January 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Unlock the secrets to financial empowerment and take control of your future with insights from Jason Knapps, a seasoned LPL financial advisor. We promise you'll learn how personalized financial planning can bolster your confidence and help you realize your dreams. Jason takes us through his journey from Hibernia Bank to becoming a wealth management expert, sharing valuable strategies for assessing your financial profile, including income, spending habits, and risk tolerance. Dive into the practical steps that can transform your approach to financial success and prepare you for a prosperous future.
Our conversation progresses to the critical aspects of debt management and retirement planning. Understand why tackling high-interest credit card debt is a priority before making investment moves. We offer practical advice for those new to the workforce, highlighting the importance of enrolling in a 401k and setting realistic retirement goals. With the compounding power of time in your arsenal, create a solid financial foundation that empowers you beyond relying solely on social security. Discover how early financial literacy and long-term planning can set you on the path to a secure financial future.
Choosing the right financial advisor can significantly impact your financial journey. We guide you through evaluating potential advisors, emphasizing the need for trust and relatability. Explore different communication options with Neighbors Wealth Management that accommodate your busy schedule, whether through virtual, phone, or in-person meetings. Our goal is to empower you with the knowledge and resources needed to achieve financial independence and a healthy retirement. With Jason's expert guidance, take the necessary steps today to ensure a comfortable and well-planned financial future.
Have an idea for a show or a question for Kim? Send us a text message
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want – brought to you by Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to
use the money you have, make themoney you need and save the
money you want.
Now here is your host, ms Kim.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Chapman, welcome to another edition of Money Matters
.
I'm your host, kim Chapman.
Today's episode is all aboutincreasing your financial
confidence and achieving yourfinancial dreams through
practical and personalizedfinancial planning.
All right, so we have a specialguest with us today, mr Jason
Knapps.
Jason is going to talk to usabout financial planning.
(00:34):
He is a licensed LPL financialadvisor.
So again, jason, thank you forcoming, thank you for joining us
, but let's go ahead and getstarted.
I want to know a little bitabout your background in terms
of what inspired you to become afinancial advisor, because it's
a little different than what Ido.
A lot of times, I get callsthat you should have, and you
get calls that I should have.
So just give us a littleinformation about your
(00:56):
background.
Sure, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I started at a local bank, Hibernia Bank.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Hibernia.
That kind of dates you ages youLong time ago.
Good thing it's audio so nobodyreally knows the truth, that
was a long time ago.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So when I started there I worked in a call center.
We basically took in loanapplications.
We opened up checking accounts,things like that, and over time
I wanted more, I wanted to growand I heard about investment
services and as a young man Ifigured, hey, that's pretty
interesting Stocks and thingslike that, investments.
I pursued it and became ajunior advisor underneath a
(01:33):
senior advisor at the time andfrom there I went on to other
institutions and did a startupat another institution and then
neighbors called.
At that point I did aninterview with Miss Kathy Gill
and Dan Robichaux at the timeand it's been great since then.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, so you've been around for a while.
So have you been?
I know it says you've been inindustry.
Is it the industry with 15years, or has it been just
neighbors for 15?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I got licensed in 04.
I started working at Hiberniain 2000 and then fully licensed
in 04.
Came over to neighborsbors in2006.
So I've been here since 2006.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Let's talk a little bit about wealth management.
I definitely like that firstname, wealth.
If we were to do a poll, I'msure if we said, hey, who wants
to be wealthy?
Everybody would raise theirhand.
But how do you define wealthmanagement and what
comprehensive services do youoffer under that umbrella?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
So wealth management can be a lot of things
Investment services, insuranceplanning, just trying to achieve
what you can the best way youcan financially.
I define this wealth may not bethe same thing that you define
as wealth, but we're just goingto try to make the best
financial decisions, that we caninvest our money properly and
grow our funds to the best ofour ability.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So what kind of steps do you take to ensure that your
client's wealth is managedeffectively to meet their
long-term goals?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So what I do with everybody that comes in, the
first thing we do is we sit downand we go through a profile.
Okay, if you went to the doctorfor the time or you haven't
been to the doctor in a longtime, he's going to ask you just
some simple questions what haveyou been doing?
How do you exercise?
What are your eating habits?
We do the same thing.
So I'm going to sit down withthat person and I'm going to get
(03:15):
the full picture.
I'm going to ask him what typeof income do you make?
What type of spending habits doyou have?
What type of debts do you haveright now?
What have you been doing tosave?
Do you save those type ofquestions?
Just get a feel for what they'reused to and from there, once I
have that big picture, we'llsend them a questionnaire or
(03:36):
we'll talk about risk.
Try to figure out what type ofrisk that they're willing to
take, because everybody's riskis different.
What you may think is risky, Imay say, hey, that's not very
risky.
So we all have different viewsas far as what risk is,
(03:56):
especially when it comes to ourmoney, and it doesn't mean that
one way is right or one way iswrong.
It's just how you feel, andthat's really what that first
appointment is all about.
We don't really talk about awhole lot of products and
investments.
It's like that.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
So, ironically, some of the same questions you say,
you ask, I ask, and while theysound so simple as we're talking
about them, I know you probablyget that deer in the head like
oh, what do I make?
Net gross, I don't know.
How often do I get paid?
It's amazing sometimes thatpeople are not prepared.
If somebody were to schedule anappointment to see a financial
(04:28):
advisor, what types of concrete,maybe tangible, items should
they make sure they can bringwith them in terms of, maybe,
proof of income, check stubs?
Absolutely, because, again, itsounds simple when you say what
are you spending your money on?
And they start looking up atthe ceiling or looking at me as
though I have the answer.
So how can they best preparethemselves for an appointment
with a financial advisor?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Sure, if you really want to be prepared, I would say
bring in your most recent taxreturn, maybe two years back if
you can, or even further,whatever you have at hand.
But that would certainly helpbecause that tells me a lot.
