McBeath Financial Group - January/February 2022

McBeath Financial Group - January/February 2022

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

Financial Horizons Your Connection for Wealth, Lifestyle & Legacy

McBeathFinancialGroup.com

309.808.2224

Capturing 2021 A LOOK BACK AT THE HIGHS AND LOWS

The new year always signifies a fresh slate and comes in full of hope. At the same time, it’s a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the past year. After all, we know just how quickly a year can pass by and how busy life can get. This moment of reflection is a welcome change of pace from the minutiae of every day. Personally, it’s become important to me that I reserve time between Christmas and the new year to reflect on the previous year. So, gazing across the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico with a cup of coffee in my hand, my heart was filled with mixed emotions during this year’s reflection time. Many already know the great personal losses in my immediate family. It’s been incredibly difficult, and I know many of my clients have experienced similar losses. Sadly, we’ve lost a few clients, too. That’s the most emotionally challenging part of my career. I create a personal relationship with each client; I come to see them as dear friends. And after their passing, I feel a tremendous sense of loss as I work closely with their families to handle their financial affairs. I feel their pain as well. I felt this emotion particularly intensely this past year. However, in the moments when it was difficult, we leaned on the support we have received from our families and community. In those moments and so many others, we found a lot of joy. I love to reflect on those times and the achievements we had through the year — especially the ones I saw my clients experiencing. Many of you were able to retire securely, others had children graduate from college, and many found ways to enhance a legacy for future generations or great causes. Sharing in those peak life moments is what makes the work I do every day worth it! I cherish those memories. As I look back on 2021, I can’t help but be filled with gratitude. We were able to do so much! And in many ways, the successes of McBeath Financial Group are also accomplishments for all of you, too. You voted for us, believed in us, and cheered us on. We know none of this would have been possible without you.

This year, I’m proud to share a small snippet of what we accomplished together.

A MILESTONE HIRING One of the biggest ways we grew in 2021 was with the addition of Julie Karstens to the McBeath Financial Group team. We were thrilled to welcome Julie, not only for her experience and financial approach, but also because her hiring transformed our firm from a solo advisor office to a team of investment advisors and professionals. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT One of the most exciting ways we got involved this past year was by being named as a sponsor for the City of Bloomington and Town of Normal community video projects. Very few businesses were asked to sponsor this tremendous project that highlights the ways our region is a wonderful place to live and work. We couldn’t agree more! YOUR SUPPORT You made your voices heard! Many of you took the time to vote for McBeath Financial Group in The Pantagraph Readers’ Choice Awards. We were so honored and appreciative to learn we had been selected as the No. 1 Best Financial Planning Office — for the fifth year in a row — and No. 1 Best Investment Firm for the fourth consecutive year. And I was truly honored to learn I was chosen as the No. 1 Best Financial Planner, the first year for such a category. We were blown away by your encouragement, and we appreciate everyone who made this possible. Thank you for making 2021 a year worth remembering. It wasn’t always easy; the losses we experienced were great and deeply personal. But through our shared connection and commitment to each other, I feel incredibly blessed to have found a lot of goodness to remember when I think about this past year.

Happy New Year!

—Krista McBeath

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Don’t Spend Another Year Lonely! 5 WAYS TO MAKE NEW FRIENDS IN RETIREMENT

Friendship just might be the fourth secret to longevity, right behind eating well, exercising, and getting plenty of sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic, making friends can reduce stress, improve your self- confidence, and give you purpose in life! People with good friends are also more likely to exercise and less likely to drink to excess. But making friends is tough, especially in your golden years. To finally kick loneliness to the curb in 2022, try these five tips. 1. Get a dog. Adopting a dog (assuming you truly want one) will incentivize you to leave the house for walks, vet visits, and more. You’ll likely attract new friends in the neighborhood when they stop to pet your pup, and you can also meet people at the dog park or obedience classes. If nothing else, you’ll have your dogs in common! 2. Join a hobby group. The easiest way to find friends with similar interests is to pursue those interests. If you like to quilt, join a quilting group, and if you kayak, look for an outdoors club near you. Facebook is a great resource for finding online hobby groups, too! Just type your interest into the search bar and select “Groups” on the left-hand side of the screen.

There’s likely a cause for whatever you’re interested in, whether that’s food, animals, or sports. Visit VolunteerMatch. org to find opportunities in your area sorted by organization type.

Move to a 55-plus community. Also called retirement communities or active adult

4.

communities, these neighborhoods are known for their low- maintenance housing, amenities, and group activity options — and they’re all over the U.S. If you want to find friends in your age group to swim and play tennis with, a local real estate agent can help you find them.

5. Become a mentor. Mentorship is a valuable way to form

friendships across generations. You can sign up for an existing program in the field you retired from or reach out to a local college or high school career center and offer your services. They’ll likely have graduates who’d love to meet you!

3. Volunteer. Volunteering has similar benefits to joining a hobby group with the added benefit of giving back to the community!

