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Speaker 1: I think at this point though, it's pretty hard to

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deny the power that bitcoin currently has up until what

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the last week and a half, with all the discoveries

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we've seen posted about Google achieving in terms of quantum computing,

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I think there's a little bit of concern that those

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type of computers could crack the code for a bitcoin.

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Speaker 2: You're listening to Carrie Lutz's Financial Survival Network, where you

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get valuable information you just can't find anywhere else to

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thrive in today's trying times. You need the Financial Survival

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Network now more than ever. Go to Financial Survivalnetwork dot

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com and get your free newsletter and gift. Financial Survival

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Network now more than ever.

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Speaker 3: And welcome you are listening to and watching the Financial

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Survival Network. I'm your host, Carrie Luttz. Well Ted Thatcher's

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back with us, well known noted financial expert. Ted. You

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just released your book, Finally Launch Your Retirement, a financial

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planning guide to go from saverer to spender. Well, I

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was never a saver, so the transition was easy for me,

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and I'm not getting retired.

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Speaker 1: But so who's this book for. It's a great question.

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Carry is always as great to be with you. You know,

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I think in today's world, there's a ton of information

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available online about what to invest in, how to start,

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you know, building up some assets. But the question I

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get so often is, hey, like I maybe I've built

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up this nest egg. How do I like take that

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and replace my paycheck? You know kind of say, hey,

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how do I build that golden goose that lays the

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golden eggs? And so this book is for that person

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who's trying to say, hey, I have some money, now

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how do I replace my paycheck? How do I make

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sure that I don't have to.

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Speaker 3: Go back to work anymore? Okay, so you asked, you

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asked the question, now answer it, yes, So how do

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we do it? Right? Of course?

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Speaker 1: So the book basically outlines our planning process and basically

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everything you need to do to launch your retirement. So

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uh there, we basically follow what we call the five

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pillar process, and that is first making sure you have

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an income plan for your money. You know, basically, like

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I said, how much money we're going to need to

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replace that paycheck? And you know there's a lot that

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goes into that. Right, you got to make sure you

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have your Social Security right. You know, a lot of

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clients we work with, we'll have like rental property or

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a pension, you know, certainly you know stocks, maybe do

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it unstocks, things like that. The second pillar is having

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an investment strategy, right, just there's a lot that goes

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into that, you know, analytically, of course, but what it

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boils down to, and I think that sometimes it gets

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blost in the weeds, is simply having enough money set

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aside for growth and having enough money set aside for income.

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Then we get into our third pillar, and that's actually

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having a tax strategy for your money. I think a

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lot of financial advisors I talked to even honestly, it's

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like they would treat this word tax like a four

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letter word they can't say. And I really reject that premise.

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You know, I think that at least for the vast

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majority of retirees, the analytics and the data tell us

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that the biggest bill a retiree is going to pay

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is their tax bill. And then of course, just to

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round it off, I mean, I would tell you very

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much that those are primary sort of foundational pillars. Then

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we get into what we call advanced planning, you know,

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healthcare planning for Medicare and legacy planning. And state planning

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those types of things. But not to get too long winded,

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that's what the book is about, walking you through all

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those different steps to make sure that you're set up

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for success in creating that sort of permanent paycheck so

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you don't run out of money, which is the other

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question we get a lot, all right, so.

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Speaker 3: What let me ask you, what do you think about

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how social Security should play into this?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think the one question Carrie I get

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a lot is especially around Social Security, is hey, is

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it going to be there?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 1: It's underfunded, it, you know, underwater, and so I think

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it's created a lot of questions for folks in retirement

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or getting close to retirement about whether it's going to

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be able to be counted on, and you know, how

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does it play into it? You know, for most people,

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of course, it's a part of you know, their monthly expenses.

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The Social Security Office itself has come out and said

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you would expect social Security on average, meaning if you

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have an average American family's expenses and wages, et cetera,

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that it would maybe count for about a forty percent

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or so of your monthly needs. But to kind of

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come back to that answer in that question.

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Speaker 3: The way I think.

