I think that most small business owners would agree that the idea of passing on their business to the next generation or selling it to a trusted partner can be both exciting and daunting. A well-thought-out succession plan ensures that your business continues to thrive without you at the helm, and it's something you should start thinking about sooner rather than later. So Jay, I am going to lay out some of the most common ways to pass on business to the next generation, and discuss much more on this week's episode of Coasting in Retirement.

On this week's episode of Coasting In Retirement, Josh discusses how, unfortunately, fear selling is used in his line of work. And more often than not, it’s fear-based selling intended to invoke a certain apprehension about the stock market in order to sell an insurance product. This episode is going to answer the question of how would selling the fear of the stock market help someone sell an insurance product. And in the process hopefully help you overcome your fear of stock market investing so that you aren’t leaving thousands of dollars of potential gains on the table and being steered into products that often benefit the insurance company and the selling agent more than you.

Today each of your hosts – Josh, Jay and Pedro, are going to talk about what we each learned in 2024, what we each think 2025 has in store for us. We intend to lean into with yet another opportunity ahead of us to intentionally shape our lives and the lives of those close to us. Do we have any regrets from this past year? Of course, and with this being an open and honest show, we’ll share some of them. Do we have concerns about the state of the world? I mean, as we record this, parts of California are literally on fire, our New Orleans family endured a terrible tragedy, there are so many things in the world to worry about. But part of my argument will be that in the history of mankind, there’s never been a better time to be alive than right now.

As part of the comprehensive financial planning services we offer at Gulf Coast Financial Advisors, one of the most important segments of our client’s life we want to help get buttoned up is their estate planning needs. Now given that we are not attorneys ourselves, just financial advisors, to accomplish this we reach out to our preferred attorney partners, with Jennifer King's firm being at the top of the list. While Jennifer and her husband Dusty handle a multitude of legal services, what I wanted to focus on today were the 3-4 most common questions I often get from new clients.

Michelle and I recently went on our delayed honeymoon, to a place that Michelle always wanted to visit: Costa Rica! So were going to begin the show by talking about our trip, then, because this is a show about enjoying your best life in retirement, we will pivot to travel tips and tricks for those of you looking forward to enjoying seeing new places when you have more time in retirement, especially around those of you that travel on a budget like Michelle and I do.

Alright, let’s get to our main topic today. Jay and I are going to break down the science behind how life insurance, disability income and long term care insurance work, the differences between individual and group coverages, and probably most importantly, the steps you need to take to get these different types of coverages, if you are interested.

As of this recording, the stock market is on a tear, apparently reacting very positively to the election of Donald Trump for president, with indexes like the S&P 500 posting all times highs recently. For many investors, this recent market run-up has provided quite a bit of reassurance with their portfolios, but for some, there’s a fear that they be missing out on these gains, some investors fear that the market is overvalued, some investors have fear of an ever-looming stock market correction, and finally, for some of you all, there’s just a general fear of the stock market itself. All of these issues is what we are going to tackle today.

As many enter the retirement red zone, five years prior to your targeted retirement age, many have to consider if your employee benefits are enough. Some people may choose never to retire, but there is a moment in time where you do need to make some decisions specific to our world. You may have to make Social Security decisions, Medicare and health insurance decisions during your retirement years, or your quasi retirement years, and then some other decisions you need to make with respect to your group benefits that might be a part of your full time benefit package with your employer. On this episode Josh and Jay discuss how to manage your finances and particularly your employee benefits to see if they are enough to fit your retirement needs.