March 21, 2022 • 19 mins
Hear how Galen Mizuguchi shifts his focus amidst the pandemic to reach teachers in Hawaii and grows his business by sharing his appreciation and building trust.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ed Dressel (00:09):
Welcome again to another podcast with RetireReady
Solutions and Grow RetireReadyClients where we're focused on
helping advisors engage and movetheir clients forward toward
successful retirement. I'mexcited today. I've had a chance
to talk with Galen Mizuguchi,from Hawaii. And he has joined
us. Welcome, Galen. Great tohave you.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (00:27):
Aloha.
Appreciate it. Thank you somuch.
Ed Dressel (00:30):
We had a bit of a conversation before. I was
really impressed. I'm excitedfor the next few moments as we
talk. Tell us a little bit aboutyour agency and Hawaii and a
little bit what you do?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (00:41):
Well, with Hawaii Benefit Partners, we
specialize in retirement,medicare, and any kind of tax
favorable options. We pivoted tothe teachers recently.
Ed Dressel (00:51):
And what does that look like?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (00:53):
Well, we do a lot of consultations with them.
We adopted Calendly to set upthe appointments, and we just
Ed Dressel (01:00):
And why did you select teachers?
consult them and find outwhat--overall what we can help
them with.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (01:08):
There are several reasons why I targeted
teachers, is because one of themis my wife is a retired school
teacher. I did consult with theteachers, help the teachers with
their retirement about 27-28years ago. I stopped. But then
the teachers needed help. Whenmy wife retired in 2019,
teachers were calling her up andasking what options did she
(01:31):
take, why she took this option,and all of that. So when the
pandemic hit, that's my pivotover to the teachers. Just to
give back what, you know, theygave all of us.
Ed Dressel (01:42):
Pivoting during the pandemic--we've heard a lot of
that some of it went well, someof it didn't. So just before we
get into the COVID situation,what obstacles did you find in
business?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (01:53):
Well, I guess setting appointments, getting
people to sit down and listen toyou and finding the right niche
on how to get them interested inwhat you have.
Ed Dressel (02:03):
But the virus changed a lot. And it only made
that more difficult. How did youpivot to working with teachers
during the virus and help thatbe successful?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (02:13):
Well, before the virus hit, I was working
with a company that doessupplemental insurance and I was
providing food for the companiesjust to have them sit down and
listen to me. So I bring lunchor buffet . With the virus
hitting, I wanted to do the samething for the teachers to give
back to the teachers for all thethings that they did for a
community. So instead of buffetor sandwiches, we created this,
(02:38):
I call it Appreciation Bento. Soit's a lunch box that we provide
to the teachers. They come, pickup the lunch box. We use Google
Forms to see if they want abento or not. And also we asked
for pages they didn't having areview over their projection for
retirement system.
Ed Dressel (02:57):
So let's pull this apart a little bit. Appreciation
Bento. You got teachersinterested in joining you for a
lunch?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (03:06):
Yeah, so with a pandemic, it was very
difficult to have them in agroup. So what we did was we
provided a bento, we set itoutside the cafeteria, outside
the hallway, or even in abasketball courts. And they
would come six feet apartpicking up the bento. And we
just check the name off andsaying they got the bento and if
(03:28):
they wanted a presentation.
Ed Dressel (03:30):
So using Appreciation Bento to share them
about their retirementprojections? How do you how do
you transition them?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (03:38):
So, you know, everybody, not only teachers,
they want to feel appreciated,and we couldn't find another way
to show appreciation to them. Icould make gift bags or anything
like that, but it was too timeconsuming. So I partnered up
with a couple of restaurants inthe Big Island in Hilo. And they
decided to give me a discountfor a bento which cost $5. And
(04:02):
if the school has 60 people, 60teachers, we provide a sixty
bentos and then an option toeither op out or op in to
setting an appointment with us.
And in the beginning it was slowbecause of the trust factor, the
relationship factor. But itpicked up all of a sudden.
Ed Dressel (04:22):
So you're developing a relationship through a bento
and expressing your appreciationfor the teacher and the
opportunity to tell them aboutretirement.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (04:32):
Right.