Okay, I can look through thosepapers and I can see what
investments they have, but alsomost recent check stuff.
That would help as well,because then I can see how much,
(05:11):
what percent, they're takingout in their 401k, if any at all
.
Also, most recent statements onany investment they have.
A lot of people will come in andthey'll say yeah, I've got an
investment with XYZ and I'll askwell, what is it?
Do you know what type ofinvestment it is?
And nine times out of 10, theyhave no idea.
Or they'll try to explain and Ihave to read between the lines.
(05:32):
So the more information you canbring in, the better.
You don't necessarily have tobring it in, but any type of
statements, any loan documentsthat you might have so I can get
a look at that interest rate,or credit card bills that you
might have, just so I can dig ina little bit and see what's
going on.
Don't necessarily have to bringit in, but it does help.
(05:53):
It helps things go slowly,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I think it makes a more impactful meeting when
you're sitting with someone,because I know that definitely
works.
In terms of me, it's like themore you can bring in, the more
helpful it is.
So let's talk a little bitabout who are your primary
clients, who do you work withand what unique financial needs
do they typically have?
Because when you think ofinvestments, that can be
somebody as young as 18 and allthe way up to somebody that's
(06:18):
post-retirement.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Absolutely.
We work with all ages.
I've got clients as young as 18years old and I've got clients
as old as 89 years old, soeverywhere in between, because
we all have different stages oflife.
But as far as what type ofperson comes in our office, of
course we're a teacher's creditunion originally, so naturally
we have a lot of life.
(06:42):
We have pharmacists, we haveretired Exxon workers, we have
carpenters, we haveself-employed, we have nurses,
so forth.
There's probably not anindustry I haven't dealt with,
so it's very diverse.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I guess you could say , obviously, maybe that college
kid or somebody is getting theirfirst time job, and then you
have the family that's growingand getting settled.
And then I know I get a lot ofphone calls that again that I
usually have to transfer orshift around because it's that
person that's getting ready toretire.
(07:16):
Is there any particular stageof life that you see more often
than the other?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Sure, yes, I would say the number one member that
comes in is someone that'sprobably five years out to
retire.
That's when people say you knowwhat?
I need to see a financialadvisor if they haven't seen one
before.
That's probably not the mostefficient time to come see a
financial advisor.
(07:41):
I would love for everybody tocome into my office when they're
23 years old, just out ofcollege or just starting their
career out of high school or soforth, and say hey, jason, I
want to get on the right track,and then we can build that
together.
I've been here 20 years now, soI do have clients that I've seen
grow and I've seen clients thatstarted off and I look back at
(08:02):
their driver's license when theystarted I'm like, wow, this is
fun to see someone progress overthe years.
So obviously we'd rather getsomeone early, but that doesn't
mean it's never too late.
It's never, ever too late, andI get that a lot.
Unfortunately, people that comein and I get it it's easier to
come in and save and startsaving more once your kids are
(08:22):
grown they're out of school,you've got they have their own
money and they stop spendingyours.
That's right.
And then their house isprobably close to being paid off
, if not paid off.
So they have more funds thanthey've ever had in their life.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And that's when they start really getting serious
about SAIT.
And when it comes to money sucha finicky, funny topic, whether
it's investing, whether it'strying to find your financial
stability what would you say tosomebody that's really
apprehensive about coming in tosee a financial advisor?
They may feel like, oh, I don'thave two nickels to rub
together, why would I go see afinancial advisor?
What can they do for me?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I think that's very important and I think that comes
to education.
People need to be more educatedabout their spending habits,
how they spend, because it's allrelevant.
It doesn't matter how muchmoney you make.
You can make a million dollarsa year.
You can make $25,000 a year.
It's all relevant how much youspend and are you living within
your means.
(09:18):
Do you have an emergency fundbuilt up?
Are you overspending, outsideof your means?
And I think that's 90% of theproblem out there with people
that don't come in to see afinancial advisor.
I think they're maybe a littleembarrassed because of that, but
you got to get that straightand once you get that straight
and you get on the right path,you're going to have a good
retirement.
(09:39):
If you live within your meansand if you prioritize your goals
, you're going to set thosegoals and you're going to
achieve.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And I'm listening to what you're saying because
that's usually a question I'llget Anytime they I do a
presentation about money, theyalways want to know investment
and you were mentioning I thinkyou made the statement saying
get some of those things inorder.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthat in terms of I have
individuals that come that arelooking just to find their
financial stability.
(10:05):
They're not able to live.
They're not there yet in termsof living within their income.
Is that too soon?
Should they not see you beforethey get to that stage?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I think you have to get it cleaned up.
If someone has a lot of debtout there and they want to
invest, you're spending yourwills.
So let's just say, for example,you have a credit card and
you're carrying a $5,000 balanceand you don't have an emergency
fund, that credit card'sprobably charging upwards of 8%
(10:37):
or more, right?
Maybe 10, maybe double digits,right.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, you should probably go a little bit higher.
In spite of the fact that theFed's just lowered rates, we're
probably seeing double digits.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And chances are they may not have very good credit.
So it's probably higher thanthat.
So it's very hard for me to geta double digit return guarantee
OK.
So why would we waste our timetrying to invest when we're
already losing over here on this?
So we have to clean that end upfirst.
It's really important and,don't get me wrong, nobody can
(11:09):
live debt free.
That's impossible these days.
I know we have a lot of showsout there like Dave Ramsey and
so forth.
They want you completely debtfree.
That's very fairytale land forme.
But credit card debt, that'sdangerous.
Credit cards have a reason,don't get me wrong, but they can
get you in a lot of trouble.
You have to clean that up firstbefore we even start talking
(11:30):
about investments.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I'm so glad we touched upon it because again,
that seems to always be thatmillion dollar question,
no-transcript.
(11:52):
So let's switch gears and talkabout early on, because that's
always the goal.
If we can catch you young, Ibelieve in youth financial
literacy.
