92.5 FM · Southwest Florida

Show Script // Saturday, August 29, 2026

Hosts: Alfie Tounjian, CFP & John Antonucci  ·  Two-host episode, no guest
Record Thu, August 27 · 10:30 a.m. ET  ·  Air Sat, August 29, 2026  ·  Four segments · ~12 min each
ALFIE · landing points, riff freely (navy) JOHN · steers the show, CTAs verbatim (rust) Call to Action · text PLAN or 15 → 239-747-1077
July PCE (core)
3.3%
BEA 8/26 · headline 3.7%, above forecast · target is 2%
Fed Funds
3.50-3.75%
held 7/29, 9-3 · next meeting Sept 15-16, decision the 16th
Crude (WTI)
~$82
8/25, down 5%+ on the week [REFRESH THU AM]
10-Yr Treasury
~4.71%
8/24 [REFRESH THU AM]
S&P 500
~7,650
[REFRESH THU AM with Wed close]
July Retail Sales
-0.6%
8/14 · first drop in ~a year · restaurants held up
Sentiment
51.0
UMich prelim Aug · final lands Fri 8/28, after tape
Nvidia
[FILL THU AM]
reported after close Wed 8/26 · headline no. + one-line reaction
THE RULE: numbers live on this dashboard and in the bracketed tags, not in the hosts' mouths. On air it is "still in the threes," "low eighties oil," "close to fifty percent," "about one in three." One rounded number per bullet, maximum. Thursday-AM glance covers the four [REFRESH THU AM] items and the Nvidia fill, nothing else.
Backstage · not read on air
This week Built from Alfie's fifteen picked topics, nothing else added. Same conversational format as last week: ALFIE lines are landing points, not reads, JOHN steers and can jump to the CTA setup any time Alfie is rolling, and every theme carries a "Reason to come in" line placed to land right before the CTA. Two deliberate callbacks to last week's Segment 1 are marked in the bullets ("last week we said"). Freshness Taped Thursday, airs Saturday. Every dated item is framed "as we sat down to record this week," never "today," "this morning," or "yesterday." The Nvidia bullet is written so it works with a good or a bad market reaction; the number itself does not air unless Devon fills the placeholder Thursday morning. The UMich final revision lands Friday, after tape, so sentiment stays a producer-tag item only. CTAs Seg 1 & 3: 2026 Tax Plan Playbook, text PLAN to 239-747-1077, complimentary guide, exclusive to the shows, this year's edition retires 12/31 stated as fact. Seg 2 & 4: complimentary 15-minute visit, text 15 to the same number or call and the answering service books a weekday slot with one of four advisors. Say complimentary, never free. No URLs on air. Sign-off Segment 4 closes with Alfie's TV sign-off, locked verbatim, do not edit. It is the only place em dashes appear in this build.
Show open · five inspiration angles for ALFIE or JOHN · not a script · also the bench, if any theme below feels weak

Must-hits somewhere in the open, either host: "Saving the Investor on 92.5 FM" · both host names · tease Segment 1. John drives the formal station ID and handoff wherever it fits; Alfie riffs, never reads.

Like one of these angles more than a theme below? Text Devon before Thursday and it gets swapped in ("hey big D, swap Segment 2B for Angle 4"). It's a five-minute change on his side.

Segment 1 · ~12 min Segment One

Still in the Threes

A · Inflation and the Fed B · The pump and the register
Theme A

Still in the Threes

The Gauge The Fed Actually Watches // What Markets Are Pricing // A Plan For Either Direction
Describe what markets are pricing, never what the Fed will do // one rounded number per bullet
  • JOHN: "As we sat down to record this week, the Fed's favorite inflation gauge came out, and here's the honest headline. Inflation is still in the threes. Not the twos, where the Fed wants it. The threes. Alfie, most people listening assume the next rate move is down. Should they?" [July PCE, BEA 8/26: headline 3.7% y/y (+0.2 m/m, above forecast), core 3.3% (in line); target 2%. Spoken stays "still in the threes"]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Here's what surprised me. The market is pricing about a one in three chance the Fed moves at its September meeting, and the surprise is the direction. A hike is now considered more likely than a cut, with December the likelier month for anything big. That's not our prediction, that's just what the betting looks like this week." [Market pricing as of 8/26: ~1-in-3 odds of a September move, hike likelier than cut, December likelier for action; reads conflict across sources, so REFRESH THU AM and keep the "about one in three" phrasing soft. Never state what the Fed WILL do]
  • JOHN: "So the crowd assumes down, the market leans not-yet-and-maybe-up. Somebody's going to be wrong. What does a family do with that?"
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "You build a plan that doesn't need to know. That's the entire trick. If your retirement only works when rates fall, you don't have a plan, you have a wish. The income side, the cash side, the tax side, all of it should hold up whichever way the next move goes."
  • JOHN: "And for the savers, the folks with real money in CDs and money markets, is a hold or a hike actually bad news?"
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "For savers it can be the opposite of bad news, and almost nobody frames it that way. Rates staying up means the safe side of your plan keeps earning real interest. The families who get hurt are the ones positioned for a certainty that was never certain. Hold that thought, because the second segment is about exactly that money."
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own A pot taken off the boil is still too hot to touch. Nobody argues the pot is cooling. The whole argument is whether it's cooling fast enough, and the Fed is standing at the stove deciding whether to turn the burner back up.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "Whichever way the next rate move goes, up, down, or nowhere, somebody's plan in this town is positioned wrong for it. A visit is how you find out it isn't yours."
Theme B

