Announcer:
It’s time now on KROS for Financial Focus, brought to you by NelsonCorp Wealth Management. The opinions voiced in this show are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Any indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Registered representatives securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker dealer member, FINRA SIPC. Investment advisor representative, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Incorporated, a registered investment advisor, Cambridge and NelsonCorp Wealth Management are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax advice. Now here’s today’s Financial Focus Program.
Gary Determan:
First Wednesday of the month, July 1st, so we are going to go live to the bottom of the hour. Nate Kreinbrink in studio with us today. Of course, Nate generally does the program every Wednesday, except for the first Wednesday. Great to have you in studio, Nate.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Appreciate you having me Gary, this morning.
Gary Determan:
Now you of course came to our community and you’re telling me it’s been a while now, 2003.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It has been, don’t be dating me too much there Gary.
Gary Determan:
I didn’t realize it was 2003, but you came here to work for the Clinton Baseball Club. Of course, it’s now official. There will be no minor league baseball. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It’s been a crazy situation along with so many other things, I think over the past few months, and obviously the announcement came down yesterday from major league baseball to minor league baseball, that they weren’t going to be supplying them with players for the minor league season this year. And although I think everyone kind of had that outcome on the back of their mind that, that’s probably how this thing was going to go, yesterday kind of made it official. And it kind of really drove home kind of where we’re at with everything like this.
Nate Kreinbrink:
And again, as you mentioned, I mean, I came to Clinton in March of 2003, straight out of college, finished up online, so I could get here before the season and then worked for the Lumber Kings down there for 10 and a half, 11 years or whatever, and had a lot of experience and understand the importance of what kind of in a small market like this, what the ballpark really means to the community and not just it as a baseball club, but for so many families to be able to go down and catch some good quality baseball, to see some of the players down there that again, little kids view them as superstars, whether they don’t even play the next year or whatever, or they make it up to the major leagues and they can follow them on TV.
Nate Kreinbrink:
I think it’s that little thing that I think will definitely be missed. And then of course, with the economy, I mean just what the benefit of having the ballpark down there, bringing fans to the stadium, bringing teams into the community bringing fans. I remember every year, it seemed like there was people from all over the United States that would go on these baseball tours and Clinton Lumber Kings were always a staple that they wanted to go to. To just, “Hey, we’ve to see this stadium, We’ve seen it. We’ve read about it. It’s something that we’ve got to come see.”
Nate Kreinbrink:
And then simply just the people that are employed every summer from full time staff members to part time staff members and what that did. And again, you’d have generation after generation of families that would be working down there and growing up and season ticket holders that were in the same seat for 30, 40 plus years or whatever. I mean, you’d tell me a name, I’d be able to tell you exactly where they would be sitting at down there. So that’s the kind of stuff from a community standpoint that again, I just hope that whatever kind of transforms into next year, whatever route they go, it’s just something that we can continue somewhat of a tradition down there with baseball.
Gary Determan:
And of course, NelsonCorp is so involved with the community and you got the naming rights just last year. So it’s NelsonCorp Field now.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It is a tie-in to it that way, which is kind of ironic when it’s, like you said, coming in here in March of ’03, and then working down there and then transitioning over to NelsonCorp. But now all of a sudden NelsonCorp has the naming rights to it. So again, hopefully it was a great relationship, I think, for both sides and being able to help support such a gem that we have just right in our own backyard. And I think again, sometimes people take that for granted of what we really have down there with that ballpark.
Nate Kreinbrink:
And it’s just unfortunate, how things are going to transition into next year, that without having a major league affiliated team, if that is the route that it goes, that the Lumber Kings and all the history that is down there at the ballpark didn’t even have the opportunity for one last kind of farewell per se to our season, To again, thank everybody for all the years, and again, we don’t know what’s going to transition into next year and there’s a lot of other stuff to be figured out with that. But again, it’s that transition being NelsonCorp Field, we’re just hoping to be able to continue that relationship a lot longer.