If we can catch them young andestablish those good financial
habits, it makes it a whole loteasier.
So what is your professionaladvice that you would give to
someone just starting to takecontrol of their financial
future?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Referring to someone that's starting their first job,
correct, yeah.
So I would say first of all,sign up for your 401k.
I know we have a law now whereit automatically signs you in,
but don't opt out.
Sign up and a lot, and I saythis in every young class that
comes in through neighbors.
When you're young, usually ittakes you a few jobs to figure
(12:34):
out where you're going to fit in.
So it's very important when youdo switch those jobs, take care
of that 401k when you do swapback and forth, Because a lot of
times what I see is they havethat gap, so they'll all right,
I'm changing jobs, but I'm notgoing to start this one for
about two more weeks or threemore weeks, so forth.
What are they going to do tosurvive during that three-week
(12:55):
period?
They got this 401k money.
A lot of times they cash it out, pay the taxes, pay the tax
penalty and so forth.
I think that's the biggestthing for young people.
Try not to do that.
Try to have that emergency fundbuilt up.
That way, if you do have thatgap, you've got those funds that
can hold you over and you canroll that 401k into your new
(13:16):
401k.
Let that snowball begin,because that's when it's
important.
Once that snowball starts, itgets bigger and bigger and
bigger.
It gets bigger and bigger andbigger.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So what are the benefits?
You're touching on a little bitBecause, like you said, try not
to cash in that money.
I guess we need to wonder Ialmost want to reiterate, the
penalties, the taxes thatindividual has to pay, that
sometimes they don't realizethey're looking at.
Oh I could, I can have thismoney now, I can go on vacation
for two weeks before I start mynew job.
But can you maybe expand alittle bit more on the
(13:46):
advantages of rolling that moneyover?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
People ask me like how do I grow my money?
What's the biggest way?
And people always think whatrate can you get me?
What return can you get me?
What investment can you get me?
That's important, don't get mewrong.
That is very important.
But the biggest growth of yourmoney is time, time, say that
again Time.
So the less time you have, theless your money is going to grow
(14:11):
.
The more time you have, themore it's going to grow.
And it's very important whenyou're early.
If you can start that snowballwhile you're young, it's time is
going to make that thing grow,no matter what the interest rate
is.
That's the most importantconcept is time.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
So what are some key elements of a solid retirement
plan and how do you help yourclients prepare for retirement?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, a solid plan is someone that starts early and
prepares and knows exactly whatthey want.
A lot of people come in andthey want to save, but they
don't really know what theirgoal is.
What is your goal?
I want to retire, we all wantto retire right, yes, tomorrow.
Exactly how?
Do you want to retire?
Do you want to make more thanwhat you're making now?
Do you want to make less?
Do you want to make?
(14:54):
You have to have that goal andit has to be realistic, and
that's what makes it solid.
A lot of people they don'treally think about it.
They think I have socialsecurity that's going to take
care of me.
That's only a small part.
So you have to have a plan.
You have to say am I going toinvest in real estate?
Am I going to use that realestate as a source of income?
(15:15):
Am I going to have a 401k?
Is that going to be anothersource of income?
Planning is very important andhaving that goal.
You'd be surprised how manypeople come into my office and
they really don't have a goal.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
But their goal is I want to make money.
That's pretty obvious.
You wouldn't be in my office ifyou didn't want to make money.
But what is your goal?
So that's setting those goalsand I can help you get to those
goals and I can tell you whatit's going to take to achieve
those goals.
And sometimes they say thatgoal is not achievable.
Okay, and that's fine.
But let's see what isachievable, let's see what you
(15:49):
can afford and let's try to workwith it.
And now we know what to expectso we won't have any surprises
10 years down the road, 20 yearsdown the road.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, though they do
a lot of times, like I said,the goals may be very general.
I want to be debt free.
Let's start with paying offyour first credit card.
Let's start with building anemergency fund and then seeing
what's feasible, what's reallyrealistic.
So how do you address concernsclients may have about outliving
their retirement savings?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
There's a lot of things you have to consider to
not outlive your savings.
It goes back to that goalquestion what do you want during
retirement?
And also you have to addresslife expectancy.
It's not a topic we want totalk about, but you know how
your health is, you have an ideaof what diseases you're prone
to through your family historyand so forth, and do you have
(16:42):
longevity in your family andthat sort of thing.
What type of lifestyle do youlive?
I have some clients.
They'll come in and they'll sayyou know, my mom's 95 years old
, she's still alive.
You might want to plan Goodnews, bad news, good news, bad
news.
That's right.
You're going to live a longtime, likely, but you better
have a lot of money saved upbecause it has to stretch a lot
further.
So you have to consider thosefactors and also, what
(17:05):
percentages do we want towithdraw from our assets?
And that's those conversationsthat a financial planner can
help you with.
That's the kind of questions Ianswer all day, every day.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And just on that note , you know we're saying you want
to make sure that they haveenough and it's and this is
probably a question maybe youcan't even put into perspective
but it's like, how do we stresshow much is enough?
I remember doing an exercise ina class where we look at maybe
half a million dollars and welook at a person that's going to
live to be 92 past retirement.
(17:38):
That gives them about 25 yearsand when you do the math on that
on half a million dollars, Ithink it comes out to about
$1,067 or something a month thatthey would live in, have to
live on for retirement.
And somebody may say, oh, inone point in time a million
dollars was a lot of money.
It sounds like a lot of money,but is there a number that you
(18:02):
could even put on in terms ofbare minimum that somebody
should be striving for in termsof retirement?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, yeah, look, I use that same situation when
everybody comes in.
Because it's easy math.
I use a million dollars.
So a million dollars is verysimple to comprehend and it
seems like a lot of money.
But you're right, today's dayand age it's not a ton of money.
You have a million dollars andyou want to retire early.