The Pump and the Register

Oil Slid On A Strategy Shift // The Shopper Is Still Careful // Two Receipts, One Story
Both halves are callbacks to last week's Segment 1, reference "last week we said" naturally
  • JOHN: "Last week we asked why oil wasn't through the roof with a war on. This week the answer got cheaper. Crude slid to the low eighties, down more than five percent on the week, after Washington shifted from military strikes to sanctions pressure on Iran." [WTI ~$82 on 8/25, down 3-4% that day and 5%+ on the week; Treasury's expanded sanctions campaign (~60 entities, shadow-fleet vessels) read by traders as less supply risk than escalation. REFRESH THU AM. Spoken stays "low eighties"]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Think about what that means. The scary version of this story priced in a shooting war. The moment the strategy turned economic, the fear came out of the barrel. Markets price the worst case in a hurry and take it back just as fast, and a family plan should never be along for that ride."
  • JOHN: "Meanwhile, the register. Last week we said the shopper blinked in July, the first spending pullback in about a year, while restaurants held up. Nothing this week changed that picture." [July retail sales -0.6% (Census 8/14), first monthly drop since Oct 2025; restaurants +0.5%; part of the online drop was a sale-calendar quirk. Callback quotes last week's actual script line]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "So the two receipts every family generates, the pump and the grocery register, are telling one story. Things are cooling, gently, not collapsing. And a gentle cooling is exactly when planning beats reacting, because nothing is on fire and everything is still adjustable."
  • JOHN: "Play the skeptic for a second. Couldn't a careful shopper and cheaper oil also be the early chapters of something worse?"
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "They could, and honest people can read it both ways, which is exactly the point. We don't get paid to guess the chapter. We get paid to make sure your income shows up in every version of the book. When the data can be read two ways, the plan is the tiebreaker."
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own Every household runs on two receipts, the one from the pump and the one from the register. This week one got kinder and the other stayed careful. The Fed reads those same two receipts, just with more staff.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "You shouldn't have to read gas stations and grocery receipts for clues about your own retirement. That's what you hire a team for, and ours reads them all week so you don't have to."
Call to Action · Segment 1 · ~30 sec · JOHN · READ VERBATIM · 2026 Tax Plan Playbook

"Here's the thread. Inflation's still in the threes, the Fed might move either way, and nobody on this show will pretend to know which. What we do know is the one number you control, what you keep after taxes. Our 2026 Tax Plan Playbook covers that side, advanced strategies for generating income and preserving your principal, in plain English. It's a complimentary guide, offered exclusively through this show and our television program, and this year's edition retires December 31st. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077. That's the word PLAN to 239-747-1077."

Flow: text PLAN to 239-747-1077, then delivery. Complimentary · exclusive to TV and radio · 2026 edition retires 12/31 (true editorial sunset, state as fact, never as pressure).
John's Questions · Segment 1 · if a theme runs short · easiest to deepest

Q1  "In plain English, what is this PCE thing and why does the Fed like it better than the inflation number we hear on the news?"

Producer note: easy explainer lane; it tracks what people actually buy as habits shift, which is why the Fed treats it as the truer speedometer. No numbers needed.

Q2  "If rates stayed exactly here for two more years, who wins and who loses?"

Producer note: savers and lenders versus borrowers and refinancers; the honest answer is a good plan has a seat on both sides of that table.

Q3  "You've planned through rate hikes, rate cuts, and long holds. Which one actually broke the most family plans?"

Producer note: deepest, and the honest answer is none of them; the breaker is always the plan built on one assumed direction. Runway into the Playbook framing.

Top 10 Nickel-and-Dime Prices From When You Were a Kidrun-short filler · tap to open
  1. A bottle of Coca-Cola, five cents.The nickel Coke held its price for decades, then the world caught up with it.
  2. A first-class stamp, three cents.Grandma mailed birthday cards for pocket lint. The envelope now costs more than the gift once did.
  3. A pay-phone call, a dime."Call me when you get there" was a ten-cent promise from a booth that no longer exists.
  4. A gallon of gas, about thirty cents.Full service, windshield washed, a smile included. The smile is the part inflation never touched.
  5. A movie ticket, fifty cents.Double feature, cartoon first. Popcorn was the splurge.
  6. A comic book, a dime.The ones your mother threw out would fund a semester of college now, which is its own inflation lesson.
  7. A loaf of bread, about twenty cents.The register receipt was shorter and so were the ingredient lists.
  8. A haircut, seventy-five cents.The barber knew your father, your uncle, and your business.
  9. A daily paper, a nickel.All the scary financial headlines of 1958, delivered for five cents, and the market outlived every one of them.
  10. A new car, around two thousand dollars.Chrome included. The family that invested the price of a second car back then tells a very different story today.

Bridge back: "That's what inflation does over a lifetime, slowly, then all at once. Keeping more of what your money earns is the defense you control, and that's the 2026 Tax Plan Playbook. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."

