If Candy Was Money: Reese’s, M&Ms, and KitKats as Financial Strategies

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Welcome to the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily with your host, Mike Milligan. It's the week of Halloween, folks, and this is episode 26 of the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily. You know, have you ever wondered, like, what are the most popular candies come Halloween time that kids and adults both like? Well, I have the answers because we found an Instacart survey. And Gary, Nolan, and I spoke about that on the One of a Kind Financial Show this past weekend on the radio show. Matter of fact, we had multiple callers and texters that said they gave us their opinions on this. So today we're going to share what are the top candies for Halloween this year, and, uh, we're also going to talk about if candy was a financial tool, what it would be.

Enjoy this segment from the One of a Kind Financial show and be one of a kind.

Here's the deal. Instacart just released top 5 candies purchased last couple of Halloweens. Now we want to prepare our listeners to know exactly what the kids expect these days. Now, just like your Halloween candy, your financial plan needs the right mix to satisfy your one-of-a-kind life. So let's break down how each top candy represents a key financial strategy. We'll start with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. equals Roth conversions, the perfect combination strategy. So just like Reese's contributions, chocolate and peanut butter are a perfect treat. Roth conversions combine the current tax payments with future tax-free growth. Mike.

Gary, I love how you're laughing through that, right? You must obviously enjoy Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

My favorite.

Yeah. Just like Roth conversions are my favorite.

They—

they're— they're— Roth conversions have become America's favorite tax strategy for a reason. So you pay taxes now. Think about that like the chocolate wrapper to get that sweet tax-free peanut butter filling in retirement.

Mm-hmm.

It's the perfect combination when done right. Uh, so how, how do we do this, right? We pay taxes today at potentially lower rates because we know that tax rates in the future will be higher. If they're not higher during your lifetime, they're definitely going to be higher during your beneficiary's lifetime, and we want to enjoy tax-free withdrawals later. Roth conversions are not for everybody though, okay? I, I want to say that, right? Because there's some people who are allergic to peanuts, right? Roth conversions are not right for everybody. But Reese's has dominated sales in 40 states, and I'm telling you, Roth conversions are like Reese's. Because most people love them, most people need them, and most people want this universally loved candy and strategy to be part of their portfolio.

All right, here's the next one. And once you start eating these, you cannot put them down. M&M's asset allocation and diversification, Mike.

Oh my gosh. This whole idea of like M&M's, right? And all the different colors, right? in it, but so many colors, but it's the same candy. It's just like a diversified portfolio, uh, because, uh, they work toward the same goals. M&M's goals work to make you fat, right?

Right.

They make you satisfied. They give you this whole ideas of like this instant gratification, but like a portfolio based up of many different portfolios spread risk across multiple asset classes. The kids love M&M's, right? Because you just don't know when you reach in the bag what color you're going to pull out. But I'm telling you, right, when you have a diversified portfolio, you love it because when things are bad, you're going to have something that should be going up in, in life. Uh, just like M&M's, uh, have increased 37% in popularity over the years, proper diversification has stood the test of time. And that's why M&M's All right.

So you got your red ones, which could be stocks. You got your blue ones, could be bonds, and the yellow ones could be real estate. Right. But they're all chocolate. Yeah.

I love that, Gary. You're exactly right. That's a good diversification strategy.

Absolutely. I love that myself. The show is the One of a Kind Financial Show. I'm Gary Nolan, your consumer advocate. With us each week at this time is Mike Milligan. Let's get you on Mike's calendar. All set up with that comprehensive, the one-of-a-kind financial plan. There's no cost, no obligation. 800-748-1838. 800-748-1838. Or text the word ideas to 600-700. This is fun. Let's keep going. Kit Kat, dollar cost averaging. What do we mean by that?

This is the break me off a piece strategy, right? Kit Kats, what makes them so popular is not only do they taste good, it's like the structure of a Kit Kat, right? The perfectly segmented bars represent the systematic, methodical approach of dollar-cost averaging, breaking your investments into regular bite-sized pieces. That's good stuff right there, Gary. I'll be honest with you.

Yeah.

That is a good analogy.

Yeah.

Kit Kat bars are perfect because when you put investment contributions in, you want to kind of level those off because in a, in a dollar, in a really good dollar cost averaging strategy, one of the things you can't control are the ups and downs of the stock market.

Of course not.

But if you put, but if you put the same money in, like your contributions, breaking off a little piece of your paycheck every time, your employer puts a little match in, you're buying things at highs and you're buying things at lows. And that's the benefit dollar cost averaging is because, like enjoying Kit Kat one piece at a time, dollar cost averaging removes the pressure of market timing and makes investing, investing manageable.

And you know, you have to share. Once you start breaking off one of the pieces, like if you're sitting in the car, you and your wife are going somewhere and she's got a Kit Kat, she breaks off one of the pieces. Well, you want the next piece, am I right?

That's right. And that's like the match, Gary, right? Because like when you start breaking off a piece of you contributing The match is like your employer adding to that just a little piece of what they're getting for you also.

That's right.

That's why, that's why KitKat represents dollar cost averaging.

Snickers immediate annuities, Mike.

Well, the Snickers, right? We see the Snickers commercials, right? Satisfying and sustainable. Uh, Snickers was America's most loved candy of the 2010 decade because it satisfies hunger completely. And they had really good commercials, right? Remember, you know, it turned like Betty White.

Yes.

You know, Betty White was the actress that played like the, uh, the, uh, uh, she was angry or disgruntled and all of a sudden somebody bit a Snickers and this, you know, this, uh, really young attractive person showed up.

Yep. Right.

So Snickers, uh, so that's exactly what like immediate annuities could do for retirement. They satisfy your retirement income hunger that you'll have for life. See, you never want to run out of money in, in, in retirement, right? You, you, and so when to be satisfied in retirement, you need a retirement income strategy that, uh, that an immediate income annuity could do. It can convert a lump sum of money into guaranteed monthly payments.

Tell us about the one-of-a-kind financial plan before we do that.

Well, you know, the one-of-a-kind financial plan, just like your Halloween basket, Should be, should have a mix of all different types of candies in it. If, if you got the same exact candy all along the way at every house, your kids would just want to go home fast. They would be, they would be tired, right? They would say, I'm getting, I'm not, I don't enjoy this. Your retirement needs a mix of Roth conversion strategies like we do in our tax planning, retirement income like immediate annuities or other types of annuities that provide guaranteed income. They need investment plan that allows to— allows you to beat inflation, a long-term care strategy that takes care of you at your most vulnerable end-of-life times, and a legacy plan that tells your family, I love you. Just like Halloween is a great time to reflect on all of these candies, your portfolio needs to be more than just about one type of candy, an investment plan. It needs to have all of these wrapped together. And so if you want A one-of-a-kind financial plan that looks more like a diversified basket of candy like this, call us because we'll build it so that you can have a one-of-a-kind life.

800-748-1838. 800-748-1838. Or text the word ideas to 600-700. Ideas to 600-700.

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