Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Joyce Palmer, Founder and President of JP Financial Group Discussing Guaranteed Income for Women In Retirement

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Joyce Palmer, the managing partner of JP Financial Group LLC, is a force to be reckoned with in the world of finance. With a dedicated focus on serving women, Joyce is committed to creating financial legacies and empowering women to take control of their financial futures. As a joint owner of JPFG Wealth Management LLC, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her clients.With over two decades of experience, Joyce understands the unique financial challenges and opportunities that women face. Her own life experiences have shaped her perspective, as she recognizes the impact of gender on financial decisions. Joyce firmly believes that women have distinct needs, considering their longer life expectancy and the likelihood of living alone as widows or divorcees. She is passionate about providing tailored financial solutions that address these specific concerns.What sets Joyce apart is her genuine dedication to her clients. She actively listens to their needs, concerns, goals, and objectives, ensuring that their voices are heard and understood. Joyce takes pride in building strong personal connections with her clients, offering a level of empathy and relatability that fosters trust and confidence.Joyce’s commitment to continuous learning and professional development is evident in her impressive credentials. She holds a BA in Business from Virginia State University and has completed extensive studies and certifications in income planning strategies, social security benefits, estate planning strategies, and long-term care health insurance. This diverse knowledge base allows her to provide comprehensive and well-rounded financial guidance.Beyond her work, Joyce is actively involved in giving back to her community. She serves on the board of directors for The Charlotte Post Foundation and Faith in Action Community and Education Transition Services (F.A.C.E.T), a nonprofit organization that supports women and children transitioning from homelessness towards independence. Joyce’s passion for empowering women extends beyond the realm of finance, making a positive impact on the lives of those she serves.If you’re ready to take control of your financial future and work with a financial professional who understands your unique needs, Joyce Palmer is the trusted advisor you can rely on. Contact JP Financial Group LLC today and embark on a journey toward financial success and empowerment.Learn More: https://jpfinancialgroupllc.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-joyce-palmer-founder-and-president-of-jp-financial-group-discussing-guaranteed-income-for-women-in-retirement

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with us Joyce Palmer, who's the founder and president of JP Financial Group, and we'll be talking about guaranteed income for women in retirement. Joyce, welcome to the program. Hi, Mike. Thank you.

Hey, you are welcome. I'm excited to talk to you because whenever you hear certain words, you know, it makes you think of something. You're like, you know, hey, what's the first thing you think of when you hear, you know, that little game? When I hear guarantee, it's like, okay, tell me more. So I'm excited to hear about guaranteed income on how you serve the women that you work with. But before we dive into that, give us a little bit of your story and background. And how did you get into financial services? Sure. Well, I too kind of resonate with stories. So I got into it because when I was a little girl,

and I'm not going to go all the way back, but if I heard this 100 times, I heard it a thousand times, that boys were good in math and girls were not. And that unfortunately became the narrative for me and money. So growing up, I really hated math. I was not good. And I thought that when I get married, I'm going to marry a rich guy who's going to be good in math. And so he'll handle all of the financial stuff and I won't have to worry about it. Fast forward, my prince charming, well, he came galloping in on a black Mishabishi Galant. We got married and had the family.

And he handled all of the financial matters. And I knew nothing about financially what was going on. I didn't want to know and I didn't understand it. Unfortunately, he would take ill. And at 38, he was diagnosed with a bone cancer and the prognosis did not look good. All of a sudden, I was thrust in the position to have to handle the money. I had to make financial decisions. And it was very scary.

It was very intimidating. And as a result of that, fast forward, I became a student of finances. I became engrossed in learning how to understand money. And I never wanted to feel so vulnerable, so helpless. And as a result, I got licensed, certified train. And now I'm committed to helping other women feel empowered about money and not be intimidated by it. And boys are not all good in math and girls are good in math too. Yep.

