It started with show co-host Tom Crawford pointing out that financial advisor Jason Noble was just named a Top 100 Solo Advisor to Watch for 2023 by AdvisorHub.

Jason is ranked fifth in the nation, and he is the only advisor on the list from South Carolina. What AdvisorHub looked at was scope of services, growth of the office and professionalism. (Read more about the nomination here: https://primefinancialcharleston.com/jason-noble-named-a-top-100-advisor-to-watch-for-2023/)

When it comes to scope of services, Jason says that he feels that much of the industry has been stuck in the 1980s. He’s been working in financial services for 20 years, and when he first started out, it was all about assets under management and what to do with the money in a portfolio; and then it transitioned to some level of retirement planning. But what he does—and the services that PCIA Charleston provides—goes well beyond just those two aspects.

PCIA Charleston tries to look at everything that might impact the financial wealth of clients. Additionally, they try to break it down so that you don’t have to have a degree in economics to understand their financial planning approach. “We want to simplify it for people,” Jason says.

Jason and the team at PCIA Charleston are going to be moving to Morrison Yard in August, a new residential and office development at the base of the Ravenel Bridge. Jason explains that, “The move is not only to handle the growth of the office, but to make sure that every client gets the quality experience that they deserve from us.”

When it comes to professionalism, Jason believes that it’s not just what you’re doing in front of clients at client meetings, but it’s what you’re doing in the office when no one else is around. How you communicate with staff members is important. And Jason believes that professionalism is also being a community-based advisor.

“Something that we pride ourselves on at Prime Capital Investment Advisors is that we go beyond the four walls,” Jason says. “And that’s what we do with Clear Picture Cares. We actually go out and interview members of the community—like the leaders running nonprofit groups and charities—and spread the word about the wonderful work they are doing.”

Jason believes all these things taken together is why he is representing The Palmetto State (the official nickname for South Carolina) on the Top 100 Solo Advisors list.

Tom Crawford asked Jason some additional questions in the interview, including, “What is the biggest risk for those who are retired?” When Jason wanted Tom to answer the question for himself, Tom quickly replied, “Running out of money! Too much time still in your life and running out of money.”

Jason agreed and pointed out that there are many retirement risks, including market volatility, inflation, taxes, sequence of returns risk, withdrawal rate risk—and out of all these risks that come into play, the number one risk affecting all the others is longevity risk, or the risk of living longer than your money lasts. If you can address longevity risk, you can mitigate most of the other retirement risks.

In addition to making sure your money is invested in a way that is in line with your age, situation, and comfort with stock market risk as you get closer to retiring, you must also work to mitigate taxes.

Often housing and health care are the biggest expenses in retirement, but taxes can really decrease the amount of spendable income you have access to. People with large traditional 401(k) accounts—which will be taxable as ordinary income—need to find a financial advisor that can explore options to help them with this before they retire.

If you are withdrawing a lot of taxable money in retirement, even your Social Security benefit can be taxed! Tax drag can be a real issue. As an example, let’s say you have $1 million in a 401(k) so you think you can take $40,000 out to live on every year and be fine, but how much of that money will you have after taxes? It can be a real shock.

Another topic brought up in the segment was the age that you should file for Social Security. Should you take it at age 62, or 66 or 67? You get a reduced amount if you file early, but Jason made the point that every retirement plan is completely unique to each person and what might be right for one person might not be right for another. That’s why you should sit down with a financial advisor one-on-one and go through all the of the issues and create a custom plan.

Tom then asked Jason his last question: “What are the most significant risks for those younger and working?” Jason again turned things around and asked Tom, “What do you think is the biggest risk for people who are, say, age 45?” Tom answered, “That they haven’t started putting away money for retirement and they think Social Security will take care of them.”

Jason believes that procrastination is to blame for this, and that is due to not knowing. Having a plan is essential in his view, and if you have a plan, procrastination can just fall away.

“If you start saving early when you’re young, that can have a massive impact on your account growth due to compounding through the years,” Jason says. “But for my clients who are 45? There is money in, money out. What are we doing with the difference? Are we saving the money in a 401(k) and getting the match? But where do you put the other assets so that we can help make sure that you have a well-thought-out plan going into retirement?”