Improve Your Financial Wellness in 2022 Flex Your Financial Muscles

As a new year begins, many of us pledge to get in shape. Whether you vow to eat better, exercise more, or simply lose weight, many new year goals center around physical well-being. But what if we took that passion and obsession with our physical wellness and applied it to our financial health? That’s the very idea behind Financial Wellness Month, which is celebrated every January. If you’re examining the ways you can improve your well-being, we want to encourage you to consider how you can bolster your financial knowledge, too.

regularly posted informative blogs, and be sure to snag your copy of Krista McBeath’s “The Generational Wealth System: A Holistic Approach to Preserving Your Wealth and Legacy.” It can be ordered at Wealth-Book.com or by scanning the barcode! You can also find us in two local publications, Healthy Cells Magazine and 50 Plus News & Views magazine. SIGN UP FOR WORKSHOPS AND WEBINARS! You’re never too old to learn something new. Workshops are generally geared toward specific needs, like bird-watching beginners or first-time Medicare enrollees. At McBeath Financial Group, we’ve created our own workshop series, including a workshop about Krista McBeath’s new book “The Generational Wealth System,” which we will host at the Bloomington Public Library. Visit our website to learn more! (We also hope to teach the same material at Heartland Community College again soon! Stay tuned for more details.) This year, as you commit to your physical well-being, don’t forget to expand your financial expertise, too. Please visit our visit blog at McBeathFinancial.com/blog for entertaining educational content.”

Here are a few ways you can improve your financial wellness in 2022.

READ MORE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS. While it’s fun to get lost in another mystery novel, sometimes a little informative reading can be useful! And it doesn’t have to be much. If you can commit to reading something educational for 15 minutes each day, by the end of the year you will have read 5,475 minutes’ worth of information. That’s 91 hours of instruction! And we have a few reading materials to help you start. Check our website for

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In this book, Krista McBeath writes with clear and sincere passion to help you understand: » Threats to your assets and how to leverage wealth to protect your family’s inheritance. » Strategies for confidently pursuing portfolio growth without losing sleep. » How to enjoy the fruits of your labors while living and giving for maximum rewards. » How to avoid a one-dimensional tax strategy that could leave a tax nightmare for your heirs. Estate Planning Attorney, Chad A. Ritchie also provides valuable insight into: » How to identify Probate Assets and Non-Probate to protect your estate. » The difference between “Trust-Based” estate plans and “Will-Based” estate plans. » The top 4 Questions to ask yourself to decide if you need a Trust for your estate plan. » The fundamental concepts of Estate Planning.

Krista McBeath Founder and CEO McBeath Financial Group

Chad A. Ritchie Attorney at Law Ritchie Law Office, Ltd.

Pre-Register Your Copy of “The Generational Wealth System: A Holistic Approach to Preserving Your Wealth and Legacy” and Receive a SPECIAL GIFT BONUS and A SIGNED COPY of the BOOK!* www.Wealth-Book.com

*Book gift package limited to the first 250 order confirmations.

ABOUT KRISTA MCBEATH Krista McBeath is the founder and CEO of McBeath Financial Group and Landmark Wealth Management, Inc., and President of McBeath Tax and Financial Services, LLC. While consistently earning top achievement awards within her industry, she’s most proud of the honor awarded by the community she serves. For five consecutive years, she’s been voted the #1 Best Financial Planner in the Pantagraph Reader’s Choice Awards. Krista has a long history of sharing her personal insights on financial related matters in various publications. In addition to her newsletters and her blog at www.McBeathFinancial.com/blog, she’s also published monthly in 50 Plus News and Views as well as Healthy Cells Magazine .

PRESERVING LIFESTYLE AND WEALTH WHILE CREATING A LEGACY

All too often finance advisors are systematically failing the families paying them for investment advice! A short-sighted approach to retirement planning often forsakes what’s most important: protecting our family .

ARE ADVISORS PLAYING NOT TO LOSE INSTEAD OF PLANNING TO WIN FOR THEIR CLIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES? If you’ve been led to believe a retirement plan should consist of a mix of investments or financial products selected to merely not outlive your money, then you may be caught in the Retirement Planning Trap . YOU CAN BREAK FREE OF THE RETIREMENT PLANNING TRAP AND CREATE A MEANINGFUL LEGACY WITHOUT SACRIFICING YOUR LIFESTYLE! When you free yourself from that trap, you can look beyond a “secure retirement” and see opportunities for greater wealth beyond your retirement. The Generational Wealth System is not about the size of the bank account and what to do with it. It is first for those concerned about the well-being of their spouse, children, and future generations. It’s for those who want to have a plan in place for a time when they may not be here to guide and care for their loved ones physically. This book is for the legacy makers. It is for those who have causes that are dear to their heart and wish to make a difference. The answers to questions regarding protection from taxes, long-term healthcare costs, inflation, market fluctuations, probate, security of a surviving spouse, wealth transfer strategies, and more become clearer when you effectively plan for a legacy.

