773: Planning for Economic CRISIS - Expert Tips to Recession-Proof Your Family's Finances

Brian Nichols  
uncertain economic times are right ahead of us. So what can you and your family do to prepare for the worst? Yeah, let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Wow, hey, Brian, what's your honor Brian Nichols show and thank you for joining The con of board to the fun filled episode. I am as always your humble host. Going live from our party to your local studios want to go ahead and improve your heart health with a delicious 52 ingredient pack drink. We'll go ahead and stick around. We'll talk about that later. But first, we're going to talk about the uncertain economic times ahead. What can you and your family do to prepare for the worst case scenarios to help discuss that and more from iron Hawk financial Joe Lombardi welcome The Brian Nichols Show.

Joseph Lombardi  
Thank you for having me, Ryan.

Brian Nichols  
Joe, thanks for coming here on the show. And looking forward to digging into all things finance today. But first, do us a favor, introduce yourself here to The Brian Nichols Show audience?

Joseph Lombardi  
Yeah, I'm Joseph Lombardi. I'm the owner and founder of iron Hawk financial, been in business for 20 years. I've won 27 industry awards. I was recently just featured as one of the top 40 advisors in the country under 40 years old. I books written on Amazon articles written about me and International Business Times and Business Insider. And my goal is to protect your family, protect your business, if you have one and save me the most amount of money on taxes. So you can keep more of the money that you put away in retirement in your pocket, not the government's

Brian Nichols  
being your own bank. That's the book you have over on Amazon plus a brand new book. There's a better way than a 401 K really excited to talk about that. But first Joe let let's kind of address kind of the elephant in the room, right? uncertain economic future, we all feel it, we all see it. We just watched over the past, what three, four years the Federal Reserve decide that money could be printed out of thin air, it's more or less served the role of a printing press, and just printed how many trillions of dollars into our economy. I'm seeing folks from across all walks of life, whether they were well income, lower income, or somewhere in between saying, it's getting tough, pinching pennies, the grocery cart is not nearly as full as it used to be. I'm cutting back on my trips, I'm cutting back on my extra expenses. And folks are starting to feel it, Joe. And I think right around the corner is that big, whether it's economic, catastrophe, whatever that worst case scenario might be, or something else. But people are in fact feeling it. Let's kind of go through. I know you can't really give maybe financial advice, air quotes here in the show, but maybe some guidance and ground rules that you would say just make sense for your average person. Families. We're kind of getting prepared here for the big question mark of the next few years.

Joseph Lombardi  
Yeah, I mean, there's there's four major risks going on right now. We have interest rates as one inflation as two we have taxation as three and we have projected market returns as for there's a lot going on in regards to the war with Ukraine. There's a lot going on with bricks, trying to compete with the dollar and and they're actually wanting to want a gold standard. It's something we should have never gotten off in the 30s. So we have a lot of risk. It's economic risk, it's war risk. It's inflation risk, it's taxes risk. A lot of people don't understand that. In the 1980s. Here in the United States, the highest marginal tax rate was 70%. And that is not a graphical error. You can Google this. And in the 1960s, it was 91% actually over and under 1%. So when people are looking to invest long term knowing we owe $31.1 trillion in US debt, we also owe in Social Security, Medicare, and us. Unfunded liabilities, another $260 trillion. So if you were to go to US debt clock.org It's a free website. They have a ticker going around times square for decades. If you were to go there, and you were to add up everything we owe, every working American owes over 1.5 $2 million to the Federal Reserve. And there's only two ways they can get that. One is through hyperinflation, meaning they devalue our currency when so when we do pay back that $1.5 million each, it's not worth what it was when we borrowed it. And they tried that last year when we saw gas hit $15 A gallon in California, we saw the stock market go in circles when the Fed was raising interest rates every two weeks. And then the other alternative is increased taxation, where instead of going to a Venezuela country model, where are we literally bring in wheelbarrows of cash to buy a loaf of bread. The other alternative is to increase taxes and we turn more to a Canada or a Switzerland type of economic model. And that's going to hurt 10s If not over 100 million Americans that invest in IRAs, 401k, Sep simples, pensions, 403 B's 450 sevens. So it's very important to start looking at alternative investments that are liquid tax free non market correlated Sue proof divorce proof that offer a wide ranges of extra benefits, instead of just paying all these fees, 12 b1 fee Class A share fund fee, money management fee, annual account fee, for absolutely nothing, right, you're just paying for some schmucks guys, Lamborghini in Wall Street, and you're getting no return for that. Instead, take those same dollars and use it to build a financial foundation for your family or business and get life disability Long Term Care, chronic illness, terminal illness, you know, liquidity nonmarket correlated, get all these assets for this money, which is sometimes cheaper, depending on how much fees you're paying in your current retirement account, and get something for your dollars.