Ed Dressel (04:33):
What have some of your reaction has been?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (04:36):
That I was crazy. Because giving away this
$5 bento to 60 teachers. I putit on Instagram, I put it on
social media, and I got messagescoming back to me like, is this
for real? You know, what's thecatch? I said? There's no catch.
I mean, this is one way ofshowing appreciation for what
(04:57):
they're doing during thispandemic. I mean I felt sorry
for that they have to go to workwith all these things happening.
They are teaching our leaders ofour future. So that's what it is
that their first reaction wasthat I'm crazy and doing this.
Eventually they understood thatit comes from the heart. It's
just we want to just give back.
And in return, we did aprojection, and we helped them
(05:18):
along the way with theirretirement as well.
Ed Dressel (05:23):
So you get them in a room, six feet apart. They're
sitting there eating theirbento, what do you talk about?
What do you, what--what's theengagement piece?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (05:33):
Okay, so let me rephrase. We set out a Google
form, to get their name, emailaddress, telephone number,
Appreciation Bento, yes or no.
And if they want a free, noobligation, consultation
regarding the projection. Thebento--they pick it up, they go
back to the room. And that's it.
(05:54):
So it was kind of like, I didn'thave the opportunity to sit down
with them because of thispandemic. So they went back to
the room and everybody ate lunchon their own. So it was just a
minute or not even a minute,maybe 30 seconds I have with
them. And I just have toimprovise at that time.
Ed Dressel (06:13):
And what did you say in the 30 seconds?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (06:16):
I noticed that you didn't check off you want a
free projection. All we aredoing is providing your free
projection so you know whatyou're going to retire at. So
it's not a surprise, because youdon't want any surprises when it
comes down to retirement. Andyou may have to work another
five, six years to befinancially set when you retire.
Ed Dressel (06:35):
Now, when most people think of getting a
retirement projection, they kindof roll their eyes going, this
is going to be too complex forme to understand. They're going
to talk, they'll be pushingproduct. How did you make that a
meaningful event?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (06:47):
I printed out the RetireReady final
projection, as an example. I'dhave it on the table. So they
looked at it and said, "Wow,this is really easy to
understand." And I say yeah,it's simple and I'll explain it.
And the RetireReady also hasexplanation on each how it
works. And I just covered itstep by step by step. And I
(07:10):
guess we gained the trust byusing the RetireReady.
Ed Dressel (07:14):
You know your story, I appreciate it. And I didn't
know exactly where this wasgoing. We called our company
Trust Builders for a long time,because by keeping it simple and
meaningful, it engages anindividual towards retirement
success. But people thought wewere a legal trust or trust as
an on top of your house. So wechanged our name to RetireReady
Solutions. But what you'resaying is typical of what we've
(07:37):
seen. Once they saw theirprojection how did you, what did
you move them to?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (07:41):
Well, the information we gathered was like
what they want to do uponretirement. They want to travel,
they want to do this. Everythingis going up in prices. So they
know they will need a lot morethan what they think they need.
But once they saw theirretirement projection, they--I
would say a lot of them gotsurprised. They thought it would
(08:02):
be enough, but it wasn't enough.
So if there wasn't putting awaymoney in a 403(b) we would
present the 403(b) to give theman extra income upon retirement
to help them financially.
Ed Dressel (08:15):
So the bentos--if we go back to that in your handout,
the bentos. How many people saidI'll do the one on one meeting?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (08:22):
I would say in the beginning, like about 3%.
Ed Dressel (08:26):
Oh.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (08:27):
Yeah, it was really scary at first. The
second time we went back toschool, the numbers went up to
about 20%, then just kept onrising. Now. What we do is we
see a school once a year. In thebeginning, we saw the school
sometimes two or three times ayear. But yeah, the percentage
is going up. And it's awesome,because I have been having
(08:49):
appointments from schools I didsix months ago. Finally it is, I
guess people talk. The teachersjust keep on talking to each
other. Because when I noticedthat I went to school six months
ago, and they finally clickedthe button and set up the
appointment. The first thing Iasked them is what took you so
long? And they--I guess theyfeel apologetic. And they say,
(09:13):
you know, I didn't know if thiswas legit and everything. And I
talked to another teacher andthey said you should try it. And
I was still hesitant because Iwaited so long, but then they're
glad to do that.