(18:28):
Okay, depending on lifeexpectancy I'm just throwing raw
numbers out there you canexpect about a $50,000 a year
income.
If you retire early.
You might be able to stretchthat to 60, maybe 70, but now
you start risking outliving yourmoney.
So that's the things you haveto consider.
So somebody may come to me andsay $50,000, I make $80,000
(18:49):
right now, or $60,000 right now.
I can't live off of 50.
Maybe we need to plan more.
I think that's a good startingspot and everything's relevant.
So if you're making $30,000 ayear, $40,000 a year, chances
are, if you're young, when youretire, you're going to be
making a lot more than that.
Right, you're going to bemaking inflation and everything
(19:16):
else.
Just, your job in general isgoing to go up over the year.
So you got to plan for that aswell.
So for someone that's 20 yearsold right now, or 30 years old
right now.
A million dollars.
That'll go like that in 30years, right.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
So, keeping in mind with that, what are some common
misconceptions that maybe youhave to deal with and how do you
handle them?
And I'll just give an example.
We were talking about OK, maybeyou're going to have $50,000 a
year to live off of.
That might be OK today, becausesomebody may be saying, oh, I'm
going to have $50,000 a year,that may work today, in 2024.
(19:45):
But if you're not going toretire for 10 years or 20 years,
$50,000 may still keep you inthe soup line.
So what type of misconceptionsdo you typically face when
somebody is saying, oh, I don'tneed this, or what type of
barriers do you have to helpthem overcome?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
It's easier today than it probably was three or
four years ago, because three orfour years ago our inflation
was roughly under 3%, so peopledidn't see it as much.
Older people saw it, butyounger people really don't.
They didn't get a grasp of it.
Now everyone is getting a bigtaste of what inflation is and
what it does to your moneyVehicle, for example.
(20:23):
Today you're not getting nearlythe same vehicle that you were,
say, five or six years ago atthe same price.
A $30,000 vehicle today doesn'tgive you very many bells and
whistles, right?
No, it does not.
But five years ago you couldpretty much get any kind of
vehicle within range for leatherseats, everything else, the
(20:43):
whole nine yards, the dollarstretched a little bit further.
That's right and that's real andthat slowly happens over time.
Slowly happens over timeUsually.
We just got into a situationafter COVID where it increased
tremendously.
But I think that it's easier tohave that conversation now than
it probably was before COVID,because it was more of a silent
(21:05):
killer of your money, Whereasnow it's in your face killer of
your money.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I know, of course, interest rates have a lot to do
with investments.
I'm not sure when this isactually going to air, but I
know that it was just this weekthat the Fed dropped rates, and
so for people that are savers,that's not really good news for
us.
But how does that impactindividuals that may be
listening?
Oh, are rates dropping?
Should I run and run fast tohurry up and throw my money into
some types of products beforerates start to drop?
How would you address?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
that you have to have different strategies for
different purposes.
If it's your safe money, ofcourse that's the area you're
speaking of your CDs and savingsaccount rates, things like that
.
That bucket of money yes, thoserates are going to change.
They're more than likely goingto go down, and hopefully they
do and they stay down.
But that means the economy isdoing well.
(21:58):
But you have to have your moneydiversified.
You have to have other areas sothat you don't have to strictly
worry about interest rates.
That's why it's important tosee a financial advisor Make
sure that you're.
I don't want to make theassumption that you should never
have CDs, but you shouldn'thave all your money in CDs.
That's not very diversified.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
So let's talk a little bit about diversification
, because you hear that all thetime.
That's probably the onequestion that I can ask at a
presentation what does diversifymean?
And people say, oh, to haveyour eggs in a different basket.
Talk a little bit about whatdiversification really means and
how important it is when we'retalking about investing or
preparing for retirement.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Sure.
So I'll have people come in myoffice all the time and they'll
say, yeah, I'm prettydiversified.
I don't like to put all my eggsin one basket.
I've got three differentadvisors, I've got you such and
such.
So I say I would like to seethose statements.
Let's really compare to see howdiversified you are.
And then I look at thestatements and all three
advisors are invested in thesame mutual funds.
(22:58):
That's not very diversified.
So I think people have themisconception of diversification
.
It's more of making sure wehedge our bets.
Certain sectors are going to dobetter at certain times bond
sectors versus stock sectorsversus large cap, small cap, cds
, so forth.
So it's good to have a goodrange of everything.
(23:19):
Now your risk is going todetermine how much, what
percentages and so forth that weput in each of those sectors.
But you should be diversified.
You should make sure thatyou're not counting on just this
one specific investment toreach your goal, because it's
probably not going to happen ifthat's what you do.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
In a meeting.
How technical do these termsget?
Should I bring a thesaurus withme?
Is I try?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
to make sure you understand what we're talking
about and make sure I'm nottalking over your head, because
(24:06):
I think it's important that Iknow.
If you're a pharmacist and youcome into my office and you
start talking about this druginteracts with this drug and so
forth, and you shouldn't takethat, I don't know what you're
talking about.
I don't do that every day.
I just tell me what pill totake and I'm going to take it.
So I understand when someonecomes into my office, they don't
really do this every day and itdoesn't mean that they're
(24:27):
ignorant.
They just don't do it every dayand that's OK.
So I try to bring it to a levelwhere they'll understand.
And if they want to go and getinto the weeds, I'll get into
the weeds.
But if they don't and they wantjust a broad overview, I try to
keep it as broad as I can.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Keeping in mind that we have a broad audience and
we'll definitely get yourcontact information for our
local folks.
But for somebody that's notlocal to Louisiana or they're
looking for a financial planner,what are the qualities?
What should they be looking for?
Because I know that you want toget somebody, obviously that's
trustworthy, but you can'tnecessarily just look in the
yellow pages of Google anddiscern that information.
(25:03):
What should they be looking forin terms of picking out a
financial advisor?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I'll just tell you this 90% of the financial
advisors out there are lookingfor the best interests of their
clients.