Gary Determan:
Again, visiting with Nate Kreinbrink on Financial Focus, continuing along with baseball in the financial, as part of it, the Clinton Baseball Club was to be contracted. They were not scheduled to be a part of the 20/21 season, but with a lot of loss of revenue for some of the clubs that were not contracted, any possibility at all, that we could still exist?
Nate Kreinbrink:
Oh, I think so, depending on how things shake out, I mean, you look at the Clinton Lumber Kings and then Burlington Bees down there, are the only two community-owned franchises left in minor league baseball. So you compare community-owned franchises to those corporately-owned, or really have ownership that’s looking at that, and all of a sudden you take those major incomes with not having the gate revenue, not having the concession revenue, where are they going to do us with advertising, are the advertisers and the sponsors are going to come back and want to have their money returned to them or refunded or applied to the next year? So again, you take away a lot of those revenue streams and a lot of teams are going to be hurting. Clinton down there, they’ve been doing a lot of different activities to try to still draw people down to the ballpark with the curbside pickup, the batting practice and the concerts and the big 4th of July activities that they have this weekend down there.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Not all stadiums are able to do that per their lease, per whatever agreement that they may have put in place. So you take all that revenue out. And again, they’re really scratching to get by year after year, anyways, with surviving. And now all of a sudden you take that all away. There’s a few of them that yes, they may still be on the list to continue for minor league baseball, but will they actually be able to continue given everything that’s going to be happening over not just the past couple of months, but not even having the opportunity to do it going forward.
Gary Determan:
I know you’ve probably really enjoyed the decision you made to go with NelsonCorp Wealth Management. But do you ever stop and think about what your career might have been in sports management?
Nate Kreinbrink:
Oh I do, I do. I mean, and again, I do not regret one day, as far as transitioning over to NelsonCorp and the opportunities that are there and the people that I work with and being able to help people on the different way from where I was at. But again, I think anybody would wonder, I mean, as far as what it would be like, if you continued down that path and how that would have transitioned. But again, you always think that things work out for a reason, the way things go and you make the most of it. And again, hopefully that the baseball community here in Clinton can have something to continue. Because again, I would not have traded it for anything.
Nate Kreinbrink:
I made relationships, made friends, were able to meet so many amazing people during my time down there. So many experiences that I would have never even thought I would have been able to have through the 10 and a half, 11 years that I worked with with the ball club down there. So again, wouldn’t have traded it for anything, but again, glad with the way things have kind of transitioned and worked out to this point.
Gary Determan:
You bring up something interesting, those connections that you made. Have they helped you a little bit at NelsonCorp? Has some of that carried over a little bit?
Nate Kreinbrink:
Absolutely. And I think it’s just coming into the new position. I mean, obviously it’s a whole night and day different as far as just what your kind of doing on a day to day basis, but at the end of the day, and you know with this business and it goes with a lot of things, it’s just simply relationships and being able to sit down and talk to people and getting them to trust in what you’re telling them. And that’s whether that was advertising down at the ballpark or explaining to people the differences between a 401k and an IRA or Roth IRA and tax planning and Social Security and all this on the other hand. If they can trust you, and I think being able to just talk with them, have relationships like that, I think, is skills that I picked up on that way. That again, kind of can carry over to where I’m at right now.
Gary Determan:
Well, you’re doing great. We normally talk sports for the first portion.
Nate Kreinbrink:
But David does a great job of talking that too.
Gary Determan:
It is the first Wednesday of the month, the 1st of July. So we’re continuing to the bottom of the hour again, Nate Kreinbrink in studio with us today, filling in for Dave Nelson. Well, uncertainty is one thing that the market does not enjoy. Nobody really enjoys uncertainty, but this has been three months of uncertainty and I don’t see anything that’s going to change it real soon.
