Newsletter - Final - No bleed

NEWSLETTERKNOWLEDGE IS YOUR POWER
THIRD QUARTER 2018

Upcoming Workshop: How to Avoid Being Scammed

Have you received a suspicious
phone call from an unknown number
asking you for money or personal
information? Have you gotten an
out-of-the-ordinary email that just
doesn’t look right? Would you like
to be prepared so you know how to
watch for a scam?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, please
join us for this quarter’s workshop to learn how to avoid
becoming a victim of a scam. Our guest speaker will be
Secretary of State Connie Lawson. She will provide a short
documentary video and discuss red flags and warning signs
and give tips on how to avoid scams altogether.

We will have a complimentary lunch, but space is limited,
so please RSVP.

WORKSHOP DETAILS: WHO: Secretary of State Connie Lawson

RSVP: By Wednesday, October 17 by calling WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 24, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
317-872-5090 or emailing
[email protected] WHERE: The Pyramids, Pyramid Three,
Lower Level, Conference Room A & B
COST: None, but space is limited. (3500 DePauw Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46268)

Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors is a Registered Investment Advisor. Registration as an investment advisor is not an endorsement of the firm by
securities regulators and does not mean the advisor has attained a particular level of skill or ability. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of
the authors as of the date of publication and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Different types of investments involve varying
degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that any investment will either be suitable or profitable for a client’s portfolio. Worley Erhart-Graves Financial
Advisors is not engaged in the practice of law or accounting. Always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation.
Worley Erhart-Graves Financial Advisors, Inc., is affiliated with Smitson Erhart-Graves Tax Advisors, LLC, through common control and ownership. Smitson
Erhart-Graves Tax Advisors provides accounting and tax preparation services. If you require such services, we may recommend you use Smitson Erhart-
Graves Tax Advisors, although you are under no obligation to do so. Fees for financial planning and investment advisory services are separate and distinct
from the fees Smitson Erhart-Graves Tax Advisors charges for their services.

Santa Claus and Your Retirement

Juli Erhart-Graves, CFP®

This is my third year of beekeeping and the first year my hives impossible, we usually find the portfolio trends near the
have had excess honey that I could bottle and sell. So last projected year-end portfolio balance over time if the savings
month I extracted honey and put a “Local Honey For Sale” goals are being met. Each time I find a client is on track for
sign at the end of my driveway. Each day I set out a half dozen their retirement goal, it’s Santa Claus excitement all over again!
bottles or so with a box for the cash, and each evening I can’t
wait to see if I sold more honey. As I pull up and see a bottle or If we have done retirement planning and you don’t already
two gone and cash in the box, I’m like a child waking up to find know your “number,” I encourage you to pull out your
Santa Claus visited during the night. retirement projection and look it up. How much do you
need in your investment portfolio the day you retire? Review
It’s almost that same feeling when I work with clients on the annual saving activity assumed in your projection. Are
retirement planning. In the early years of working together, you meeting that goal? As I mentioned, although we don’t
I often prepare a retirement projection based on expected expect your portfolio to hit the mark every year, you should
savings activity and a reasonable portfolio return. The find it keeping pace and coming close as the years tick by.
projection includes an estimated portfolio balance at the end Remember, hard work, time, and periodic reviews will help
of each year and a final portfolio balance needed for their ensure you get the retirement you want—and finding you are
comfortable retirement (many refer to this as their “number”). on track along the way will make my day!
Although forecasting market returns from year to year is

The Skinny on Annuity Withdrawal Options

Gail Gill, CFP®

Once you’re 59½, you’re allowed to turn on the spicket add your spouse as a co-annuitant
to start receiving money from your annuity without a (your monthly income will be reduced to a degree)
penalty. If your annuity is in the form of an IRA, by the and the income will remain in force until the second
time you’re 70½, you will have to withdraw enough to person dies. Once both pass away, the income stops
meet the Required Minimum Distribution amount. There and there is no remaining value in the annuity.
are two ways to set up withdrawals from an annuity:
• Period certain annuitization: For this option, when
1) When you request a withdrawal, the insurance the contract is signed, the insurance company agrees
company will cut you a check for the amount you to pay you a monthly income for a specific period of
want. You can request automatic deposits into your time. For example, if you are 65 and choose the 15-
bank account on a monthly, quarterly, annually, or year period certain option, you will receive monthly
even an ad-hoc lump sum basis. It can be re-adjusted income until you are 80. If you pass away before 80,
as time goes by to fit your current income needs. the income goes to your beneficiaries on a monthly
At your death, your beneficiaries will inherit the basis. After the 15-year period, the income stops.
remaining value of your annuity.
• Life annuity with period certain annuitization: This
2) When you request annuitization, you can choose annuitization option is the same as period certain,
which type of annuitization option fits best with your except you will have monthly income for the rest of
retirement. Once you make the choice to “annuitize,” your life. For example, if you had chosen the 10-year
it is final. There is no going back. Here are the three period certain option, and then you pass away in year
basic annuitization options: five, your beneficiaries will receive your income for the
remaining five years. After that, the income stops and
• Pure annuitization: This means you sign a contract there is no remaining value in the annuity. But, as long
and the insurance company agrees to pay you a as you’re alive, you will receive a monthly income.
monthly income for the rest of your life. You can