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Speaker 1: About social security tends to be a very i'll say

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practical one. And so when I look at Congress red

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or blue, I have not seen a real political will

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from our congress people to spend less money. And of course,

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if faced with the option of i'll say, reducing retirees

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social security benefits or simply writing a bigger check, it's

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my opinion at this point most congress people would simply

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choose to write a bigger check because I just think

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the incentives are, unfortunately such that if they did, you know,

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vote to be i'll say, for austerity, they would likely

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be voted out and maybe replaced by somebody who would

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be willing to simply, you know, sign that omnibus bill.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Well, but Trump is talking a big game here, right, Sure.

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Speaker 1: The Department of Government Efficiencies are you referring to?

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Speaker 3: Of course, the dose I hope it's a doge and

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not a dog, right, I.

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Speaker 1: Think so, you know, I think, uh, you know, I

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think most people now will look at the government and say, hey,

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we're probably spending too much money. And so I think

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that the Department of Government Efficient efficiency and the natural

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you know, initiative in the name, is the right thing

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to prioritize. I think that the the natural I mean

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criticism is probably too strong of a word. But there

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is a practical, you know side of how deep they

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even can cut. And so, you know, what is sort

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of required spending and what is discretionary spending comes to

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mind really quick, right, and most people would argue, of

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course medicare spending and social security spending, even military spending,

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those are you know, baked in, and so I think

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under I would say, really positive auspices like the DOGE

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they could cut a third of the budget and still

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they you know, two thirds of our spending is still

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considered you know, a non discretionary, and so I do

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I'm interested to see how deep they're actually able to go.

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I think if I were going to place my bets

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on what might be actually some of the most important

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work that they do, I think it might be around regulations.

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Because I was reading an article in the Wall Street

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Journal just about how much the regulatory environment has grown

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over the last you know, even just ten years, and

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their argument that they were making. The author of the article,

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of course, said that if they could basically reduce you know,

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the regulatory environment in a substantial way that we could

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actually get our GDP up to six percent a year,

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which is like rocket fuel when it comes to you know,

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economic growth, of course, and that could really have an

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effect on, you know, ultimately the financial picture of the US.

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Speaker 3: The question is will they do it? And Trump say

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he's hell bent on it now. And look the military,

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you know, we all know we need a strong defense

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blah blah blah. But a veritable fortune gets wasted every year,

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like forget it, right, I mean we know this, right,

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as much as half of it gets wasted. And you know,

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corporate now there, Look we've got three hundred and fifty

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when i'd look two three years ago billion per year

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of corporate welfare. Right, that's just short government money that's

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just blown on corporations that don't need it. Right, So

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even if there's a lot of blooding and then three

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hundred and fifty billion a year of improper payments, and

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then like you said, he's not going to touch the

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money to the recipients, but the people who were there

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who don't show up the work for years and all

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the fat there. You know, it's not hard to envision.

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And then the corruption, like I said in the military

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the spend or right uh you know, the big contractors,

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they just put in change orders and they automatically are accepted,

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and then the general retires and he goes to work

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for fill in the blank, mega defense contractor. But it's

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going to be pain here, Like everybody wants somebody else

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to take less, but not themselves, right I think.

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Speaker 1: So, I mean, I do think that I think that

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the point you make, especially around the defense is well made,

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and I think it's the one that Trump would agree with,

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you know, and it doesn't take very far to you know,

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you don't have to look very far to see the corruption.

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I mean, the amount of money that's been spent in

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the Middle East and you know what has been you know,

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branded as forever wars. Uh is deserves I think all

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the criticism in the world. And it is absolutely crazy

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to think that, you know, one day you can be

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signing the the approval on a contract for like you said,

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insert large defense contractor, and then the next day you're

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sitting on the board and then two years later you're

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back in Washington maybe you know, if you were lucky.

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And so I think that that is hopefully the kind

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the kind of thing that we are going to see

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a lot of light shed on because I don't I

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don't know like an American on either side of the

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aisle that just thinks that that's okay. You know, waste

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isn't okay. And we've just especially when the people that

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pay that price are our kids and our grandkids. You know,

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I certainly when I look at my family, I want

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my kids to have a better life than I have.