Unfortunately, there's probably10% out there that are looking
for the importance of their self, and I think it's important.
Though, when you go into anoffice, we all of us financial
advisors pretty much have thesame tools.
Okay, now, we might havedifferent strategies they may
(25:30):
differ a little bit as far as Ithink you need to go into this
versus that and so forth butthey're pretty close to the same
and we have the same toolsavailable.
I think the most importantthing when you sit down with an
advisor is can you relate withthat person?
Is this somebody you want to dobusiness with?
Because this isn't just aone-time fix.
This is a lifetime commitmentthat you're going to be working
(25:53):
with this person for a long time, and I don't want to work with
someone I don't like.
So you need to make sure youcan relate to that person and,
on your gut, if you're speakingwith someone, if you have a good
feeling about them and that youcan do business with them, and
if they're trustworthy.
So I think that's important butalso to ask around.
You don't want to know.
Someone's a really goodsalesman and he can tell you
(26:15):
everything he wants to hear.
He might be one of that 10%that isn't looking out for your
best interest.
So ask around.
Have you worked with this guy?
Have you worked with, have youheard of this guy?
What's your impression of him?
But I think, ultimately thebiggest thing and I tell
everyone that comes in my officethey tell me they're shopping
around.
I said that's great.
Just make sure, whoever you gowith that you're comfortable
(26:37):
with and that you want to workwith.
(27:03):
No-transcript would recommend,if you are dealing with a
financial advisor, check theirrecord.
Go to the FINRA website, seewhat their history is, see how
long they've been in theindustry.
Where are they job hoppers?
Have they been to one place?
Or have they jumped around todifferent firms and so forth?
(27:24):
And why is that?
Ask those questions.
Why have you moved 17 times inyour career?
Or why do you have all thesecomplaints?
And the complaints?
If someone has been reported,it's going to be listed on that
site, so you'll know if theyhave issues or not know if they
have issues or not.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Awesome, all right.
So what's the one final pieceof advice you would give our
listeners who are just startingout on their financial journey
toward financial independenceand they're looking to build a
healthy future in retirement?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I think you need to at least schedule you an
appointment with a financialadvisor.
Talk with them, go see multiplefinancial advisors, get a feel
what's out there and you'regoing to find that most of us
probably think alike and thenjust find that person that you
connect with and, if you likethat person, I would recommend
(28:14):
following their advice or atleast getting started.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
And I know there's somebody out there thinking do I
have to pay for this initialconsultation or to meet with you
, or to meet with any financialadvisor?
What should I expect?
I know it's going to vary,maybe, but let's talk about
neighbor's wealth management.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
A neighbor's wealth management.
We don't charge for thatinitial appointment.
Okay, but there can be feesdepending on what you do.
Okay, so, and we'll discussthat.
It'll be full disclosureCertain products have certain
fees that cost for you to get in.
Some are ongoing fees, butwe'll disclose all of that.
But to come in to sit down tohave that discussion of are you
(28:53):
on track, that sort of thing,we're not going to charge for
that.
There's no fee for that.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
You shared a lot of good information.
I'm so glad that I was able toforce you to come on in here and
sit down with me.
I know you're busy and wedidn't really I didn't really
have to break his arm to get in,but you've shared a lot of good
information and I know, atleast for our local partners or
local members, they definitelymay be interested in taking this
conversation a little bitfurther.
I know I'm going to have youcome back.
(29:18):
As a matter of fact, I'm goingto have you sign a contract
saying you're coming back beforeyou leave, but in the meantime,
how can you be reached?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Sure they can reach us online, wwwneighborswmcom, or
email me at jason atneighborswmcom.
Or they can call or text.
Office line is 225-819-5790.
Call, text, email.
Any way you can get in touchwith us.
Or you can call the creditunion directly and someone there
can get in touch with us.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
And one last thing what type of appointments do you
set?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Virtual in-person phone that's right, yeah, yeah,
sometimes I know we're all busyand a lot of people don't want
to come in, and that's fine.
We can do a virtual meeting ifthey want, and we can also just
do a phone appointment just totalk about.
Actually.
I had a phone appointmentyesterday.
Went really well.
Any kind of way is fine.
Eventually we'll have to meetface to face and I would hope
(30:15):
they would want to meet me faceto face.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Again, thank you so much for coming and sharing this
information, really appreciateit and we'll have you back
really soon.
Thank you.
Welcome to.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to
use the money you have, make themoney you need and save the
money you want.
Now here is your host, ms Kim.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Chapman, welcome to another edition of Money Matters
.
I'm your host, kim Chapman.
Today's episode is all aboutincreasing your financial
confidence and achieving yourfinancial dreams through
practical and personalizedfinancial planning.
All right, so we have a specialguest with us today, mr Jason
Knapps.
Jason is going to talk to usabout financial planning.
(00:34):
He is a licensed LPL financialadvisor.
So again, jason, thank you forcoming, thank you for joining us
, but let's go ahead and getstarted.
I want to know a little bitabout your background in terms
of what inspired you to become afinancial advisor, because it's
a little different than what Ido.
A lot of times, I get callsthat you should have, and you
get calls that I should have.
So just give us a littleinformation about your
(00:56):
background.
Sure, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I started at a local bank, Hibernia Bank.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Hibernia.
That kind of dates you ages youLong time ago.
Good thing it's audio so nobodyreally knows the truth, that
was a long time ago.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So when I started there I worked in a call center.
We basically took in loanapplications.
We opened up checking accounts,things like that, and over time
I wanted more, I wanted to growand I heard about investment
services and as a young man Ifigured, hey, that's pretty
interesting Stocks and thingslike that, investments.
I pursued it and became ajunior advisor underneath a
(01:33):
senior advisor at the time andfrom there I went on to other
institutions and did a startupat another institution and then
neighbors called.
At that point I did aninterview with Miss Kathy Gill
and Dan Robichaux at the timeand it's been great since then.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, so you've been around for a while.
