November 24, 2025 • 44 mins
Ep 203: “Money Deja Vu: How to Stop Repeating Financial Mistakes”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey there, and welcome to Money in You. I'm Michelle Perkins,
your host. My search for more fulfilling work led me
to career in business coaching, where I stumbled upon a
game changing discovery. Money issues often start with our mindset
and habits. You see, our relationship with money is the
key to overcoming those frustrating financial obstacles. As an entrepreneur, coach,
(00:26):
and problem solver, I'm passionate about helping you create a
great relationship with money, because turns out that's the foundation
for a limit free life. Each week on Money in You,
I speak with amazing guests about all things money, mindset,
practical tips, and everything in between. We're here to give
you new insights, education and empowerment. So money can be
(00:48):
one of your favorite relationships. So join us for some
lively conversations and let's transform your financial life together. Hello, Hello,
welcome to another episode of the Money in You Show.
A great guest today. I'm very excited to have on
someone who shares my philosophy of having a limit free
(01:08):
life and also understands that all of this is very individual. So,
you know, instead of a sort of cookie cutter financial plan,
he believes in really helping people to find their own
way that will work for them and is you know,
unique as you are. So I want to just start
(01:32):
with a quick bio and I'm going to tell you
a little about Mike Milligan, who's coming on the show today.
He is founder of One Oak Financial, a virtual financial
planning firm that prioritizes each client's individuality. He built the
firm to combat the paralysis penalty, a pattern of one
size fits all financial advice that leaves people unprepared for
(01:53):
Wall Street, insurance and markets. Mike brings thirty years of experience,
a specialized industry industry degree, and insights from big banks
and insurance firms to deliver personalized strategies that protect and
grow wealth. A certified financial planner, adjunct professor at Old
Dominion University, podcast hosts, and author of two books, He's
(02:14):
earned national recognition on CNBC, Fox, ABC, and NBC along
with awards and finance and sports coaching. Mike continues to
expand One Oak Financial toward b CORP certification and INC
five thousand recognition while living in San Juan, Puerto Rico
with his family.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Mike, welcome, Well, I'm glad to be here. It sounds
like that's about the end of the podcast. Thanks for
reading all my all my accomplishments.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Oh well, that's just the beginning. That's just so everybody
knows the book.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So grateful to be here with you.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I'm very grateful to have you here.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You know. I love your attitude and your approach to
all of this, and I really feel like I love
having guests on who can show the audience that it
can you know, the financial plans you make can actually
fit into what you want and your lifestyle and whatever
situation you happen to be in, because I think so
many people run away from the whole thinking thing thinking
(03:15):
I don't fit the mold. I'm not that person who
can talk to a financial planner. I don't have it
all together, and so I would love for you to
just speak to that a little bit. Just you know,
you talked about the paralysis penalty. I'd love for you
to expand on that as well.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
That's the uh, that's where many people find themselves, is
they feel themselves unprepared, uneducated because the big banks, investment companies,
the marketing machine that's out there now in the financial
world has meant to say you can only do this
if you're with me.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And the truth is is.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
There's so much there's so much free education, there's so
many courses that are available to people out there, there's
so many financial coaches that exist to help to help
you that you could begin a conversation now with better
equipped if you spend some time actually working on who
(04:19):
you are in your relationship with money first. And so
the paralysis penalty is something that I coin and I
talk about from stages and you know with others is
it's when you hear something that's a good idea, and
you know it's a good idea, but you can get
paralyzed by implementing it because you don't know how to
implement it. See that's what that's what happens so often
(04:42):
in the Facebook, TikTok, Instagram society we live in now.
You'll see a you'll see a real for somebody that's
forty two sacs like that that sounds good, and then
you're like, and then you get down a rabbit hole
trying to figure it out by yourself or you you know,
you actually get on the phone with somebody and they'll
they'll give you a plan that in their mind is
(05:04):
a perfect financial plan, but they don't do a good
enough job explaining it in terms that you understand. And
so the the paralysis penalty is real. It's because when
you don't act, you miss opportunity, and missed opportunity is
the penalty for not actually creating something that is that
(05:25):
is uniquely yours. See, uh, when you talk about we
share some things in common. We both believe that people
are unique. I believe they're one of the kind. And
but so often people will try to follow somebody else's
plan for their life or try to mimic what they're doing.
We used to call it keeping up with the Joneses.
(05:47):
Then it was like keeping up with the Kardashians almost,
you know, it's it kind of change based off of
like who you're trying to keep up with. But guys,
if you're listening to this, you aren't you. You are
a unique Your gift to this world is you fulfill
you doing what you can only uniquely do. And then
along the way, I hope you run into somebody like
(06:10):
Michelle or me who is going to encourage you along
the way and that can actually help break something down
in an easy to follow, systematic understand You know, financial
plan that actually promotes the life you want to live
and the uniqueness.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
That you have.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I love what you're saying, and I agree, and I
feel like that goes. It goes for money, it goes
through the career you choose, it just you know, goes.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Across the board.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And I think embracing our uniqueness is a really good
thing because I think sometimes we think our uniqueness is
what's keeping us from you know, if I wish I
could be like so and so, but you know, that's
a big waste of thought and energy, so much better
to go down the road that you're talking about. It
really opens opens the path for you if you can
(07:04):
embrace this concept of just being you. I want you
to if you would, because you you've been an athlete
and you you know, you've had a lot of experiences
where belief comes into play. And because I really want
people to understand the relationship with money first and foremost,
I'd love for you to just speak a little bit
(07:26):
to how belief, you know, comes into this and how
you can use it to your advantage.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, in the in the game that we play with money,
which you got to remember, guys, we're all in this.
We're all in this competitive arena every day where we're
you know, either competing to get a project done at work,
we're competing to win new business depending on what you know,
what line of work you're in. You're competing to get
(07:53):
your kid or grandkid to eat broccoli at the time.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Right, there's this, there's this.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Anytime you're you're in a relationship with somebody, there's some competition.
You just got to find what the competition is. You know,
most most times people don't realize and that the competition
is with you individually, and it's it's with either your
limiting beliefs, it's with the UH, it's with something you're
(08:22):
running from in the past, it's from somebody who has
told you you can't do, or it is or or
it is the fear of the unknown. That's really that's
really what we're competing against out there. And it's it's
no different like you know, when I was coaching or
(08:43):
playing baseball, because that's that's where all my athletic uh.
That that that that's where all my athletic background comes from.
Is the game of baseball is uh. Baseball has a
set of roles and then they have a set of
unwritten roles that you know, from a gentleman's standpoint, you
don't break those rules. Well, you know what's you know
(09:05):
what's interesting about unwrint rules, Michelle, is that they're unwritten.
They're there, they're assumed their presumptions that you're not going
to play the game that way. Unfortunately, guys, there's a
lot of unwritten rules when it comes to money, right.
They've they they just don't make sense, right, And what
(09:26):
they have is unwritten rules have been passed down from
generation to generation to generation. They've been spread around the
water cooler at work, or they've been you know, they
have been just somebody's poor experience with a solution has
created an unwritten rule that is just not true. And
(09:46):
one of the things is there are they're they're basic
rules of money. Right, spend less than you make. That's
that's a hard and past rule.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Right, it's a hard one to do as well, right.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Right, it's hard to do, but that is a rule, right,
spend less you make if you want to be financially prosperous.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Number.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You know what the one of the second rules out
there is, uh is when you're in a relationship talk
about money, right, that's not an unwritten rule that should
be front and center, right, don't hide money because when
you hide money, that's what ends up chipping away at
the foundation of a relationship. And ultimately that's where relationships fail,
is when you don't talk through through money.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
But there's a lot of unrented rules out there in money,
Like you know, unrent rule like index universal life is
a pathway to tax free retirement. Well, that's that's just
that's an unwritten rule. It's not a hard and fast
rule for some people. It is true in the media
right now, this bush saga that's going on right now,
(10:44):
the NASCAR driver who lost a lot of money from
that is not true.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
There's other places like where I need to have all
my money in the stock market. Other people say I
don't need to have all my money in the stock market.
But if you listen to somebody says that said, I
need all my money in the stock market, Well, that's
an un wrint rule that you apply to your life. See,
you're unique and in this and in this game that
we live called life, you have to you have to
(11:10):
you have to really break free of what what the
hard and fast rules are for you. And then and
then you have to break. You have to chip away
at the unwrinted rules that are that that that are
designed like banks designed these unwritten rules all the time.
