"At this point in time." Unless otherwise specified, I'd assume you are talking in the present. If you are referring to a previous or future date, give that.
"I'm going to be honest with you," "let me be honest," raise suspicions that much of what you have said and will say is definitely less than honest, perhaps total prevarication.
In order to avoid saying "um," "actually," or some other time killer, JFK used to say "Let me say this about that." Pure pap, but at least he made up his own time killer. It illustrates that our culture has forbidden the pause to think. Among some Native American tribal nations, it was a requirement to pause before speaking to show that you were thinking over what others had said, so the pause wasn't giving up the podium or failing to respond, but a simple responsibility. Obviously, they were intelligent in a way that our culture is not.