I love it. And isn't it interesting? And this is for a whole other conversation, I'm sure. But those phrases and things we hear way back in the day, just stick with you, positive and negative. So maybe the takeaway there is what can we be doing today as adults to even the younger generation to speak words of encouragement into them to, you know, to stand. up and win and achieve and you can do it. And those are the kind of things that really will stick with them for decades to come. You're exactly right. Exactly. Especially when it comes to money because, boy, we could go off on a tangent on how powerful money is, you know,

like how powerful in a good way it is, how powerful in a bad way. If you handle it well, okay, good. If you handle it not so well, it could really be devastating. So I love the mission that you're on. So let's dive into this topic, guaranteed income. Let's define it. What is it? What is guaranteed income as it relates to financial planning, retirement, and in what you work with your women clients with? Yeah. So guaranteed income, it's really like having a financial safety net, you know, in retirement. It gives you that step. stream of income that you can rely on, regardless of what's going on in the market, regardless of what's going on in the economy. And this is especially important for women who often face some

unique financial challenges. And having that stability is crucial for their long-term financial securities. So the guaranteed income gives you that little bit peace of mind, it gives you, you the ability to know that you have enough income to meet your needs. And we know that women live longer than men. Typically, life expectancy for us ladies is 81 years and compared to men at 76 years. So this means that women really do need to plan for longer retirement and ensure that they have reliable income sources to support them all. way through out their retirement. You know, you mentioned a word that jumped out at me, you know, peace, peace of mind, peaceful. And I think that there's probably a lot of people that would be raising

their hand right now when I say or ask, have you ever watched the news or heard about the stock market crash or got your quarterly statement and just your heart sank? And it's like, oh, my goodness, everything dropped. And what's that going to do to my retirement income? So I think having that guaranteed income. You mentioned peace, but I just want to put a pin in that and just go, that is so powerful for people that you are helping to have that peace of mind when their other friends might be fearing to opening up the mail or watching the news. And they're just sleeping like a baby. So I think that's a gift that you're providing to them. Yeah, yeah. I know I look forward to that piece of mind. With everything else going on in the world, being able to be able to sweep up.

point that your money is okay and you're not going to run out, that definitely means a lot. Yep. And what are some other types of income? How is guaranteed income different from other things? Because I think in a retirement plan, you don't put all your eggs in one basket and whatever the guaranteed part of it is. Are there other things that people are typically putting their money in for income that you're saying, okay, now this one might not be as safe and guaranteed. So what are some of those differences from other types of options? Yeah. So unlike other types of income, of course, the guaranteed income offers you that predictability

and the stability. While investment income, on the other hand, it does fluctuate. And it is largely depending on what's going on in the market. So your income is not necessarily going to stay the same. So the guarantee gives you that consistent, like I said, peace of mind. But other sources of income can be just as good. You just have to be mindful that they are going to be subject to market fluctuation. So one month it could be up.

You can have higher income. The next month it could be lower. So that's the difference between the guaranteed income and using other sources like your investments. And I think that when you're explaining that, I'm hearing and thinking, okay, well, if I look at market, you know, money in the market, you might be able to see some rates of return numbers that look really attractive, but what comes with that is a higher risk rate. And so probably in whatever product that you would recommend for the guaranteed side of things, the number, the rate of return number, you compare that to like what's in the market. And it's like, oh, that's kind of a difference there. Yeah, but it's guaranteed. And what if that market number didn't happen?

And what if there was a big crash? Now it's way less and, in fact, could be a losing. So I talk a little bit about when people say, yeah, but it guaranteed it's nice, but look at that number right there. Yeah, but that's got some risk associated with it. Exactly. So the other, like you said, other types of investments, you could get more. income. So it's always pros and cons or what I call advantages and disadvantages of guaranteed

income versus non-guaranteed income. So when you're looking at some of the advantages of the income from the market, it can be more. And that may be appealing to some. But when you look at the disadvantage, it could go down. It could definitely drop and that makes for difficulty when you're trying to plan, right? When you're trying to dictate or determine how much you're going to have to live on. So the guaranteed income plays a big role. It may not be the only way that you're doing your income, but to have something that you know, like clockwork every month is going to come in, same time in a month, just like when

you're working, maybe, that you can, you know, pretty much plan on. and build your expenses around, that's where the guaranteed income becomes a major advantage in anybody's income planning. So if we could kind of start painting the picture of what some, we've been talking about the words guaranteed income, what does that look like? What would be some examples of products or financial tools that you would be recommending? And I know that it's not a cookie cutter. Here's the one thing I recommend to everybody. It's going to be based on what the client needs. but what are some of the things that you would be recommending financial tool-wise?

