RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING     [00:00:01]

MALE: You’ve found it. It’s your safer place for retirement planning. Prepare to be coddled in pure fiduciary goodness with your host and president of Decker Retirement Planning, Mike Decker. This is Safer Retirement Radio. If you’re in or near retirement, listen up and learn about a math-based, principle-based approach to retirement that is designed to help you enjoy a safer retirement. These strategies are to help protect and grow what you’ve saved and live the life you want today. So, grab a pen because your safer path to retirement planning starts now.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING [00:00:37]

MIKE: Welcome to Safer Retirement Radio, where you get the transparency that you deserve. I’m Mike Decker, your host, president of Decker Retirement Planning. And folks, we’ve got a great show lined up for you today. Today’s show I’ve got a panel with me. I’ve asked Josh Hunsaker, who heads up the new business that the guys who help with the planners, the underwriting team of building plans. We’ve got some stories that he’s going to be sharing with you today.  As well as Cameron Archibald, who manages all the in-force business everyone that becomes a client.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:01:07]

MIKE: The plan still needs to be maintained. You’ve gotta carry it out throughout the rest of your retirement. It’s not just a set and go. This is a set and maintain kinda like a Sherpa that would take you through Everest, there and back. Gonna both be on the show. Thank you so much for joining us and spending an hour on this, the podcast, this radio show, all this content.

CAMERON: Oh, so excited to be here, Mike.

JOSH: Yeah. Thanks, Mike.

MIKE: So, before we get started though, and I told you both before this, I’ve got a huge bone to pick with the financial industry. The reason why, I’m just so disgusted, I was on Facebook as many of us are, right? And I was scrolling down the feed, and I see this advertisement: “find your local fiduciary.”

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:01:46]

MIKE: Many of you have probably seen this before, right? Your local fiduciary. Fiduciary’s a buzz word; it means trust. Okay, so I go through there, and I fill out all the information. And, they have my honest information, and guess what I found? And I actually printed out here. It was just incredible. I go out, and they say, oh, I need your email we’ll send you the two most local, best fiduciaries we can find. I won’t say the companies here. I don’t wanna say names. I don’t believe in slander. But, the first one, expertise, financial planning, investment management, and retirement planning. Sound good, right?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:02:21]

MIKE: Here’s the kicker: CFP, so smart, series 63, series 66, and series 7, he only gets paid on commissions. How’s that sound fair? And, we talk about this over and over. A fiduciary must be series 65 licensed. Fee based only. Anything else would be a conflict of interest when giving financial advice. The second one wasn’t even a person. It was just a big name with a bunch of brokers in there. It’s just absolutely ludicrous. And, the third one I thought was funny: it’s a budgeting app that said they could help you with everything.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:03:00]

MIKE: A budgeting app. Can you believe that?  Now, the budgeting app, it’s not Mint. I will say that, and I use Mint. I love Mint! I think it’s a wonderful bit there. But no, it’s a popular budgeting app that gives a flat fee, which is nice, but it’s an app. It doesn’t make sense. Blows my mind, and so I searched on the web to find an article that could help articulate this. And, Josh and Cameron please do chime in, ’cause this is just ludicrous. Here’s seven mistakes people make when choosing their financial advisors.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:03:33]

MIKE: So, public service announcement, do not make these mistakes. For everyone listening right now, and dare I say, if you’re tuned in to the show and you’re in the car, don’t write these down, let’s drive safe. But go to deckerretirementplanning.com. We put the transcription of this show, so you can do research. You can further on with this conversation. But, please don’t make these mistakes. And, what’s interesting, it’s easier to comment on these situations than it is to actually do. So, let’s just not comment and say, oh, that makes sense. Let’s take some action ’cause knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is power, and here’s how we’re gonna apply the knowledge.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:04:08]

MIKE: The first one is, never hire an advisor who is not a fiduciary. Okay, they have to claim that they’re a fiduciary, but it’s up to you to do the digging to figure out if they’re actually a fiduciary or not. You gotta do it yourself because there’s a lot of people that may bend the truth a little bit.

CAMERON: Well, yeah, and to weigh in here, I mean, that’s just what you said, don’t hire someone who’s not a fiduciary, but by your internet search if you didn’t know anything about investing you would have just found one of these guys that were a fiduciary to the layman. I mean, how do you get through that?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING   [00:04:42]

MIKE: Anyone can claim to be a fiduciary, but who’s actually a fiduciary? We can break it down for you real quick. You ready, Cameron? If they’re series 65, they can be a fiduciary. If they are not series 65, they’re probably not. You can find this out on brokercheck.com.  FINRA puts this out, so it’s public knowledge, but it is worth mentioning. Look up your advisor.

CAMERON: How can they claim they’re a fiduciary, then?

MIKE: There’s a fiduciary responsibility to every financial advisors’ extent. Like, you should do some due diligence.

JOSH: But, they’re not legally obligated, unless they’re series 65, right?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:05:18]

MIKE: Yeah. The reason why is they’ve got a conflict of interest, and so the way they get around it is they have you fill out a questionnaire. And, they you create the questionnaire, so you did your own due diligence on the investments you should have and then they just find the investment and get paid on that. See, it’s a dog and pony show? It’s that the right phrase there?

JOSH: So, going back to that, it sounds like, I mean, we work in a few states, but let’s say somebody’s in a state where you know they can hear the radio show, but they’re not near one of our offices. If they’re looking for a fiduciary, is searching on FINRA the best place to go for that?

MIKE: That’s hard to say; this is a great question. I believe you should find someone based on their content.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:06:01]

MIKE: If they have the same messages, which is that the second one? Yeah, don’t hire the first advisor you meet, which is the second point here, but search due content. I mean, let’s be very open folks, there are a number of dinner seminars for retirees that happen every week, and they talk about Social Security, taxes, income planning, and you’re the prettiest girl at the ball right now. You could go to a different financial advisors’ seminar every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the next couple of months probably.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:06:37]

MIKE: And, I would say go for it, and the reason I say go for it is look at their content. If you like their content, then verify the source from which the content comes from. Does that make sense?