So have you been?
I know it says you've been inindustry.
Is it the industry with 15years, or has it been just
neighbors for 15?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I got licensed in 04.
I started working at Hiberniain 2000 and then fully licensed
in 04.
Came over to neighborsbors in2006.
So I've been here since 2006.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Let's talk a little bit about wealth management.
I definitely like that firstname, wealth.
If we were to do a poll, I'msure if we said, hey, who wants
to be wealthy?
Everybody would raise theirhand.
But how do you define wealthmanagement and what
comprehensive services do youoffer under that umbrella?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
So wealth management can be a lot of things
Investment services, insuranceplanning, just trying to achieve
what you can the best way youcan financially.
I define this wealth may not bethe same thing that you define
as wealth, but we're just goingto try to make the best
financial decisions, that we caninvest our money properly and
grow our funds to the best ofour ability.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So what kind of steps do you take to ensure that your
client's wealth is managedeffectively to meet their
long-term goals?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So what I do with everybody that comes in, the
first thing we do is we sit downand we go through a profile.
Okay, if you went to the doctorfor the time or you haven't
been to the doctor in a longtime, he's going to ask you just
some simple questions what haveyou been doing?
How do you exercise?
What are your eating habits?
We do the same thing.
So I'm going to sit down withthat person and I'm going to get
(03:15):
the full picture.
I'm going to ask him what typeof income do you make?
What type of spending habits doyou have?
What type of debts do you haveright now?
What have you been doing tosave?
Do you save those type ofquestions?
Just get a feel for what they'reused to and from there, once I
have that big picture, we'llsend them a questionnaire or
(03:36):
we'll talk about risk.
Try to figure out what type ofrisk that they're willing to
take, because everybody's riskis different.
What you may think is risky, Imay say, hey, that's not very
risky.
So we all have different viewsas far as what risk is,
(03:56):
especially when it comes to ourmoney, and it doesn't mean that
one way is right or one way iswrong.
It's just how you feel, andthat's really what that first
appointment is all about.
We don't really talk about awhole lot of products and
investments.
It's like that.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
So, ironically, some of the same questions you say,
you ask, I ask, and while theysound so simple as we're talking
about them, I know you probablyget that deer in the head like
oh, what do I make?
Net gross, I don't know.
How often do I get paid?
It's amazing sometimes thatpeople are not prepared.
If somebody were to schedule anappointment to see a financial
(04:28):
advisor, what types of concrete,maybe tangible, items should
they make sure they can bringwith them in terms of, maybe,
proof of income, check stubs?
Absolutely, because, again, itsounds simple when you say what
are you spending your money on?
And they start looking up atthe ceiling or looking at me as
though I have the answer.
So how can they best preparethemselves for an appointment
with a financial advisor?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Sure, if you really want to be prepared, I would say
bring in your most recent taxreturn, maybe two years back if
you can, or even further,whatever you have at hand.
But that would certainly helpbecause that tells me a lot.
Okay, I can look through thosepapers and I can see what
investments they have, but alsomost recent check stuff.
That would help as well,because then I can see how much,
(05:11):
what percent, they're takingout in their 401k, if any at all
.
Also, most recent statements onany investment they have.
A lot of people will come in andthey'll say yeah, I've got an
investment with XYZ and I'll askwell, what is it?
Do you know what type ofinvestment it is?
And nine times out of 10, theyhave no idea.
Or they'll try to explain and Ihave to read between the lines.
(05:32):
So the more information you canbring in, the better.
You don't necessarily have tobring it in, but any type of
statements, any loan documentsthat you might have so I can get
a look at that interest rate,or credit card bills that you
might have, just so I can dig ina little bit and see what's
going on.
Don't necessarily have to bringit in, but it does help.
(05:53):
It helps things go slowly,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I think it makes a more impactful meeting when
you're sitting with someone,because I know that definitely
works.
In terms of me, it's like themore you can bring in, the more
helpful it is.
So let's talk a little bitabout who are your primary
clients, who do you work withand what unique financial needs
do they typically have?
Because when you think ofinvestments, that can be
somebody as young as 18 and allthe way up to somebody that's
(06:18):
post-retirement.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Absolutely.
We work with all ages.
I've got clients as young as 18years old and I've got clients
as old as 89 years old, soeverywhere in between, because
we all have different stages oflife.
But as far as what type ofperson comes in our office, of
course we're a teacher's creditunion originally, so naturally
we have a lot of life.
(06:42):
We have pharmacists, we haveretired Exxon workers, we have
carpenters, we haveself-employed, we have nurses,
so forth.
There's probably not anindustry I haven't dealt with,
so it's very diverse.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I guess you could say , obviously, maybe that college
kid or somebody is getting theirfirst time job, and then you
have the family that's growingand getting settled.
And then I know I get a lot ofphone calls that again that I
usually have to transfer orshift around because it's that
person that's getting ready toretire.
(07:16):
Is there any particular stageof life that you see more often
than the other?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Sure, yes, I would say the number one member that
comes in is someone that'sprobably five years out to
retire.
That's when people say you knowwhat?
I need to see a financialadvisor if they haven't seen one
before.
That's probably not the mostefficient time to come see a
financial advisor.
(07:41):
I would love for everybody tocome into my office when they're
23 years old, just out ofcollege or just starting their
career out of high school or soforth, and say hey, jason, I
want to get on the right track,and then we can build that
together.
I've been here 20 years now, soI do have clients that I've seen
grow and I've seen clients thatstarted off and I look back at
(08:02):
their driver's license when theystarted I'm like, wow, this is
fun to see someone progress overthe years.
So obviously we'd rather getsomeone early, but that doesn't
mean it's never too late.
It's never, ever too late, andI get that a lot.
Unfortunately, people that comein and I get it it's easier to
come in and save and startsaving more once your kids are
(08:22):
grown they're out of school,you've got they have their own
money and they stop spendingyours.