Brian Nichols  
So your average person hears this Joe, and they get a little weary right there like that. That's just expense after expense. After expense, do I need all these expenses? And yet I love that you reframed that as calling them assets. Can you help us understand why you're looking at these different investments and insurance areas as assets versus a cost to the end buyer?

Joseph Lombardi  
Well, most Americans think when they think of life insurance, they think of Term Life, which is just death insurance, and it's only for a short period of time. So you're betting on yourself dying within those 1020 30 years. Now, insurance companies make you go through underwriting. So what does that do that weeds out all of the unhealthy people overweight people, DUIs, felonies, AIDS, cancer. So they're weeding out all the super unhealthy people, what does that leave for, you know, their market, at least super, super healthy people that are paying these monthly amounts, 30 bucks, 80 bucks, I've seen term policies up to $500 a month. And when you do that for month after month, year, after year, decade, after decade, you end up throwing away hundreds of 1000s of dollars, if not of actual dollars of what your dollars could have been if you invested it in. But people say hey, I want to protect my family, I need life insurance. So what I advise my clients to do is actually own their life insurance, don't just rent it, because by renting it, you have no control over it. And there's going to be a point in time, if you don't die, where they're gonna have to reevaluate you. And if you don't fall within the criteria, you don't get anymore for the rest of your life. So that when you build it, and you have to make sure that you will refund it be you're at the right carrier, see you understand the rules understand the riders that are in the policy, and a lot of people don't. Most agents try to sell the highest commissionable product for them, instead of doing the right thing for the client, which is actually lowering the cost of the insurance between 50 and 70%, which actually gives you a higher return of 30 to 50% on the same dollars. So if someone is listening to this, and they have a whole life for IUL or anything like it a permanent life insurance policy unless your health significantly changes, I can guarantee that I can save you money and make you more money on the same type of policy that you have.

Brian Nichols  
Wow, okay, well, that's good to know. We're gonna have to make sure we obviously direct people towards you afterwards. Because this is all the stuff that I know your average person, Joe, they're tuned out, right? They they're focused on, I gotta get the kids to school, I gotta go to the grocery store. I gotta go to work. I don't have time to sit and think about this stuff. And frankly, this is why folks like you exist folks who can sit down and help us better understand not just how to better utilize our wealth, our resources, but also where the red flags are right and this is as we go towards the second part of the conversation. I would love for you to articulate for the audience where Here's some of those potential red flags specifically in the future may lie but first, we gotta go ahead and pay the bills which means we're gonna go ahead and give a shout out to today's sponsor cardio miracle folks I've been using cardio miracle now for well over four months and you've heard me say it once. I'm gonna say it again. The cardio miracle difference is real. So if you are tired of your heart health holding you back from living your life to the fullest well now you can take control and make a change for the better with cardio miracle because this revolutionary natural supplement is scientifically formulated to increase nitric oxide levels in your blood. Brain. What does that mean? Higher nitric oxide levels they promote health healthy circulation by relaxing your blood vessels lowering your blood pressure. Yes, please, reducing your inflammation and oh by the way, gentlemen, improving your sexual health with cardio miracle you'll experience the benefits of enhanced blood flow to your heart and your organs which means bid farewell to your fatigue and hello to new found energy and vitality because each day will feel like a fresh start. Thanks to cardio miracle with your improved by the way with your improved sleep quality, which Yes, yes, please, I do really enjoy that your body and mind will finally get some rest that they deserve. So if you want to join the 1000s of other folks who've already unlocked their healthier hearts with cardio miracle, it's easy visit cardio miracle.com use code TB and s here at checkout and get an exclusive 15% discount on your purchase. And by the way that I mentioned, there's a money back guarantee. So you quite literally have nothing to lose except for those sleepless nights, and all that worrisome heart health that you've been not paying attention to, or at the very least putting in the back of your mind. So make the decision today to prioritize your heart health and embark on a journey to a brighter future cardio miracle.com use code TBS at checkout for 15% off your order, the finest heart health and heart. Sorry, the finest heart health supplement in the world. 52 ingredients all one drink cardio miracle.com All right, Joe, let's talk about those hidden red flags that folks should be paying attention to what are you kind of seeing out there in the market that maybe your average person they're not really privy to that they should be aware of?