Ed Dressel (09:26):
So showing somebody a picture of retirement. The
retirement years chart, is thatthe one you use and what's their
reaction when they see theirpension system, social security
and maybe some 403(b) money IRAmoney? How do they respond to
Gaylen Mizuguchi (09:40):
They don't actually have a response. Not a
that?
"wow" or anything like that.
It's--I guess they are absorbingeverything in and they finally
see the real picture on whatit's going to look like. So they
kind of accept it until we comeon and say is this going to be
enough? You may need to increaseyour 403(b) if you want to get
(10:01):
more. So I guess there's no bigreaction when they see the whole
picture with the 403(b). Withoutthe 403(b), it's kind of like is
that all I'm gonna get?
Ed Dressel (10:13):
A little bit of shock?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (10:15):
Yeah. One statement I make is, there's two
types of people that retire. Oneof them is they can pay for
utilities, they can pay forexpenses and everything, but
they cannot go nowhere. And theother type is, they can do all
of that. But they still cantravel, they can see their
grandkids and all of that. Sowhich one do you want to be? In
a nutshell, if they don't sayanything, I said, are you
(10:37):
willing to spend three months orsix months in jail? And they
look at me like, what am Italking about? And I just say,
just think about it. If you justcould be able to pay for your
expenses, you cannot go nowhere.
It's just like sitting in jail.
I mean, the jail will give youfood, housing, everything. But
you can not leave. So they kindof understand the concept. Why
(10:58):
do you need more?
Ed Dressel (11:00):
So for the listeners sake, if you're new to
RetireReady Solutions, youhaven't looked at our solution
or pension plans. We illustrateover 700 public pension plans
across the country. We have thesurvivor benefit options.
Showing them their SurvivorBenefit Options, does that
provide confusion to them? Or dothey like seeing that? What do
they do when you go, Hey, here'syour pension plan.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (11:21):
So I keep it real simple. I say, does your
spouse need any kind of income,if you should pass away, and if
they need, this is the optionyou need to select. However, if
the spouse passes away, beforeyou do, the money won't go to
anybody else. However, Hawaiihas a pop up option. So they go
back to the maximum option. Sothey understand that, and
(11:43):
there's a lot of opportunitiesto have life insurance all in
the same same situation.
Ed Dressel (11:49):
I appreciate your passion and how you're working
with teachers. What I hear a lotis it's worked for people that
are getting closer toretirement. But there's a lot of
young teachers out there. Doesthis resonate with the younger
teachers? Or are they disengagedin the subject?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (12:04):
In the beginning, there was
disengagement. Totally. I wouldsay for every 20 teachers I met
one, if any, was under 10 yearsof service. The rest is all, you
know, closer to retirement.
Today, it's a little bitdifferent. Because now the
younger teachers are realizingthat they need to think about it
and do something about it. Sowhen I meet the young teachers,
(12:26):
a lot of them don't have a403(b), and they just started a
403(b) with us right away.
Ed Dressel (12:33):
So they even the younger teachers find it a
meaningful profit.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (12:36):
Right, right.
Especially with this pandemic,because I mean, a lot of
teachers talking aboutretirement, a lot of teachers
talking about getting out of thesystem, should we stay in a
system? What are the benefits ofstaying? What are the benefits
of leaving? And you know, Idownloaded the state of Florida
retirement system. It is very,very good. I mean, I don't think
any company would give them asmuch as the state of Hawaii is
(12:57):
on a private sector.
Ed Dressel (13:01):
So do you have any recent stories from a teacher
you met with and the differencethat made for them?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (13:06):
A lot of teachers just come out and say
they're glad they met with usbecause nobody explained
anything to us. And, fellas,that's common. I mean, that's
the common factor. I guess whatone impact was, a teacher said,
I need to let all my friendsknow what just happened. And
yeah, that's what happeningright now. It's all mostly not
(13:28):
the referral asking for but thereferral that they just sent in
to me.
