January 7, 2020 • 22 mins
Marc and Michelle Lippincott are a husband and wife team out of Tulare California. With 20 years of experience, a majority of their business is in the 403(b) space. In this episode they speak to the challenge of finding new clients, how TRAK helps them in reaching teachers, and some of the processes they have used in building a successful business.
Representatives are registered with and offer securities and advisory services through Ministry Partners Securities LLC, a registered broker dealer, investment advisor and member of FINRA, SIPC. Lippincott Financial & Insurance Services is a DBA operating through Ministry Partners Securities LLC.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Edward Dressel (00:00):
Welcome back to another podcast at RetireReady
Solutions.
Today we have Marc and MichelleLippincott from California with
us, 403(b) advisors.
Marc, Michelle, welcome.
Michelle L (00:17):
Thank you.
Edward Dressel (00:18):
So Mark and Michelle, tell me a little bit
about your business.
Marc Lippincott (00:21):
We're advisors.
We're an advisory team.
So we've been, I've been in thisbusiness now over 20 years.
The majority of the business isin 403(b) and we work with a lot
of educators and have grown thebusiness along the way to
include, you know, as acertified financial planner,
(00:45):
financial planning, brokerageaccounts--all the ancillary
things that come along withworking in the 403(b) space.
And it's a unique situation,having a husband and wife as an
advisory team.
When you come to meet with usand you have both Michelle and
myself together, it feels a lotlike, you know, mom and dad are
(01:08):
talking to you about yourfinances as a team of people,
team of counselors who arecoming alongside to help you
with your finances in thefinancial advisory space.
So that's pretty much ourbusiness.
Edward Dressel (01:23):
What brought you into the financial planning
world?
Michelle L (01:26):
I would say that we actually wandered into it
unintentionally, but--Marcneeded a job and answered an ad
in the paper fit the criteria ofwhat he was looking for.
That being said, we have becomevery intentional about what we
do and the products that weoffer, the advice that we give.
(01:48):
We realize that finance issomething that we hold really
close to our heart we get tomake an impact in people's
lives.
Edward Dressel (01:59):
What obstacles do you find in your business and
specifically the industry, the403(b) industry, that you've
selected?
Marc Lippinc (02:07):
Obstacles--finding clients.
You know, I don't know how anadvisor could actually just
start out today and get into the403(b) business and find people
to make a business with--itwould be difficult.
So I guess it's talking withpeople.
At this point right now, itfeels like we have a lot of
(02:29):
traction with referrals.
People just know us well enoughnow that they send referrals and
we have a steady stream ofpeople that come along that want
to talk to us.
But I suppose that's one of theobstacles there in 403(b) space.
Michelle L (02:46):
I would say that people are pretty leery.
They're afraid that they'regoing to be sold something.
They are just hesitant becausewe're talking about finances.
Again, it's something that's sopersonal that you have to build
a bridge of trust.
(03:06):
And initially if you're justgoing into a relationship, you
have to build that.
So obviously that would be apriority to us is to be
trustworthy.
I think another obstacle ispeople--they know that they
should save and they're notalways willing to make the
changes in their lifestyle orwhatever they need to do--make
(03:29):
those changes now so that theyreap the benefits later.
Again, they know that they'resupposed to do something.
So they might start with theminimum amount and then we use
software like TRAK that showsthem,"Hey, you actually need to
do more for the lifestyle thatyou want in retirement." And
(03:51):
having them actually want tomake those changes now--that can
be challenging.
Edward Dressel (03:56):
Referrals are pretty golden in the industry.
What do you see your success ongetting people to refer to you?
What are you doing for yourclients that they go,"I want to
tell others about my advisor."
Marc Lippincott (04:07):
Yeah.
The building of the trust withit, with the client.
So we, from the very beginning,really state,"Hey, I'm here to
help you." So the main questionthat people have about their
finances, is"Am I going to haveenough?" It's usually
fear-based, you know, they wantto have a lot of money, but I
think it's more in the space ofI want to have enough for the
(04:33):
future.
And so, when our basis of theconversation is on,"I want to
help you." I want to help youhave enough so that the future
will be--will look like yourpreferred future.