Segment 2 · ~12 min Segment Two

Scary Headline, Boring Truth

A · Dalio vs. the earnings B · The cash question
Theme A

Dalio vs. the Earnings

The Loudest Call Of The Week // The Quietest Numbers Of The Week // Nvidia, Filled Thursday
Describe his view, never endorse or rebut it personally // no gold or crypto recommendation // NVIDIA NUMBER DOES NOT AIR UNLESS DEVON FILLS IT
  • JOHN: "The scariest headline of the week came from one of the most famous investors alive. Ray Dalio, the man who built the world's biggest hedge fund, said this week that investors should sell bonds and buy gold and some Bitcoin, because he believes a debt crisis is coming. Alfie, that's a headline that makes people move money. What do we do with it?" [Bloomberg 8/21: Dalio (LinkedIn post) recommends underweighting bonds, ~10-15% gold, "a bit" of Bitcoin; cites ~$2T deficit, ~$1T interest, ~$10T refinancing; crisis "in three years, give or take two." Describe, never endorse or rebut]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "First, respect. He's earned the microphone. But notice what a call like that actually is. It's one brilliant man's forecast about something three years away, give or take. He's been early before, he's been wrong before, like every forecaster who ever lived. You don't rebuild a retirement around any one voice, however famous." [His own framing includes the "give or take two years" uncertainty; we characterize forecasting generally, never his record specifically beyond "like every forecaster"]
  • JOHN: "Now the quiet number nobody puts in a scary headline. Corporate America just finished one of its best earnings seasons in years. Profit growth close to fifty percent over last year for the big companies, with the full year on pace for about thirty, and smaller companies growing too." [FactSet: Q2 blended earnings growth ~50% y/y with 88% reported (topped 48% pace); full-year 2026 ~30-31%; small/mid caps 20%+ per FactSet data via Edward Jones. Spoken stays "close to fifty percent" and "about thirty"]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "So in the same week, the loudest voice said crisis and the ledger said boom. Both can't run your plan. And here's the boring truth, the ledger is an audited record of what happened, the headline is one man's guess about what might. Own businesses that earn, plan the taxes, and let the famous argue with each other."
  • JOHN: "And the biggest AI company on earth reported its results the very week we recorded this. [NVIDIA · DEVON FILLS THU AM · one sentence with the headline result and how the market took it. DO NOT AIR A NUMBER UNLESS THIS IS FILLED.]" [NVIDIA PLACEHOLDER, reported after close Wed 8/26. Devon inserts headline number + one-line reaction Thursday morning. If unfilled, John reads only: "the results were another chapter in the AI story, look them up if you're curious"]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "And whichever way the market took those results, the lesson for a family is identical. One company's quarter, good or bad, is weather. The earnings of hundreds of companies over years, that's climate. We plan around climate, and we let the weather be interesting." [Written to work with a good or bad reaction; no opinion on the stock, no buy or sell on any name]
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own The loudest voice in the room and the ledger on the desk. One forecasts, one counts. Every investing era has both, and the families who did best usually knew which one they were listening to.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "When a billionaire says crisis and the ledger says boom, you don't need to pick the winner. You need a plan that doesn't care who's right. That's a fifteen-minute conversation."
Theme B

The Cash Question

The Maturity Wave Hits This Fall // Doing Nothing Is A Decision // A Ladder Beats A Bet
Category education only, no current yields quoted, no product pitches // lands into the 15 CTA
  • JOHN: "Here's the segment for everybody who did the smart thing a couple of years ago. Back in twenty-three and twenty-four, a lot of families locked up CDs and money markets at around five percent. Starting this fall, those start maturing, wave after wave. Alfie, what happens to that money next?" [Cohort framing: retail CD rates peaked near 5%+ in 2023-24; heavy maturity schedule this fall is structural. Only the historical "around five percent" airs; no current yields on air]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "For most people, honestly, whatever the bank decides. The notice arrives, life is busy, and the money quietly rolls into whatever the default is, often at a rate you'd never have chosen on purpose. Doing nothing is a decision, and it's usually the most expensive one on the menu."
  • JOHN: "But this connects straight back to Segment 1, doesn't it? If nobody knows whether the next rate move is up or down, how do you even decide where maturing money should go?"
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "That's the beautiful part. It's the same question in either direction, and the same answer. A ladder beats a bet. Spread the maturities so some money is always coming due, and you never have everything locked at the worst moment or exposed at the wrong one. You stop needing to be right about the Fed."
  • JOHN: "And I'd guess the bigger conversation isn't even the rate. It's what job that money is supposed to be doing."
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "That's the real September question. Some of that maturing cash is emergency money and should stay boring. Some of it was only parked there because five percent was easy, and it may belong in the income plan, or the tax plan, or the grandkids conversation we're having later this hour. The rate question is small. The purpose question is the visit."
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own Fall down here has a sound, and part of it is the mailbox filling with maturity notices. Every one of those envelopes is a decision with a deadline, and the bank is perfectly happy to make it for you.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "If you've got a CD maturing between now and the holidays, the decision has a deadline attached. Come in before the bank makes it for you by default."
Call to Action · Segment 2 · ~30 sec · JOHN · READ VERBATIM · 15-Minute Visit

"If you've got money maturing this fall, or a famous headline rattling around in your head, bring either one to us. It's a complimentary fifteen-minute visit, no cost, no obligation. Bring the maturity notice, bring the scary article, bring both, and one of our four advisors will give you an honest read on what that money's job should be. Maybe your plan already holds up, which is worth knowing for certain. Text 15 to 239-747-1077, or call that number and our answering service will set up a weekday time. That's 15 to 239-747-1077."