JOSH: Yeah.

MIKE: Because, there are fiduciaries. We’re fiduciaries, and we present everything in a math-based, principle-based approach. Some people, very few, but some people just wanna take more risk. Now, they have built in pensions, and they may be able to take more risk.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:07:07]

MIKE: And so even though we can do what’s in their best interest, emotionally, or their narrative doesn’t line up with what they wanna do and they go somewhere else. And that’s okay! The important part is you’re working with honesty or a purebred fiduciary, and two that you like the content or the philosophy on how they put it together. For us, its math-based, principle based. It’s hard to argue with that, but some people are set up in different way. Whether they have all rental real estate and it’s managed professionally and its passive income, okay. They’re gonna look for a different professional. Unless you’re looking for an escape plan, and you need DST’s involved, then we might be a good fit.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:07:40]

MIKE: But, all these little nuances, look for the content.

CAMERON: And it’s easier to be a broker in a ten-year bull market, isn’t it? I mean, these conservative models with the safer distribution plan is really when the rubber hits the road. When we think there could be a pending recession in the next 12 to 18 months then, it’s these conservative models, principle-based models that are gonna sail you through. Not who can get the best returns today.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:08:14]

MIKE: Oh, my heaven’s, thank you for saying that. Let me say it a little bit differently: bull markets are definitively one of the worst ways that you can get a false positive against your investments. It makes people delusional in the fact that they think the markets can only go up, and what’s really funny is if you google the financial news in 1999, you’re get news reporters saying, new highs, new records, seems like it can’t go down. And the more hype it gets, the worse the crash tends to be.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:08:48]

MIKE: Shall we go down the third point here?

CAMERON: Yeah, let’s go ahead and continue.

MIKE: Choosing an advisor with the wrong specialty. And this one I’m particularly passionate about because we are not advisors for accumulation. We had a gentleman from Germany who listens to the show, moving to Salt Lake City, wanted to talk to us. Great guy, I mean, really had a great conversation with him. Really, my heart goes out to him. But, he’s in his mid-twenties. He wants to prepare for retirement, but that’s not what we do here, and we would be a bad fit, and we are comfortable telling people we are not a good fit.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:09:21]

MIKE: Because, it doesn’t make sense to bring someone on that you’re not gonna do them the justice that another firm would be more suited to do. A jack of all trades is good at nothing. But, we are good at distributions. Josh, can you talk a little bit about that process? I know we’ve talked about it before, but the extent that we go into in building a proper or dare I say, a safer distribution plan.

JOSH: So, when it comes to it, I mean, kinda like you said, it’s not an accumulation phase. It’s in the name; it’s a distribution plan. It’s a safer distribution plan. It’s set up to allow for income over 30 plus years all the way up till somebody dies.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:09:59]

JOSH: We usually go out to age one hundred, and it really maps out month for month exactly what they can plan to get.  There’s always variance, things go up and down a little bit we adjust that year by year and that’s what Cameron works on most of the time.  Is making sure that it’s up to date year by year so we don’t just set it and forget it, we’re constantly reviewing that and making sure the numbers match up to what’s expected. But I mean, that’s really the difference and kinda like you mentioned, a specialty, making sure you go with somebody that has a specialty. That’s our specialty is creating a safer distribution plan.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:10:34]

JOSH: I’ve seen a lot of advisors who they’re specialty isn’t a process or a specific ideal, it’s a product. And so instead of setting up any kind of distribution plan they, no matter what your situation, they’re sell you a product and then say okay, hope for the best and then send you on your way.  But for us, the safer distribution plan is where we set up everything from your income right from the first day all the way until you pass away.

MIKE: Yeah, and I wanted to bring this up. It’s the second principle that governs proper retirement planning, diversify by purpose, not just by risk.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:11:10]

MIKE: You can’t get one product. There’s three different kinds of investments that would qualify for all the traits of an investment having. You can have growth, principle guaranteed, or liquidity, and you can choose two of those traits for any one given investment. But yet people will only take two, put their whole practice around it and call that their practice, their product and they’re pushing a product. It does not make sense to try and ride a tricycle with only two wheels. Now I know that’s a bicycle, but if you’re supposed to ride a tryke [PH], that’s kind of a weak analogy. But I’m off the cuff here on trying to come up with something.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:11:45]

MIKE: But, when it comes down to a retirement plan, do you have a car with three wheels and just have one missing? Right, I know trykes exist but you bought a car. You can’t just have a wheel missing. Well let me say it this way, when you go camping these 10 essentials. That’s what all Boy Scouts talks about, the 10 essentials. So, do you only just take five ’cause that’s probably what you need and just choose the five products? No, there’s a reason why there are 10 essentials on there. There’s three essential investments that must be in every retirement plan and you have to incorporate all three to have the correct retirement plan for you to manage the list.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:12:21]

MIKE: I mean, think about backpacking through Glacier National Park, Patagonia, or wherever it may be, are you gonna bring just a couple of things and just go through there? Are you gonna pay attention to the weather? Are you gonna make adjustments along the way? You cannot do a proper retirement plan unless you incorporate holistically the different types of investments. Cameron, I think I interrupted you.

CAMERON: Oh, no, I just chiming in with what Josh had been mentioning with the follow through. Some of the firms that we work with in order to provide you the safer distribution plan have mentioned to us before, you guys are incredible with your follow through.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:12:57]

CAMERON: We haven’t seen firms that go to this length to make sure that their client’s investments are still on track, years or decades down the road. And I’ve got that from many different people, it is exciting to them, they say wow, this is the future of retirement planning. And that’s pretty cool to be a part of it.