Right where where you need to put your money with us?
(11:32):
We're safe, we're secure, right, We're not going to lose
your money. Well, that's an unwritten rule, right, I mean
there's there there's I mean as the people at uh,
you know, Silicon Valley Bank in twenty twenty two when
it failed, right, people who had over the balance limits.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
What did they lose?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, so it's an unwritten rule that banks can't lose money,
you know, Uh, put your money with me as an
advisor because of X Y and Z. Well, x Y
and Z is unwritten rules, right unless you can actually
verify them. So guys like in this game to find
what what the real rules are and define what the
unwritten rules are and then find somebody who's willing to
(12:11):
inspire you to really live a one of a kind
life and that will educate you about your money along
the way.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, thank you, great answer, And I love the way people.
You know. I ask this question about beliefs a lot,
and I always get different answers with different you know examples,
And I love that because I think there are people
out there who really don't understand that concept and you know,
just haven't given it thought before, is why. But so
(12:42):
I love your explanation of that. And you know, beliefs
come into play everywhere. But for some reason, I think
sometimes with finance and money, we think that's it shouldn't matter.
We just follow the you know, we follow the right
path and we do the right things and we follow
those those written rules and we'll be there. But then
when it doesn't happen, we don't understand it. And that's
(13:03):
you know, kind of what happened to me. And then
I had to realize that there's a whole underlying belief
system and emotional aspect to this that drives our decisions.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
So very interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, And I mean in general, right, if you just
if you just follow like big banks, big insurance companies,
big investment firms, uh, you got to you gotta remember
what their their pure intent is. Their their intent is
to profit, right, They're there for profit for their shareholders,
profit for boarder director's, profit for big business. And not
(13:38):
to say that all of them do things wrong, because
I'm not. I'm not saying that, right, I'm just saying
that the that their intent is not primarily about you, Right,
it's about it's about amassing as many us as they
possibly can, right, and then and then and then adding
those the profit of those used together to create like
(13:59):
earnings for share to create growth of their stock. And
right now, as we said it in twenty twenty five,
many of those big companies are generating record profits because
people are blindly following them and following the path that was.
You know, it may have worked twenty years ago or
forty years ago, but it may not work going forward.
(14:19):
And what we what we like the whole thing about
money and you is your value, your accounts, everything you've
accumulated in life has real value to you. Right if
you only should work with somebody who also brings value
on top of your money, Yeah right, not word, your
(14:42):
account is the only value in the relationship.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
And you know, you actually got me going down a
little rabbit hole in my mind. There are so many
things that we do follow that actually we don't stop
and analyze. Even as you were talking, I was thinking
of Amazon and the idea. I don't particularly like using
it very much. I do when I have to. But
this idea that I have to have a screwdriver delivered
(15:11):
to my house in like four hours versus going to
the hardware store and getting one is bizarre in my opinion.
But that's where we've gotten to because they've kind of
convinced us it's better this way, and it's one of
these things where it's It just reminds me how easy
it is to be persuaded towards something that we don't
really need to be thinking about.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well, our mind, our mind is a dangerous place because
it will our mind is meant to keep us alive. Yeah,
it will literally tell you that something that convenient is
better for me because you exert less energy. So your mind,
you have to you have to play mind games with
(15:55):
your You know, your mind is playing minds with.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
You all day.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
You have to play mind games back with your mind. Right,
Realize is that? Okay? I mean there are some things
that Amazon getting delivered to your house is just going
to be great for, right, Like if you need to
buy one hundred and fifty pounds of dog food, right
that it's going to be hard to transport for it
from the store to your car for the car to
your house. Yeah, get that delivered. Let Amazon do the
(16:19):
heavy lefting for you, right, right. But man, if you've
got a hardware store a quarter of a mile from
your house that is locally owned, yeah right, go go,
go down and bless those folks, right, you'd rather, you'd rather?
I mean, and there's a lot of those those small
businesses in our communities who have had to resort to
(16:41):
like sending their product through Amazon to be able to
make you know, to keep the lights on the employ people.
But you're right, I mean, like if we if we
could start thinking about financial decisions and like how does
it impact you know, what is the real impact that
we have? I wrote I wrote a book called The
One of a Kind Financial Plan. It's available on Amazon,
barn and Nobles, wherever you fight by books. It's the
(17:02):
One of a Kind Financial Plan, pretty easy to find,
Mike Milligan. But in that book, we talk about building
a vision for your life and not doing it in
a piecemeal effect. We actually talk about dealing with the
big things like taxes, which are the biggest expense you'll
ever pay in your life, and having a plan for
those retirement income to ease fear and anxiety and investment
(17:22):
plan that actually works for you, long term care, legacy
that you know where you're taking care of it in
your life, and legacy is like more than you got
to have a will and trust. It's the basics, but
it's about that ultimate I Love you letter. But if
you build, if you build, if you build these rules right,
or a plan, a written down plan in your life,
it starts to finding who you are. And like that
(17:43):
rabbit hole you went down about the convenience of Amazon,
writing a financial plan down is not easy. Ye it's
it's not, but like it's it's necessary. And so there's
a difference between what's easy and what's necessary. And some
things that are necessary is like the building of a
vision for your life, building an objective for why you're living.
(18:05):
And with money, if you don't have it written down,
it's easy to see money wasted by just throwing it
to the wrong things or the wrong strategies. And then
when you you know, when you get to a point
where you can't work fifty hours a week or forty
hours a week, now you've all you know, I mean,
you can't physically work there, you still have to continue
(18:26):
that because of the culmination of bad decisions along the way.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I love that you brought that up, because those bad
decisions along the way also kind of eat away at
our you know, sense of identity, and we don't trust
our own decision making, so then we go back into paralysis.
We're afraid to make any decisions because we've made bad ones.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh right, and that's uh, And like I call that
deja vu. I mean because we have we have we
have these daja vu moments in our life where like
where we were like, oh, we've been here before, and
all of a sudden, the air starts.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Standing up on your arms.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah, but like there's there's money DejaVu willments that happen
all the time if you think about it, if you
subconsciously think about it. Right, I have spent in this
place before and have regretted it. Yeah, and here I
am doing it again. Right. We talk about in the
one of a kind financial plan retirement DejaVu. That's a
that's somewhat of an experience I go through a lot, okay,
(19:24):
but it's also it's also an experience at others see, right,
is they're like me, like my retirement dejev vous is ill.
You know, I'll have a meeting with somebody at nine
and ten thirty and nude and two and three point
thirty right where somebody's coming in the first time, and
they'll tell me about, you know, their experience with money
(19:44):
or their experience with their financial advisor.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
It seems like it's deja vous for me.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It's people who are saying, I have this much allocated
in stocks, this much allocated in bonds. I don't have
a plan for taxes, I don't have a plan for retirement.
Come and I was told to buy this insurance thing.
And it's just like deja vu, because that's what that's
what the big that's what the big institutions want and want.
(20:09):
You have this piece mill effect where this piece mill
effect leads to you depending on them coming back to
them for more. Right, And it was all creative, Michelle,
Like when when, uh, when when Ray Kroc automated the
Big Mac, When Henry Ford automated the car? Right that
that uh, you know, the financial industry just realized that
(20:32):
a little bit later. But like all the financial industry
is given is to all be Patty Special salt sledge
cheese pickles on his own a sessamec bun. That's all
they're given, right, It's the same thing whoever walks in
the door. There's nothing wrong with a big mac. You
just shouldn't have one every day, and you definitely shouldn't
have the same plan that your neighbor has, or you're
the neighbor beside that neighbor, the people setting the nests
(20:54):
next to you. You need to have some custom that
uniquely yours, where you understand it, where you get educated,
where you could ask the right questions and know what's
important most for you and your family.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, that's great, and that is an interesting analogy there.
We have kind of automated things and the way other
things have been automated. So I'd love for you to
give us kind of an example maybe of you know,
something that has been more customized that that you won't
get just walking into, you know, basically any traditional Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
I'm happy to do that, right.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I just I mean, I could I could sit here
and I could talk for hours about these because it's
because these are this is what we do every day
full time, you know, sometimes going into overtime with our
clients to do these. But I mean I could think of,
for instance, Mark, who I met with just last week.