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My folks hope that for me, and I think that

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that trend certainly, of course continues.

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Speaker 3: Of course, a my kids are already having a past

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life than me, so I'm not competing. I want him

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to have a real good life so when I stopped working,

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they'll be there to pick up the slack for me.

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But but seriously, you know, it's it's it's very intractable.

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Nobody has ever had the political will to do it.

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Reagan tried. He managed to cut taxes, but he couldn't

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cut spending. And you know, but it is interesting thing.

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This isn't an ad for Trump or anything else. My

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own preference was the lesser of two evils or the

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evil of two lessers. That's what we're at least faced with.

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But this guy like somebody was saying that you think

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he's stupid. He now he now is going back to

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the White House, has the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court,

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the world's just man ever working for him, the most

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notable Kennedy working for him. So if we can't get

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it done now, Ted, then it's hopeless, isn't it. Yeah?

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Speaker 1: You know, I think that we have a really interesting

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window of opportunity as a country is specifically around what

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we've been talking about here when it comes to efficiency

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and when it comes to and I would say, hopefully

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at a minimum, maybe stopping the level of spending, even

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if we're not able to, like, even if we weren't

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able to drastically reduce the size of government, which you

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know we could have again we kind of discussed already,

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even if they could just stop.

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Speaker 3: The the the.

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Speaker 1: Balloon that's been occurring, I think it would be a success.

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And I think it was Charlie Munger who said, I

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want to say it was actually this about Elon Musk,

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which he says never what did he say said, never

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underestimate a man who overestimates himself. And I always struggle

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with that one.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, uh, well, you know what's amazing here, Ted

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is we see like all these governments which are opposed

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to him, they're all collapsing all over the place. First

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we see Germany collapse, then France. Uh, probably Canada is collapsing. Now.

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I don't see how the current occupant there of Ottawa

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can stay in and uh, you know, his government's collapsed

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around him. I'll have to carry him out in a stretcher.

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I have a few links, but I think you're going

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to see it in China. There's going to be collapse.

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You know. It's uh, it's really interesting. So getting back

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to transitioning for retirement, what do you say to the

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person who says, well, I'm never really gonna fully retire.

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Speaker 1: I think you I'd probably say that you're in good company.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: I have a real mixed group of people that you know,

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I've chatted with over the years, and I actually work

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with the gentleman. I remember, I want to say, maybe

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two years ago or something, he had retired and he

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I think he probably stopped working for maybe about eighteen months,

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and he came back and he basically said, Ted, I'm bored.

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I'm going to you know, die with my boots on.

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And I think that really there is some transition people

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go to for sort of from sort of I'll just

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say working because they have to pay the bills and

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working to do something that they find a lot of

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purpose in and that they enjoy doing. And regardless of

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what path you take, I think it's really important to

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think about what you're going to retire too, because retirement

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isn't the end of the finish line of the marathon,

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right like you don't just claps the end of it.

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You know, there's chapters in life, and you're making a

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big transition for most folks in their financial life, and

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then they're going to find some purpose in something new

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and ultimately, again, regardless of whether you're not working entirely

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or working part time or taking on a new endeavor,

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I think just really determining hey, what am I going

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to retire too is just as important as you know,

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i'll say, the allocations and the decimal points and the

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percentages and all that stuff.

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Speaker 3: Mm. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. So, what

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do you think looking ahead? And obviously we don't know,

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but do you think everybody should be putting some money

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into cryptos?

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, when it comes to when

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it comes to cryptocurrency, I think I would say a

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couple of things. You know, I think for a while,

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over the last even several years, I think cryptocurrency has

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held a place in my mind where it was more

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of a speculation than a like real investment, And I'll

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speak more specifically of bitcoin in that scenario. I think

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at this point, though, it's pretty hard to deny the

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power that bitcoin currently has. Up until what the last

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week and a half, with all the discoveries we've seen

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posted about Google achieving in terms of quantum computing, I

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think there's a little bit of concern that those type

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of computers could crack the code for a bitcoin. But

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should people have money invested in it, well, you know,

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I think, I guess I would say this, it's a

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cautionary side. Fear of missing out is not an investment strategy.