MIKE: When you say the future, I wanna liken what we talked about last week. Horses were the way of doing things until the car was invented. There was a lot of resistance to the car. It disrupted the industry but eventually people got on board. And I don’t know many people that ride a horse to work. We’re driving cars to work.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:13:37]

MIKE: Innovative technology is critical in advancing what’s best to do. For years, it was the pie chart guesser that’s just what was best. Distribution planning wasn’t invented. We didn’t invent it. It existed. Bucket strategies existed, all these things. We didn’t care what it was as long as it was transparent and can give financial clarity to the different clients that wanted that amount of transparency. We just wrote algorithms that optimized that kind of transparency, and they give people that kind of structure that they can actually see for the next 30 or 40 years what their retirement looks like.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:14:13]

MIKE: You can’t do that with a pie chart guesser. And slowly people are changing because they’re realizing the pie chart guesser keeps them playing retirement roulette. The distribution plan is a map and compass that guides them through whatever may come in front of us and give them the flexibility to make the adjustments that they need to make to be able to enjoy a safer retirement.

MIKE: It’s so cool to have these conversations. Let’s go on to the next one here ’cause it’s somewhat similar to what we’re talking about. Picking an advisor with an incompatible strategy.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:14:46]

MIKE: This seems like it’s common sense. It’s easy to comment on, but an incompatible strategy, I’m gonna throw one out there, perhaps it’s an income annuity.  This is one of the big traps. Income annuity or riders is a great way to pay an insurance money to get your own money back at an internal rate of return of around one and a half percent. Even with interest rates being as low as they are, it doesn’t seem to make sense, but with fear-based decisions or anxiety that’s put into people, these investments are happening, unfortunately.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:15:22]

MIKE: And I feel like a rebel against the industry, oh, well guaranteed income for life. That’s just code for an income annuity. Let’s get past that and understand there are better ways to invest your money without having the risk.

JOSH: So, I mean, when it comes to the income annuity’s I think that’s really, we talked about the strategy of most planners. You know, most planners they just stick to a product like an income annuity rather than a plan like our safer retirement plan, our Safer Distribution Plan. So, I think that’s really the biggest caveat when it comes to finding your fiduciary.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:15:58]

JOSH: If you do find a fiduciary, it should be somebody that’s not just going to sell a specific product or anything like that. It’s gonna be somebody that sets up a plan.

CAMERON: And not leave you on the curb with inflation with an income annuity only retirement plan, right?

MIKE: I wanna throw out a few code words here. Folks, this is a public service announcement right here, a few code words on the financial industry.  If you hear this, I’m going to explain what it really means. If you hear a social security seminar by a financial planner, what it means is, I want you to come in, I’ll do some fancy footwork and talk to you about social security, and then I’m gonna try and sell you a product or a service.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING   [00:16:38]

MIKE: Let’s just recognize it is what it is, and be honest, okay?  We don’t really do social security seminars because yes, we are very good at social security, but all the information that I believe that you would need is in an eBook, which you can get at deckerretirementplanning.com. And, it’s a more extensive conversation than what you’re gonna see in these seminars. Sure, they can talk about taxes and this, that, and the other, but the end of the day, don’t you just want to have the highest net of tax return and optimize the whole plan?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:17:12]

MIKE: I mean, there’s a lot of moving parts to every retirement plan. You can’t just focus in on one; you have to look at it as a whole picture.

CAMERON: Yeah, exactly. Social Security as its own income stream by itself, I mean, when to file, there’s different strategies but like you said, if that’s not tied into your total Safer Distribution Plan, or a bigger picture, it’s almost arbitrary. Like, well maybe because I’m fear-based, I’ll file younger, maybe I think I’m gonna live really long, I’ll file later.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:17:45]

CAMERON: But, until you have the data that says, Social Security plus these other investments, plus these principle guaranteed accounts, plus having some, you know, risk in your plan like our two-sided models. That’s where you really say, oh well, it’s a no-brainer. This is the time I should file because the numbers dictate it not my emotional response.

MIKE:  Math-based, principle-based as opposed to intuitive guessing. Which is essentially what it is. And, that’s fine, but let’s have all the facts on the table, so you can make an educated decision about that. The next one we’re gonna talk about here is not asking about credentials.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:18:23]

MIKE: Look up your broker. Look up your insurance agent, finra.org. Well actually, don’t work with someone that’s only a broker, don’t work with someone that’s only an insurance agent, work with a fiduciary who’s licensed across the board. So, they can truly give you the investments that you need because of an open discussion to where you have the power to say yes or no to whatever, it makes sense to you. You can all look that up, it’s google-able, finra.org.

JOSH: It’s not dot com; it’d be dot org or dot gov I think.

MIKE: Just google FINRA. I should know this; I can’t believe I’m blanking on it. Or, you can just google broker check; it’s the first thing that pops up.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:18:59]

MIKE: But, it’s essentially, you should know who you’re getting in bed with essentially. And here’s something to consider too, a retirement is typically 30 to 40 years right now. Do you really wanna be switching advisors throughout retirement? That’s stressful.

CAMERON: Sounds like a huge headache.

MIKE: Yeah, and do you wanna work with an advisor who’s gonna retire in five or 10 years? That’s also a huge headache.

JOSH: So, on that note, I mean, what do people do if, let’s say you have an advisor, and you really like your advisor, everything looks great. What do you do when that person retires? What happens to your investments? What happens to your accounts?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:19:35]

MIKE: Yeah, you need someone who speaks one language to interpret that language and then carry it on. That’s, I don’t know, just saying, that’s pretty tough.

CAMERON: Yeah, the math is the math. I mean, say for example you were a client at Decker Retirement Planning, if your advisor was to retire, well the numbers are still the numbers. Your distribution plan is still running exactly how it should have been, and the hand off is a million times easier because the numbers are still in place; the strategy is still in place. And, there’s immense peace of mind with that.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:20:13]

JOSH: I think, on that note, it’s important to specify that the company doesn’t retire. A lot of people get sucked into a specific advisor. Somebody who’s kind of a one man show and they do everything themselves, whereas, for example, with us, we have a department that helps service the plans year by year to make sure that everything is on par. Everything is set up the way it’s supposed to. So, even if their advisor does retire, we’ll of course help them, you know, continue their plan for the rest of their life. And make sure that they have the information they need and the transparency they need even if their advisor retires.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:20:49]

CAMERON: That’s correct. Thanks, Josh.