You know, I want to spend timewith family, I want to have--I
don't want to be dependent uponother people for my finances.
(04:55):
And it has more security or asmuch security as the future can
have.
When we start at the basis ofthat in our financial planning
or in our financialconversation, there's a trust
that's built with those clients.
So then when we say,"Hey, we, wework with people that are just
like you," referrals that cometo us usually come to,"Mark and
(05:18):
Michelle have helped me and theycan help you too." So
communicating our value to themand what it is, not necessarily
just what we do, but doing thatfor them.
When they, when a referral comesin, it's all in that space of
"You can trust Mark and Michelleand you need to talk to them."
(05:39):
Today we have somebody comingin--it's a referral from a
client.
He's just lost his wife.
So there's a whole host ofthings that are, you know,
everything has triggered in hislife and all these financial
things have happened (05:54):
life insurance and disability and
retirement accounts.
Insurance companies are askinghim to fill out paperwork.
And so he's coming to us with,"Can you help?" And that's a
referral and, you know, the helpis up front, but I know all
along--I told him, I said,"Look,we can help you.
(06:15):
We have you covered." And sothat referral, we think it's
golden.
Yes--in that the trust isalready built there with the
referral and with the clientthat we've worked with for, I
don't know, it's been not 20years yet, but you know, 16
years that I've known theclient.
Edward Dressel (06:35):
Mark, do you get any professional referrals from
people in town?
Marc Lippincott (06:40):
Um, we do.
We have a CPA firm that's herein town.
We have gotten referrals fromthem and he is my CPA.
Uh, I've gone specifically tomeet with attorneys just
to,--I've just said,"Hey, giveme 15 minutes, I'll come in and
introduce myself." I've given mycard and I just say,"Look, this
(07:01):
is what I do as a financialplanner and an advisor.
And these are the kind ofclients that I felt--I just
wanted to meet you becauseclients do ask for attorneys or
they ask for CPAs and myrecommendation and I want to be
able to know them personally.
So I don't go in with the ideaof meeting that attorney or that
(07:22):
CPA to make them a client.
But just to say,"I want to knowyou.
You want to see my face andlet's make the connection." And
there have been referrals thathave come from that.
Not trying to make a client, butjust trying to make professional
connections in town.
Edward Dressel (07:40):
So let's move sideways a little bit now.
It's a different question.
You guys are avid users of theRetirement Analysis Kit, our
solution for helping in theretirement planning world.
What difference does that makein your business?
Marc Lippincott (07:51):
It's almost everything.
I mean, so the retirementanalysis that we've used, called
TRAK and the personal retirementcalculator--but it's all solid
retirement analysis.
That it is--it has been the goto place for us for basically a
financial plan becauseit--especially for the
(08:12):
educator--when it's able to showme state teacher's retirement
system and the pay up from thatand what it looks like with them
saving in a 403(b) We connectall the dots with a plan for
that teacher or that client byhaving that retirement analysis,
by having the numbers--correctnumbers--from state teacher's
(08:35):
retirement system.
I had questions from clientsthat are just like,"Hey, is that
number correct for stateteachers?" And I can go through
and do it manually or look attheir statement online at STERS.
It's right there.
I maybe did a few days off inthe program but it's right on
top of the number.
So being able to quickly enterin that information and then
(08:58):
talk to the clients especiallywith the graph.
I love using the graph thatshows if there's a shortfall in
the future.
It has a powerful impact onpeople when they're looking at
that graph because people arenumbers oriented.
And some are visually oriented,some others like you to talk.
And if you do all three of thosethings, it has this
(09:20):
understanding.
You can see all the light thatlight bulbs go off with
somebody.
"Oh well I need to be thensaving" or"I need to be
investing--I need to get aspecific return out of my money
in order to meet these goals.
And it's very helpful.
I mean, I guess I would call ita financial planning program.
(09:43):
There are other programs thatare really complicated that I
have that I use--I say reallycomplicated in that there are
just tons of buttons to push onthere.
And RetireReady is one that issimple to use for me for
Michelle, and for others to use.
And then I'm able to print outor send to that client pages
(10:08):
that make sense to them fortheir retirement.
So it is has meant a lot.