Sure. One of the biggest guaranteed income sources, almost everybody actually has it or can have it, and that's Social Security, believe it or not. Social Security is a guaranteed income source. And it's one of the ones that sometimes we take for granted, but it is one that almost everyone can have. Then you have other things like pensions. Many companies in the past, pensions were very, very popular,

and most companies offered them, not so much today, but pensions. And then there are things like annuities. Fix annuities, index annuities are another great source of guaranteed income. So annuities and fix and index annuities is another great source. of guaranteed income. You know, I think when people are hearing this and we're comparing it to the market, we're thinking financial product, financial product, financial product, but, you know, pension and so security, those are like, oh, yeah, those are kind of like staples that people know about

and you don't really think about the, but yeah, it's guaranteed. Now, these days, I'm sure that the percentage of people that have a pension available to them are dwindling really quickly because that's kind of almost a thing of the past. but if you have that, wow, what a wonderful opportunity that is. What do you say to people that go Social Security? I saw that Google News Alert that said it's going away or whatever. And frankly, I'm 56 years old and I've been hearing that for 30 years. Come on.

You know, Social Security is going to go broke. It can't be going broke every year for the last 30 years. So I know that it's something that is on people's mind. But isn't it true that the federal government will, will, is always going to do whatever they can do to make sure that that stays out there to take care of us. Yeah, I get that a lot to social insecurity. Yep. Right. And social security, yes, it's definitely going to be changed or be some overhaul done to it without a doubt.

But social security is something that is a staple in our government. and it's something I obviously don't think it's going to ever go away. I think it will change. I think the way we know Social Security Day may be different as far as when you take it and how much in that type of thing. But I don't think it's going to go away. Social Security is especially important for women because the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics say that women are more likely than men are to take.

off time out of the workforce or have a gap in their income. So their social security benefits are usually lower. And in many cases, it's their primary source of retirement income. So social security can't go away because too many people really, really truly depend on it. The other thing with Social Security is that it, like I said, it is a guaranteed source of income. And it's essential for listeners to understand how to optimize their Social Security benefits by considering factors like timing and spousal benefits, which could significantly impact their retirement income. Women in particular, again, may be able to capitalize on strategies, claiming strategies like spousal benefits or widow benefits. So all of that needs to go into consideration with Social

security and income planning. So I don't want to get into the weeds on social security, but you said something that made me think of a question that I think would be helpful. So I think I've heard somewhere that if, like let's say in your case, you're working with a woman and she's got an ex-husband. And she thinks, oh, I can't get so security from his stuff, but can you? Oh, yeah, absolutely. When we do our educational workshops, we do retirement planning one-on-one for ladies.

And so it's just women. We don't let any men in the room. And we talk about that Social Security and that topic gets real hot. So you're telling me that ex-husband who I was married to for at least 10 years, I'm now able to perhaps get benefits from his benefit. And the question, the answer is yes, that is possible. There's some stipulations, of course, and that you need to, you know, consult with a financial advisor on how to best do that. But certainly there are ways that you can maximize your Social Security benefits, even from a spouse.

I think that's a tiny bullet point of a misconception that people have about Social Security. Let's talk about a few other misconceptions because you mentioned the word annuity. And I think that sometimes I already mentioned this. You say a word and people think one thing. I think when you say the word annuity, people like, oh, or you say the word life insurance and they're like, wait, no, no, no. But permanent life insurance can be a spectacular way to grow income tax-free guaranteed. But annuity is the same way. People have misconceptions.

What are some of those misconceptions people have about annuities, even though they provide guaranteed income? Yeah. Annuities do have, again, some misconceptions, but it's an effective way to secure guaranteed income and retirement. They offer the advantage of a lifetime income. So it's essential to be careful when you're looking at annuities to understand the terms and the fees associated with them.

but annuities certainly can offer that guarantee predictable income stream that's not attached to market fluctuations. So it's not going to give you any of the downside of the market. So it protects you that way. And again, like I said, one of the misconceptions I think with annuities is that it's going to going to not allow you to have flexibility with that. Yeah. And that's not true. So it gives you flexibility as well.