MIKE:  Company wide, we’re synced up on the principles that govern proper retirement planning. And, we used a math-based approach, and we’re all trained on the same algorithms and the same structure. Now, their custom narrative, everyone has a different retirement, and they have to be able to have their personal narrative. But, to manage the plan, Decker Retirement Planning has legacy plan and should never go away. I mean, unless currency diminishes and governments collapse.

JOSH: Well, I think retirement planning is gonna be the least of our concerns.

MIKE: That’s the least of our worries at that point. But, those black swan tragic events aside, the entire company is synced up to maintain your plan indefinitely.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:21:27]

MIKE: Regardless if your planner retires or not any other planner should be able to come in, ask a few questions about the narrative. Make sure that we’re addressing what you have, and continue on without tripping up a step.

JOSH: So, can I jump in really quick?

MIKE: Sure.

JOSH: So, you’d mentioned that, for example, we’re talking about an advisor retiring or having to switch to another advisor, a lot of times it seems like people get sucked into that trap of being stuck with the same advisor for a long time.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:21:59]

JOSH: And, even that advisor might have not the same strategy in mind for you as what you had based your plan off of to begin with. One of the things in looking for a fiduciary, I don’t know if there’s a good way to weed this out, but something that we’ve talked about in the past is that, for example, for us as being a fiduciary we consider it part of our responsibility to not be tied to other companies. One of the things that we kinda pride ourselves on is that we’re not owned by anybody else. We’re owned internally, but that’s not really true for other companies.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:22:34]

JOSH: Lotta people, even though they might claim to be a fiduciary, even if they’re series 65 licensed, they might be tied to something else that’s gonna inhibit them from doing what is really best for the client.

MIKE: I don’t know if you saw my notes or not, but that’s number six: making the assumption that you’re with a reputable brand as opposed to the advisor. There’s a lot of really big names out there. My question is, so? Just because they’re a big name doesn’t mean they’re necessarily in your best interest. The bigger the name it may be a profit center. It could be a bunch of brokers in there; it could be a lot of things.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:23:09]

MIKE: They are successful in what they do, but what do they do? What’s their motive? What’s their mission? What’s the internal agenda that’s happening here? These are questions to be considered because there’s a lot of big names that you can go to, but the advisor itself is essentially independent and can make some terrible decisions. And, what happens? Oh, something bad happens. They just get rid of them and the name protects itself and blah, blah, blah. Lawyers get involved, so on and so forth. So, don’t just rely on the name; rely on the person, the strategy, the legacy plan, and how you’re going to be assessed.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:23:41]

MIKE: The last one I wanna talk about here, and this is number seven, is not understanding how they’re paid. Commission people make money. If you’ve got a C share mutual fund, there’s a 12 B one fee that they don’t have to tell you about that is putting a drag on your investments. You should ask an advisor who sells you a non-traded rate how much they got paid on that. We disclose everything we get paid on; it’s transparent. Everyone that comes in we exactly say, this is how we get paid on, here’s the structure, we’re as open as can be. And, I think that’s a very distinct difference between someone who’s legally bound to do what’s in your best interests as opposed to someone who feels like they have a fiduciary responsibility.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:24:20]

MIKE: A responsibility is much less significant than legally being held responsible, and I hope you can see the distinction with that. For all of you listening right now and just tuning in, I wanna just verify the fiduciary line up here. Three points, they must be series 65 licensed, period. Number two, they must work for an independent company, period. Number three, they must work under an RIA or a Register Investment Advisory firm, period.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:24:56]

MIKE: Any variation of one of these turns someone from a purebred fiduciary into someone who feels like they have a fiduciary responsibility. According to Tony Robins, only one-point six percent of all financial professionals are pure bred fiduciaries. That number should shake you up a little bit because one-point six percent means chances are you’re not working with someone who actually has your best interests at heart. I’m not saying they’re dishonest, I’m not saying they’re taking advantage of you, I’m saying the business structure to which they work in could be compromising the integrity of your retirement plan even with best intentions.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:25:34]

CAMERON: Yeah, they may be perfectly nice guys or gals and they just at the end of the day either have a company directive or they want to get paid more. And so they choose these products that may not be in your best interest. And even being, you know, the nicest guys in the world, it’s like they have handcuffs on, they can only help you so much.

MIKE: Go ahead, Josh.

JOSH: I think even on top of that, on top of they just are tied down by their company, I think a lot of advisors just don’t have the knowledge.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:26:06]

JOSH: They don’t have the know-how of what to do. I know there’s a few firms out there that they bring people on very quickly and they just push them through their minimal training period and have them selling stuff really quickly. And they’re doing what they feel like is right for their clients, they’re trying to help their clients but the problem there is they don’t have the knowledge needed to really help with those decisions. I mean these are decisions that affect the rest of your life.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:26:36]

MIKE: No checks and balances on those plan. There’s no ratification. It’s reactive if something should go wrong.

JOSH: Yeah.

MIKE: With a recession looming in the news, this is the time to really make sure your ducks are in a row. That you’ve got a plan and here’s one last tid bit that we didn’t talk about, this will be the appendix afterwards. If you’re working with a fiduciary, you have the power to say no to any investment. If you feel manipulated, coursed, judged, or persuaded into an investment, chances are you’re working with someone who’s not a fiduciary, and they are treating you with a lack of mutual trust or respect.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:27:13]

MIKE: You have to be able to say no or at least feel like you can. You need to work with an advisor who is neutral through the process, gives you the professional information, and then asks you openly, not leading you for an answer, is this what you are looking for? Is there anything else we may be missing? Are you okay with this? If your advisor is not treating you that way, I would really raise that flag and say it might be time to look around because the grass this time, may be greener on the other side.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:27:46]

MIKE: Now, for all of you listening right now and we’ve cut out the commercials, we’ve cut out all the self-promoting things, this is a financial show, this is from Decker Retirement Planning. Yes, we pay for this show. I’m being very open and honest, but we put out the contents as a public service announcement to raise the awareness. And, we invite all at no cost to you, if you have three hundred thousand of assets or more and are 55 years or older, you can come into our office at no cost to you. It’s a two-thousand-dollar value, and see what a pure-bred fiduciary actually looks likes.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:28:19]