We've given it away more than, Imean, I don't know, if we've
ever charged for it.
We give it away, but it has amajor impact on our business in
helping people save.
And then when they do save, ithelps us.
So there's this symbioticrelationship that we have.
(10:31):
I don't know if it's with theprogram or RetireReady
throughout the years,
Edward Dressel (10:37):
You know, state systems are complicated--working
with the software and making itan integrated benefits analysis.
You said the lights went on,right?
What does that look like?
Marc Lippincott (10:48):
So, they trust their--let's just use the
example of state teacher'sretirement system.
They trust that system and theytrust those numbers.
So it's kind of like the rockunderneath this foundation or
the cement underneath thefoundation for their retirement.
When I'm able to show them that,plus them saving, why that's
(11:11):
important.
It's usually this date on whenthey want to retire.So if they
said,"I gotta get outta here by57 and a half," then I can tell
them how much they need to saveand how to get busy doing that.
So, the lights do go on,especially when you combine all
those together with the graph.
(11:32):
So easily while I'm in theconversation changing that
number,"Well, what if youretired at 62 and a half?
How would that impact this thingor what have you saved this
amount?" I can easily changethis graph so that they can see
the numbers and we're now havinga conversation about the most
(11:57):
important things, right?
This, this date that they canretire and what that's gonna
look like money-wise for themand whether that's going to be
enough.
And so when I,--all the lightsare on, then.
It's not just they've arrivedthere, but all the lights are on
and it's amazing how manyteachers will come back into the
(12:19):
program.
"Okay, let's update thenumbers," and we look at this
date that they can retire andthey reference it.
We just had a client the otherday, it was just saying,"I'm
retiring"--I saw the email thatcame through to Michelle--"I'm
retiring at 62 and a half.
That's when I'm done." And we'vebeen working on that for years
(12:41):
now with RetireReady for her toget to that place.
Edward Dressel (12:47):
So the interactivity of the software,
which is kind of atypical andthe more complicated tools as I
understand it.
You find that advantageousworking with your clients?
Marc Lippincott (12:58):
Oh definitely.
I don't want to mention the nameof the software, but it's not as
interactive.
It's not as easy to get therewith the clients we want to call
it, retirement readiness, right?
It's just not as easy to getthere.
And definitely that inneractivity to quickly be able to
change some numbers and see whatthe result of that is going to
(13:19):
be for them, especially thegraph that shows any shortfall.
You know, I am right there atthe edge, right?
When can I retire?
At what age was this amount ofmoney that makes all the red go
away?
It's probably as simple as that.
We want to make all the red isbad.
(13:40):
All the other colors are good.
So we want to make the red goaway, no shortfall, and get you
to a place where it's justsolid.
No guarantees, of course, youknow, it's based on other
factors, but based on these andreasonable factors.
Now we've made all the red goaway.
Michelle L (13:59):
I think it's cool that a client can watch those
numbers change.
So if we say,"Oh, let's retireat 60.
And what does that look like ifwe retire it 62?" Just a quick
change on our end and they cansee it, they can tell it's
literally those two years canmake a huge difference.
(14:23):
Or if it's saving a little bitmore money, what that looks
like.
I think it's great visual.
Edward Dressel (14:30):
One of the jokes in the industry is how poorly
people are engaged with jokes orconcerns.
They make cartoons about it andmake commercials about it and
they tell us we need to getpeople ready.
What difference does it make tosee a client understand what
they need to do and see themtake action?
Marc Lippincott (14:50):
It is everything.
You can show somebody a wholelist of investments and they
make this kind of return and youknow, they're not, they're not
really engaged with thatinformation.
They really want to know how itapplies to them.
And mostly clients, they're riskaverse, right?
(15:13):
They don't want to run out ofmoney, right?
Well, that's not--they reallywant you to phrase it in,"I want
to make enough money so that Ihave plenty," but they really
are at a place where"I justdon't want to run out of money."
So we want people to be engagedwith something that's very, very
simple.
(15:33):
Instead of numbers and graphsand disclosures and all that
stuff, even though it's allrequired, it's not the focus we
need.
We need to be focusing on thesimple, simple things, right?