Nate Kreinbrink:
No, and I think you’re exactly right with that Gary, and uncertainty, volatility, I think is the keywords that keep popping up. Again, you go back even to the beginning of the year. I mean, things were still kind of rolling along. We were still kind of trending upward with the markets, that kind of dated all the way back to ’09. And since that point in time, we’ve been trending upwards and things had been doing pretty well market wise. Well obviously then all of a sudden March hit, and then we had all the chaos and volatility and markets falling, closing down in the morning because they’re dropping so quickly. And I think it kind of just gave people a quick jolt and just saying, “Whoa, maybe I really do need to look at some of these things and have a plan in place for things like this to happen.”
Nate Kreinbrink:
And I don’t think anyone would have ever anticipated the drops and how far we kind of came down so quickly back in March with the way things were going, but given where we were at all time highs and just continuing to set them, we were teetering on times where a correction was probably in the works and needed to kind of happen just to let markets settle down a little bit. But now you throw all this additional things that are in there with cutting interest rates even lower, some of the stimulus money that’s coming into people’s pockets and okay, how is this going to affect things in the near term and the intermediate term? And in the long term, how is this going to come into play? Taxes with extending the deadline, how’s that going to work with people?
Nate Kreinbrink:
But now all of a sudden we get to where we currently are right now. And I think it goes to show how important it is for people to just simply have a plan in place. And again, not that anyone would have ever anticipated this and could have fully just skirted around all the issues that we went through over the last couple of months. But knowing that it’s not the first time that something like this has happened to the market’s, not specifically with a pandemic per se like this one, but it’s going to be something that’s going to happen in the future. As volatility is always present, there’s always risk present in anything you do with investments and a lot of those other things. But looking at it from a planning perspective is, I think, helps people get through a lot of these times where they say, “Yes, markets, aren’t doing very good, but I know that I have this foundation in place as far as for me, if I’m in retirement for cashflow.”
Nate Kreinbrink:
And a lot of that has to do with the planning that we do leading up to retirement even earlier, as far as putting some things in place to be able to do that. And one of the biggest things that we look at is just simply, “Okay, what it is that you have, versus what it is that I need?” When I look at it is that I have, I mean, you have your investments and that’s what everyone always thinks about. But what about your Social Security, okay? Let’s look at that and look, because that’s technically a guaranteed cash flow, that’s going to continue throughout your entire life. No mother, if markets are up 20% or markets are down 50%, that cashflow’s going to still be there. So in times of uncertainty and times of volatility, I think it’s important for people to maximize and to make sure they make the decision to maximize their Social Security benefit. Because again, I think everyone would like to have a little bit bigger check coming in every month, then a little bit smaller one.
Gary Determan:
Now, when you came on board with NelsonCorp Wealth Management, did you see your niche being the planning, Social Security and things along those lines? Or how did that work out for you?
Nate Kreinbrink:
I mean, at the very beginning, it was kind of just let’s do a broad based approach and let’s learn a little bit from here, a little bit from here, a little bit from here, a little bit from here, but as you kind of evolve, you kind of see where you kind of just, it came natural as far as understanding all the nuances with Social Security planning, as far as coordination was spousal benefits, survivor benefits. When should I take this one? When should I take that one?
Nate Kreinbrink:
And then seeing big picture wise with a lot of that stuff, it was something that I really enjoyed doing as far as sitting down with a couple, gathering up all their information and then saying, “Let me work on this for a little while and see what we can come up with.” And every situation was different, which is something that I think really intrigued me every… It was like a new ball game every time I sat down with people, because you never know what’s going to happen in a ball, you never know the difference it’s going to have it, and every situation of people sitting down was different.
Nate Kreinbrink:
So taking that challenge and then being able to sit down with them and present to them to say, “Okay, this is the path that I think you should go on moving forward. These are the things that I think we can put in place now.” And a lot of the things that we discussed, they had never even thought of, they had never even discussed it with any other person that they had ever worked with or even heard about. So again, I think it’s just taking that information, giving those people light because a lot of times, whether it’s just retirement planning or simply saving money into your 401k, all of these decisions are just dumped on people’s laps and here, meet, figure it out.