Flow: text 15 to 239-747-1077 or call → answering service books a weekday slot with one of four advisors. Complimentary, never free.
John's Questions · Segment 2 · if a theme runs short · easiest to deepest

Q1  "What actually happens if I just ignore the maturity notice? Walk me through it."

Producer note: easy lane; auto-renewal into the bank's default term and rate, a short grace window most people miss. No bank named, no rates quoted.

Q2  "When a famous investor makes a big public call like that, who is he actually talking to? Because it might not be the family in Bonita Springs."

Producer note: institutions, funds, policy audiences; a retiree's time horizon and tax picture are different animals. Respectful, no rebuttal of the call itself.

Q3  "What's a ladder look like in real life for a retired couple? Paint the picture, no products."

Producer note: staggered maturities, something always coming due, no single bet on a rate direction; concept only, no instruments or yields named. Runway into the 15 CTA.

Top 10 Places Money Hides When It Thinks It's Saferun-short filler · tap to open
  1. The checking account that quietly hit six figures.Earning nothing, insured for less than you think, and nobody ever decided this on purpose.
  2. The CD that rolled itself over. Twice.Locked at a rate nobody chose, at a bank somebody's late husband picked in 1998.
  3. The savings bonds in the fireproof box.Some stopped earning interest years ago and are just paper now. Worth checking, literally.
  4. The old 401k at the company you left.Still invested the way a thirty-five-year-old chose, and you are not thirty-five.
  5. The money market from when five percent was easy.The rate changed. The statement font stayed the same size. Nobody noticed.
  6. The safe-deposit box cash.Inflation visits it every year, and unlike a burglar, it never gets caught.
  7. The annuity nobody remembers buying.There may be good news in there, or fees. Either way, somebody should read it.
  8. The credit-union account in another state.Opened for a car loan in 1989. Still open. Still forgotten.
  9. The life-insurance cash value doing nothing.Sometimes a quiet asset, sometimes a quiet leak. September's a fine month to find out which.
  10. The inheritance still sitting where it landed.Parked "for now" three years ago. "For now" is not an investment strategy.

Bridge back: "If you found your money on that list, it isn't lost, it's just unassigned. Fifteen minutes gives every dollar a job. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."

Segment 3 · ~12 min Segment Three

Labor Day Is the Starting Gun

A · The fall calendar B · The inherited IRA
Theme A

The Fall Calendar

Four Months To December 31 // Life Insurance Awareness Month // The September Head Start
Calendar facts only // policy review framed as review, never a sale
  • JOHN: "Monday is Labor Day, and in our business that's not the end of summer, it's the starting gun. Four months to December 31, and almost every good year-end money move has that date stamped on it. Alfie, what goes off first?" [Labor Day Mon 9/7/26; the 12/31 items: conversions, most gifting, harvesting, RMDs for most]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "The sizing conversations. How big should this year's Roth conversion be, what gets harvested, what gets gifted. Those answers depend on what the rest of your year looks like, and September is when the year is finally visible. Decide in September, execute in slices, and December becomes easy."
  • JOHN: "And September has a name on the calendar most people don't know. It's Life Insurance Awareness Month. Which sounds like a greeting-card holiday, but you take it seriously." [September is Life Insurance Awareness Month (industry-recognized, nonprofit Life Happens). Used as a review hook only, never a sales hook]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Because the policies are where the dust is. People are carrying coverage bought for a mortgage that's paid off, or a permanent policy from decades ago that no longer fits the estate plan, or beneficiaries from two chapters of life ago. Once a year, somebody should actually read the policy. September is the month."
  • JOHN: "So give me the September head start in one breath. What does the family that starts now have, that the family who calls in December doesn't?"
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Choices. Every single move on the fall list gets better with runway. Conversions can be sized in pieces, gifts can be planned instead of rushed, and reviews can actually change something. The December family gets whatever still fits before the deadline. The September family gets the whole menu."
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own The school buses are back on the roads this week. Fall has a syllabus for money too, and every assignment on it is due December 31. The families who start the homework in September never pull the all-nighter.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "Four months to December 31. The families who come in during September get the whole menu of year-end moves. The December phone calls get whatever's left."
Theme B