Getting to their goals: grandchildren and family and a (15:48):
undefined
life that they want to live inthe future.
And all the tools that we useshould be toward that goal.
Right?
This goal of them living theirpreferred future.
And, you know, every once in awhile we get an engineer who
(16:09):
wants to get down into theweeds."Well, tell me about
exactly what stock positionsthis mutual fund has and all the
fees." But most of the timepeople are, they just want to
know if they're going to beokay.
And we have this the saying,"Weare your financial ally." So all
(16:29):
the tools that we use aretowards us being an ally towards
you.
It's just a tool and a part ofthe conversation to get them
there and having it be simpleand understandable is
very--that's really important.
Once in a while you get the guywho really wants to get
(16:49):
complicated and I usually haveto come back to,"Hey, we just
want to bring this back," thatcalms and they understand that
on the not complicated thing.
Edward Dressel (17:01):
So if we go back--so you do a retirement
plan with somebody in TRAK andthen do you send them on their
way to go back to review that atall with your clients or how and
how often if you do that?
Michelle L (17:15):
Absolutely.
It's something that needs to berevisited on a regular basis.
I would say every three years isprobably good.
We like to update the numbers.
So if we are looking at rates ofreturn, we can actually plug in,
this is what your account hasdone.
So we'll use an actual return intheir account, not just some
(17:40):
hypothetical number.
Um, we can look at, okay, thisis what the account balance
actually is.
We go back to all the differentpieces plugged in and so it
provides a, like a map of wherewe're going, but it also is a
(18:00):
trail of where they have been.
So we can actually probably linethem all up.
This is what we started with.
And, you know, a lot of timesthey need to make increases to
their contributions and if theyhaven't been faithful to do that
or if they've actually madebigger contributions than what
they anticipated, we get to plugall that in.
(18:22):
So it's important to revisitthat and update it periodically.
Edward Dressel (18:27):
As I've sat and listened to both of you, I get a
passion in here for helpingpeople retire well, to be ready
to retire.
What's the passion that drivesyou to helping people?
Marc Lippincott (18:41):
There there is an eternal passion here.
So this isn't what we see hereon what's happening around us
right now is it's not the end ofthe story in my mind.
There's an eternal component andthere's treasure there.
There's--that's not a retirementplace, but a place for life.
(19:02):
And so the thing that we arepassionate about is helping
people get to a place wherethey're doing something that's
transcendent to what they'reworking on right now.
You know, the day to day (19:14):
I'm in the lives of other people, which
has its own spiritual andtranscendent component, but to
make that part of theirthinking.
And I think as a financialadvisor, I really don't need to
be smarter than everybody elseand I'm not at all.
(19:36):
But the part that I need to dois lead: lead in the
conversation, lead in ideas.
To have them grab hold of anidea that is greater than
themselves.
Right?
So just left to our own self, wewould just take care of our
needs and what we need, what wethink that we need and the bills
(19:58):
that we have and make thisnumber that we have for
retirement work.
But it's really, I think,important on my part to present
an idea of more.
And so this transition timeperiod where they can give even
more time to the things thatthey care about--their faith,
(20:19):
their community, others aroundthem--is really important.
So we make that really the goalfor them and find out and we ask
the clients,"What is it that youare passionate about?
What is it that you want?
So we're going to do all thiswork and we're going to save all
this money.
What are we saving it for?
Where's it going to go?" Thatfor me, after 20 years of doing
(20:43):
this, I'm motivated by that.
I can show someone who has nopassion for giving back at all
how to live almost a completelyselfish life.
This is how much the stateteachers are going to pay out,
this is how much money you save.
And now you've got this numberand you'll have plenty of money,
(21:04):
but where are the people?
Where are the things that you'repassionate about in this
equation?
And so I, I'm really, I justthink for myself, I've
transitioned to a place of,"Iwant to help people go there and
I'm going there myself." Whatare the things that are going to
be eternal, the things thatreally matter in my life and in
(21:27):
the lives of others.
And my leadership capability isthat that's the sales job,
right?
That's the presenting the bigidea that we can all grab hold
of and work toward that in thefuture.
Edward Dressel (21:43):
So I liked that.