(21:53):
He's a he's assumed to be dad of high school graduates. Okay,
he's a divorcee. But Mark has been very successful. He's
saved quite a lot of money for retirement. But now
he's in his mid fifties and he's ready to do
(22:13):
something else. He's ready to spend more time surfing than
he is working. And when he has he has for
years accumulated wealth in a system where it's forced him
to now start doing it on his own because he's
realized that like financial advisors are trying to charge a
percentage of his assets in fees but giving him no
(22:36):
real answer about how to address a potential early retirement,
how to address what to do with the sale of
a home, how to address with you know, a move
to the West coast and possibly Central and South America,
and you know, in his in building a customized plan
for him, we talked about how to actually put his
(22:57):
money in a place that's going to be tax fishing
where he doesn't break any rules and have it old.
He's along the way for his money that's in retirement accounts,
but you know, the end, the end goal is going
to be that Mark's going to be able to serve
three hundred days a year. He's going to spend a
lot of time in the ocean, which is what he
wants to do in his mid fifties when he can,
(23:20):
before his back goes out or he has to have
knee replacement surgery or hip you know, something happens where
he can't do this. I mean, I could also think
about Jude, who is sixty seven. She's never been married before,
and she was worked, and you know she has she
had accumulated a lot of cash in her savings account.
And you know, when I asked her, why did you
do that? She said, I just I'm a I'm a
(23:43):
conservative investor. And I asked her again, why are you
a conservative investor? And she said, well, because you know,
for a long time, you know, I just didn't know
where to put money. Well, why didn't you know where
to put your money? And I asked her three or
four more why questions? And she said, because, Mike, when
I was seven years old, I remember coming home from
(24:03):
school and my parents putting me right to bed because
we didn't they didn't have any money to feed me dinner,
and like and you hear those right, you hear these
why why why you know, a bank or a big companies,
they're going to see money and say, let me put
you in this portfolio. They're not going to get to
the root of the problem. The root of the problem
is she she still feels like a seven year old
(24:24):
girl who may not have a meal at night. And
when I literally told her, Jude, you're going to be okay.
You have over a million dollars, right, and I know
you want to live another forty fifty years, right, because
I mean, we all know that there's somebody alive right
now who's going to live into the one hundred and
twenties or one hundred and thirties, somebody today that's living.
And she said, why not me? I mean that's what
(24:46):
that was her one of a kind approach. She goes,
why not me? Well, when I freed her up from
that little seven year old's burden about having food, she's
getting ready to get married right for the first time.
Right she is, she's traveled, she's traveled to Europe several times.
She's going to retire in three years. That is what
(25:07):
going beyond the traditional cookie cutter, cookie cutter approach or
one size fits all big mac assembly line. Financial planning
means to people. And again, folks, I could tell you
hundreds of stories, almost thousands of lives that have been
impacted by building one of a kind financial plans for
(25:27):
your one of a kind life. Guys, And if you,
if you never speak to me, if you want to
build one for yourself, just buy the book because the
book will actually lay out how you build a plan
for yourself. And then I mean, and like it'll just inspire.
I mean the reviews. I've almost got a five point
a got an almost five point oh radio on Amazon almost.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
I had one person who gave me a four.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
There's it's an interesting place to like be when, like
you have somebody with over thirty years experience saying, hey,
read the book because that'll lay it out. And then
if you need deeper help, then obviously get deeper help.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Well, and I see you have two books actually one
of a kind financial plan, which sounds amazing for everybody.
I mean, a big part of this show is to
help educate people in a number of different areas. And
as we're talking too, I realize there.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
We talk about so many topics you brought up at
the beginning.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
You know, somebody is going to tell you to buy stocks,
and somebody is going to tell you, you know, put all
your money and whatever. And I sometimes my goal here
was to bring a wide array of topics to the
table so people could actually tap into their own interests
and you know, the things that attract them and have
at least enough knowledge to go further, you know, and
(26:45):
deeper into some area, whether it's stocks or real estate
or you know, whatever it is. But I realized that
can also be overwhelming. It's like, Okay, now everything sounds great.
This guy is saying the only way to go is
you know this thing. And so I love your the
value that you bring in terms of digging a little
deeper into what is right for you.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, And I think that every hole starts with the foundation. Yeah, right,
Every relationship starts with a common thread.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Everybody who was successful with finances have like a belief
and in a continued stream of education that they're always
getting because there's uh that there's very few people who
luck into wealth. I mean they they they really they
they follow some system, whether or not it's right or wrong,
(27:43):
and then they get educated along the way. To the point,
am I doing what's right when we uh when I,
when I, when I went on this journey, this creative
journey after I was really in the business for like
twenty years at that time, when I started writing my
first manuscripts and started appearing in as podcas Hast guests
and creating a podcast and getting moral media. What I
(28:04):
realize is that people are as much as people are unique.
Financial plans come down to just a few common common things,
and the few common things lead you to then diverge
off your own path. And so like wealth, you know,
most wealth is created in one of three areas, Michelle.
(28:28):
It's in your company four one K plan some people
call that a thrift savings plan, right if your work
with the federal government or four three B. Second place
that people build wealth is they build it in real
estate and their primary home first and then maybe they
go out buy sport properties. In the third place they
build wealth is in their in their small business. Right now,
(28:50):
all of those, all three of those have different threads
that can go in different ways ways. Right, some people
may have built their wealth and their four one K
and U and a black Rock fund or a Vanguard
fund or American funds or whatever. Right they're but they
all kind of move and operate the same way. Real estate, right,
a home in California is going to be different than
(29:12):
a home in Alabama, in North Carolina or Maine. They're
just they're just different, different price points.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And then like your business, right, some small businesses explode
into nine figure, ten figure juggernauts.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
They get sold.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Some provide a daily living right and like and then
and then for another generation they do the same thing.
And then maybe for another generation they do the same thing.
But like in the in the grand scheme of things,
as much as we are unique, we're not so unique
that we don't build wealth the same way. Unfortunate today
(29:47):
where social media is prevalent and uh, I mean it's
ever present. Uh, people get caught in these get rich
quick schemes right by by this coin height, go and
buy this gold because everything's you know, going downhill, you know,
get involved in this elaborate LLC pyramid thing and it's
(30:12):
just but guys, I'm telling you, right, as much as
things change, things stay the same. And primary wealth is
created for most people right by consistently saving in a plan,
buy in real estate early and often, and if you're
so inclined and you're built to run a small business.
(30:34):
Invest in the in the in the problems all the
small businesses. It's problems that people have. It could be
individual communities, it could be a global scale, right. But
you know, you know Amazon's problem that they saw was
that books could only be got, you know, you could
only get a book in a bookstore. And this internet
thing was coming down. Amazon just wanted to be the
(30:55):
biggest bookseller on the internet.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
It's all. Really, that was a problem. He solved it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Well, realize his technology was good enough to solve a
lot of retail problems that you know, But like if
you were to invest in a business like that third
leg of creating wealth, just find a problem and if
you could and if you can solve it, if you've
got a unique ability to either inspire others to come
together and solve the problem, those are called employees unique
(31:21):
ability to bring a team together to solve problems, and
you have the solution that people want to buy. Build
a lot of wealth for yourself, right, And you know,
a lot of wealth is not It doesn't mean one
hundred billion dollars, right, because those people are few and
far between. Right, But there's a lot of people who've
built really nice businesses and tails all across America just
(31:43):
by solving problems.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Oh I love that.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I love that whole discussion because, for one thing, you've
narrowed it down to really three areas of focus, which
sort of eliminates the problem I was speaking of before.
And you know, for all of that, like you said earlier,
and like I strongly believe, you do need to build
a foundation both of within your mindset and within some
(32:07):
practical things that you do, like figuring out how to
live in your means and get rid of your debt
and all the sort of basics that will get you
to this point where you have money to invest in
any of those things. But there is this foundational piece
that is, you know, kind of practical and boring sounding.
It ever sounds as fun to pay off your debt
(32:28):
or do it emergency savings as it does to go
on TikTok and start one of these digital marketing companies
that you know, they're promising so much money all the time.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
It even sucks to me, and once in a while
it's like, what are they talking about?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
It?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
But I love what you're saying because it really comes
down to those three things.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
That's right, Well, people do make money in the digital
marketing space, right, but it's it's just like anywhere, right,
It's a few select percentage of people, right, right. It's
so like, if it's not your gifted, if you're not
going to spend time at it, if you're not going
to work wholeheartedly in it, and you're gonna have divided attention,
you're probably not going to make money in that space, right.