And again, all annuities aren't created equal. So it does allow you to do some due diligence to research and understand the difference. But when it comes to income planning, I think it's a perfect fit for the person that's looking for that guaranteed income stream that they can outlive. I love it. That's awesome. So let's kind of wrap all of these points up we've been making and put it into an example. Have you worked with a client without mention details or names, but what are some, what's a good example of how you've worked with a client and implemented this guaranteed income strategy? Sure. We have, we work with ladies, as you know,

We like men too, so I don't want to exclude them. But I think of a case or an example, and we're just going to call her Sarah for the example. But Sarah came in to our firm, and when she came in, she's a 60-year-old widow, and she approached us because she wanted some guidance on how to navigate her retirement years. and she was looking for that key thing, peace of mind. She wanted more confidence and she wanted to have a peace of mind. Despite her saving throughout her years, Sarah was concerned about the unpredictability of the market fluctuations and how that was going to have an impact on her income. So we dived into Sarah. She had a couple of challenges, which is not unique to her.

She has single income by being a widow, which meant that there was no other sources of income besides hers. And that made her feel a little vulnerable with the uncertainty of the market. another challenge for Sarah was longevity risk. So with her family history of longevity and life expectancy, hers was well into the 90s because she had a, her mother had lived to 102. Which is wonderful, but then now you have to figure out, will I have enough money to support me? Yeah. Exactly.

So she was really worried about outliving herself. savings and being financially insecure in her later years. And then the last challenge that Sarah had, like many women of her generation, she lacked the confidence in financial matters. Her deceased, her husband had handled the finances. And so she was looking for a little bit guidance and some confidence to make sure she was making the right decisions. So what we did, initially we sat down and we just had an overall conversation like we're having now about money and about what her money narrative was and her fears and some of her goals, her dreams, and her desires.

And that's the centerpiece of any good plan. It starts with your goals and your dreams. And then when we got into the income planning component, we did, we conducted a thorough analysis of Sarah's financial situation. We took in consideration her retirement savings, her Social Security benefits, and other potential pension income that she would have. And we started to look at positioning her income sources, recognizing that she needed stability, she needed some guaranteed income sources. We did incorporate the use of annuities. We also showed her how to maximize our Social Security benefits. And then lastly, we gave her some diversification.

It's important to be diversified with your investments, but also diversified from a tax standpoint. And taxes is something, again, it's very, very important. But that's another show. But we did help her mitigate some of the risk by diversifying and setting up both short-term and long-term investments and building in her portfolio assets that would also be income-producing assets. So throughout that process, the outcome for Sarah was we were able to position her with guaranteed income. We gave her that confidence that she needed to know that she had a reliable income stream to cover all of her essential expenses and everything in her retirement. We gave her a peace of mind so she could sleep at night and she could focus on enjoying her

retirement and travel and just be happy in her retirement. And then lastly, which I'm most proud of is that we empowered her. She felt empowered. She attended some of our educational workshops that we do for ladies. And in our sessions, each time we met, I could see her becoming more confident, more empowered to take control of her financial situation and feel good about it. again, you know, I hear peace of mind. I hear empowered and those are intangible things that people don't tend to focus on.

They tend to go, oh, and we got our rate of return of X or we grew her portfolio to Y. But when you're talking about peace of mind and empowerment, those are those are soft skills that are just so neat because it builds that relationship where people then realize that you're out to help her, not out to help your back pocket. So that is just such a spectacular example. And Joyce, if someone is listening to this going, I want a little bit of that empowerment and peace of mind. How can they learn more? And then also reach out and connect with you. Sure. They can go to my website or it's www.jp Financial Group LLC.com.

again, it's www.jpfinancial group LLC.com. We have a wealth of information on the website. They can also listen to my podcast, the proactive woman podcast. And then they can, of course, follow

and like me on Facebook, Instagram, all of our social media contacts out there. and listen to this podcast again as well. Yes. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Thank you, Mike. I've enjoyed it. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes,

visit www.com.com. Thank you.