
of tax you're going to be paying. It makes it
really difficult.
Speaker 1: And we help folks with a lot of roth conversions,
and you know, it's just kind of one of those
things I ask people all the time, do you think
that tax rates are going to be going higher or
lower in the future, And almost nobody says that they
think that they're going to be going lower.
Speaker 4: So if that's the case, and it's a.
Speaker 1: Very small percentage of people when they retired that actually
end up being in a lower tax rate in retirement, yeah,
So a lot of these programs that people are putting
their money to, like four oh one k's four or
three b's four fifty seven account traditional iras, it's like, hey,
defer paying your income taxes now and you know, take
it out in retirement when you're in a lower tax rate.
It's just we rarely see that happening. So people are
shocked when when they see what their tax bill is
going to be when they're forces start taking that money
out when they reach RMD age of seventy three or
seventy five to.
Speaker 4: Depending on when you were born.
Speaker 1: So we do a lot of roth conversions, like get
money to those tax free accounts now because more likely
tax rates you're probably not going to go much lower.
Speaker 4: In the future.
Speaker 3: Okay, so what about like Social Security? You know, most
retirees are at least partially depended on it, even if
they've saved and done everything right to what do you
think is going to be with that?
Speaker 4: It's a good question, you're right now.
Speaker 1: It's like early twenty thirty, those projected that if there
are no changes with Social Security and the way that
that rolls out, then everybody's benefits are going to be
reduced across the board by twenty five percent, which would
be a huge cut. But I think there's a lot
of things. I was actually just reading an article this
morning that with the you know, with with DOGE doing
their research that twenty one million people above the age
of one hundred are still getting Social Security bnecests, right,
So there's people that are actually in the system right
now that since since before the country or crazy social security.
Speaker 4: Benefits, it's insane. Yeah, so there could be a lot
of changes like that.
Speaker 1: I mean that alone, right, you're fixing that problem, right,
could fix the social security issue.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, So so we got interesting times ahead here.
Where are you putting your clients? So what are you
what are you recommending to them?
Speaker 1: Well, one of the things that we use in retirement
planning is the rule of one hundred. So take your
age and that should be the percentage of your savings
that are safe and protected from market losses. So if
somebody's fifty years old, then we should have half of
the money and things that are safe and protected from
market losses, and then fifty percent. It's okay to be
in the markets. And the reason for that is now
you need the money to live off. But if you
don't have a paycheck coming in anymore, it starts making
things really difficult.
Speaker 3: So a lot of people are going to be stuck
here and working for longer than they want to ever
anticipated working retirement. That goal, whatever it might be in
your mind, is becoming more elusive, isn't it.
Speaker 4: Absolutely absolutely?
Speaker 1: So you know, now we're at all time market highs
and I'm pretty much still an all time market history.
So there's never been a better time to take some
of those chips off of the table and take some profits.
Because people will give you phrases like this when the
markets are down, like, oh, it's only a paper loss.
You know, it's not a loss until you sell out
of it. But it's also it's only a paper gain, right,
It's not it's not a gain until you realize it either.
So it's just one of those things we don't want
to take that unnecessary risk. But you know, this year
with the markets, I mean, I think it's going to
be positive, you know. I think with this new administration
coming in, there's gonna be a lot of positive moves
for lower regulations, you know, better energy prices, lowering inflation probably.
So I think there's gonna be a lot of positive
things over over the next four years longer term. But
I don't think we're going to have like the twenty
five percent plus returns in the SMP like we've had
the last couple of years. I think we'll be lucky
to do half of that. But because of all these changes,
and it's been like a fire hose coming out of Washington,
I think it's going to create a lot of instability
in the market. So we're going to see a lot
of volatility, and I think it'll be like a twelve
round fight this year. We're going to go through twelve
rounds and get to the end of the year and
feel really beat up. But at the end, when you
look at your statements, I think they're going to be positive.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: Well, you know I look at is that we now
find out that the prior and in it was basically
cooking all the books, the inflation numbers especially, but the
unemployment numbers, all of that, and if they were to
be restated, we might very well come to the determination
that unlike what the administration was telling us that everything
was fine, you know, basically, uh, it wasn't fine. Inflation
was actually running higher, and uh you know what does
that mean here?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a reality check and and and
numbers like that coming out, it's definitely gonna wrek havoc
on the markets.
Speaker 4: So we could.