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And so while I don't categorize bitcoin just as a

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speculation anymore, I do think it is investment, as volatile

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as that may be, I just wouldn't guide folks towards

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investing a bunch of money because they're afraid of missing out.

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And certainly the other principle that comes to my mind

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is don't risk the empire for a pot of gold,

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and so you know, don't take unnecessary risk. As the

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whole point there, I think when I look at bitcoin

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as to where it fits, I think that it trades

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a lot like equity right now, a lot like technology stocks.

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You see the correlation with it, and so just like

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you know, you might see folks guide toward a diversified

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mix of stocks, big technology stocks, you might include bitcoin

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as a piece of that. But I think, really where

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it fits as it trades a lot like an aggressive equity,

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and so sure, you know, I probably wouldn't put more

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than two to five percent of my money in that asset.

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But I think it's beyond the point now where you

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can can avoid the discussion. And I mean, the truth is,

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I think it's pretty clear that we're at almost ground

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zero with governmental and institutional adoption, and there's potential for

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a whole lot of more growth from here. To say

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nothing of the FED.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, to say nothing of the Fed, yeah, So all right,

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But so you put a small bit because it looks

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like Trump is held bent on setting up a national

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bitcoin reserve, and if he does that, who knows how

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how high the price can go?

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Speaker 1: Sure, you know, I think, like I said, yeah, a

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ground zero for governmental adoption and institutional adoption. Maybe not

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quite ground zero, but close to it. I think that

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that him doing that, I think is really interesting for

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several reasons. One, I do think that there's been because

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of the discussion in the last several years about how

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much spending we've had, is that there needs to be

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some alternative to quote unquote the dollar as a reserve currency. Well,

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I think really interestingly, if you look across the crypto market,

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almost all crypto is priced is in US dollars, like

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as compared to US dollars. And to your point, given

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the broader you know, uh international scope you mentioned China,

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and you know some some decline h and you know

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some of these bricks countries, et cetera. If the United

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States has a substantial amount of bitcoin and it does

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continue to go up, I think it protects two things.

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I think it actually protects interestingly, the dollar as a

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reserve currency because everything is priced typically in the crypto

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world to US dollars. And of course you have the

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balance sheet potential, right if bitcoin goes up a lot,

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it potentially of course puts the US had a better situation.

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Speaker 3: All right, well this is interesting. Hey, how do we

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get your book? TeV? That a great question.

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Speaker 1: So if you just go to our website bright Lakewealth

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dot com.

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Speaker 3: There's a tab we have there.

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Speaker 1: It says, you know, just off for our book, Launch

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00:19:26,519 --> 00:19:29,480
your Retirement, of course, is the title. You can find

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it on Amazon. Just google Launch your Retirement. You can

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go to launch my Retirement dot com. It's they're available.

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00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:37,880
But if you just search for the name of the book,

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you'll be able to find it real easily.

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Speaker 3: All right, Well, we got a link in the show

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notes this interview on Financial Survival Network your book, what's

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00:19:45,839 --> 00:19:48,440
your what's your regular company website?

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Speaker 1: Brightlakewealth dot com.

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00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,799
Speaker 3: All right, of course that's in there. And I've got

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00:19:53,839 --> 00:19:56,480
any questions for Ted myself, shoot me an email k

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l at Kerrie LUTs dot com. When you visit Financially

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00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,640
Survival Network dot com you find the links right there

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00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,960
in the show notes. While you're there, we just ask

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00:20:05,039 --> 00:20:08,119
you to please sign up for your free newsletter like

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sixty thousand other FSN community members have and tet we

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will talk to you soon. Thank you, Kerry, good to

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00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:16,599
be with you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to Carrie Letz's Financial Survival Network your

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00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:25,000
solution to today's trying times. For the latest, go to

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00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:31,079
Financial Survivalnetwork dot com. Financial Survival Network now more than

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00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:31,400
ever