(33:06):
And it's just like anything, if you're not going to
make money, and then the person who got you into
the program was probably making money off the money that
you put into it.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So yeah, it is interesting. And that's the other point.
If people do make money at things, and then when
they do, they feel like I need to tell the
whole world how to do it, just like I did.
But you know, you're not them, and for a lot
of these methods, it's not necessarily going to work for
you just because it worked for them.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
It's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Well, I love the idea of your book.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I really feel like that sounds like an important book
for people trying to educate themselves, you know, along the
way here and then you know, how do you feel
as a financial planner that the financial you know, working
with someone. Somewhere along the way, money conversations came up,
I think where you were talking about relationship. And I'm
(34:00):
also a big believer, we don't talk about money enough,
especially women. I do think guys spend a little more
time talking about money and now they're walking around the
golf course or whatever, and they're literally talking about money
and their investments.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Women do not. It's very rare. I think that that
sort of thing is happening.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, we we we just in general don't talk about
things that we don't know about. And so I mean
we could also say that we don't have a lot
of conversations about the Pythagorea theorem, right, and we don't,
you know, and we don't have a lot of conversations
around like the inner work, the interpersonal relationships of the
(34:39):
love dynamic that happens, you know, between dolphins, like we
don't talk.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
About those things.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Because we don't understand a well, the one reason we
don't talk about money a lot is because we.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Think it's taboo.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yes, right, we you know, yeah, you know you always
hear you know, don't talk about religion in politics and
money unfortunately, because those things can divide, you know, they
divide you know. I mean if you think about, like,
you know, a religious conversation about what happened in the past,
(35:15):
you know could divide you. It can separate you from
a relationship that you want to build. Politics one could
do that especially, yes, yeah, yeah, but money is uh.
Money is one of those things that when you you
have to find your community that is either struggling with
(35:35):
the same things you are, which are people that are
trying to get to the same place you're trying to
get to, and even like find a a money mentor
like somebody who is maybe walk the path that you
have before, or you think they've walked the path before,
and somebody that you can ask questions to who you
(35:56):
could simply say, tell me about some of your greatest
success with money, tell me about some of your greatest
failures with money. How did you pick the relationship that
you have with the people that you have? And you know,
and when you do that, when you open up an
engaging conversation about success and failure, you're going to get
some people who will just not shut up, and you're
(36:19):
gonna get other people who will give you very blanketed answers.
But one of the things that I know is that
if you don't talk about money, you're not going to
engage or move ahead with your old money journey. I
was literally just on a podcast recently where somebody says
said that like money is a This was a therapist,
(36:44):
a marriage and family therapist, who said that, you know,
financial advisors don't realize the power that they really have
because literally, financial advisors are there to talk about the
thing that people don't talk about much at all. And
what financial advisors really try to do is they try
(37:05):
to ask forward their recommendations without just having the conversation.
And then if financial advisors would really do the job
that they're called to do, which is have conversations, their
calendars would be full of people, right they would. They
would never lack for new people, new opportunities to have
(37:28):
conversations with. And the financial advisor at that point should
should choose who they work with based off the personalities
they're right they like, and then push the people that
the personalities are not onto somebody who's their personality fits
better into Because here's the thing about money, right, Like,
I'm a financial planner, a financial advisor, and yes, my
(37:50):
calendar's full. But you know why, it's because I just
talked to people. Yeah, you know, ninety percent of the
people I talk to about money will never become a
client one Oak financial. And it's and the and the
numbers are growing every day, you know, it's you know,
pretty soon it's going to be more like ninety five
or ninety seven percent because because we're we're engaging in
(38:10):
the dialogue that needs to be had. You know, we're
you know, we're engaging in the dialogue about taxes and retirement, income, investments,
long term care and legacy, the one of a kind
financial plan, building the vision for your retirement. We call
that retirement chief. Right. You know, we're we're we're trying
to get people to snap out of retirement deja vu,
get past the paralysis penalty, look at the sea of sameness,
(38:31):
right and say do you want to be like every
fish in the pond or do you want to find
your way into bigger ponds and be unique?
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Right?
Speaker 2 (38:40):
And does everybody want to be nemo or do they
just want to be the stripe bass down the corner?
Speaker 4 (38:44):
I mean, who do you want to be? Guys?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
And like when you when when we have more conversations
like that when we get more mentor groups set up
and we get more you know, people in community talking
about money, how to grow businesses, you know, small business owners,
how to grow business? You know people that are in
their thirties and forties. How do we navigate this time
of you know, expensive daycare and private school versus public school.
(39:09):
How do we navigate these big financial decisions? We have
people in conversation like that. You know, we're not We're
no longer going to have a money problem. We're no
longer going to have a debt problem. Yeah, but you
have to remember, Michelle, who doesn't want you to have
those conversations?
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Right?
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Big banks, big insurance companies, because they want you to
be They want you to be the source there by
the way, who doesn't want you to talk about religion?
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Churches? They want you to come to church and talk
about it there. Right.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Who doesn't want you to talk about politics politicians? Because
you know, then no change will really happen. So if
you really want to be unique and be one of
a kind, have the conversations politely, right, and find the
people that you connect with and then grow with that group. Right,
(40:00):
bring your own unique, it's your old one of a
kindness to it, and then and then you could truly
live the life that is that's full of yours.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
That was so good and you're so right, and that's why,
you know. Oftentimes too, I join groups that have more
like minded people. Maybe it's an entrepreneurs group or something
where people are kind of thinking differently, and and oftentimes
people can get a lot of pushback from their families,
from you know, all kinds of other folks about what
(40:33):
are you doing. You know, I have a client right
now who you know, what she's doing is really different.
I think it's fantastic. But you know, everybody, like you said,
your brain is trying to protect you, so everybody's worried about,
you know, you going kind of off the rails. But
I think you know where you can find these people.
It's really really beneficial to be, you know, not alone
(40:54):
in this. So well, Mike, I really love your insights.
I really I hope people will buy your book. I
think that sounds like a fabulous read for anybody at
any stage. And tell us how else we can contact
you find you?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Well, if you go to Mike Milligan dot com, just
m my k E M my L L I g
a N dot com. You're gonna find out more about me.
I have three primary purposes in life. To educate, coach,
and plan. That's all I all I do. I teach
a personal financial planning course at a university, Old Demateian University.
(41:34):
That is, it's a non credit course for people just
looking to educate themselves. You can find out more details
about that on the website. I coach other advisors in
a very closed group, right, and I'm teaching them to
be able to have money conversations. That whole thing I
was telling you in this episode about financial advisors holding
the key, Yeah, because people want to talk about money.
(41:57):
That's what I train on other financial advisor. So if
you talk to somebody, you know maybe they've been trained
by me in the past, and then you know. Our
firm is called one Oak Financial, where one Oak stands
for one of a kind. So One of a Kind
Financial is there to build one of a kind financial
plans for your one of a kind life.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
It's what we live. We have.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
We have twenty one professionals on our team that are
they're ready and able to have the conversations about money
and when we have those conversations, we'll well, we'll send
you off on a better path, whether or not that
path includes us going forward, because the bigger we are,
the bigger our presence gets, the less people we have
(42:42):
the ability to help, and we know our capacity, but
we'll push people down a path where, you know, by
having a conversation with us, they'll know that they can
improve taxes, retire to decome investments, long term care, their
legacy along the way.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Wow, thank you. That sounds wonderful and much needed. And
we didn't even touch on, you know, the whole tax
strategy aspect of it, so I'm glad you at least
mentioned it because it is so much more important than
people realize, and so the fact that you bring that
into the conversation, you know, intentionally like that, is extra
So well, thank you so very much for being here.
(43:19):
I feel like it was a real privilege to have
you on. You're a wealth of knowledge and clearly heartfelt
in all of this and what you're trying to give
to people.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
So thanks, Michelle. I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Yeah, I really appreciate it as well, So thank you,
and thank you audience for listening to the money and
you show we're so glad you do. And you can
find us on all the podcast platforms. You can find
us on the YouTube Limit fore Life YouTube channel, and yeah,
reach out to me Michelle at limit FreeLife dot com
and check out a few of the variety of things
(43:51):
that we have there and we will see you next week.