The Inherited IRA

The Ten-Year Clock // Your Planning, Their Bracket // The September Conversations
Category-level education only, no thresholds spoken // Medicare stays "a conversation we have with our client families," never public how-to
  • JOHN: "Now the theme that surprises almost every parent we've ever raised it with. You spend decades doing careful tax planning on your IRA. Then it passes to your kids, and the rules change on the day it lands. Explain the ten-year clock." [SECURE Act 10-year rule: most adult-child beneficiaries of pre-tax IRAs must empty the account within 10 years; annual RMDs apply in many cases. Category level only, no thresholds or dates spoken]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Under the current rules, when adult children inherit a pre-tax IRA, they generally have to empty it within ten years. And think about when that clock usually starts. Your kids are in their fifties, their peak earning years, their highest brackets. Every dollar you carefully deferred comes out on top of their salary."
  • JOHN: "So a lifetime of the parents' careful planning can quietly become the kids' tax problem."
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Unless the parents plan for two generations instead of one. That's what conversions in the right years are really about, that's what the charitable tools are about, that's what beneficiary design is about. The question isn't just what you'll pay. It's what your whole family line pays, and you're the only one who can change it."
  • JOHN: "And September's also when another conversation starts around here, because Medicare's annual window opens in mid-October."
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "It's a conversation we have with our client families every September, because the window opens October 15th and the choices touch the rest of the plan. We're not going to do Medicare advice on the radio, the right answer is personal and it's licensed work. But if nobody has ever connected your health coverage to your income plan and your tax plan, that's a gap worth closing this fall." [Medicare open enrollment starts 10/15. Framed strictly as a client-family conversation; plan selection involves separate licensure, so no public how-to, no plan types compared on air]
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own An inheritance arrives with a clock attached now. Most families discover the clock at the reading of the will, which is the most expensive classroom in America. The cheap classroom is a September conversation while everyone's still here.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "Your tax planning doesn't have to end with you. One September conversation can decide whether the IRS is a footnote in your kids' inheritance or the headline."
Call to Action · Segment 3 · ~30 sec · JOHN · READ VERBATIM · 2026 Tax Plan Playbook

"Everything on the fall syllabus, the conversion sizing, the two-generation tax question, the year-end list, starts with understanding the tax side, and that's exactly what our 2026 Tax Plan Playbook is for. Advanced strategies for generating income and preserving your principal, written for families, not accountants. It's complimentary, it's offered exclusively through this show and our television program, and this year's edition retires December 31st, the same deadline as everything else we just talked about. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077. That's PLAN to 239-747-1077."

Flow: text PLAN to 239-747-1077, then delivery. Complimentary · exclusive to TV and radio · 2026 edition retires 12/31 stated as fact.
John's Questions · Segment 3 · if a theme runs short · easiest to deepest

Q1  "When's the last time anybody should actually read their life insurance policy? Because I'll bet most people never have."

Producer note: easy lane; once a year, and after every life event. The policy in the drawer was bought for a life that may not exist anymore.

Q2  "Why does starting in September matter so much? The deadline's December 31st either way."

Producer note: runway lane; slices beat gulps, reviews take weeks, and professional calendars jam by November. Same message as the reason-to-come-in line, said differently.

Q3  "If a listener's parent is still living, what's the one conversation that family should have this fall?"

Producer note: deepest and warmest; the two-generation tax conversation while planning can still change things, handled with love, not fear. Runway into the Playbook or the visit.

Top 10 Deadlines Between Labor Day and New Year'srun-short filler · tap to open
  1. The extension filers' tax deadline, mid-October.The return you postponed in April comes due for real.
  2. Medicare's annual window opens October 15th.A conversation we have with our client families every September, before it opens.
  3. Workplace open enrollment, typically October and November.The one week a year your benefits are actually changeable.
  4. Insurance renewals, fall for many Florida households.The season to ask what changed, because down here something always changed.
  5. Required withdrawals, December 31st for most.The penalty for missing it is famous for a reason.
  6. Roth conversions, December 31st. No extensions, no exceptions.The move everybody calls about in December and should size in September.
  7. Tax-loss harvesting, December 31st.Losses only count in the year you take them.
  8. Annual gifts, December 31st.Planned giving gets every advantage. Panic giving gets a stamp.
  9. Charitable moves, December 31st, but the paperwork takes weeks.The calendar says December. The processing says start in October.
  10. The family money conversation, no official deadline, which is the trap.Nothing forces it, so it never happens. Put it on the calendar like it's real, because it is.

Bridge back: "Ten deadlines, one September head start. The tax half of that whole list is in the 2026 Tax Plan Playbook, complimentary. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."

Segment 4 · ~12 min Segment Four

Grandparents, Storms & the Trip

A · Peak season, financial edition B · Grandparents Day and the trip
Theme A

Peak Season, Financial Edition

The Statistical Peak Is Near // Prepare The Money Like The House // Before The Storm Has A Name
Preparedness, never fear // no storm predictions, the peak is a statistical fact
  • JOHN: "Every listener knows the drill for the house. Shutters, water, generator gas. But we're coming up on the statistical peak of hurricane season, it lands around September 10th, and Alfie, your argument is that most families prep the house and never prep the money." [NOAA climatology: statistical peak of Atlantic season ~Sept 10. Preparedness framing only, no seasonal forecasts]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "The financial checklist is short and almost nobody runs it. A cash reserve that doesn't depend on what the market did that week. Documents and beneficiaries current and reachable, not in a drawer in a flooded room. And any insurance change you've been meaning to make, made now, while the weather map is clear."
  • JOHN: "That last one has a deadline people don't know about. Say it plainly, because it surprised me."
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "The moment a storm gets a name, the carriers freeze. No new policies, no changes, in most of Florida, until it passes. So the coverage question you've been sitting on all summer has a real deadline. It's just written in the weather, and nobody mails you a notice." [Standard FL carrier practice: binding suspensions on new policies and coverage changes once a named storm threatens; framed as fact of how the industry works, no carrier named]
  • JOHN: "And the market side of storm prep? Because a bad week for the Gulf can be a bad week for a portfolio if the plan's wrong."
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "The principle is the same one that runs this whole show. The emergency money and the invested money should never be the same money. If a roof repair can force you to sell investments in a down week, that's not bad luck, that's a plan with a missing room. Storm season just finds it first."
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own You can buy the umbrella all summer long. The day the storm gets a name, the store locks its doors. Insurance in Florida works exactly that way, and most people learn it standing at the locked door.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "Storm prep for the money is a checklist we run with client families every year about this time. If nobody has ever run it with you, that's the visit, and it takes fifteen minutes."
Theme B