Ed Dressel (13:32):
You're not having to ask, they're wanting to give
they're wanting--they appreciatethe value you're bringing to the
table. And from what I'm hearingfrom you TRAK Software, our
product, really helps you bringa differentiator engagement
solution to the table. Am Imisstating that?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (13:48):
No, that's correct, because in the state of
Hawaii, you're gonna get aprojection unless you're six
months ready to retire. So yeah,so my wife went through this
whole situation where she'sthinking about retirement in
2018. She couldn't get aprojection and she had to wait
six months before, I think itwas in August of 2019 when she
(14:12):
finally went to see the ERS tosit down and say she can retire
at the end of the year. And Ithink on August, September,
October, she got a projectionand it was--just wasn't even
explained to her. It was just,here's the numbers. So I went
and explained to her what eachnumber meant. And I felt sorry
(14:36):
for the teachers after that whenthey start asking my wife, which
option you took? Why did youtake that? What is your income
and how many years you had? AndI mean, it was crazy.
Ed Dressel (14:47):
Wow. Has any teacher come up with you and compared
you to a prior advisor they'veworked with?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (14:53):
Well I asked them point blank, did you, you
know, participate in your 403(b)already in putting away $100 a
paycheck. What I asked them ishow did they come up with the
number? And they just said itjust was suggested. And I said,
do you know how much you can getinto retirement for the state?
And he said, no. I said, well,how can you actually set up a
(15:17):
403(b) not knowing if that's theright amount. I told him, I'm
not afraid to tell you what'sthe right amount. And it's up to
you whether you can afford theright amount, or we need to
start small and grow it bigger.
You know, increase thecontribution as we go along. So
they appreciate thatpersonalization on each
employee, each teacher,
Ed Dressel (15:38):
That's awesome. We look at, you know, think of
social distancing. Andhopefully, we're in the waning
days of COVID. You've come upwith an efficient way to meet
with teachers, develop arelationship with them. And it
didn't happen immediately. It'snot like you dropped a stick but
you stayed persistent. And hey,let's do another bento in the
same school. So how has thisimpacted your bottom line in
(16:00):
your business?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (16:01):
So the bottom line, I absorb 100% of the cost
of the bento. And I just want tohelp the teachers. The main
thing is helping the teachersrealize and understand that what
they want to get at retirement,how the retirement options work,
all the medical benefits. I justwant to help them out because
without the teachers, I wouldn'tbe here today. And that's what I
(16:23):
explained to the teachers. It'snot about my bottom line or
anything like that right now.
And other agents, I helped otheragents, I'm 62 years old. And I
just want to pass the baton onto somebody who's younger, and
they can just take it from hereand also support them on the
side. That's my ultimate goal.
(16:44):
And I want them to stick withthe teachers or the state and
county employees because of thesystem, the retire ready system.
Ed Dressel (16:52):
And I appreciate your passion. It's really fun to
listen to. I love the way youlike to help teachers. You're
doing it. You're not focused onthe bottom line. You're making a
difference. Just to put itsuccinctly, what would you say
you bring to the table todifferentiate yourself from
other advisors.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (17:09):
I'm willing to give a lot to the teachers and
show appreciation to theteachers before I ask for the
business. And just throughconsulting and partnering up
with other agencies, otheragents, because I cannot wear
all the hats. And I try topartner up with agents that area
(17:30):
a lot younger than I just toassure the teacher that when
they retire, there's going to besomebody alive, to take care,
you know, to take care of theirfinances and help them along the
way because we don't justprovide something and walk away.
We asked them when is the lasttime you saw your agent
providing you the 403(b) and alot of times they say seven
(17:53):
years ago when I when I firstenrolled, you know. And it's
been years and we don't want tobe like that. So every year,
minimum, we try to meet withthem virtually and go over what
they have.
Ed Dressel (18:06):
So this has been fun. Gaylen I sincerely
appreciate you taking the timetoday to sit down with me and
talk. Any closing comments fromyou?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (18:16):
No, I'm just willing to help anybody who can
help and without the RetireReadyI wouldn't be doing this.
Ed Dressel (18:23):
Your words are kind and our passion is to help
advisors help individualsalleviate poverty in retirement.
We call ourselves in the povertyalleviation business. We're
helping you help them and we arepassionate about it too. It's
always fun to work alongsidewith people who have a passion
in the same direction we have.
So thank you for taking yourtime. I appreciate it.
Absolutely wish you the best.
(18:46):
Keep us in touch with how theAppreciation Bento evolves and
my best wishes to you. Thank youGaylen.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (18:52):
Thank you and stay safe!