Finding people's passions tolive through retirement, not
just the passion to be retired,but what's your passion?
What are you going to do whenyou're there?
Well, Marc and Michelle, it'sbeen a delight to talk with you.
I appreciate you taking thetime, and I know you're in some
transition points in life.
I hope they go well.
Have a wonderful day.
Welcome back to another podcast at RetireReady
Solutions.
Today we have Marc and MichelleLippincott from California with
us, 403(b) advisors.
Marc, Michelle, welcome.
Michelle L (00:17):
Thank you.
Edward Dressel (00:18):
So Mark and Michelle, tell me a little bit
about your business.
Marc Lippincott (00:21):
We're advisors.
We're an advisory team.
So we've been, I've been in thisbusiness now over 20 years.
The majority of the business isin 403(b) and we work with a lot
of educators and have grown thebusiness along the way to
include, you know, as acertified financial planner,
(00:45):
financial planning, brokerageaccounts--all the ancillary
things that come along withworking in the 403(b) space.
And it's a unique situation,having a husband and wife as an
advisory team.
When you come to meet with usand you have both Michelle and
myself together, it feels a lotlike, you know, mom and dad are
(01:08):
talking to you about yourfinances as a team of people,
team of counselors who arecoming alongside to help you
with your finances in thefinancial advisory space.
So that's pretty much ourbusiness.
Edward Dressel (01:23):
What brought you into the financial planning
world?
Michelle L (01:26):
I would say that we actually wandered into it
unintentionally, but--Marcneeded a job and answered an ad
in the paper fit the criteria ofwhat he was looking for.
That being said, we have becomevery intentional about what we
do and the products that weoffer, the advice that we give.
(01:48):
We realize that finance issomething that we hold really
close to our heart we get tomake an impact in people's
lives.
Edward Dressel (01:59):
What obstacles do you find in your business and
specifically the industry, the403(b) industry, that you've
selected?
Marc Lippinc (02:07):
Obstacles--finding clients.
You know, I don't know how anadvisor could actually just
start out today and get into the403(b) business and find people
to make a business with--itwould be difficult.
So I guess it's talking withpeople.
At this point right now, itfeels like we have a lot of
(02:29):
traction with referrals.
People just know us well enoughnow that they send referrals and
we have a steady stream ofpeople that come along that want
to talk to us.
But I suppose that's one of theobstacles there in 403(b) space.
Michelle L (02:46):
I would say that people are pretty leery.
They're afraid that they'regoing to be sold something.
They are just hesitant becausewe're talking about finances.
Again, it's something that's sopersonal that you have to build
a bridge of trust.
(03:06):
And initially if you're justgoing into a relationship, you
have to build that.
So obviously that would be apriority to us is to be
trustworthy.
I think another obstacle ispeople--they know that they
should save and they're notalways willing to make the
changes in their lifestyle orwhatever they need to do--make
(03:29):
those changes now so that theyreap the benefits later.
Again, they know that they'resupposed to do something.
So they might start with theminimum amount and then we use
software like TRAK that showsthem,"Hey, you actually need to
do more for the lifestyle thatyou want in retirement." And
(03:51):
having them actually want tomake those changes now--that can
be challenging.
Edward Dressel (03:56):
Referrals are pretty golden in the industry.
What do you see your success ongetting people to refer to you?
What are you doing for yourclients that they go,"I want to
tell others about my advisor."
Marc Lippincott (04:07):
Yeah.
The building of the trust withit, with the client.
So we, from the very beginning,really state,"Hey, I'm here to
help you." So the main questionthat people have about their
finances, is"Am I going to haveenough?" It's usually
fear-based, you know, they wantto have a lot of money, but I
think it's more in the space ofI want to have enough for the
(04:33):
future.
And so, when our basis of theconversation is on,"I want to
help you." I want to help youhave enough so that the future
will be--will look like yourpreferred future.
You know, I want to spend timewith family, I want to have--I
don't want to be dependent uponother people for my finances.
(04:55):
And it has more security or asmuch security as the future can
have.
When we start at the basis ofthat in our financial planning
or in our financialconversation, there's a trust
that's built with those clients.