MIKE: How you will finally be treated with mutual trust and respect in an open conversation. And, most of all, you can see a proper social security optimization report. A proper distribution plan, proper tax planning, tax minimization, tax efficiency and so much more. It costs two thousand dollars, what it would normally be, it’s at no cost to you.  All these services, you can walk away with and the best part about this is all we’re inviting you to do is to come in and continue your research on retirement planning.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:28:53]

MIKE: There’s no financial checkbook needed; you’re not gonna owe us a dime. There’s no financial decisions that will be made in the visit as well. We want you to visit with us to continue your research, and at the end of it you will decide if you’d like to continue talking with us or not. There’s no pressure. You don’t sign anything. We know that what we’re offering, the principle-based, math-based approach to retirement planning is so critical that when people see it, and I’ve seen this over and over again. The hands go on the table, sometimes they’ll even stand up and say, I knew the pie chart was wrong. This is what I’ve been looking for. Where have you been?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:29:30]

MIKE: If you wanna take us up on this offer at no cost to you, call us at 833-707-3030, now and they’ll gather your information so on Monday, the closest office to which you live will reach out to you and schedule a time for you to visit. Either in person or over the phone. We have people listening to this via podcast and they call in from Florida, from Minnesota, from New Jersey, from all over the nation, Indiana, to visit with us because what we’re doing is so different and better for people. Dare I say, safer for your retirement.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:30:01]

MIKE: Now, I will say, I don’t want anyone to be disheartened because we’re not in every major city in the United States right now. We’re in four states; that’s pretty good for an independent financial practice, and we continue to grow. But, when all is said and done, we wanna make sure we’re accessible to you, and technology makes that available. You can call 833-707-3030 right now to gain access to something that is life changing. I bet, I’m not a betting man, but I bet that what you will see is something so incredible and that you can learn something from.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:30:41]

MIKE: That will elevate not only your lifestyle but comfort with the idea of retirement. It is very stressful to transition from your working life and a steady pay check to where you’re creating your own pay check and have to just figure it out. You shouldn’t have to just figure it out. You can also go to deckerretirementplanning.com to where you can catch this show, a number of shows, content, continue to research and at the bottom you can click get started at no cost to you we’ll do whatever you wanna talk about. If you wanna do a full Decker Review, which is what most people will do, you can click that option, or you can talk just about social security with a fiduciary.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:31:13]

MIKE: You can talk about just about a safer tax plan with a fiduciary. You decide what you wanna talk about, and we’re happy to talk to you about that. Let’s keep going, shall we, on the fun narratives that we’ve got here. Some storytelling: I wanna start with one individual. With the Kardashians, with Pinterest, with all these reality shows, it seems like we’re not wealthy, and we can’t make it unless we have millions and millions of dollars. The fact is, wealth is a simple equation of how much do you need, how much do you have, and what is the math show that you can take throughout retirement without running out of money before you die.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:31:56]

MIKE: Josh, you had a client that never made, what was it, more than 34 thousand dollars a year in his life?

JOSH: Yeah, he worked for the same company for I think it was something, 25, 30 years, some kind of manufacturing company, and he only made about 34, 35 thousand per year. But, he lived pretty frugally. He saved as much as he could. He put his money toward retirement. I believe he’s in his sixties now, and he’s actually able to retire pretty comfortably. He doesn’t have a million dollars; he doesn’t have this giant nest egg that he’s sitting on.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:32:30]

JOSH: But, through some of our social security optimization reports, some of our information that we have for him, we’re able to find a way that he’s able to retire comfortably. I think, if I remember right, looking at his plan between social security, I think he might have a pension, and his savings, we’re able to put together a retirement plan for him that allowed him to continue at essentially the same income that he had when he was working. What he’s already used to, what he’s comfortable with really until he dies.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:33:02]

JOSH: That’s part of that safer distribution plan is it really maps out every month all the way up until, we usually go to age one hundred but then if you know, you’re getting close we’ll extend it out. But it really maps it out month by month of what your able to have. And even at a little bit lower of an asset base, he’s able to live comfortably even without having millions in the bank.

MIKE: Tell you Dave Ramsey listeners, this might be some news to your ears, or excitement to your ears. But, when it comes down to it, what do you need to be happy?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:33:35]

MIKE: What’s that number? Everyone’s got a number. Once you reach that number, you’re in power. Power’s a big word we’re talking about right now; you should have the power to do what you wanna do. The math can show you that you have the power to decide if you wanna keep working or not. That’s liberating. And, when you take away the fear of, anxiety of what retirement does to so many people. It’s a wonderful time, it’s a beautiful time for those retirees, and we are not just for the ultra-wealthy.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:34:06]

MIKE: Sure, we have clients that have 10, 20 million dollars, and we’ve managed their assets, and we help them. But, we also give the same dignity and mutual trust and respect to the clients that have three or four hundred thousand dollars, because they’re people. And they’re gonna enjoy their retirement with the human emotions that we all have of joy, with family and friends, and other activities just as much as the ultra-wealthy and everyone in between. And everyone deserves that same dignity and respect and if you wanna have that, you can go to deckerretirementplanning.com and click that get started button. Or, just call us 833-707-3030. Any last comments on that, Josh, before we move on to our next quick story?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:34:46]

JOSH: So, I think, I mean, in regards to that, kinda like you said, we can really help most people, you know, not really depending on whatever their asset base is. We can help most people but going back to your discussion on fiduciary and finding a fiduciary, if you’re in that range of about three hundred thousand and you’re trying to retire I think it becomes even more important to find a fiduciary at that point.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:35:16]

JOSH: Because you don’t really have as much time to make that mistake of getting put into some security that’s, you know, a fixed income annuity something like that that’s going to handicap your retirement even further.

CAMERON: Not only that it’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond. Some of these investment firms will only take you if you have a certain very high net worth and to not be excluded from these amazing two-sided models, the principle guaranteed accounts and the safer distribution plan.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:35:51]

CAMERON: Like Mike said, we don’t discriminate. All clients are treated with the same dignity and respect, and your problems are given the same weight. And, it’s really an amazing transformation process to see from the clients when they go from working, not knowing do I have enough? To then being able to go into a comfortable retirement.