That's right.
And then their house isprobably close to being paid off
, if not paid off.
So they have more funds thanthey've ever had in their life.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And that's when they start really getting serious
about SAIT.
And when it comes to money sucha finicky, funny topic, whether
it's investing, whether it'strying to find your financial
stability what would you say tosomebody that's really
apprehensive about coming in tosee a financial advisor?
They may feel like, oh, I don'thave two nickels to rub
together, why would I go see afinancial advisor?
What can they do for me?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I think that's very important and I think that comes
to education.
People need to be more educatedabout their spending habits,
how they spend, because it's allrelevant.
It doesn't matter how muchmoney you make.
You can make a million dollarsa year.
You can make $25,000 a year.
It's all relevant how much youspend and are you living within
your means.
(09:18):
Do you have an emergency fundbuilt up?
Are you overspending, outsideof your means?
And I think that's 90% of theproblem out there with people
that don't come in to see afinancial advisor.
I think they're maybe a littleembarrassed because of that, but
you got to get that straightand once you get that straight
and you get on the right path,you're going to have a good
retirement.
(09:39):
If you live within your meansand if you prioritize your goals
, you're going to set thosegoals and you're going to
achieve.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And I'm listening to what you're saying because
that's usually a question I'llget Anytime they I do a
presentation about money, theyalways want to know investment
and you were mentioning I thinkyou made the statement saying
get some of those things inorder.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthat in terms of I have
individuals that come that arelooking just to find their
financial stability.
(10:05):
They're not able to live.
They're not there yet in termsof living within their income.
Is that too soon?
Should they not see you beforethey get to that stage?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I think you have to get it cleaned up.
If someone has a lot of debtout there and they want to
invest, you're spending yourwills.
So let's just say, for example,you have a credit card and
you're carrying a $5,000 balanceand you don't have an emergency
fund, that credit card'sprobably charging upwards of 8%
(10:37):
or more, right?
Maybe 10, maybe double digits,right.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, you should probably go a little bit higher.
In spite of the fact that theFed's just lowered rates, we're
probably seeing double digits.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
And chances are they may not have very good credit.
So it's probably higher thanthat.
So it's very hard for me to geta double digit return guarantee
OK.
So why would we waste our timetrying to invest when we're
already losing over here on this?
So we have to clean that end upfirst.
It's really important and,don't get me wrong, nobody can
(11:09):
live debt free.
That's impossible these days.
I know we have a lot of showsout there like Dave Ramsey and
so forth.
They want you completely debtfree.
That's very fairytale land forme.
But credit card debt, that'sdangerous.
Credit cards have a reason,don't get me wrong, but they can
get you in a lot of trouble.
You have to clean that up firstbefore we even start talking
(11:30):
about investments.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I'm so glad we touched upon it because again,
that seems to always be thatmillion dollar question,
no-transcript.
(11:52):
So let's switch gears and talkabout early on, because that's
always the goal.
If we can catch you young, Ibelieve in youth financial
literacy.
If we can catch them young andestablish those good financial
habits, it makes it a whole loteasier.
So what is your professionaladvice that you would give to
someone just starting to takecontrol of their financial
future?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Referring to someone that's starting their first job,
correct, yeah.
So I would say first of all,sign up for your 401k.
I know we have a law now whereit automatically signs you in,
but don't opt out.
Sign up and a lot, and I saythis in every young class that
comes in through neighbors.
When you're young, usually ittakes you a few jobs to figure
(12:34):
out where you're going to fit in.
So it's very important when youdo switch those jobs, take care
of that 401k when you do swapback and forth, Because a lot of
times what I see is they havethat gap, so they'll all right,
I'm changing jobs, but I'm notgoing to start this one for
about two more weeks or threemore weeks, so forth.
What are they going to do tosurvive during that three-week
(12:55):
period?
They got this 401k money.
A lot of times they cash it out, pay the taxes, pay the tax
penalty and so forth.
I think that's the biggestthing for young people.
Try not to do that.
Try to have that emergency fundbuilt up.
That way, if you do have thatgap, you've got those funds that
can hold you over and you canroll that 401k into your new
(13:16):
401k.
Let that snowball begin,because that's when it's
important.
Once that snowball starts, itgets bigger and bigger and
bigger.
It gets bigger and bigger andbigger.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So what are the benefits?
You're touching on a little bitBecause, like you said, try not
to cash in that money.
I guess we need to wonder Ialmost want to reiterate, the
penalties, the taxes thatindividual has to pay, that
sometimes they don't realizethey're looking at.
Oh I could, I can have thismoney now, I can go on vacation
for two weeks before I start mynew job.
But can you maybe expand alittle bit more on the
(13:46):
advantages of rolling that moneyover?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
People ask me like how do I grow my money?
What's the biggest way?
And people always think whatrate can you get me?
What return can you get me?
What investment can you get me?
That's important, don't get mewrong.
That is very important.
But the biggest growth of yourmoney is time, time, say that
again Time.
So the less time you have, theless your money is going to grow
(14:11):
.
The more time you have, themore it's going to grow.
And it's very important whenyou're early.
If you can start that snowballwhile you're young, it's time is
going to make that thing grow,no matter what the interest rate
is.
That's the most importantconcept is time.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
So what are some key elements of a solid retirement
plan and how do you help yourclients prepare for retirement?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Well, a solid plan is someone that starts early and
prepares and knows exactly whatthey want.
A lot of people come in andthey want to save, but they
don't really know what theirgoal is.
What is your goal?
I want to retire, we all wantto retire right, yes, tomorrow.
Exactly how?
Do you want to retire?
Do you want to make more thanwhat you're making now?
Do you want to make less?
Do you want to make?
(14:54):
You have to have that goal andit has to be realistic, and
that's what makes it solid.
A lot of people they don'treally think about it.
They think I have socialsecurity that's going to take
care of me.