So then when we say,"Hey, we, wework with people that are just
like you," referrals that cometo us usually come to,"Mark and
(05:18):
Michelle have helped me and theycan help you too." So
communicating our value to themand what it is, not necessarily
just what we do, but doing thatfor them.
When they, when a referral comesin, it's all in that space of
"You can trust Mark and Michelleand you need to talk to them."
(05:39):
Today we have somebody comingin--it's a referral from a
client.
He's just lost his wife.
So there's a whole host ofthings that are, you know,
everything has triggered in hislife and all these financial
things have happened (05:54):
life insurance and disability and
retirement accounts.
Insurance companies are askinghim to fill out paperwork.
And so he's coming to us with,"Can you help?" And that's a
referral and, you know, the helpis up front, but I know all
along--I told him, I said,"Look,we can help you.
(06:15):
We have you covered." And sothat referral, we think it's
golden.
Yes--in that the trust isalready built there with the
referral and with the clientthat we've worked with for, I
don't know, it's been not 20years yet, but you know, 16
years that I've known theclient.
Edward Dressel (06:35):
Mark, do you get any professional referrals from
people in town?
Marc Lippincott (06:40):
Um, we do.
We have a CPA firm that's herein town.
We have gotten referrals fromthem and he is my CPA.
Uh, I've gone specifically tomeet with attorneys just
to,--I've just said,"Hey, giveme 15 minutes, I'll come in and
introduce myself." I've given mycard and I just say,"Look, this
(07:01):
is what I do as a financialplanner and an advisor.
And these are the kind ofclients that I felt--I just
wanted to meet you becauseclients do ask for attorneys or
they ask for CPAs and myrecommendation and I want to be
able to know them personally.
So I don't go in with the ideaof meeting that attorney or that
(07:22):
CPA to make them a client.
But just to say,"I want to knowyou.
You want to see my face andlet's make the connection." And
there have been referrals thathave come from that.
Not trying to make a client, butjust trying to make professional
connections in town.
Edward Dressel (07:40):
So let's move sideways a little bit now.
It's a different question.
You guys are avid users of theRetirement Analysis Kit, our
solution for helping in theretirement planning world.
What difference does that makein your business?
Marc Lippincott (07:51):
It's almost everything.
I mean, so the retirementanalysis that we've used, called
TRAK and the personal retirementcalculator--but it's all solid
retirement analysis.
That it is--it has been the goto place for us for basically a
financial plan becauseit--especially for the
(08:12):
educator--when it's able to showme state teacher's retirement
system and the pay up from thatand what it looks like with them
saving in a 403(b) We connectall the dots with a plan for
that teacher or that client byhaving that retirement analysis,
by having the numbers--correctnumbers--from state teacher's
(08:35):
retirement system.
I had questions from clientsthat are just like,"Hey, is that
number correct for stateteachers?" And I can go through
and do it manually or look attheir statement online at STERS.
It's right there.
I maybe did a few days off inthe program but it's right on
top of the number.
So being able to quickly enterin that information and then
(08:58):
talk to the clients especiallywith the graph.
I love using the graph thatshows if there's a shortfall in
the future.
It has a powerful impact onpeople when they're looking at
that graph because people arenumbers oriented.
And some are visually oriented,some others like you to talk.
And if you do all three of thosethings, it has this
(09:20):
understanding.
You can see all the light thatlight bulbs go off with
somebody.
"Oh well I need to be thensaving" or"I need to be
investing--I need to get aspecific return out of my money
in order to meet these goals.
And it's very helpful.
I mean, I guess I would call ita financial planning program.
(09:43):
There are other programs thatare really complicated that I
have that I use--I say reallycomplicated in that there are
just tons of buttons to push onthere.
And RetireReady is one that issimple to use for me for
Michelle, and for others to use.
And then I'm able to print outor send to that client pages
(10:08):
that make sense to them fortheir retirement.
So it is has meant a lot.
We've given it away more than, Imean, I don't know, if we've
ever charged for it.
We give it away, but it has amajor impact on our business in
helping people save.
And then when they do save, ithelps us.
So there's this symbioticrelationship that we have.