Grandparents Day and the Trip

Sunday September 13th // Help Them While You Can Watch // The Yes That Starts A Tradition
Permission-to-spend, week two: NEW story, grandkids trip, do not reuse the cruise-brochure seed // philosophy stays first-person and substantiable
  • JOHN: "We close with the good stuff. Grandparents Day is Sunday, September 13th, and last week on this show we made the case for permission to spend. This week I want to aim it at one specific yes. The grandkids trip. Alfie, make the case." [National Grandparents Day: Sun 9/13/26. Callback references last week's actual on-air theme]
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Here's the case in one sentence. The difference between leaving the grandkids money and taking the grandkids to the beach is that you're in the second picture. Both are generous. Only one of them becomes a memory they'll tell their own kids about."
  • JOHN: "And the industry default is the opposite, isn't it? Preserve, defer, wait."
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "So much of this industry treats every dollar spent as a failure of discipline. We just don't see it that way. We encourage our client families to take enough income to do these things while they can still do them, while the grandkids still think a week with you is the best offer on the table. That window closes too, you know. Kids turn sixteen." [Philosophy stated first-person and substantiable as the firm's actual approach; never "unlike other advisors," never a promised outcome]
  • JOHN: "And the planning side of a yes like that? Because it's not just book the flights."
  • ALFIE: Landing point: "Same three checks as always. Which account funds it, so the trip doesn't drag a tax surprise behind it. Whether the size fits the income plan. And if you want to make it a tradition, an annual trip, we build it into the plan like a bill. The happiest line item a plan can carry."
Story seed · not a read, just the idea · make it your own Ask anyone to name their favorite memory of their grandmother. Nobody says the wire transfer. It's the trip, the kitchen, the ballgame, the week at the beach. That's the estate plan they'll actually remember, and it's the one you get to watch.
Reason to come in · land this right before the CTA "So much of this industry treats generosity like a leak. We treat it like the point. Come find out what a yes to the grandkids actually costs, because it's probably less than you fear."
Call to Action · Segment 4 · ~30 sec · JOHN · READ VERBATIM · 15-Minute Visit

"So here's how the hour lands. The Fed will do what it does, the headlines will shout what they shout, and none of it has a deadline. Your fall does. The maturing CD, the year-end list, the storm checklist, the grandkids trip. It all starts with one easy step, come sit with us. A complimentary fifteen-minute visit, weekday, with one of our four advisors, while September is still quiet. No cost, no obligation, and you'll probably hear about a tool or two you never knew existed. Text 15 to 239-747-1077, or call and our answering service will set it up. That's 15 to 239-747-1077."

Flow: text 15 to 239-747-1077 or call → answering service books a weekday slot. Complimentary, never free. Then straight into the locked sign-off below.
John's Questions · Segment 4 · if a theme runs short · easiest to deepest

Q1  "What belongs in the storm cash reserve, and where should it live? No brands, just the idea."

Producer note: easy lane; enough for the deductible and a rough month, boring and reachable, never invested money. Concept only, no amounts prescribed.

Q2  "For the family that wants to help the grandkids with something bigger than a trip, school, a first house, what's the smart way to even start that conversation?"

Producer note: start with the plan, not the check; gifting rules and account choices change the math. Category level, no thresholds spoken.

Q3  "Last one of the day. What's a September tradition you'd love every family listening to start this year?"

Producer note: warm closer, his answer, his words; the annual family meeting or the annual trip both land. Straight into the final CTA and sign-off.

Top 10 Things To Do With Grandkids That Beat Writing a Checkrun-short filler · tap to open
  1. The week at the beach, all of them at once.Chaos, sunscreen, one group photo everybody frames. The flagship.
  2. Take each one alone, once.A ballgame, a museum, a fishing morning. Being the only grandkid for a day is a currency you can't wire.
  3. Teach them the thing you're actually good at.The cast net, the pie crust, the card game with the family rules. That's the real inheritance.
  4. The kitchen day.The family recipe, made badly, together. The mess is the point.
  5. The first paycheck lunch.When a grandkid gets their first job, take them to lunch and tell them what you wish you'd known. Best hour of financial planning they'll ever get.
  6. The matching game.Whatever they save from the summer job, consider matching it. Now saving has a coach and a cheerleader.
  7. The story project.Let them interview you about your life, on their phone. In forty years it's the most valuable thing you ever gave them.
  8. The garden, the boat morning, the sunrise walk.The cheap ones count double. Presence beats presents, and it always did.
  9. The tradition with a name.Cousins' Week. Pancake Saturday. Name it and it becomes an institution the family plans around.
  10. Let them catch you being generous.Bring them along when you give, the food bank, the church, the bowls painted for charity. Generosity is taught by demonstration only.

Bridge back: "Every one of those is affordable inside a real plan, and most cost less than people fear. Come find out what your yes costs. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."