MIKE: I’ve seen some of our account process managers, the ones that build the plans, have to spend more time on someone that has 350 thousand of assets than someone that has one point five million.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:36:23]

MIKE: Because of their specific narrative, but we gave them the dignity and the time because they’re real people, and they deserve to have that. So, that brings me up to the next topic I kinda wanna bring up here and that is, 30 years is a long time for retirement. You can’t just lock something in, and expect it to work. Cameron, you had a client that you were talking about earlier today that started their retirement one way and then 10 years in, no five or six years in, so she’s very independent, loved her independence, was traveling, enjoying life and as she got into her early to mid-seventies realized that she really wanted to be with family.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:37:02]

MIKE: She wanted to be closer to family. We have two clients this rings true actually recently, and they’ve moved near family. Their motives in retirement changed, now there’s the travel years and the casual years, that’s on over simplification of the evolution of someone with retirement. But, let me just put this in perspective, all of you 50 and 60-years old people right now listening, you’re young. Modern science and medicine is making sure, or at least you should be aware that you are young and have another 30 years.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:37:33]

MIKE: Think of everything you accomplished from 20 to 50 years old. Cameron, you were gonna say?

CAMERON: A bunch of spring chick. I know that’s a fun phrase from that time.

MIKE: So, can you talk a little bit about the transition from, this client in particular, started out one way, wanted to switch it and with a set plan that still has flexibility. How you’re able to kind of alter that narrative to fit her needs as she transitioned from one phase to the next in retirement.

CAMERON: Yeah, of course, so this client like Mike said, early in her retirement love to travel, loved to be independent.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:38:12]

CAMERON: She thought, I will always live on my own, that’s what I’ve always done, I love the independence that comes with being able to live my life and I’ll go visit family occasionally. And you know, I’ve known her for a few years and into her seventies now, mid-seventies, her plan is changing. She’s just thinking, you know, I think I actually do wanna spend the rest of my life with my family. I imagine this was a conversation over Christmas, or over a holiday.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:38:44]

CAMERON: But, she talked with her kids and said hey, look, you know, I won’t be a financial burden, I have assets, but I want to live near and in this case the kids said no, why don’t you move in with us. Now, not every family’s gonna do that of course, there’s different family dynamics but in this case, the kids absolutely adored mom and said no, you come stay with us mom, don’t you worry about it. And the coolest part of this process was then she said, well I’m not there yet, you know, I still have a few years. Can I do more now?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:39:17]

CAMERON: You know, it changed from this kind of melancholy to this excitement where she was like, okay now, you know, is there a way that I can have more income now and kinda taper off once I move in. ‘Cause my expenses won’t be as high. You know, falling back on the numbers, we ran the safer distribution plan, we updated it to show this possible scenario and it just gave her so much peace to be able to say, yes, not only do I have a plan I have a date. She has a year that this is going to happen.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:39:48]

CAMERON: And is so excited for that transition and this was the flexibility of having a safer distribution plan, that she doesn’t have to guess. She can see the numbers and make the decision.

MIKE: You shouldn’t have to do anything; you should choose that you want to do these things because you’re the boss in your retirement. Thank you so much for sharing, Cameron. Now, I’m gonna shift gears if that’s okay, a little bit, and I wanna talk about investments themselves. A lot of people right now, the majority of listeners are people that are nearing retirement but haven’t gotten there yet.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:40:19]

MIKE: So, the investments that you have need to be understood, especially with their liquidity. I should probably say, by the way, if you’re currently retired or near retirement, anyone that’s between 55 years or old and have at least three hundred thousand of assets, the number to call 833-707-3030. We’re taking calls, and we’re filling up our calendars right now but you call, find your spot, 90-minute visit, directed and privately to you and your questions and concerns about retirement. For those currently retired which we’ve been talking about and for those who are nearing retirement which we’re about to talk about.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:40:55]

MIKE: You can also go to deckerretirementplanning.com and click get started right there. Fill out some basic information, and then we’ll go from there. But, there’s two stories in particular that I wanna talk about. And they both revolve around liquidity of investments. Now, we’re not poking any fun about these investments themselves, but we do want to raise awareness to what we found as a trend of a lack of understanding of how they actually work.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING   [00:41:28]

MIKE: In particular, we’ve got one story here, a client, and this is pretty typical unfortunately, they’re going through the process. We’re building them a safer distribution plan, and they believe that their assets are transferrable. Whether in their 401 K and they’re 62 years old, which normally you can transfer funds out at 62 years old you’re past 59 and a half. Or, they’re in this investment, you should be able to liquidate that, this, that, and the other.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:42:00]

MIKE: But, time and time again, there are surprises to these clients who thought they had liquidity and good for us to figure it out now before they needed the funds and hit these road blocks. Josh, you specialize in the asset transitions of pulling funds out of difficult situations like toxic income annuities or real estate investment trusts or RETS or 401 K’s that seem to be locked up. Can you just walk through, as a public service announcement, a few of these pit falls that you’ve seen over and over again?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:42:33]

JOSH: That’s really, that’s a can of worms. I could talk all day on all of those. But…

MIKE: How bout for five minutes, 10 minutes tops.

JOSH: So, I mean, it happens almost every day. We have clients that come in and even with things as simple as your 401K, kinda like you mentioned a lot of people at 62 years old, most 401K’s or retirement plans with their employer, they’re going to let them pull that money out. And they can start getting ready for retirement, but every once in a while, we’ll come across a plan and this has nothing to do with the legal requirements of the plan or the broker the plan is held at, it’s really just the rules within the plan itself.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:43:11]

JOSH: They can’t get the money out till they retire. So, somebody that’s expecting to retire at 65 but they wanna start planning a few years ahead of time, they, you know, they meet with us, we go through the process and then we make the call over to the 401K and they say, oh, actually you can’t pull this money out until you retire. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does push things out a little bit, and it does make us adjust the plan slightly so we can make sure that it’s going to fit with what the actual liquidity is. It’s not a show stopper, it’s just something we have to plan for and adjust for.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:43:45]

JOSH: And, on that note, if you get told no, just as for an exception. I mean, you can always ask, the worst thing they could say is no. And, we’ve had clients come in, and their 401K says no you can’t use this, but looking at their distribution plan we need that liquidity, and we’ve just had them go back and ask their HR department, “hey can I get an exception on this?” And, it happens occasionally, sometimes they’ll give it to them, and they can pull that money out.