Speaker 1: Definitely see a big pullback this year on a big
retracement because we've been in a we've been a sideways
market now since like late October at this point, as
pretty much. You know, it hasn't hasn't done a whole
much of anything over that time frame, and there's not
a whole lot of buyers on the market. We're starting
to see that momentum slowing down. So if you start
han't had like that coming out that all the numbers
were wrong and things are worse and that they were
stated previously, I mean, we're definitely going to see a
big pullback in the market. So that's one of those
twelve rounds, right that we're going to get a little
beat up, I think moving forward to this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's clear that you know, they were doing
a lot of psyops on us, but you know, you
got to think that the people actually know knew in
their heart of hearts even though the numbers from the
government were painting a rosy scenario. But people actually knew
that things were not as good as they said, and
that's why they voted the way they did.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it was overwhelming, and you know, people, I think
over time, they've been disill miss led by the mainstream media.
There's just been a big propaganda machine just propping up
these narratives for over the last few years, and it's
like it's almost seemed like we were an opposite world,
like what's bad is good and what's good is bad,
and seeing now you're making up to that and getting
sick of it.
Speaker 3: You know that CIA program once upon a time that
supposedly was ended long ago but really wasn't. Operation mocking Bird,
and that's basically where they send out the message and
the press like mockingbirds. They call it that because they
imitate each other. Uh, you know, we had the mocking
Bird press. And while some people maybe on the coasts
in Washington, d C. In California, in New York saw
it as yeah, everything's fine, the people in the flyover
country who largely determine who gets elected, didn't see it
that way, did they?
Speaker 4: Not at all? Not at all.
Speaker 1: And you just saw that all across the country with
the Trump rallies that you saw going on, I mean,
just people coming out in droves, and like you said,
those flyover states.
Speaker 4: It's so you saw.
Speaker 1: It by the numbers, even though that wasn't being represented
well by the mainstream media. I mean, you just you
just saw it and you felt that that you know
that the tide was turning, and the tides were turning,
and now this new administration that they're they're not messing
around like Trump came in the first four years and
you know, under all the circumstances, you know, he ended
up getting a lot of things done. And now he's
had kind of four years to prepare for for what's
going to be happening for the next four years. And
I think that I think that you know, we're going
to be in for change. If you're not good with change, right,
you're not you can be.
Speaker 4: Like in this administration. But it's been yeah, it's been
one a month, you know, less than a month.
Speaker 3: That it's been nineties from the day we're speaking on Tuesday,
February eighteenth, which is like can you believe it? Have
you ever seen anything like this. Let's put aside personal
political preferences, because they change like the weather, but just
the way they hit the ground running, it was like
time is of the essence.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like it reminds me when I'd be working on
some papers to file in court and I got like
eight hours to get them out, and it's like, just
leave me alone, let me do what I want to do,
and I'll talk to you later.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, yeah, you don't you don't really have a
whole lot of time for anything. It's like been a
fire hose so far. But they've they're they're shotgunning and
stuff out there, especially with the with Elon Musk and
and the dog. Every every day something, you know, some
new kind of scandal is is coming out when Little
Superno is now it's old, right, is there actually gold
at Fort Knox?
Speaker 4: Well, we're going to find out.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know that's going to be interesting because what
if there's no gold in Fort Knox and all of
our enemies, our adversaries have been hoarding gold like crazy, right, Yeah,
well you've had that.
Speaker 1: You've had Russia and China buying up gold like crazy
for a very long period of time.
Speaker 3: Now it's like, yeah, for for a decade, they've been
doing it. You know, since I got into this space,
they have been doing it. So what Yeah, I guess right,
like Donald Rumsfeld said, there are known unknowns and then
there are unknown unknowns, And I don't know which is worse,
the unknown unknowns or the known unsownce here.
Speaker 1: And it's just good though, a lot of this stuff
is just coming out because and unless we really know
what's going on, how can we possibly get better or system,
and everybody kind of feels it like it just seems
like the government's always have been putting band aids on things,
and yeah, kicking the fan artificially and you know, keeping
keeping the markets afloat. So at some point the things
are going to hit the fan and and we're going
to see a big move, but I don't know to
have a positive foundation to lift off of it. At
this point, I feel like the country almost needs that absolutely.
Speaker 3: And look, you're intelligent, you work with money. You always
knew that the money was getting wasted, right, You knew
it because you know, you know the government, it's other
people's money, er PM, and they don't care as long
as their nest gets feathered. But you didn't know the specifics.