Sign-off · ALFIE · LOCKED VERBATIM · do not edit "Thanks for spending part of your day with us. And remember—you can also catch Saving The Investor on TV, Sundays at 11:00 a.m. on Gulf Coast News, right after Meet the Press. Until next time—be blessed."
For John · swap any segment's read

John's Alternate CTA Menus

Two menus of ten, five seconds to twenty, all verbatim-ready. Menu A drives PLAN → 239-747-1077. Menu B drives the complimentary 15-minute visit (text 15 to the same number, or call and request it with the answering service). Language note: complimentary, never free. No promises, no pressure, date-based framing only (the real 12/31 sunset), never supply scarcity.

Menu A · 2026 Tax Plan Playbook · keyword PLAN

Advanced strategies for generating income and preserving your principal.

That line is the document's subtitle. John pairs it with the title on longer reads to describe what the guide covers, never as an outcome. The limited-time line anchors only to the December 31 editorial sunset.

  1. 5 sec"Text PLAN to 239-747-1077 for our complimentary 2026 Tax Plan Playbook."
  2. 5 sec"Inflation's still in the threes. What you keep is still up to you. PLAN to 239-747-1077."
  3. 5 sec"This year's edition retires December 31st. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077, with our compliments."
  4. 10 sec"The Fed might raise, might cut, might sit still, and your plan shouldn't need to know which. The tax side is the part you control. The 2026 Tax Plan Playbook, complimentary, only through our shows. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."
  5. 10 sec"Labor Day starts the year-end clock. Four months, one list, and the tax half of it is in one guide. The 2026 Tax Plan Playbook. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."
  6. 10 sec"Your IRA's tax story doesn't end with you, it continues into your kids' tax brackets. Plan for two generations. The 2026 Tax Plan Playbook, complimentary. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."
  7. 15 sec"We publish one edition of this a year and we offer it in exactly one place, right here on our radio and television shows. The 2026 Tax Plan Playbook: advanced strategies for generating income and preserving your principal. This year's edition is offered through the end of the year. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."
  8. 15 sec"A famous investor made a scary call this week, and corporate earnings quietly boomed. You can't plan around either one. You can absolutely plan around what the IRS takes. The 2026 Tax Plan Playbook, complimentary. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."
  9. 20 sec"Here's the weekend question. When your IRA passes to your children, it lands in their peak earning years, on top of their salaries, on a ten-year clock. A lifetime of your careful planning can become their tax problem, unless you plan for two generations while you're here to do it. That's in the 2026 Tax Plan Playbook, advanced strategies for generating income and preserving your principal, complimentary and exclusive to our listeners and viewers. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."
  10. 20 sec"Inflation still in the threes. A Fed that might go either way. A billionaire yelling sell. None of it is yours to control, and none of it has to be, because the biggest number you CAN control is what your family hands the IRS over the next twenty years. The 2026 Tax Plan Playbook is the map, and we retire this year's edition December 31st. Text PLAN to 239-747-1077."

Menu B · Complimentary 15-Minute Visit · text 15

  1. 5 sec"Fifteen complimentary minutes with an advisor. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."
  2. 5 sec"Got a CD maturing this fall? That's a decision, not a rollover. 15 to 239-747-1077."
  3. 5 sec"The grandkids trip deserves a real answer. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."
  4. 10 sec"Before the storm has a name and before the season has traffic, run the checklist with us. Fifteen complimentary minutes. Text 15 to 239-747-1077, or call and request the appointment."
  5. 10 sec"That scary headline you read this week? Bring it in. We'll put it next to your actual plan and see if it survives the comparison. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."
  6. 15 sec"September is the head-start month. The families who sit down now get every year-end move with room to spare, and the visit takes fifteen complimentary minutes, weekday, with one of our four advisors. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."
  7. 15 sec"People say it on almost every visit: 'I had no idea your firm did that.' Retirement income design, tax-efficient strategies, estate coordination, insurance reviews, directly or through our strategic partners. Find out what applies to your family. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."
  8. 15 sec"Sometimes our advice is one word. Wait. Don't chase the headline, don't roll the CD by default, don't convert in the wrong year. If nobody has ever told you to wait, come hear what patient advice sounds like. Fifteen complimentary minutes. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."
  9. 20 sec"Here's the honest pitch. Fifteen minutes, no cost, no obligation, and one of two outcomes. Either your plan holds up under fresh eyes, which is worth knowing for certain, or we find the one thing worth fixing while there's still a whole fall ahead to fix it. Bring the maturity notice, the old policy, or just your questions. Text 15 to 239-747-1077, or call and our answering service will book a weekday time with one of our four advisors."
  10. 20 sec"If you've built a serious portfolio, your next win probably isn't a hotter stock. It's coordination. The maturing cash, the two-generation tax picture, the policies nobody's read since the nineties, the trip you keep postponing. That's the conversation we have every day, and September is the perfect month for it. Text 15 to 239-747-1077."
Producer & CCO · pre-air review