MIKE: Or part of the money?

JOSH: Yeah, sometimes just part of the money. Sometimes they have to leave some of it there.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:44:16]

JOSH: It just kinda depends on the situation, but when it does happen it’s not, like I said, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just something that needs to be planned for. Something that we need to consider when we’re putting together the safer distribution plan. I think the other big one that comes up…

MIKE: Can I talk to that real quick?

JOSH: Yeah.

MIKE: On 401K’s, in particular, that’s a government sponsored, not government sponsored but we created a 401K to help retirements accumulate assets. That’s what it’s designed to do.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:44:46]

MIKE: And most 401K’s revolve around the asset allocation pie chart or an accumulation strategy. Now, necessarily that bad, because you’re accumulating assets and you have a pay check. But, every seven or eight years, the markets tend to crash. 2008 was the last big one. 2015, that’s up for debate because it looked like it was about to crash, there was a flash crash, but then it didn’t happen. But also, old metrics and rules have been thrown out the window, quantitative easing, the interest rate manipulation, and so on and so forth.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:45:16]

MIKE: It’s almost like we’re in uncharted territory, but 2008, crash 2001, middle of a three-year recession and so on. And, it goes back to the 60’s that I have memorized, and then I know it goes back past that. The average crash, if we crash 40 percent, according to the average mutual fund, according to Morning Star, it takes six years to recover. If your 401K is your biggest nest egg, you should be aware of its liquidity and how you can pull out of that investment should you need to.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:45:49]

MIKE: Should we hit in a recession and your accumulation strategy is hurting you, you should know if you can pull it out or not. Or, what your options are now before things happen. And things happen, I hate to be ambiguous like that but with the oil attack that just happened, that’s a black swan event. We can’t even say these are just financial indicators here. Attacks can happen; geopolitical events can happen. Laws can be passed. Depending on the presidency, markets may react if we elect a democrat or a republican for the next.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:46:24]

MIKE: I mean, there’s so many things that can happen that affect the markets. Understanding the liquidity is going to be key if your 401K is your major nest egg because you need to understand what you’re working with and what your contingency plans are should the worst happen.

CAMERON: I’d like to weight in here. You know, we don’t wanna say 401K’s are a bad thing. This is an incredible accumulation vehicle, and in your 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, this is a primary way that most American’s build wealth.

MIKE: And 50’s.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:46:55]

CAMERON: And 50’s, yeah, but the closer you get to retirement where you’ll need to start taking income, the more you need to realize your retirement is a hundred percent at risk in the market. And, that falls back to our principle number two, diversify by purpose not just by risk. Once you enter the distribution phase of your retirement, it can’t just be well I’ve got this pie chart and my 401K, I just adjust those allocations and I should be good, right?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:47:26]

MIKE: Yeah, here’s what I don’t understand. If your 59 and a half or older and you can pull out your 401K, why would you leave it in a vehicle that has limited access to investments.  Aside from a few HR policies that limits you to pulling out your 401K, why in the world would you leave it in there as a passive, limited investment option structure or investment bucket essentially that you’ve got growing.? When there’s limited options, you can transfer it out without a taxable event. Work with an advisor who’s more suited.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:48:02]

MIKE: A purebred fiduciary, who’s more suited to nearing retirement and not leave yourself to be able to react for when markets turn over. Because, if markets do turn over and you do take a 30 to 40 percent hit, do you really want to leave yourself the chance that your retirement could be pushed out another six years?

JOSH: On that same note, if you have the opportunity when you’re younger than 59 and a half, let’s say you change employers, you do have the option to roll your 401K into your new 401K, but why do it? Just put it into an IRA, and then you have more options.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:48:39]

JOSH: It keeps the same tax qualification; it keeps the same tax deferred status, but then you have more options with it.

CAMERON: I think it comes down to a couple reasons. First, people see dollar cost averaging, well I’ve been adding to it my whole life and it’s been growing. Therefore, the investments must be sound indefinitely. Second, I think is, and I hate to say it, a little bit of laziness. It sounds like a lot of work, a lot of paperwork.

MIKE: I’m gonna say simplicity.

CAMERON: Yeah.

MIKE: There’s a reason why my wife and I only have one credit card, because it’s just simpler. I know I can get more out of more credit cards and play the game that the nerd wallet guys do, but there is an aspect of simplicity. So, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:49:19]

CAMERON: Sure, sure.

MIKE: It is easier to manage, but it’s riskier to manage if you have limited liquidity and investment options. So, public service announcement to be aware of that with your 401K’s especially with the recession looming right now. If you wanna talk more about your 401K’s, you can call us 833-707-3030 now, must be 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand of assets saved up for retirement. Or, you can go to deckerretirementplanning.com, continue your research and should you choose to, at the bottom you can click get started and visit with us for 90 minutes at no cost to you. It’s a two-thousand-dollar value.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:49:58]

MIKE: But, we’ll do it at no cost to you right now if you meet the qualifications: 55 years or older and three hundred thousand of assets or more. I wanna talk about the last topic here. We’ll wrap up the show with this and that is the anxiety that a lot of people feel that comes from the assumptions that we’re making on how to manage an account. Specifically. let’s talk about beneficiary IRA’s, what a blessing and curse to so many people. A blessing, you just got more money. What’s the curse?

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:50:28]

MIKE: Josh, you had a particular situation recently I think on this very topic where the client felt particularly burdened because they had a massive beneficiary IRA and had no idea how to address it. Can you talk a little bit to that?

JOSH: So, yeah, that was one of our…

MIKE: Or was that Cameron? That was Cameron. You had that situation, I’m sorry.