Welcome again to another podcast with RetireReady
Solutions and Grow RetireReadyClients where we're focused on
helping advisors engage and movetheir clients forward toward
successful retirement. I'mexcited today. I've had a chance
to talk with Galen Mizuguchi,from Hawaii. And he has joined
us. Welcome, Galen. Great tohave you.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (00:27):
Aloha.
Appreciate it. Thank you somuch.
Ed Dressel (00:30):
We had a bit of a conversation before. I was
really impressed. I'm excitedfor the next few moments as we
talk. Tell us a little bit aboutyour agency and Hawaii and a
little bit what you do?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (00:41):
Well, with Hawaii Benefit Partners, we
specialize in retirement,medicare, and any kind of tax
favorable options. We pivoted tothe teachers recently.
Ed Dressel (00:51):
And what does that look like?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (00:53):
Well, we do a lot of consultations with them.
We adopted Calendly to set upthe appointments, and we just
Ed Dressel (01:00):
And why did you select teachers?
consult them and find outwhat--overall what we can help
them with.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (01:08):
There are several reasons why I targeted
teachers, is because one of themis my wife is a retired school
teacher. I did consult with theteachers, help the teachers with
their retirement about 27-28years ago. I stopped. But then
the teachers needed help. Whenmy wife retired in 2019,
teachers were calling her up andasking what options did she
(01:31):
take, why she took this option,and all of that. So when the
pandemic hit, that's my pivotover to the teachers. Just to
give back what, you know, theygave all of us.
Ed Dressel (01:42):
Pivoting during the pandemic--we've heard a lot of
that some of it went well, someof it didn't. So just before we
get into the COVID situation,what obstacles did you find in
business?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (01:53):
Well, I guess setting appointments, getting
people to sit down and listen toyou and finding the right niche
on how to get them interested inwhat you have.
Ed Dressel (02:03):
But the virus changed a lot. And it only made
that more difficult. How did youpivot to working with teachers
during the virus and help thatbe successful?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (02:13):
Well, before the virus hit, I was working
with a company that doessupplemental insurance and I was
providing food for the companiesjust to have them sit down and
listen to me. So I bring lunchor buffet . With the virus
hitting, I wanted to do the samething for the teachers to give
back to the teachers for all thethings that they did for a
community. So instead of buffetor sandwiches, we created this,
(02:38):
I call it Appreciation Bento. Soit's a lunch box that we provide
to the teachers. They come, pickup the lunch box. We use Google
Forms to see if they want abento or not. And also we asked
for pages they didn't having areview over their projection for
retirement system.
Ed Dressel (02:57):
So let's pull this apart a little bit. Appreciation
Bento. You got teachersinterested in joining you for a
lunch?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (03:06):
Yeah, so with a pandemic, it was very
difficult to have them in agroup. So what we did was we
provided a bento, we set itoutside the cafeteria, outside
the hallway, or even in abasketball courts. And they
would come six feet apartpicking up the bento. And we
just check the name off andsaying they got the bento and if
(03:28):
they wanted a presentation.
Ed Dressel (03:30):
So using Appreciation Bento to share them
about their retirementprojections? How do you how do
you transition them?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (03:38):
So, you know, everybody, not only teachers,
they want to feel appreciated,and we couldn't find another way
to show appreciation to them. Icould make gift bags or anything
like that, but it was too timeconsuming. So I partnered up
with a couple of restaurants inthe Big Island in Hilo. And they
decided to give me a discountfor a bento which cost $5. And
(04:02):
if the school has 60 people, 60teachers, we provide a sixty
bentos and then an option toeither op out or op in to
setting an appointment with us.
And in the beginning it was slowbecause of the trust factor, the
relationship factor. But itpicked up all of a sudden.
Ed Dressel (04:22):
So you're developing a relationship through a bento
and expressing your appreciationfor the teacher and the
opportunity to tell them aboutretirement.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (04:32):
Right.
Ed Dressel (04:33):
What have some of your reaction has been?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (04:36):
That I was crazy. Because giving away this
$5 bento to 60 teachers. I putit on Instagram, I put it on
social media, and I got messagescoming back to me like, is this
for real? You know, what's thecatch? I said? There's no catch.