Compliance Flag List

  1. No predictions on the Fed or rates, anywhere. The script describes what markets are pricing (about a one in three chance of a September move, a hike viewed as likelier than a cut, December likelier for action, as of 8/26) and attributes it to market pricing, never to this program's judgment. No host states or implies what the Fed will do, and the market-pricing read itself is marked REFRESH THU AM because sources conflicted during the build week.
  2. Dalio is description, not endorsement or rebuttal. His sell-bonds, buy-gold-and-Bitcoin view is reported as his published position (Bloomberg, 8/21) with his own stated uncertainty ("three years, give or take two"). The counterweight is the FactSet earnings record, presented as data. No gold, crypto, or bond recommendation is made or implied in either direction; the only generalization is that all forecasters are sometimes wrong, applied to forecasting as a class.
  3. The Nvidia placeholder rule: NO NUMBER AIRS UNLESS DEVON FILLS IT THURSDAY MORNING. The bullet is bracketed and marked in the script and on the dashboard. The fallback read if unfilled ("another chapter in the AI story") contains no figures. Alfie's follow-on line is written to work with a good or a bad market reaction and expresses no opinion on the stock.
  4. Medicare is a client conversation, not advice. The only framing on air is "a conversation we have with our client families every September" plus the factual window date. No plan types, comparisons, or selection guidance are aired, because plan selection involves separate licensure; the script says so explicitly.
  5. Inherited IRA content is category-level education. The ten-year rule is described generally ("most adult children," "generally have to empty it within ten years"); no thresholds, ages, or dollar amounts are spoken, and no listener-specific advice is given. The two-generation framing is a planning concept, not a promised outcome.
  6. Permission-to-spend language stays first-person and substantiable. "So much of this industry" is the ceiling for comparative language; "unlike other advisors" and any superlative or uniqueness claim do not appear. Spending encouragement is always tied to "inside a real plan" and "what your situation can support," never a promise that any spending level is sustainable.
  7. Staleness guard: taped Thursday 8/27, airs Saturday 8/29. Every dated item is framed "as we sat down to record this week": the PCE release (8/26), the oil slide (8/25), the Dalio piece (8/21), and Nvidia (8/26). The words today, tonight, this morning, and yesterday do not appear in spoken lines. Labor Day, Grandparents Day, and the Medicare window are forward-dated calendar facts and safe.
  8. The cash segment quotes no current yields and pitches no products. The only rate spoken is the historical "around five percent" describing 2023-24 CDs. The ladder is described as a concept with no instruments, terms, banks, or yields named. The insurance-review content is framed as review, never sale; the named-storm binding freeze is stated as standard industry practice with no carrier named.
  9. Hurricane content is preparedness, never fear or forecast. The September 10th statistical peak is NOAA climatology, stated as a calendar fact. No prediction about this season's activity is made or implied.
  10. No client illustrations air this week. Nothing in this build describes a real or composite client situation, so there is no anonymization for Mary to approve; if the hosts ad-lib a client story, standing rules apply (no names, no identifying details, no outcomes presented as typical).
  11. Keywords confirmed: PLAN (Seg 1 & 3) and 15 (Seg 2 & 4), both to 239-747-1077. Complimentary is used throughout and the offers are never described with the word that rhymes with three. The document is always "the guide" or its title; the two-word industry jargon term stays banned on air. The 12/31 sunset is stated as editorial fact, never pressure, and the exclusivity language must remain literally true.
Read on air where flagged · keep with CCO

General disclosure. Saving The Investor is a broadcast program offering general educational information about financial topics; it is not individualized investment, tax, insurance, or legal advice, and nothing discussed should be acted on without advice specific to your situation. Market, inflation, interest-rate, commodity, and earnings references reflect publicly reported data as of the recording date and will change; statements about what markets are pricing describe market-based probabilities, not this program's predictions, and this program makes no forecast of Federal Reserve policy, interest rates, oil prices, storm activity, or any market outcome. References to Ray Dalio describe his published views and are presented without endorsement or rebuttal; discussion of gold and digital assets describes market mechanics and one investor's stated opinion only and is not a recommendation; digital assets in particular are volatile and speculative. References to any company's earnings are factual reporting, not an opinion on any security, and nothing in this broadcast is a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Discussion of certificates of deposit, cash management, laddering, Roth conversions, inherited retirement accounts and the ten-year distribution rule, gifting, life insurance review, and estate coordination is conceptual education about categories of planning, each involving eligibility rules, costs, and tradeoffs that depend on individual circumstances; tax rules are subject to change, and a future Congress can change rates. Medicare enrollment involves separately licensed activity; nothing on this program constitutes Medicare plan advice or a plan comparison. Insurance references, including the industry practice of suspending new policies and changes when a named storm threatens, are general information; policy availability and binding rules vary by carrier and situation. The firm's philosophy regarding retirement income and spending describes its planning approach, not a guarantee that any level of income or spending is sustainable for any particular family.

The 2026 Tax Plan Playbook ("Advanced Strategies for Generating Income and Preserving Your Principal") is a complimentary digital guide offered with no purchase or obligation, consistent with the SEC Marketing Rule, with no testimonials presented as typical, no false scarcity, no false urgency, and no promised outcomes. The subtitle describes the document's subject matter and is not a promise of income or of principal preservation. The limited-time statement reflects a genuine editorial sunset: the 2026 edition is withdrawn on December 31, 2026, and the firm must in fact retire it on that date; the exclusivity statement must remain accurate. The 15-minute visit is complimentary and carries no obligation. Services referenced on air are offered by Advantage Wealth Partners directly or through strategic partners; insurance, annuity, Medicare, and legal document services involve separate licensure and third-party providers. Confirm the on-air call to action mechanics, text PLAN or 15 to 239-747-1077 and answering-service scheduling, and this disclosure with the Chief Compliance Officer prior to air.