Hey there, and welcome to Money in You. I'm Michelle Perkins,
your host. My search for more fulfilling work led me
to career in business coaching, where I stumbled upon a
game changing discovery. Money issues often start with our mindset
and habits. You see, our relationship with money is the
key to overcoming those frustrating financial obstacles. As an entrepreneur, coach,
(00:26):
and problem solver, I'm passionate about helping you create a
great relationship with money, because turns out that's the foundation
for a limit free life. Each week on Money in You,
I speak with amazing guests about all things money, mindset,
practical tips, and everything in between. We're here to give
you new insights, education and empowerment. So money can be
(00:48):
one of your favorite relationships. So join us for some
lively conversations and let's transform your financial life together. Hello, Hello,
welcome to another episode of the Money in You Show.
A great guest today. I'm very excited to have on
someone who shares my philosophy of having a limit free
(01:08):
life and also understands that all of this is very individual. So,
you know, instead of a sort of cookie cutter financial plan,
he believes in really helping people to find their own
way that will work for them and is you know,
unique as you are. So I want to just start
(01:32):
with a quick bio and I'm going to tell you
a little about Mike Milligan, who's coming on the show today.
He is founder of One Oak Financial, a virtual financial
planning firm that prioritizes each client's individuality. He built the
firm to combat the paralysis penalty, a pattern of one
size fits all financial advice that leaves people unprepared for
(01:53):
Wall Street, insurance and markets. Mike brings thirty years of experience,
a specialized industry industry degree, and insights from big banks
and insurance firms to deliver personalized strategies that protect and
grow wealth. A certified financial planner, adjunct professor at Old
Dominion University, podcast hosts, and author of two books, He's
(02:14):
earned national recognition on CNBC, Fox, ABC, and NBC along
with awards and finance and sports coaching. Mike continues to
expand One Oak Financial toward b CORP certification and INC
five thousand recognition while living in San Juan, Puerto Rico
with his family.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Mike, welcome, Well, I'm glad to be here. It sounds
like that's about the end of the podcast. Thanks for
reading all my all my accomplishments.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Oh well, that's just the beginning. That's just so everybody
knows the book.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So grateful to be here with you.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I'm very grateful to have you here.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You know. I love your attitude and your approach to
all of this, and I really feel like I love
having guests on who can show the audience that it
can you know, the financial plans you make can actually
fit into what you want and your lifestyle and whatever
situation you happen to be in, because I think so
many people run away from the whole thinking thing thinking
(03:15):
I don't fit the mold. I'm not that person who
can talk to a financial planner. I don't have it
all together, and so I would love for you to
just speak to that a little bit. Just you know,
you talked about the paralysis penalty. I'd love for you
to expand on that as well.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
That's the uh, that's where many people find themselves, is
they feel themselves unprepared, uneducated because the big banks, investment companies,
the marketing machine that's out there now in the financial
world has meant to say you can only do this
if you're with me.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
And the truth is is.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
There's so much there's so much free education, there's so
many courses that are available to people out there, there's
so many financial coaches that exist to help to help
you that you could begin a conversation now with better
equipped if you spend some time actually working on who
(04:19):
you are in your relationship with money first. And so
the paralysis penalty is something that I coin and I
talk about from stages and you know with others is
it's when you hear something that's a good idea, and
you know it's a good idea, but you can get
paralyzed by implementing it because you don't know how to
implement it. See that's what that's what happens so often
(04:42):
in the Facebook, TikTok, Instagram society we live in now.
You'll see a you'll see a real for somebody that's
forty two sacs like that that sounds good, and then
you're like, and then you get down a rabbit hole
trying to figure it out by yourself or you you know,
you actually get on the phone with somebody and they'll
they'll give you a plan that in their mind is
(05:04):
a perfect financial plan, but they don't do a good
enough job explaining it in terms that you understand. And
so the the paralysis penalty is real. It's because when
you don't act, you miss opportunity, and missed opportunity is
the penalty for not actually creating something that is that
(05:25):
is uniquely yours. See, uh, when you talk about we
share some things in common. We both believe that people
are unique. I believe they're one of the kind. And
but so often people will try to follow somebody else's
plan for their life or try to mimic what they're doing.
We used to call it keeping up with the Joneses.
(05:47):
Then it was like keeping up with the Kardashians almost,
you know, it's it kind of change based off of
like who you're trying to keep up with. But guys,
if you're listening to this, you aren't you. You are
a unique Your gift to this world is you fulfill
you doing what you can only uniquely do. And then
along the way, I hope you run into somebody like
(06:10):
Michelle or me who is going to encourage you along
the way and that can actually help break something down
in an easy to follow, systematic understand You know, financial
plan that actually promotes the life you want to live
and the uniqueness.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
That you have.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I love what you're saying, and I agree, and I
feel like that goes. It goes for money, it goes
through the career you choose, it just you know, goes.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Across the board.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And I think embracing our uniqueness is a really good
thing because I think sometimes we think our uniqueness is
what's keeping us from you know, if I wish I
could be like so and so, but you know, that's
a big waste of thought and energy, so much better
to go down the road that you're talking about. It
really opens opens the path for you if you can
(07:04):
embrace this concept of just being you. I want you
to if you would, because you you've been an athlete
and you you know, you've had a lot of experiences
where belief comes into play. And because I really want
people to understand the relationship with money first and foremost,
I'd love for you to just speak a little bit
(07:26):
to how belief, you know, comes into this and how
you can use it to your advantage.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, in the in the game that we play with money,
which you got to remember, guys, we're all in this.
We're all in this competitive arena every day where we're
you know, either competing to get a project done at work,
we're competing to win new business depending on what you know,
what line of work you're in. You're competing to get
(07:53):
your kid or grandkid to eat broccoli at the time.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Right, there's this, there's this.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Anytime you're you're in a relationship with somebody, there's some competition.
You just got to find what the competition is. You know,
most most times people don't realize and that the competition
is with you individually, and it's it's with either your
limiting beliefs, it's with the UH, it's with something you're
(08:22):
running from in the past, it's from somebody who has
told you you can't do, or it is or or
it is the fear of the unknown. That's really that's
really what we're competing against out there. And it's it's
no different like you know, when I was coaching or
(08:43):
playing baseball, because that's that's where all my athletic uh.
That that that that's where all my athletic background comes from.
Is the game of baseball is uh. Baseball has a
set of roles and then they have a set of
unwritten roles that you know, from a gentleman's standpoint, you
don't break those rules. Well, you know what's you know
(09:05):
what's interesting about unwrint rules, Michelle, is that they're unwritten.
They're there, they're assumed their presumptions that you're not going
to play the game that way. Unfortunately, guys, there's a
lot of unwritten rules when it comes to money, right.
They've they they just don't make sense, right, And what
(09:26):
they have is unwritten rules have been passed down from
generation to generation to generation. They've been spread around the
water cooler at work, or they've been you know, they
have been just somebody's poor experience with a solution has
created an unwritten rule that is just not true. And
(09:46):
one of the things is there are they're they're basic
rules of money. Right, spend less than you make. That's
that's a hard and past rule.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Right, it's a hard one to do as well, right.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Right, it's hard to do, but that is a rule, right,
spend less you make if you want to be financially prosperous.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Number.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You know what the one of the second rules out
there is, uh is when you're in a relationship talk
about money, right, that's not an unwritten rule that should
be front and center, right, don't hide money because when
you hide money, that's what ends up chipping away at
the foundation of a relationship. And ultimately that's where relationships fail,
is when you don't talk through through money.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
But there's a lot of unrented rules out there in money,
Like you know, unrent rule like index universal life is
a pathway to tax free retirement. Well, that's that's just
that's an unwritten rule. It's not a hard and fast
rule for some people. It is true in the media
right now, this bush saga that's going on right now,
(10:44):
the NASCAR driver who lost a lot of money from
that is not true.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
There's other places like where I need to have all
my money in the stock market. Other people say I
don't need to have all my money in the stock market.
But if you listen to somebody says that said, I
need all my money in the stock market, Well, that's
an un wrint rule that you apply to your life. See,
you're unique and in this and in this game that
we live called life, you have to you have to
(11:10):
you have to really break free of what what the
hard and fast rules are for you. And then and
then you have to break. You have to chip away
at the unwrinted rules that are that that that are
designed like banks designed these unwritten rules all the time.