Nate Kreinbrink:
And it’s overwhelming to people to be able to decipher, to say, “Okay, how do my investment planning coordinate with my Social Security planning? How does my income coming in, affect my Medicare premiums that I’m going to pay? Yes, I’m getting a tax benefit now, but what’s my tax liability going to be like down the road. But when I have to start taking RMDs, does that affect my Medicare premium? So you start looking at all these moving pieces and look at having people look at it from a longer term perspective, I think it really gives them insight to all the moving parts, all the pieces to the puzzle, that if you’re not looking at all those things, you’re not necessarily doing your job and you’re not really having a plan in place.
Gary Determan:
Yeah. I’m visiting with Nate Kreinbrink. There’s the commercial you say, we do not have the cookie cutter approach, but I would imagine, are there certain guidelines that you look at as you try and plan something out for couples?
Nate Kreinbrink:
It is. And I mean, you start with the basic stuff as far as what they have. And the second thing is, “Okay, what are you going to need to live off of in retirement?” I mean, some people have this big expenses. They still have a mortgage. They still have car payments. They still are paying on some credit card debt. They still have a boat pay. I mean, that’s a lot different discussion as far as what they’re going to need to retire off of versus someone that has the house paid off, cars paid off, they have a credit card, but they pay it off, right? I mean, so again, you look at what did they have versus what they’re going to need to spend. That’s the big starting point with everything.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Well, then you transition over to, “Okay, what do we have for any pensions coming in? What do we have for Social Security benefits coming in? What we’re going to look at for tax planning?” Again, tax planning, other than healthcare, taxes are going to be one of the more expensive things that you’re going to have in retirement. So if we can look at it and if we can take out more money, maybe in a given year, fill up lower tax brackets and pay a lower tax percent on that money, rather than being forced to take it out down the road at a higher tax bracket or understanding where we think taxes are going to go, that type of stuff I think is what people really, I would say, get excited about, but they really look at it and say, “Man, this is really important when it comes down.” But you look at their assets, you look at their needs, you look at tax planning, and then again, any plans that they want to have in between there.
Gary Determan:
So interesting. Again, Nate, I would imagine you have the initial visit with them. And then do you go and take a look at what you might be able to do with this and then call them back? How does that work?
Nate Kreinbrink:
Yeah, I mean, it’s usually a couple meeting process and I think it needs to be that to do the job that the people expecting you to do. So, I mean, the first one is just kind of just getting to know each other and just seeing if it would be a good fit to work together and try to take all their information and bring it in. If they don’t have something, to say, “Hey, I think we’re going to probably need this.” Take this in. I take it, and then spend a couple of days just entering it into our software, coming up with some key bullet points, as far as what I want to address with them at the next time that they come in. As far as where I see really maybe opportunities to kind of help them and to benefit them moving forward and go over that with him.
Nate Kreinbrink:
And we have the software as far as going through it. And I can talk about it, but sometimes just a simple chart to illustrate certain points that we’re going to make as far as tax brackets, as far as Medicare. Okay, you may be fine now, but no one knows how long we’re going to live. And especially for a married couple, the biggest thing is one of those spouses passes away early and all of a sudden you have a surviving spouse that’s still left with all the assets, basically that they all had. Or normally what happens is that surviving spouse jumps up to a higher tax bracket and sometimes quite substantially, just simply because while they were both alive, they’re married, filing jointly as far as their tax status. But now all of a sudden a spouse passes away and now they’re filing as a single taxpayer, which changes their brackets completely, but yet they still have the same income coming in.
Nate Kreinbrink:
So now all of a sudden they have that same income, but they’re not painting it at a 12% bracket, they’re up to a 22% bracket or a 28% bracket. And oh, by the way, their Medicare premiums with the five tiers that you have, they’re not in the lowest tier anymore. They may be in the second tier or the third tier. So it’s really expensive for them once that one spouse passes away. So if we can do that and kind of spread out some of the taxes over the lifetime of the two of them, rather than pushing it all down the road, I think people like that planning a lot better.
Gary Determan:
Listening to you, I can see you have a genuine concern for the people that you work with. Do you sometimes find yourself maybe at a sporting event thinking, “Oh yeah, I could do this for these people.”