I mean, this is one way ofshowing appreciation for what
(04:57):
they're doing during thispandemic. I mean I felt sorry
for that they have to go to workwith all these things happening.
They are teaching our leaders ofour future. So that's what it is
that their first reaction wasthat I'm crazy and doing this.
Eventually they understood thatit comes from the heart. It's
just we want to just give back.
And in return, we did aprojection, and we helped them
(05:18):
along the way with theirretirement as well.
Ed Dressel (05:23):
So you get them in a room, six feet apart. They're
sitting there eating theirbento, what do you talk about?
What do you, what--what's theengagement piece?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (05:33):
Okay, so let me rephrase. We set out a Google
form, to get their name, emailaddress, telephone number,
Appreciation Bento, yes or no.
And if they want a free, noobligation, consultation
regarding the projection. Thebento--they pick it up, they go
back to the room. And that's it.
(05:54):
So it was kind of like, I didn'thave the opportunity to sit down
with them because of thispandemic. So they went back to
the room and everybody ate lunchon their own. So it was just a
minute or not even a minute,maybe 30 seconds I have with
them. And I just have toimprovise at that time.
Ed Dressel (06:13):
And what did you say in the 30 seconds?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (06:16):
I noticed that you didn't check off you want a
free projection. All we aredoing is providing your free
projection so you know whatyou're going to retire at. So
it's not a surprise, because youdon't want any surprises when it
comes down to retirement. Andyou may have to work another
five, six years to befinancially set when you retire.
Ed Dressel (06:35):
Now, when most people think of getting a
retirement projection, they kindof roll their eyes going, this
is going to be too complex forme to understand. They're going
to talk, they'll be pushingproduct. How did you make that a
meaningful event?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (06:47):
I printed out the RetireReady final
projection, as an example. I'dhave it on the table. So they
looked at it and said, "Wow,this is really easy to
understand." And I say yeah,it's simple and I'll explain it.
And the RetireReady also hasexplanation on each how it
works. And I just covered itstep by step by step. And I
(07:10):
guess we gained the trust byusing the RetireReady.
Ed Dressel (07:14):
You know your story, I appreciate it. And I didn't
know exactly where this wasgoing. We called our company
Trust Builders for a long time,because by keeping it simple and
meaningful, it engages anindividual towards retirement
success. But people thought wewere a legal trust or trust as
an on top of your house. So wechanged our name to RetireReady
Solutions. But what you'resaying is typical of what we've
(07:37):
seen. Once they saw theirprojection how did you, what did
you move them to?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (07:41):
Well, the information we gathered was like
what they want to do uponretirement. They want to travel,
they want to do this. Everythingis going up in prices. So they
know they will need a lot morethan what they think they need.
But once they saw theirretirement projection, they--I
would say a lot of them gotsurprised. They thought it would
(08:02):
be enough, but it wasn't enough.
So if there wasn't putting awaymoney in a 403(b) we would
present the 403(b) to give theman extra income upon retirement
to help them financially.
Ed Dressel (08:15):
So the bentos--if we go back to that in your handout,
the bentos. How many people saidI'll do the one on one meeting?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (08:22):
I would say in the beginning, like about 3%.
Ed Dressel (08:26):
Oh.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (08:27):
Yeah, it was really scary at first. The
second time we went back toschool, the numbers went up to
about 20%, then just kept onrising. Now. What we do is we
see a school once a year. In thebeginning, we saw the school
sometimes two or three times ayear. But yeah, the percentage
is going up. And it's awesome,because I have been having
(08:49):
appointments from schools I didsix months ago. Finally it is, I
guess people talk. The teachersjust keep on talking to each
other. Because when I noticedthat I went to school six months
ago, and they finally clickedthe button and set up the
appointment. The first thing Iasked them is what took you so
long? And they--I guess theyfeel apologetic. And they say,
(09:13):
you know, I didn't know if thiswas legit and everything. And I
talked to another teacher andthey said you should try it. And
I was still hesitant because Iwaited so long, but then they're
glad to do that.