CAMERON: No, no problem. You know, we all work with these clients, and they each have unique stories. But, there are common threads among many. In this case, like you said Mike, a client received this wonderful inheritance from her mother, if I remember.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:51:07]

CAMERON: Now, she had done an amazing job on her own accumulating wealth. This was not her whole nest egg; this one account. But, it was a bit of a thorn in her side every year because she had to figure out the required minimum distribution. You don’t get to wait until your 70 and a half with a beneficiary IRA. And, it caused her a lot of anxiety thinking this account’s just gonna keep growing, and I’m gonna have to keep messing with this every year. When she met with us, we were able to set up her safer distribution plan in a way where this account was quickly drawn down so that she could get that required minimum distribution out of her life.

 

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CAMERON: Now, not to say that she couldn’t have done this on her own, but without have this distribution plan in place, she wouldn’t have known at what rate, how the other accounts could have grown. What, you know, dividing your accounts into principle guaranteed and risk, it just brought her so much peace being able to say, yes, I see that within a few years. You know, she’s young in her 50’s within a few years I will no longer have to worry about this beneficiary RMD. What had been a blessing had turned into a curse and is now a blessing again for her.

 

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JOSH: Kinda goes back to simplicity like Mike was saying before. Being able to simplify your situation more than anything else. We have a lot of clients that come in asking, I wanna simplify things, consolidate things, I don’t wanna make things more complicated than they already are. And, usually that’s pretty easy to do, simplify things down and make it a little easier for them year by year.

MIKE: I don’t know what your record is Josh. I had 32 different accounts, and I think it was over 10 companies that I helped organize and put into a plan to where the husband who knew what was going on, he could do it. But, should he pass before, the wife would have no idea and openly said, this is mess.

 

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MIKE: It’s a rat’s nest. I don’t understand how our investments are. I seem to learn about a new one every other month that I had no idea about, and we organize them. Have you had a situation like that?

JOSH: I’ve had the gambit. I mean, we have one client that it seems like every year or two he comes to us and says “hey, I found another 10 thousand dollars.”  So, we work on incorporating that into his plan and I mean, more than the number of accounts, ’cause the number of accounts it’s easy to consolidate that down. But, what the accounts are stuck in, that can make it more difficult.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:53:34]

JOSH: Some people have an annuity that they own, that’s actually owned by their previous employer that they’re just the annuitant on, and it makes it very sticky tryna get those funds over to their IRA account.

MIKE: Do you remember the one that it was the doctor who ran his own HR, had an annuity in a trust in his 401K.

JOSH: Yeah, and that took us a good long while to get that sorted out for him.

 

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JOSH: But, we got it figured out, got it put into the right account for him, and it’s working as part of his safer distribution plan now.

MIKE: What it all comes down to, clarity, simplicity, whether you’re married or not, whether you have a significant other that a legal spouse or not. It doesn’t matter. That’s your narrative, and you should live your life how you wanna live.

 

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MIKE: But, the fact is if they’re a part of your financial decisions, both of you should be able to handle your plan throughout retirement and understand it and be able to work with someone who has mutual and respect with you. A financial advisor that can act in your best interests legally speaking. Not just a good feeling with them, a good person. We’ve got three minutes left here. I just wanna close kinda by saying folks this show is produced by Decker Retirement Planning as a public service to help the conversation continue.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:54:56]

MIKE: That the research can continue to evolve to better everyone who’s listening in their retirement plans. That they can get transparency they never thought they could have. That they could have the clarity and comfort that comes with a proper retirement plan. Should you wanna learn more about this, I recommend Principles that Govern Proper Retirement Planning. It’s a book that we offer; it’s free on our website. You can go to deckerretirementplanning.com and catch that book. Read about those principles. There’s also a social security book and few other books that you can read.

 

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MIKE: Some I’ve written. Some Brian’s written. We have one from Ben Koval, our VP of planning out of Washington as well. Number of articles that we’re producing and our newsletter, this has been kinda fun, lately our newsletter that we have, a safer retirement newsletter, not only features financial commentary, but we’re also talking about fun things you can do with the grandkids. Trips you can take. We just did an article about five trips you can take with your dog that are just a blast. Retirement is more than just money; it’s a way of life. Time is your most precious commodity, and you should be able to spend it how you wanna spend it.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:56:01]

MIKE: That’s up to you and your own narrative. We’re here to support you in all facets of that as best we can here. If you’re listening to this show and you would like to talk to us, all we ask is that you’re 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand of assets saved up for your retirement. That’s what we specialize in is understanding how to organize your assets and then distribute it in such a way that you can enjoy a safer retirement. Call us, 833-707-3030 or go to deckerretirementplanning.com. On the very bottom, you can hit get started, and you can then schedule your time to visit with us.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:56:39]

MIKE: Whether it’s in one of our offices in Kirkland, Washington; Seattle, Washington; Renton, Washington; San Francisco, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; Lehi, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada. Sounds a bit long winded. But, we got a few offices in a couple of states as well as if your nationwide you can always come in and we do these meetings, these visits virtually. We wanna make our self accessible to help as many people as possible with your retirement plan. Josh, thank, and Cameron, thank you so much for joining the show today.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:57:08]

CAMERON: Such a pleasure. Thanks for having us, Mike

JOSH: Yeah, it’s been a blast. Thanks.

MIKE: Tune in same time, same place next week. In two weeks, we’re starting specials only for our podcast listeners. You can get that via iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud as well as, drum roll, okay, not really drum roll but we also have a new series of books coming out at the end of October. Stay tuned for that. If you sign up for our newsletter, you’ll get the first peek of that. I’ve written a number of books for specific people, like a safer retirement, well I’ll tell you the title. A Safer Retirement for the Engineer. A Safer Retirement for the First Responder.

 

RR S3 E15 A BONE TO PICK WITH THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ON RETIREMENT PLANNING    [00:57:43]

MIKE: I’ve written a number of books for specific people. You can catch that at deckerretirementplanning.com. Thank you so much for listening. It’s been an absolutely pleasure, and we hope to catch you same time, same place next week. Or, you can enjoy our content at deckerretirementplanning.com. Take care, everyone.