Right where where you need to put your money with us?
(11:32):
We're safe, we're secure, right, We're not going to lose
your money. Well, that's an unwritten rule, right, I mean
there's there there's I mean as the people at uh,
you know, Silicon Valley Bank in twenty twenty two when
it failed, right, people who had over the balance limits.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
What did they lose?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, so it's an unwritten rule that banks can't lose money,
you know, Uh, put your money with me as an
advisor because of X Y and Z. Well, x Y
and Z is unwritten rules, right unless you can actually
verify them. So guys like in this game to find
what what the real rules are and define what the
unwritten rules are and then find somebody who's willing to
(12:11):
inspire you to really live a one of a kind
life and that will educate you about your money along
the way.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, thank you, great answer, And I love the way people.
You know. I ask this question about beliefs a lot,
and I always get different answers with different you know examples,
And I love that because I think there are people
out there who really don't understand that concept and you know,
just haven't given it thought before, is why. But so
(12:42):
I love your explanation of that. And you know, beliefs
come into play everywhere. But for some reason, I think
sometimes with finance and money, we think that's it shouldn't matter.
We just follow the you know, we follow the right
path and we do the right things and we follow
those those written rules and we'll be there. But then
when it doesn't happen, we don't understand it. And that's
(13:03):
you know, kind of what happened to me. And then
I had to realize that there's a whole underlying belief
system and emotional aspect to this that drives our decisions.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
So very interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, And I mean in general, right, if you just
if you just follow like big banks, big insurance companies,
big investment firms, uh, you got to you gotta remember
what their their pure intent is. Their their intent is
to profit, right, They're there for profit for their shareholders,
profit for boarder director's, profit for big business. And not
(13:38):
to say that all of them do things wrong, because
I'm not. I'm not saying that, right, I'm just saying
that the that their intent is not primarily about you, Right,
it's about it's about amassing as many us as they
possibly can, right, and then and then and then adding
those the profit of those used together to create like
(13:59):
earnings for share to create growth of their stock. And
right now, as we said it in twenty twenty five,
many of those big companies are generating record profits because
people are blindly following them and following the path that was.
You know, it may have worked twenty years ago or
forty years ago, but it may not work going forward.
(14:19):
And what we what we like the whole thing about
money and you is your value, your accounts, everything you've
accumulated in life has real value to you. Right if
you only should work with somebody who also brings value
on top of your money, Yeah right, not word, your
(14:42):
account is the only value in the relationship.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
And you know, you actually got me going down a
little rabbit hole in my mind. There are so many
things that we do follow that actually we don't stop
and analyze. Even as you were talking, I was thinking
of Amazon and the idea. I don't particularly like using
it very much. I do when I have to. But
this idea that I have to have a screwdriver delivered
(15:11):
to my house in like four hours versus going to
the hardware store and getting one is bizarre in my opinion.
But that's where we've gotten to because they've kind of
convinced us it's better this way, and it's one of
these things where it's It just reminds me how easy
it is to be persuaded towards something that we don't
really need to be thinking about.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Well, our mind, our mind is a dangerous place because
it will our mind is meant to keep us alive. Yeah,
it will literally tell you that something that convenient is
better for me because you exert less energy. So your mind,
you have to you have to play mind games with
(15:55):
your You know, your mind is playing minds with.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
You all day.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
You have to play mind games back with your mind. Right,
Realize is that? Okay? I mean there are some things
that Amazon getting delivered to your house is just going
to be great for, right, Like if you need to
buy one hundred and fifty pounds of dog food, right
that it's going to be hard to transport for it
from the store to your car for the car to
your house. Yeah, get that delivered. Let Amazon do the
(16:19):
heavy lefting for you, right, right. But man, if you've
got a hardware store a quarter of a mile from
your house that is locally owned, yeah right, go go,
go down and bless those folks, right, you'd rather, you'd rather?
I mean, and there's a lot of those those small
businesses in our communities who have had to resort to
(16:41):
like sending their product through Amazon to be able to
make you know, to keep the lights on the employ people.
But you're right, I mean, like if we if we
could start thinking about financial decisions and like how does
it impact you know, what is the real impact that
we have? I wrote I wrote a book called The
One of a Kind Financial Plan. It's available on Amazon,
barn and Nobles, wherever you fight by books. It's the
(17:02):
One of a Kind Financial Plan, pretty easy to find,
Mike Milligan. But in that book, we talk about building
a vision for your life and not doing it in
a piecemeal effect. We actually talk about dealing with the
big things like taxes, which are the biggest expense you'll
ever pay in your life, and having a plan for
those retirement income to ease fear and anxiety and investment
(17:22):
plan that actually works for you, long term care, legacy
that you know where you're taking care of it in
your life, and legacy is like more than you got
to have a will and trust. It's the basics, but
it's about that ultimate I Love you letter. But if
you build, if you build, if you build these rules right,
or a plan, a written down plan in your life,
it starts to finding who you are. And like that
(17:43):
rabbit hole you went down about the convenience of Amazon,
writing a financial plan down is not easy. Ye it's
it's not, but like it's it's necessary. And so there's
a difference between what's easy and what's necessary. And some
things that are necessary is like the building of a
vision for your life, building an objective for why you're living.
(18:05):
And with money, if you don't have it written down,
it's easy to see money wasted by just throwing it
to the wrong things or the wrong strategies. And then
when you you know, when you get to a point
where you can't work fifty hours a week or forty
hours a week, now you've all you know, I mean,
you can't physically work there, you still have to continue
(18:26):
that because of the culmination of bad decisions along the way.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I love that you brought that up, because those bad
decisions along the way also kind of eat away at
our you know, sense of identity, and we don't trust
our own decision making, so then we go back into paralysis.
We're afraid to make any decisions because we've made bad ones.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh right, and that's uh, And like I call that
deja vu. I mean because we have we have we
have these daja vu moments in our life where like
where we were like, oh, we've been here before, and
all of a sudden, the air starts.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Standing up on your arms.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah, but like there's there's money DejaVu willments that happen
all the time if you think about it, if you
subconsciously think about it. Right, I have spent in this
place before and have regretted it. Yeah, and here I
am doing it again. Right. We talk about in the
one of a kind financial plan retirement DejaVu. That's a
that's somewhat of an experience I go through a lot, okay,
(19:24):
but it's also it's also an experience at others see, right,
is they're like me, like my retirement dejev vous is ill.
You know, I'll have a meeting with somebody at nine
and ten thirty and nude and two and three point
thirty right where somebody's coming in the first time, and
they'll tell me about, you know, their experience with money
(19:44):
or their experience with their financial advisor.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
It seems like it's deja vous for me.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It's people who are saying, I have this much allocated
in stocks, this much allocated in bonds. I don't have
a plan for taxes, I don't have a plan for retirement.
Come and I was told to buy this insurance thing.
And it's just like deja vu, because that's what that's
what the big that's what the big institutions want and want.
(20:09):
You have this piece mill effect where this piece mill
effect leads to you depending on them coming back to
them for more. Right, And it was all creative, Michelle,
Like when when, uh, when when Ray Kroc automated the
Big Mac, When Henry Ford automated the car? Right that
that uh, you know, the financial industry just realized that
(20:32):
a little bit later. But like all the financial industry
is given is to all be Patty Special salt sledge
cheese pickles on his own a sessamec bun. That's all
they're given, right, It's the same thing whoever walks in
the door. There's nothing wrong with a big mac. You
just shouldn't have one every day, and you definitely shouldn't
have the same plan that your neighbor has, or you're
the neighbor beside that neighbor, the people setting the nests
(20:54):
next to you. You need to have some custom that
uniquely yours, where you understand it, where you get educated,
where you could ask the right questions and know what's
important most for you and your family.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, that's great, and that is an interesting analogy there.
We have kind of automated things and the way other
things have been automated. So I'd love for you to
give us kind of an example maybe of you know,
something that has been more customized that that you won't
get just walking into, you know, basically any traditional Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
I'm happy to do that, right.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I just I mean, I could I could sit here
and I could talk for hours about these because it's
because these are this is what we do every day
full time, you know, sometimes going into overtime with our
clients to do these. But I mean I could think of,
for instance, Mark, who I met with just last week.