You knew the macro. The macro is obvious for anybody
who looked at it. But the micro is way worse
than we could have ever imagined. I mean, without getting
into everything they were wasting money on. So bringing it
back though, what's your doge insurance portfolio?
Speaker 4: Look like? Yeah, it's going.
Speaker 1: To be interesting to see all the different things that
come out here. But one of the things, you know,
like I was talking about that rule of one hundred
making sure there's so much money safe and it's not
tied to the market. It's the problems come in when
everybody has too much of their money tied to the
daily market. So we use a lot of things like
structured notes and things of that nature that aren't really
affected by the day to day markets. But like the stuff,
you know, moving forward, like with all of this stuff,
you know, technology is going to be a big driver.
AI is going to be a big driver. So probably
your magnificent seven stocks you're going to probably fare pretty
well this year. And and things like energy. When it
comes to infrastructure, we've got these big data centers that
are being built all around Atlanta here. You've got a
bunch of tech companies, so you've got a lot of
these massive data centers and they need energy to support
these these big centers. So I think focusing on infrastructure
like that, semiconductors, things things of that nature. Even even
some gold, right, especially if they don't find the gold
in four knocks, right, is going to you know.
Speaker 3: Be at the gold in your fillings might be the
only thing you have that's worth any money. And they
don't even use golden fillings anymore, Patrick.
Speaker 4: You know exactly all right?
Speaker 3: Hey, so uh Della Advisors dot com. That's the place
to go, Yes, find out more info. You can always
send us an email k l at Harry LUTs dot
com and a link to patrick site is in the show.
That's to this interview on Financial Survival Network dot com.
All we ask is that when you visit the site,
you please sign up for your free newsletter. Over seventy
thousand of you have done it so far. We're getting
so many because of the uncertainty, because nobody knows what's
going to happen. We've been tracking these trends Patrick for
fourteen years since I started this podcast, and as a result,
we've called all this. I can't say I called it
to the day and I never expected the system to
attempt to heal itself, which is basically what Trump's election
is about. But the fact is this was obvious. You
could see it coming a mile away. If they save
a trillion and a half dollars Patrick on the budget,
and then they bring in another half a trillion in tariffs,
the world's looking like a different place.
Speaker 4: Isn't it. It's going to get a whole lot better
that's for sure. I think they're going to do it.
For sure.
Speaker 1: They're they're on a mission, and all the right people
are getting confirmed and getting put into the right places,
and it's it's going to it's going to be a masterclass,
I think, and and what what can be what can
be achieved.
Speaker 3: I just have to pass this on to you. I've
worked with governments, you know, courts. I was an attorney
for thirty five years. And the inefficiency, the incompetence, the
time wasting ability, you know, we've got to see a
dramatic restructuring of our legal system.
Speaker 4: Okay, I you know.
Speaker 3: I wanted to do a podcast and a website called
the Legal Theft, which basically deals with all the ways
that attorneys screw over their clients. But this thing is
out of control. And they asked Donald Trump who's the
most powerful lobby in Washington and he said the lawyers.
So I guess everything in its time, and I'm sure
that's coming too. But we've become I'm a society that
doesn't attempt to basically quickly resolve disputes. We've been a
society that intentionally prolongs them to generate fees for attorneys
and as one famous writer said, uh, when they had
the line of prisoners going in to be arraigned, they call.
Speaker 4: That the chow.
Speaker 3: Well, we're the chow of the legal system, and until
that gets resolved, we're not really going to be able
to solve anything.
Speaker 1: And you're seeing that a lot with judges, with some
of that information that just came out, with judges basically
getting money from the USAID through the MgO's and getting
paid off, and it's it's unbelievable, like with a lot
of these judges what they're doing and trying to stop,
like like right now, trying to stop the president as
administration from finding the fraud inside of.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well it's kind of we're just like a huge
cover up.
Speaker 1: That's the rats are starting to jump the sh Did
you see that in the news all the homes going
up for sale and everything, and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, over fifteen thousand homes and prices were down substantially.
And it's kind of like that guy said in Vietnam
we had to kill the village to save it. We
kind of have to kill our government to save the country. Here,
we'll leave it at that, Thanks so much for coming on,
and we'll talk to you again so pleasure.
Speaker 4: Thank you Kerris, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to carry Lets's Financial Survival Network, your
solution to today's trying times. For the latest, go to
Financial Survivalnetwork dot com. Financial Survival Network now more than ever,