Joseph Lombardi  
So when you take a look at an economy, as of right now, I'm looking at the car industry. I'm sure you remember, during COVID, we saw vehicle selling at surplus, meaning if the sticker was 50,000. They were selling it at 60. Sometimes 70. G wagons were selling over $50,000 over sticker. So there was a supply and demand issue because all the factories were shut down through COVID. And were producing vehicles. And you know, people were home. So they were looking at their home. There's a lot of remodeling, they were looking at their car and they were like, Oh, maybe I don't want this car. Because they had a lot of time on their hands. So what happened was the demand for cars went out especially with baby baby daddy Biden printing tons of money and giving it to everybody. So we had more demand and less supply. So that rose up the price. Well, what I'm seeing is repossessions over the last few months going up over 16 100% year over year was

Brian Nichols  
16 100%

Joseph Lombardi  
Yeah, a lot of people can't afford their toys or motorcycles. They bought their their quarterbacks when they have a regular day driver. So a lot of people are losing, you know, their ability to pay, like you were saying with inflation, pay for those toys. So that shows me that we are having a problem in our economy. Because if right now, if you go to the car dealerships, they're full, like lots are literally full, all you have to do is go to YouTube, or any social video media company that you watch rumble and just type in car markets. That's it, you don't have to put their own up, they're going down. You don't have to put anything to try and push an agenda or narrative. You could just type in car market. And there's people a video camera saying well, a year ago, this this lot was totally empty. And now there's 50 vehicles that would be gone in a minute are now here. So that's showing you that the supply is going up while the demand is going down. And historically, when the stock market has a HUGE CORRECTION adjustment, a crash a loss, whatever fancy terminology you want to give to it. It usually starts with the current market falling, then the housing market falling and then the stock market falling. So we're seeing a lot of indicators which I don't have a crystal ball. I'm not fear mongering you the world's gonna end I'm just saying we're looking at what's going on with the car market. That's where I am putting my time on and I see that it is significantly going down from auctions going up prices going Down rebates coming back member, we haven't seen a commercial for a rebate since before COVID. Now they're starting to come back, which tells you that they're not doing so good, which is not a good indicator of future returns in your retirement account.

Brian Nichols  
I'm starting to see the commercials from all the big banks. It was who was it? It was, oh, as Goldman Sachs. That's right. They're like, we're here for you. And in tough times. And I'm like, Oh, the bank is starting to say tough times are coming, you know, it's gonna get real really soon. And it was funny. I've even heard other friends who they're not in our world, they're not in politics. And they're, they're starting to notice the change in the tenor of the marketing, and answer just about some alarm bells. So as we're going towards our end of our conversation here, Joe, you know, I think it's important for not just your average person to pay attention. But beyond that, you're you're Politico's who are, who are, are, obviously in this conversation, being able to articulate not just the concern, but also like what we can do to help not smooth things over, but at the very least, put ourselves in the best situation going forward. Now, I almost feel it's kind of like, you know, we're evangelizing right, we have to go out and spread the word that this is happening. But also that there are things that you as an individual can do. So let's kind of quickly go through as we're using the rest of our conversation time here, Joe, what are some of those quick action items that you would say to your your average person, you know, just for us out there trying to sell this that we can say yes, these are quick, simple things you can do right now to put yourself in a better situation financially, today versus yesterday?

Joseph Lombardi  
Well, number one is you need to have a budget, you need to understand where every dollar is coming in, it needs to have a role, and you need to direct where it goes, you need to tell that dollar, you are going to pay off debt, you're going to build my future, you're going to trick my family, you're going to give me a bigger house, you're going to give me a nicer, safer vehicle for my children, you're going to give me a college fund. So if you're not directing those dollars, and those dollars are directing you, you are being ruled by consumerism, and that's the, again the society that we're at, where we are in a society where it's debt by now instant gratification have to spend it. So So number one is going to budget. Number two is pay down debt. The last place you want to be in a down economy is a spot where you can't take out more money, right perfect example is 2008 When the job market crashed, and people lost their jobs stock market crashed, right? Why is that market crash because so many people were pulling money out of the stock market? Well, if you're pulling money out of the stock market, right, it's usually in a 401k. So you have a 10% penalty 25% fed 6% state usually a 30 to 60% loss, you're getting a less than a third of your money, that doesn't even include FICA, Medicare, unemployment, you know, Social Security tax, which puts you way down. So if you have a lot of debt, and all your asset really is the equity in your home, which can be gone tomorrow, if the big people in charge decide that housing prices are too high, all your paper worth is gone. And then your paper 401k Worth is gone. So if you don't have a liquid account, if you don't have an account that is tax free, if you don't have an account that's not market correlated, and you have debt, and you have don't have a budget, you are going to be totally blindsided. When, and I say when not if when because corrections come historically, it's not going to be everyone gets 20% Every single year 10% Every year, like some of these talking heads say that's not how investing works. If you really look at it. From an economic standpoint, it's history standpoint, you need to get a budget, you need to pay off your debt. And you don't invest any money. If you have 29.99% credit cards, I turn away 20% of people that want to invest with me because I was highly recommended through somebody that they trust, or they heard me on a podcast. And I say, Listen, it makes no sense, I treat you the same way I would treat my family. If you have high interest debt, focus all your dollars on paying that down. If you have 29.99 AIMEX, American Express, you have to get rid of that. Then once you are in a healthy financial place, then you can start building wealth. But when you try to do four different things at once, and you have no plan, what you're doing is you're throwing darts at a target, you don't know where it is. So it's very, very important that when you are doing a long term holistic financial plan, that you understand exactly where you're going, how you're going to do it. What's the most efficient way to do it? And that would be my advice to people listening to this,