Lessons Learned

Pam Smitson, CPA, CGMA

My daughter, Katie, presented three 4-H projects at the This year, the State Fair experience was a tough pill to swallow,
Indiana State Fair again this year. The experience wasn’t quite but all was not lost. We were all reminded of a few excellent
as successful as last year. Her Grand Champion photography life lessons: don’t procrastinate, double-check your work
at the county level did glean a blue ribbon, but she (and her before it is submitted, know your project, be cognizant of the
parents) learned some hard-knock imperatives with her other difference between constructive criticism and being critical,
projects: beekeeping and public speaking. and be kind—you never know whose future you may impact.

Her beekeeping project was registered right before the
deadline, hastily, in the wrong division. If you are unfamiliar
with 4-H projects, there are very strict rules regarding topics,
titles and age divisions. Unfortunately for Katie, she is in Division
2, but she was registered in Division 1. She was basically
disqualified, with a green “participation” ribbon. No division
changes allowed.

I thought her speech on the dairy program was very well
executed, as did one of the judges. The second judge
had a different opinion, with no encouraging comments.
Afterward, she provided a verbal reference on her attire being
“unprofessional”. The first judge wrote she looked “awesome”
and provided excellent pointers for her future as a speaker. She
wasn’t disappointed with her red ribbon. She is secure enough
to know she did her best and that a 4-minute 48-second
speech, nor her cowboy boots, define who she is. It took a
few days for our usually resilient daughter to overcome the
polarized comments and scores from individuals she was
to respect, and who were placed in the position of judge by
people she trusts.

How Will Proposed Trade Tariffs Affect
My Investments? Bonnie Struck, CMFC®

The flow of commerce is predicated on both the importers risk among different stock sectors, hereby reducing the
and exporters utilizing human capital, technology, and probability your entire portfolio will respond the same in the
natural resources to provide their products and services. event of a trade war.
The U.S. economy no longer primarily makes goods; it’s now
overwhelmingly service-based (financial services, media, As an investor, the goal is to build a portfolio to withstand
transportation, and technology). We have been dependent the uncertainties and volatility in the market. So, when the
on China’s low-cost manufacturing for decades, which proposed tariffs take effect, you have hopefully protected
continues to be vital and not easily replaceable in our supply your nest egg, given the fact you have no control over which
chain. Investing in a stock, mutual fund, or exchange traded industry will be negatively impacted. As a global economy,
fund allows you to own stock in hundreds of companies importing and exporting is a necessity, so the best an
that supply goods or services. You are likely spreading your investor can do is diversify.

STANDARD PRESORT
US POSTAGE
PAID

INDIANAPOLIS, IN
PERMIT NO. 937

3500 DePauw Blvd. | Suite 1035
Pyramid One, Third Floor
Indianapolis, IN 46268

317.872.5090 Phone
855.872.5090 Toll Free
317.872.5095 Fax

wefinancialadvisors.com

A Warm Welcome We are happy to add three new staff members to our growing firm!
Please join us in welcoming the newest members of our team.

Margaret Gooley, CFP®, Paige Adkins, Tricia Broshear, Office Manager
Associate Financial Planner Marketing Coordinator
Tricia began her career in the financial
Margaret is a CFP® professional, a Paige graduated from Ball State University industry as a bank teller in 1996.
member of the Financial Planning in 2014 and joins us with more than 4 She worked her way to become the
Association, and an Indiana native. She is a years of career experience in marketing, Internet Banking Manager, where she
graduate of the Kelley School of Business sales, and event planning. She was born implemented internet banking for a small
at Indiana University and joins us with and raised in Indianapolis and loves being community bank (back when internet
over 11 years of experience in the financial able to work with the local community in banking was new to the banking world!).
services industry. her role at Worley Erhart-Graves. Tricia has 3 years of experience as a
Financial Aid Director in the educational
field and more than 10 years of
experience as an Office Manager.