(21:53):
He's a he's assumed to be dad of high school graduates. Okay,
he's a divorcee. But Mark has been very successful. He's
saved quite a lot of money for retirement. But now
he's in his mid fifties and he's ready to do
(22:13):
something else. He's ready to spend more time surfing than
he is working. And when he has he has for
years accumulated wealth in a system where it's forced him
to now start doing it on his own because he's
realized that like financial advisors are trying to charge a
percentage of his assets in fees but giving him no
(22:36):
real answer about how to address a potential early retirement,
how to address what to do with the sale of
a home, how to address with you know, a move
to the West coast and possibly Central and South America,
and you know, in his in building a customized plan
for him, we talked about how to actually put his
(22:57):
money in a place that's going to be tax fishing
where he doesn't break any rules and have it old.
He's along the way for his money that's in retirement accounts,
but you know, the end, the end goal is going
to be that Mark's going to be able to serve
three hundred days a year. He's going to spend a
lot of time in the ocean, which is what he
wants to do in his mid fifties when he can,
(23:20):
before his back goes out or he has to have
knee replacement surgery or hip you know, something happens where
he can't do this. I mean, I could also think
about Jude, who is sixty seven. She's never been married before,
and she was worked, and you know she has she
had accumulated a lot of cash in her savings account.
And you know, when I asked her, why did you
do that? She said, I just I'm a I'm a
(23:43):
conservative investor. And I asked her again, why are you
a conservative investor? And she said, well, because you know,
for a long time, you know, I just didn't know
where to put money. Well, why didn't you know where
to put your money? And I asked her three or
four more why questions? And she said, because, Mike, when
I was seven years old, I remember coming home from
(24:03):
school and my parents putting me right to bed because
we didn't they didn't have any money to feed me dinner,
and like and you hear those right, you hear these
why why why you know, a bank or a big companies,
they're going to see money and say, let me put
you in this portfolio. They're not going to get to
the root of the problem. The root of the problem
is she she still feels like a seven year old
(24:24):
girl who may not have a meal at night. And
when I literally told her, Jude, you're going to be okay.
You have over a million dollars, right, and I know
you want to live another forty fifty years, right, because
I mean, we all know that there's somebody alive right
now who's going to live into the one hundred and
twenties or one hundred and thirties, somebody today that's living.
And she said, why not me? I mean that's what
(24:46):
that was her one of a kind approach. She goes,
why not me? Well, when I freed her up from
that little seven year old's burden about having food, she's
getting ready to get married right for the first time.
Right she is, she's traveled, she's traveled to Europe several times.
She's going to retire in three years. That is what
(25:07):
going beyond the traditional cookie cutter, cookie cutter approach or
one size fits all big mac assembly line. Financial planning
means to people. And again, folks, I could tell you
hundreds of stories, almost thousands of lives that have been
impacted by building one of a kind financial plans for
(25:27):
your one of a kind life. Guys, And if you,
if you never speak to me, if you want to
build one for yourself, just buy the book because the
book will actually lay out how you build a plan
for yourself. And then I mean, and like it'll just inspire.
I mean the reviews. I've almost got a five point
a got an almost five point oh radio on Amazon almost.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
I had one person who gave me a four.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
There's it's an interesting place to like be when, like
you have somebody with over thirty years experience saying, hey,
read the book because that'll lay it out. And then
if you need deeper help, then obviously get deeper help.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Well, and I see you have two books actually one
of a kind financial plan, which sounds amazing for everybody.
I mean, a big part of this show is to
help educate people in a number of different areas. And
as we're talking too, I realize there.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
We talk about so many topics you brought up at
the beginning.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
You know, somebody is going to tell you to buy stocks,
and somebody is going to tell you, you know, put all
your money and whatever. And I sometimes my goal here
was to bring a wide array of topics to the
table so people could actually tap into their own interests
and you know, the things that attract them and have
at least enough knowledge to go further, you know, and
(26:45):
deeper into some area, whether it's stocks or real estate
or you know, whatever it is. But I realized that
can also be overwhelming. It's like, Okay, now everything sounds great.
This guy is saying the only way to go is
you know this thing. And so I love your the
value that you bring in terms of digging a little
deeper into what is right for you.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, And I think that every hole starts with the foundation. Yeah, right,
Every relationship starts with a common thread.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Everybody who was successful with finances have like a belief
and in a continued stream of education that they're always
getting because there's uh that there's very few people who
luck into wealth. I mean they they they really they
they follow some system, whether or not it's right or wrong,
(27:43):
and then they get educated along the way. To the point,
am I doing what's right when we uh when I,
when I, when I went on this journey, this creative
journey after I was really in the business for like
twenty years at that time, when I started writing my
first manuscripts and started appearing in as podcas Hast guests
and creating a podcast and getting moral media. What I
(28:04):
realize is that people are as much as people are unique.
Financial plans come down to just a few common common things,
and the few common things lead you to then diverge
off your own path. And so like wealth, you know,
most wealth is created in one of three areas, Michelle.
(28:28):
It's in your company four one K plan some people
call that a thrift savings plan, right if your work
with the federal government or four three B. Second place
that people build wealth is they build it in real
estate and their primary home first and then maybe they
go out buy sport properties. In the third place they
build wealth is in their in their small business. Right now,
(28:50):
all of those, all three of those have different threads
that can go in different ways ways. Right, some people
may have built their wealth and their four one K
and U and a black Rock fund or a Vanguard
fund or American funds or whatever. Right they're but they
all kind of move and operate the same way. Real estate, right,
a home in California is going to be different than
(29:12):
a home in Alabama, in North Carolina or Maine. They're
just they're just different, different price points.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
And then like your business, right, some small businesses explode
into nine figure, ten figure juggernauts.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
They get sold.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Some provide a daily living right and like and then
and then for another generation they do the same thing.
And then maybe for another generation they do the same thing.
But like in the in the grand scheme of things,
as much as we are unique, we're not so unique
that we don't build wealth the same way. Unfortunate today
(29:47):
where social media is prevalent and uh, I mean it's
ever present. Uh, people get caught in these get rich
quick schemes right by by this coin height, go and
buy this gold because everything's you know, going downhill, you know,
get involved in this elaborate LLC pyramid thing and it's
(30:12):
just but guys, I'm telling you, right, as much as
things change, things stay the same. And primary wealth is
created for most people right by consistently saving in a plan,
buy in real estate early and often, and if you're
so inclined and you're built to run a small business.
(30:34):
Invest in the in the in the problems all the
small businesses. It's problems that people have. It could be
individual communities, it could be a global scale, right. But
you know, you know Amazon's problem that they saw was
that books could only be got, you know, you could
only get a book in a bookstore. And this internet
thing was coming down. Amazon just wanted to be the
(30:55):
biggest bookseller on the internet.
Speaker 4 (30:57):
It's all. Really, that was a problem. He solved it.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Well, realize his technology was good enough to solve a
lot of retail problems that you know, But like if
you were to invest in a business like that third
leg of creating wealth, just find a problem and if
you could and if you can solve it, if you've
got a unique ability to either inspire others to come
together and solve the problem, those are called employees unique
(31:21):
ability to bring a team together to solve problems, and
you have the solution that people want to buy. Build
a lot of wealth for yourself, right, And you know,
a lot of wealth is not It doesn't mean one
hundred billion dollars, right, because those people are few and
far between. Right, But there's a lot of people who've
built really nice businesses and tails all across America just
(31:43):
by solving problems.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Oh I love that.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I love that whole discussion because, for one thing, you've
narrowed it down to really three areas of focus, which
sort of eliminates the problem I was speaking of before.
And you know, for all of that, like you said earlier,
and like I strongly believe, you do need to build
a foundation both of within your mindset and within some
(32:07):
practical things that you do, like figuring out how to
live in your means and get rid of your debt
and all the sort of basics that will get you
to this point where you have money to invest in
any of those things. But there is this foundational piece
that is, you know, kind of practical and boring sounding.
It ever sounds as fun to pay off your debt
(32:28):
or do it emergency savings as it does to go
on TikTok and start one of these digital marketing companies
that you know, they're promising so much money all the time.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
It even sucks to me, and once in a while
it's like, what are they talking about?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
It?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
But I love what you're saying because it really comes
down to those three things.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
That's right, Well, people do make money in the digital
marketing space, right, but it's it's just like anywhere, right,
It's a few select percentage of people, right, right. It's
so like, if it's not your gifted, if you're not
going to spend time at it, if you're not going
to work wholeheartedly in it, and you're gonna have divided attention,
you're probably not going to make money in that space, right.