Ed Dressel (09:26):
So showing somebody a picture of retirement. The
retirement years chart, is thatthe one you use and what's their
reaction when they see theirpension system, social security
and maybe some 403(b) money IRAmoney? How do they respond to
Gaylen Mizuguchi (09:40):
They don't actually have a response. Not a
that?
"wow" or anything like that.
It's--I guess they are absorbingeverything in and they finally
see the real picture on whatit's going to look like. So they
kind of accept it until we comeon and say is this going to be
enough? You may need to increaseyour 403(b) if you want to get
(10:01):
more. So I guess there's no bigreaction when they see the whole
picture with the 403(b). Withoutthe 403(b), it's kind of like is
that all I'm gonna get?
Ed Dressel (10:13):
A little bit of shock?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (10:15):
Yeah. One statement I make is, there's two
types of people that retire. Oneof them is they can pay for
utilities, they can pay forexpenses and everything, but
they cannot go nowhere. And theother type is, they can do all
of that. But they still cantravel, they can see their
grandkids and all of that. Sowhich one do you want to be? In
a nutshell, if they don't sayanything, I said, are you
(10:37):
willing to spend three months orsix months in jail? And they
look at me like, what am Italking about? And I just say,
just think about it. If you justcould be able to pay for your
expenses, you cannot go nowhere.
It's just like sitting in jail.
I mean, the jail will give youfood, housing, everything. But
you can not leave. So they kindof understand the concept. Why
(10:58):
do you need more?
Ed Dressel (11:00):
So for the listeners sake, if you're new to
RetireReady Solutions, youhaven't looked at our solution
or pension plans. We illustrateover 700 public pension plans
across the country. We have thesurvivor benefit options.
Showing them their SurvivorBenefit Options, does that
provide confusion to them? Or dothey like seeing that? What do
they do when you go, Hey, here'syour pension plan.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (11:21):
So I keep it real simple. I say, does your
spouse need any kind of income,if you should pass away, and if
they need, this is the optionyou need to select. However, if
the spouse passes away, beforeyou do, the money won't go to
anybody else. However, Hawaiihas a pop up option. So they go
back to the maximum option. Sothey understand that, and
(11:43):
there's a lot of opportunitiesto have life insurance all in
the same same situation.
Ed Dressel (11:49):
I appreciate your passion and how you're working
with teachers. What I hear a lotis it's worked for people that
are getting closer toretirement. But there's a lot of
young teachers out there. Doesthis resonate with the younger
teachers? Or are they disengagedin the subject?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (12:04):
In the beginning, there was
disengagement. Totally. I wouldsay for every 20 teachers I met
one, if any, was under 10 yearsof service. The rest is all, you
know, closer to retirement.
Today, it's a little bitdifferent. Because now the
younger teachers are realizingthat they need to think about it
and do something about it. Sowhen I meet the young teachers,
(12:26):
a lot of them don't have a403(b), and they just started a
403(b) with us right away.
Ed Dressel (12:33):
So they even the younger teachers find it a
meaningful profit.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (12:36):
Right, right.
Especially with this pandemic,because I mean, a lot of
teachers talking aboutretirement, a lot of teachers
talking about getting out of thesystem, should we stay in a
system? What are the benefits ofstaying? What are the benefits
of leaving? And you know, Idownloaded the state of Florida
retirement system. It is very,very good. I mean, I don't think
any company would give them asmuch as the state of Hawaii is
(12:57):
on a private sector.
Ed Dressel (13:01):
So do you have any recent stories from a teacher
you met with and the differencethat made for them?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (13:06):
A lot of teachers just come out and say
they're glad they met with usbecause nobody explained
anything to us. And, fellas,that's common. I mean, that's
the common factor. I guess whatone impact was, a teacher said,
I need to let all my friendsknow what just happened. And
yeah, that's what happeningright now. It's all mostly not
(13:28):
the referral asking for but thereferral that they just sent in
to me.