Brian Nichols  
man, nothing to worry about. Oh yeah, by the way, student loans start coming back out here in October fun. So prepare folks if you haven't already. This is obviously one of those episodes. It's very actionable. And I hope that you as a listener here of The Brian Nichols Show, you can share this episode not just with your face family but also friends who need to hear this right? This is stuff we are all experiencing. By the way, it's my final thoughts. This is stuff that we're all going to be experiencing. We are already starting to experience in the immediate right now. But the next 510 years things are gonna get weird, right? And we just we have to acknowledge and address the elephant in the room. But how do you eat the elephant? One bite at a time, Joe, I can't re emphasize what you said enough. Like you can't do four different things and expect to have progress that you need to be able to focus and almost like isolate that one area that you need to get better at first, laser focus, check it off the box, then on to the next and in your case there Joe yet start with those high interest credit cards. What are you doing? You don't need to go out and spend. I saw Okay, one of my friends on social media, by the way, folks, is this is this is you look at yourself in the mirror and say, What am I doing with my life? went to Las Vegas got to not 22 Red Bull with vodkas. How much did it cost her? Over? $100 for two drinks? Are you insane? No, just no bonk No, do not spend $100 on two alcoholic beverages. Do not go and spend it especially on a credit card. And if you find yourself being compelled to do that, again, mere meet self. That's my final thoughts. Joe, what do you have on your end? And also, where can folks go ahead and check out these awesome books being your own bank? Plus, there's a better way than 401k It's coming out here right on the radar on the corner. I think it was.

Joseph Lombardi  
Yeah, it'll be out in less than two weeks. But that's on Amazon. You just type in, you know, Amazon search bar. And being your own bank, Joseph Lombardi better way the 401k. Joseph Lombardi they're audible books. I don't I tried to make them free. But I think they're 499 I think I make $1 I just try and educate as many people as I can to be completely honest, to try and make them understand that if you are going with a monopoly, like a 401 k or a pension is having an Well, there's no competition. And that benefits Wall Street and the government more than the benefits you you know, I I've also want to say lastly is that, you know, I am five star rated on Google A plus rating on the Better Business Bureau, you're welcome to research me, I just got another five star review today. And my goal is just to help and I've never charged a client $1.20 years and I've never lost a client $1.20 years. Everything I do takes the best of insurance and investment and puts it together. So if you want to find me, you can go to www dot iron Hawk financial.com. My website, my business cell phone is 203-815-3673. Again, that's iron Hawk, financial.com and 203-815-3673.

Brian Nichols  
And for all of you audio listeners who are driving right now or lifting heavy weights at the gym, who are trying to think figure out a way to furiously write that down or memorize it. No worries, we'll include all those links in the show notes. So all you got to do is just go to your podcast catcher, click the link it'll bring you right to today's episode, we can find all those Affer mentioned links, phone numbers, but also you can go ahead and find the entire transcript from today's episode and oh by the way, all 770 other episodes here of The Brian Nichols Show now by the way, we are available on multiple different mediums so if you're watching us on the video version of the show, Well hey there thanks for watching us but know whether you know it or not. We're actually available on multiple different areas for video. So YouTube rumble Twitter and Ben swans, sovereign s o v r e n which by the way if you are joining us there you're seeing today's episode before anybody else as your sovereign exclusive, but I mentioned it yeah, we're uploading our entire episodes over on Twitter as well and also if you are joining us on the traditional YouTubes or rumble no no worries go ahead hit that like button little subscribe button as well notification button so you don't miss a single time we go live and by the way, if you stick around we're going to have a another episode pop up right about here. That is my conversation with Chad Stewart. He's writing some amazing fiction books for today's youth and it's helping compete with a lot of the the shall be saved like the nonsense that's out there that the magic the flying wizards and space, all that kind of stuff, focusing on real tangible things that kids can take in and actually implement into their lives. If you want. Go ahead and check that episode out. Really popping up worried about here but otherwise, for the audio version of the show, Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube music, wherever it is you get your podcasts. Just do yourself a favor, hit download all unplayed episodes, we have, again over 770 other episodes of the program, which I guarantee will leave you educated, enlightened and informed. So with that being said, Brian Nichols signing off here for our cardio miracle Studios. We're Joe Lombardi. We'll see you next time.

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