(10:31):
I don't know if it's with theprogram or RetireReady
throughout the years,
Edward Dressel (10:37):
You know, state systems are complicated--working
with the software and making itan integrated benefits analysis.
You said the lights went on,right?
What does that look like?
Marc Lippincott (10:48):
So, they trust their--let's just use the
example of state teacher'sretirement system.
They trust that system and theytrust those numbers.
So it's kind of like the rockunderneath this foundation or
the cement underneath thefoundation for their retirement.
When I'm able to show them that,plus them saving, why that's
(11:11):
important.
It's usually this date on whenthey want to retire.So if they
said,"I gotta get outta here by57 and a half," then I can tell
them how much they need to saveand how to get busy doing that.
So, the lights do go on,especially when you combine all
those together with the graph.
(11:32):
So easily while I'm in theconversation changing that
number,"Well, what if youretired at 62 and a half?
How would that impact this thingor what have you saved this
amount?" I can easily changethis graph so that they can see
the numbers and we're now havinga conversation about the most
(11:57):
important things, right?
This, this date that they canretire and what that's gonna
look like money-wise for themand whether that's going to be
enough.
And so when I,--all the lightsare on, then.
It's not just they've arrivedthere, but all the lights are on
and it's amazing how manyteachers will come back into the
(12:19):
program.
"Okay, let's update thenumbers," and we look at this
date that they can retire andthey reference it.
We just had a client the otherday, it was just saying,"I'm
retiring"--I saw the email thatcame through to Michelle--"I'm
retiring at 62 and a half.
That's when I'm done." And we'vebeen working on that for years
(12:41):
now with RetireReady for her toget to that place.
Edward Dressel (12:47):
So the interactivity of the software,
which is kind of atypical andthe more complicated tools as I
understand it.
You find that advantageousworking with your clients?
Marc Lippincott (12:58):
Oh definitely.
I don't want to mention the nameof the software, but it's not as
interactive.
It's not as easy to get therewith the clients we want to call
it, retirement readiness, right?
It's just not as easy to getthere.
And definitely that inneractivity to quickly be able to
change some numbers and see whatthe result of that is going to
(13:19):
be for them, especially thegraph that shows any shortfall.
You know, I am right there atthe edge, right?
When can I retire?
At what age was this amount ofmoney that makes all the red go
away?
It's probably as simple as that.
We want to make all the red isbad.
(13:40):
All the other colors are good.
So we want to make the red goaway, no shortfall, and get you
to a place where it's justsolid.
No guarantees, of course, youknow, it's based on other
factors, but based on these andreasonable factors.
Now we've made all the red goaway.
Michelle L (13:59):
I think it's cool that a client can watch those
numbers change.
So if we say,"Oh, let's retireat 60.
And what does that look like ifwe retire it 62?" Just a quick
change on our end and they cansee it, they can tell it's
literally those two years canmake a huge difference.
(14:23):
Or if it's saving a little bitmore money, what that looks
like.
I think it's great visual.
Edward Dressel (14:30):
One of the jokes in the industry is how poorly
people are engaged with jokes orconcerns.
They make cartoons about it andmake commercials about it and
they tell us we need to getpeople ready.
What difference does it make tosee a client understand what
they need to do and see themtake action?
Marc Lippincott (14:50):
It is everything.
You can show somebody a wholelist of investments and they
make this kind of return and youknow, they're not, they're not
really engaged with thatinformation.
They really want to know how itapplies to them.
And mostly clients, they're riskaverse, right?
(15:13):
They don't want to run out ofmoney, right?
Well, that's not--they reallywant you to phrase it in,"I want
to make enough money so that Ihave plenty," but they really
are at a place where"I justdon't want to run out of money."
So we want people to be engagedwith something that's very, very
simple.
(15:33):
Instead of numbers and graphsand disclosures and all that
stuff, even though it's allrequired, it's not the focus we
need.
We need to be focusing on thesimple, simple things, right?
Getting to their goals: grandchildren and family and a (15:48):
undefined
life that they want to live inthe future.
And all the tools that we useshould be toward that goal.
Right?
This goal of them living theirpreferred future.