Nate Kreinbrink:
You cannot shut it off. I mean, you just, you can’t. Again, you said the passion, really simply caring about this thing because all of a sudden, you see something and it just comes into your mind or whatever where you’re like, “Yeah, now I know why I think where we can move forward with this.” But your mind’s always running. You can’t shut it off. You see a headline and you’re like, “”Oh, that’s going to apply to these people. So I guess that’s where it comes into play. And hopefully that’s where the benefit comes of working with somebody.
Gary Determan:
Your generation grew up with computers and the advantages that they do offer, and sometimes the disadvantages they do offer. But now with Zoom conferencing, with texting and different things like that, I mean, the availability to get to these people and to get information, to me is just incredible.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It is, and especially during these times that we just went through, as far as the options that are out there to still stay in contact with a lot of these people. As far as screen-sharing Zoom meetings, as you said, I mean, you’ll get them trying to do classes online with little preschool, four year old preschool, that’s what Ashley teaches. And she has four year old preschools online doing that type of stuff. But sometimes it’s a challenge though, like you said, as far as across different generations, as far as getting some of the people comfortable with some of the tools that we are using and what we’re trying to accomplish by using them. But as you said, I mean, technology is a tremendous thing, it allows us to do so much more with it. But it’s also, whether it’s spam, you want to make sure that everything’s protected and all that type of stuff, as you continue to use these different software, different programs, but the good time, it definitely helps us.
Gary Determan:
And we’ve got a couple of minutes left in the program, another sport’s analogy before we do let you go. Of course, you played basketball. So, you know the importance of a point guard, a shooting guard, the rebound or different things like that. Baseball, a big part of that. So, you know the infield, the outfield, the pitcher, the catcher, things along those lines, things that intrigued me listening to Dave Nelson and you talk about NelsonCorp Wealth Management, is the diversity of personnel that you now do have to benefit people. So you got the point guard, you got the shooting guard, you got what you need.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Well, and I think again, comparing it to an analogy that David made the one time is, we’re really building a deep bench. And I think Gary you’ve seen enough, not in baseball, but enough sports in general, and then called enough ones where teams that have that great depth, are able to kind of help in times of adversity. I mean, you take a basketball game, for example. The starting point guard picks up three quick fouls in the first quarter. If you don’t have a deep bench to be able to come in and fill that position, you’re going to be in trouble. And I think the way that they’ve kind of assembled the team there definitely takes that approach. And then this constantly, ever changing, financial industry that we’re in, if you aren’t able to have the individuals that are kind of key on certain areas like that, there’s no way that one single person is going to be able to have knowledge on all these things, but yet do it well.
Nate Kreinbrink:
And I think that’s what clients are actually wanting and what they need to have done as far as the planning and with having James, John, myself, having Jake and some of the back office people, Val, Jamie, Michelle, new hires that we’re having, bringing on, as far as the staff portion of it, and all the importance that they do behind the scenes, that clients may not even really realize. But it’s extremely important with just having that support behind us even, as far as what we are able to do with that. And again, it’s a great team to work. The amount of time, the amount of effort and hearing David talk, just a simple compassion that he has to help people, you can’t help but not be contagious from that.
Gary Determan:
And I get my taxes done there.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Right? And I think that’s where, again, me coming in there felt extremely comfortable coming into what they had and hopefully can enable to take what he has and continue it on for many years to come.
Gary Determan:
Appreciate you coming in.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Glad I could fill in Gary, anytime.
Gary Determan:
All right, have a good 4th of July.
Nate Kreinbrink:
You too.
Announcer:
Financial Focus is a production of NelsonCorp Wealth Management in Clinton and Davenport. The opinions voiced in this show are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Any indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Registered representative securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research Incorporated, a broker dealer member FINRA SIPC. Investment advisor representative, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Incorporated, a registered investment advisor. Cambridge and NelsonCorp Wealth Management are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax advice. For more information, visit our website at www.nelsoncorp.com.