Ed Dressel (13:32):
You're not having to ask, they're wanting to give
they're wanting--they appreciatethe value you're bringing to the
table. And from what I'm hearingfrom you TRAK Software, our
product, really helps you bringa differentiator engagement
solution to the table. Am Imisstating that?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (13:48):
No, that's correct, because in the state of
Hawaii, you're gonna get aprojection unless you're six
months ready to retire. So yeah,so my wife went through this
whole situation where she'sthinking about retirement in
2018. She couldn't get aprojection and she had to wait
six months before, I think itwas in August of 2019 when she
(14:12):
finally went to see the ERS tosit down and say she can retire
at the end of the year. And Ithink on August, September,
October, she got a projectionand it was--just wasn't even
explained to her. It was just,here's the numbers. So I went
and explained to her what eachnumber meant. And I felt sorry
(14:36):
for the teachers after that whenthey start asking my wife, which
option you took? Why did youtake that? What is your income
and how many years you had? AndI mean, it was crazy.
Ed Dressel (14:47):
Wow. Has any teacher come up with you and compared
you to a prior advisor they'veworked with?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (14:53):
Well I asked them point blank, did you, you
know, participate in your 403(b)already in putting away $100 a
paycheck. What I asked them ishow did they come up with the
number? And they just said itjust was suggested. And I said,
do you know how much you can getinto retirement for the state?
And he said, no. I said, well,how can you actually set up a
(15:17):
403(b) not knowing if that's theright amount. I told him, I'm
not afraid to tell you what'sthe right amount. And it's up to
you whether you can afford theright amount, or we need to
start small and grow it bigger.
You know, increase thecontribution as we go along. So
they appreciate thatpersonalization on each
employee, each teacher,
Ed Dressel (15:38):
That's awesome. We look at, you know, think of
social distancing. Andhopefully, we're in the waning
days of COVID. You've come upwith an efficient way to meet
with teachers, develop arelationship with them. And it
didn't happen immediately. It'snot like you dropped a stick but
you stayed persistent. And hey,let's do another bento in the
same school. So how has thisimpacted your bottom line in
(16:00):
your business?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (16:01):
So the bottom line, I absorb 100% of the cost
of the bento. And I just want tohelp the teachers. The main
thing is helping the teachersrealize and understand that what
they want to get at retirement,how the retirement options work,
all the medical benefits. I justwant to help them out because
without the teachers, I wouldn'tbe here today. And that's what I
(16:23):
explained to the teachers. It'snot about my bottom line or
anything like that right now.
And other agents, I helped otheragents, I'm 62 years old. And I
just want to pass the baton onto somebody who's younger, and
they can just take it from hereand also support them on the
side. That's my ultimate goal.
(16:44):
And I want them to stick withthe teachers or the state and
county employees because of thesystem, the retire ready system.
Ed Dressel (16:52):
And I appreciate your passion. It's really fun to
listen to. I love the way youlike to help teachers. You're
doing it. You're not focused onthe bottom line. You're making a
difference. Just to put itsuccinctly, what would you say
you bring to the table todifferentiate yourself from
other advisors.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (17:09):
I'm willing to give a lot to the teachers and
show appreciation to theteachers before I ask for the
business. And just throughconsulting and partnering up
with other agencies, otheragents, because I cannot wear
all the hats. And I try topartner up with agents that area
(17:30):
a lot younger than I just toassure the teacher that when
they retire, there's going to besomebody alive, to take care,
you know, to take care of theirfinances and help them along the
way because we don't justprovide something and walk away.
We asked them when is the lasttime you saw your agent
providing you the 403(b) and alot of times they say seven
(17:53):
years ago when I when I firstenrolled, you know. And it's
been years and we don't want tobe like that. So every year,
minimum, we try to meet withthem virtually and go over what
they have.
Ed Dressel (18:06):
So this has been fun. Gaylen I sincerely
appreciate you taking the timetoday to sit down with me and
talk. Any closing comments fromyou?
Gaylen Mizuguchi (18:16):
No, I'm just willing to help anybody who can
help and without the RetireReadyI wouldn't be doing this.
Ed Dressel (18:23):
Your words are kind and our passion is to help
advisors help individualsalleviate poverty in retirement.
We call ourselves in the povertyalleviation business. We're
helping you help them and we arepassionate about it too. It's
always fun to work alongsidewith people who have a passion
in the same direction we have.
So thank you for taking yourtime. I appreciate it.
Absolutely wish you the best.
(18:46):
Keep us in touch with how theAppreciation Bento evolves and
my best wishes to you. Thank youGaylen.
Gaylen Mizuguchi (18:52):
Thank you and stay safe!
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com