And, you know, every once in awhile we get an engineer who
(16:09):
wants to get down into theweeds."Well, tell me about
exactly what stock positionsthis mutual fund has and all the
fees." But most of the timepeople are, they just want to
know if they're going to beokay.
And we have this the saying,"Weare your financial ally." So all
(16:29):
the tools that we use aretowards us being an ally towards
you.
It's just a tool and a part ofthe conversation to get them
there and having it be simpleand understandable is
very--that's really important.
Once in a while you get the guywho really wants to get
(16:49):
complicated and I usually haveto come back to,"Hey, we just
want to bring this back," thatcalms and they understand that
on the not complicated thing.
Edward Dressel (17:01):
So if we go back--so you do a retirement
plan with somebody in TRAK andthen do you send them on their
way to go back to review that atall with your clients or how and
how often if you do that?
Michelle L (17:15):
Absolutely.
It's something that needs to berevisited on a regular basis.
I would say every three years isprobably good.
We like to update the numbers.
So if we are looking at rates ofreturn, we can actually plug in,
this is what your account hasdone.
So we'll use an actual return intheir account, not just some
(17:40):
hypothetical number.
Um, we can look at, okay, thisis what the account balance
actually is.
We go back to all the differentpieces plugged in and so it
provides a, like a map of wherewe're going, but it also is a
(18:00):
trail of where they have been.
So we can actually probably linethem all up.
This is what we started with.
And, you know, a lot of timesthey need to make increases to
their contributions and if theyhaven't been faithful to do that
or if they've actually madebigger contributions than what
they anticipated, we get to plugall that in.
(18:22):
So it's important to revisitthat and update it periodically.
Edward Dressel (18:27):
As I've sat and listened to both of you, I get a
passion in here for helpingpeople retire well, to be ready
to retire.
What's the passion that drivesyou to helping people?
Marc Lippincott (18:41):
There there is an eternal passion here.
So this isn't what we see hereon what's happening around us
right now is it's not the end ofthe story in my mind.
There's an eternal component andthere's treasure there.
There's--that's not a retirementplace, but a place for life.
(19:02):
And so the thing that we arepassionate about is helping
people get to a place wherethey're doing something that's
transcendent to what they'reworking on right now.
You know, the day to day (19:14):
I'm in the lives of other people, which
has its own spiritual andtranscendent component, but to
make that part of theirthinking.
And I think as a financialadvisor, I really don't need to
be smarter than everybody elseand I'm not at all.
(19:36):
But the part that I need to dois lead: lead in the
conversation, lead in ideas.
To have them grab hold of anidea that is greater than
themselves.
Right?
So just left to our own self, wewould just take care of our
needs and what we need, what wethink that we need and the bills
(19:58):
that we have and make thisnumber that we have for
retirement work.
But it's really, I think,important on my part to present
an idea of more.
And so this transition timeperiod where they can give even
more time to the things thatthey care about--their faith,
(20:19):
their community, others aroundthem--is really important.
So we make that really the goalfor them and find out and we ask
the clients,"What is it that youare passionate about?
What is it that you want?
So we're going to do all thiswork and we're going to save all
this money.
What are we saving it for?
Where's it going to go?" Thatfor me, after 20 years of doing
(20:43):
this, I'm motivated by that.
I can show someone who has nopassion for giving back at all
how to live almost a completelyselfish life.
This is how much the stateteachers are going to pay out,
this is how much money you save.
And now you've got this numberand you'll have plenty of money,
(21:04):
but where are the people?
Where are the things that you'repassionate about in this
equation?
And so I, I'm really, I justthink for myself, I've
transitioned to a place of,"Iwant to help people go there and
I'm going there myself." Whatare the things that are going to
be eternal, the things thatreally matter in my life and in
(21:27):
the lives of others.
And my leadership capability isthat that's the sales job,
right?
That's the presenting the bigidea that we can all grab hold
of and work toward that in thefuture.
Edward Dressel (21:43):
So I liked that.
Finding people's passions tolive through retirement, not
just the passion to be retired,but what's your passion?
What are you going to do whenyou're there?
Well, Marc and Michelle, it'sbeen a delight to talk with you.
I appreciate you taking thetime, and I know you're in some
transition points in life.
I hope they go well.
Have a wonderful day.
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