(33:06):
And it's just like anything, if you're not going to
make money, and then the person who got you into
the program was probably making money off the money that
you put into it.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So yeah, it is interesting. And that's the other point.
If people do make money at things, and then when
they do, they feel like I need to tell the
whole world how to do it, just like I did.
But you know, you're not them, and for a lot
of these methods, it's not necessarily going to work for
you just because it worked for them.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
It's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Well, I love the idea of your book.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I really feel like that sounds like an important book
for people trying to educate themselves, you know, along the
way here and then you know, how do you feel
as a financial planner that the financial you know, working
with someone. Somewhere along the way, money conversations came up,
I think where you were talking about relationship. And I'm
(34:00):
also a big believer, we don't talk about money enough,
especially women. I do think guys spend a little more
time talking about money and now they're walking around the
golf course or whatever, and they're literally talking about money
and their investments.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Women do not. It's very rare. I think that that
sort of thing is happening.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, we we we just in general don't talk about
things that we don't know about. And so I mean
we could also say that we don't have a lot
of conversations about the Pythagorea theorem, right, and we don't,
you know, and we don't have a lot of conversations
around like the inner work, the interpersonal relationships of the
(34:39):
love dynamic that happens, you know, between dolphins, like we
don't talk.
Speaker 4 (34:43):
About those things.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Because we don't understand a well, the one reason we
don't talk about money a lot is because we.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Think it's taboo.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yes, right, we you know, yeah, you know you always
hear you know, don't talk about religion in politics and
money unfortunately, because those things can divide, you know, they
divide you know. I mean if you think about, like,
you know, a religious conversation about what happened in the past,
(35:15):
you know could divide you. It can separate you from
a relationship that you want to build. Politics one could
do that especially, yes, yeah, yeah, but money is uh.
Money is one of those things that when you you
have to find your community that is either struggling with
(35:35):
the same things you are, which are people that are
trying to get to the same place you're trying to
get to, and even like find a a money mentor
like somebody who is maybe walk the path that you
have before, or you think they've walked the path before,
and somebody that you can ask questions to who you
(35:56):
could simply say, tell me about some of your greatest
success with money, tell me about some of your greatest
failures with money. How did you pick the relationship that
you have with the people that you have? And you know,
and when you do that, when you open up an
engaging conversation about success and failure, you're going to get
some people who will just not shut up, and you're
(36:19):
gonna get other people who will give you very blanketed answers.
But one of the things that I know is that
if you don't talk about money, you're not going to
engage or move ahead with your old money journey. I
was literally just on a podcast recently where somebody says
said that like money is a This was a therapist,
(36:44):
a marriage and family therapist, who said that, you know,
financial advisors don't realize the power that they really have
because literally, financial advisors are there to talk about the
thing that people don't talk about much at all. And
what financial advisors really try to do is they try
(37:05):
to ask forward their recommendations without just having the conversation.
And then if financial advisors would really do the job
that they're called to do, which is have conversations, their
calendars would be full of people, right they would. They
would never lack for new people, new opportunities to have
(37:28):
conversations with. And the financial advisor at that point should
should choose who they work with based off the personalities
they're right they like, and then push the people that
the personalities are not onto somebody who's their personality fits
better into Because here's the thing about money, right, Like,
I'm a financial planner, a financial advisor, and yes, my
(37:50):
calendar's full. But you know why, it's because I just
talked to people. Yeah, you know, ninety percent of the
people I talk to about money will never become a
client one Oak financial. And it's and the and the
numbers are growing every day, you know, it's you know,
pretty soon it's going to be more like ninety five
or ninety seven percent because because we're we're engaging in
(38:10):
the dialogue that needs to be had. You know, we're
you know, we're engaging in the dialogue about taxes and retirement, income, investments,
long term care and legacy, the one of a kind
financial plan, building the vision for your retirement. We call
that retirement chief. Right. You know, we're we're we're trying
to get people to snap out of retirement deja vu,
get past the paralysis penalty, look at the sea of sameness,
(38:31):
right and say do you want to be like every
fish in the pond or do you want to find
your way into bigger ponds and be unique?
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Right?
Speaker 2 (38:40):
And does everybody want to be nemo or do they
just want to be the stripe bass down the corner?
Speaker 4 (38:44):
I mean, who do you want to be? Guys?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
And like when you when when we have more conversations
like that when we get more mentor groups set up
and we get more you know, people in community talking
about money, how to grow businesses, you know, small business owners,
how to grow business? You know people that are in
their thirties and forties. How do we navigate this time
of you know, expensive daycare and private school versus public school.
(39:09):
How do we navigate these big financial decisions? We have
people in conversation like that. You know, we're not We're
no longer going to have a money problem. We're no
longer going to have a debt problem. Yeah, but you
have to remember, Michelle, who doesn't want you to have
those conversations?
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Right?
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Big banks, big insurance companies, because they want you to
be They want you to be the source there by
the way, who doesn't want you to talk about religion?
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Churches? They want you to come to church and talk
about it there. Right.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Who doesn't want you to talk about politics politicians? Because
you know, then no change will really happen. So if
you really want to be unique and be one of
a kind, have the conversations politely, right, and find the
people that you connect with and then grow with that group. Right,
(40:00):
bring your own unique, it's your old one of a
kindness to it, and then and then you could truly
live the life that is that's full of yours.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
That was so good and you're so right, and that's why,
you know. Oftentimes too, I join groups that have more
like minded people. Maybe it's an entrepreneurs group or something
where people are kind of thinking differently, and and oftentimes
people can get a lot of pushback from their families,
from you know, all kinds of other folks about what
(40:33):
are you doing. You know, I have a client right
now who you know, what she's doing is really different.
I think it's fantastic. But you know, everybody, like you said,
your brain is trying to protect you, so everybody's worried about,
you know, you going kind of off the rails. But
I think you know where you can find these people.
It's really really beneficial to be, you know, not alone
(40:54):
in this. So well, Mike, I really love your insights.
I really I hope people will buy your book. I
think that sounds like a fabulous read for anybody at
any stage. And tell us how else we can contact
you find you?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Well, if you go to Mike Milligan dot com, just
m my k E M my L L I g
a N dot com. You're gonna find out more about me.
I have three primary purposes in life. To educate, coach,
and plan. That's all I all I do. I teach
a personal financial planning course at a university, Old Demateian University.
(41:34):
That is, it's a non credit course for people just
looking to educate themselves. You can find out more details
about that on the website. I coach other advisors in
a very closed group, right, and I'm teaching them to
be able to have money conversations. That whole thing I
was telling you in this episode about financial advisors holding
the key, Yeah, because people want to talk about money.
(41:57):
That's what I train on other financial advisor. So if
you talk to somebody, you know maybe they've been trained
by me in the past, and then you know. Our
firm is called one Oak Financial, where one Oak stands
for one of a kind. So One of a Kind
Financial is there to build one of a kind financial
plans for your one of a kind life.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
It's what we live. We have.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
We have twenty one professionals on our team that are
they're ready and able to have the conversations about money
and when we have those conversations, we'll well, we'll send
you off on a better path, whether or not that
path includes us going forward, because the bigger we are,
the bigger our presence gets, the less people we have
(42:42):
the ability to help, and we know our capacity, but
we'll push people down a path where, you know, by
having a conversation with us, they'll know that they can
improve taxes, retire to decome investments, long term care, their
legacy along the way.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Wow, thank you. That sounds wonderful and much needed. And
we didn't even touch on, you know, the whole tax
strategy aspect of it, so I'm glad you at least
mentioned it because it is so much more important than
people realize, and so the fact that you bring that
into the conversation, you know, intentionally like that, is extra
So well, thank you so very much for being here.
(43:19):
I feel like it was a real privilege to have
you on. You're a wealth of knowledge and clearly heartfelt
in all of this and what you're trying to give
to people.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
So thanks, Michelle. I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Yeah, I really appreciate it as well, So thank you,
and thank you audience for listening to the money and
you show we're so glad you do. And you can
find us on all the podcast platforms. You can find
us on the YouTube Limit fore Life YouTube channel, and yeah,
reach out to me Michelle at limit FreeLife dot com
and check out a few of the variety of things
(43:51):
that we have there and we will see you next week.
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