“I believe the traditional approach to retirement planning is all too often short- sighted and may be costing too many families the greatest opportunity for generational wealth-building in our lifetime!” –Krista McBeath

Pre-Register Your Copy of “The Generational Wealth System: A Holistic Approach to Preserving Your Wealth and Legacy” Today www.Wealth-Book.com

My Book Is Coming to Amazon!

What Motivates Me to Educate Others About Generational Wealth

It didn’t feel real until I received my first shipment of the actual books, and now, just days before the public can order it from Amazon, reality is sinking in — I am a published author! When I began writing “The Generational Wealth System” over a year ago, I had no idea what a tremendous undertaking it would require. Once you finish drafting the book, you’re actually only halfway through the process. There are still countless hours of editing, design, formatting … the list goes on!

But now the book is here, and there’s a deep satisfaction as I experience the culmination of an idea that took root just over eight years ago. When our daughter, Jillian, was 6 months old, I left her for the first time for a trip. I’ll never forget fearing that I may not have prepared enough to protect her if for some reason I didn’t make it back. I learned that financial planning sometimes had a much deeper meaning when it came to family. The work I do every day revolves around lifestyle and wealth management planning. And as I write in “The Generational Wealth System: A Holistic Approach to Preserving your Wealth and Legacy,” the plans we create are intended to help our clients live full, happy lives. But the planning can also be integral to establishing a foundation upon which their children, grandchildren, and others can build. I’ve often found that creating a stable future for future generations often fills people with hope and a sense of peace. It’s a feeling that cannot be replicated. I hope readers will gain a greater understanding of multigenerational wealth strategy and have many of their most pressing questions answered. Often, these include questions about tax planning, long-term health care costs, inflation, market fluctuations, establishing trusts, security for a surviving spouse, and wealth transfer strategies. Furthermore, estate planning attorney Chad Ritchie wrote a chapter to clarify probate and estate strategies. And the book has great value for those without children, too.

Scan the QR code above with your phone’s camera to easily order your copy of Krista McBeath’s new book, “The Generational Wealth System.”

I invite you to be a part of this one-time book launch event!

To celebrate the Jan. 19 Amazon release of “The Generational Wealth System: A Holistic Approach to Preserving Your Wealth and Legacy,” we are including some incredible giveaways along with a 99¢ Kindle version. Visit Wealth-Book.com for details.

P.S. You can learn more about how to order “The Generational Wealth System” on the insert that came with this newsletter!

—Krista McBeath

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203 Landmark Dr., Unit A - Normal, IL 61761 - 309.808.2224

I N S I D E

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Celebrating and Remembering 2021’s Achievements How to Make 2021 Your Last Lonely Year Strengthen Your Financial Muscles in 2022

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I’m a Published Author!

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Why Do Your Ears Pop on Flights?

Advisory services are offered through Landmark Wealth Management Inc, dba McBeath Financial Group, an Illinois Registered Investment Advisor firm. Insurance products and services are offered through McBeath Tax and Financial Services, LLC. McBeath Financial Group and McBeath Tax and Financial Services, LLC are affiliated. All content of this newsletter is for information purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of McBeath Financial Group and our editorial staff. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representations as to its accuracy or completeness. All information and ideas should be discussed in detail with your individual financial professional prior to implementation. Copyright 2021 McBeath Financial Group.

Airplane Ears

THE SCIENCE BEHIND YOUR EARS POPPING ON FLIGHTS

When it comes to flying on an airplane, you can avoid cramped legs by upgrading to first class or catch a view by picking the window seat. However, there’s no getting around your ears popping during takeoff and landing. Believe it or not, there is a scientific explanation behind this common annoyance.

air pressure is not equal. During both ascent and descent, your eardrums stretch to try to adapt to the changes. In order to equalize the pressure, your eustachian tube needs to open and close. When it does, your ears pop! Usually, the ear popping is irritating but nothing more. However, in rare cases, the pressure can lead to ear pain and even loss in hearing, especially if your ears don’t pop. In this case, you may need to make an effort to get your eustachian tube to open by yawning, talking, or swallowing. Sucking on a piece of candy, swallowing some water, or chewing gum may also help! One of the best things you can do is make sure you are not sleeping as the airplane takes off or lands because your eustachian tube isn’t able to open and close normally. If you commonly struggle with congestion or sore ears on flights, taking a nasal decongestant before you board may ensure that your eustachian tube is not blocked. If your hearing and ears do not return to normal shortly after the flight, be sure to schedule an appointment to see your health care professional as soon as possible.

As you read this, you’re likely not on an airplane, and

the air pressure on either side of your

eardrums is equal. Air is currently passing right on through your eustachian tube, a narrow passage that leads from your middle ear cavity to your pharynx and allows for pressure to

be equalized on each side of your eardrums. When

you’re in flight on an airplane,

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