That's only a small part.
So you have to have a plan.
You have to say am I going toinvest in real estate?
Am I going to use that realestate as a source of income?
(15:15):
Am I going to have a 401k?
Is that going to be anothersource of income?
Planning is very important andhaving that goal.
You'd be surprised how manypeople come into my office and
they really don't have a goal.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
But their goal is I want to make money.
That's pretty obvious.
You wouldn't be in my office ifyou didn't want to make money.
But what is your goal?
So that's setting those goalsand I can help you get to those
goals and I can tell you whatit's going to take to achieve
those goals.
And sometimes they say thatgoal is not achievable.
Okay, and that's fine.
But let's see what isachievable, let's see what you
(15:49):
can afford and let's try to workwith it.
And now we know what to expectso we won't have any surprises
10 years down the road, 20 yearsdown the road.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, though they do
a lot of times, like I said,the goals may be very general.
I want to be debt free.
Let's start with paying offyour first credit card.
Let's start with building anemergency fund and then seeing
what's feasible, what's reallyrealistic.
So how do you address concernsclients may have about outliving
their retirement savings?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
There's a lot of things you have to consider to
not outlive your savings.
It goes back to that goalquestion what do you want during
retirement?
And also you have to addresslife expectancy.
It's not a topic we want totalk about, but you know how
your health is, you have an ideaof what diseases you're prone
to through your family historyand so forth, and do you have
(16:42):
longevity in your family andthat sort of thing.
What type of lifestyle do youlive?
I have some clients.
They'll come in and they'll sayyou know, my mom's 95 years old
, she's still alive.
You might want to plan Goodnews, bad news, good news, bad
news.
That's right.
You're going to live a longtime, likely, but you better
have a lot of money saved upbecause it has to stretch a lot
further.
So you have to consider thosefactors and also, what
(17:05):
percentages do we want towithdraw from our assets?
And that's those conversationsthat a financial planner can
help you with.
That's the kind of questions Ianswer all day, every day.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And just on that note , you know we're saying you want
to make sure that they haveenough and it's and this is
probably a question maybe youcan't even put into perspective
but it's like, how do we stresshow much is enough?
I remember doing an exercise ina class where we look at maybe
half a million dollars and welook at a person that's going to
live to be 92 past retirement.
(17:38):
That gives them about 25 yearsand when you do the math on that
on half a million dollars, Ithink it comes out to about
$1,067 or something a month thatthey would live in, have to
live on for retirement.
And somebody may say, oh, inone point in time a million
dollars was a lot of money.
It sounds like a lot of money,but is there a number that you
(18:02):
could even put on in terms ofbare minimum that somebody
should be striving for in termsof retirement?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, yeah, look, I use that same situation when
everybody comes in.
Because it's easy math.
I use a million dollars.
So a million dollars is verysimple to comprehend and it
seems like a lot of money.
But you're right, today's dayand age it's not a ton of money.
You have a million dollars andyou want to retire early.
(18:28):
Okay, depending on lifeexpectancy I'm just throwing raw
numbers out there you canexpect about a $50,000 a year
income.
If you retire early.
You might be able to stretchthat to 60, maybe 70, but now
you start risking outliving yourmoney.
So that's the things you haveto consider.
So somebody may come to me andsay $50,000, I make $80,000
(18:49):
right now, or $60,000 right now.
I can't live off of 50.
Maybe we need to plan more.
I think that's a good startingspot and everything's relevant.
So if you're making $30,000 ayear, $40,000 a year, chances
are, if you're young, when youretire, you're going to be
making a lot more than that.
Right, you're going to bemaking inflation and everything
(19:16):
else.
Just, your job in general isgoing to go up over the year.
So you got to plan for that aswell.
So for someone that's 20 yearsold right now, or 30 years old
right now.
A million dollars.
That'll go like that in 30years, right.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
So, keeping in mind with that, what are some common
misconceptions that maybe youhave to deal with and how do you
handle them?
And I'll just give an example.
We were talking about OK, maybeyou're going to have $50,000 a
year to live off of.
That might be OK today, becausesomebody may be saying, oh, I'm
going to have $50,000 a year,that may work today, in 2024.
(19:45):
But if you're not going toretire for 10 years or 20 years,
$50,000 may still keep you inthe soup line.
So what type of misconceptionsdo you typically face when
somebody is saying, oh, I don'tneed this, or what type of
barriers do you have to helpthem overcome?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
It's easier today than it probably was three or
four years ago, because three orfour years ago our inflation
was roughly under 3%, so peopledidn't see it as much.
Older people saw it, butyounger people really don't.
They didn't get a grasp of it.
Now everyone is getting a bigtaste of what inflation is and
what it does to your moneyVehicle, for example.
(20:23):
Today you're not getting nearlythe same vehicle that you were,
say, five or six years ago atthe same price.
A $30,000 vehicle today doesn'tgive you very many bells and
whistles, right?
No, it does not.
But five years ago you couldpretty much get any kind of
vehicle within range for leatherseats, everything else, the
(20:43):
whole nine yards, the dollarstretched a little bit further.
That's right and that's real andthat slowly happens over time.
Slowly happens over timeUsually.
We just got into a situationafter COVID where it increased
tremendously.
But I think that it's easier tohave that conversation now than
it probably was before COVID,because it was more of a silent
(21:05):
killer of your money, Whereasnow it's in your face killer of
your money.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I know, of course, interest rates have a lot to do
with investments.
I'm not sure when this isactually going to air, but I
know that it was just this weekthat the Fed dropped rates, and
so for people that are savers,that's not really good news for
us.
But how does that impactindividuals that may be
listening?
Oh, are rates dropping?
Should I run and run fast tohurry up and throw my money into
some types of products beforerates start to drop?
How would you address?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
that you have to have different strategies for
different purposes.
If it's your safe money, ofcourse that's the area you're
speaking of your CDs and savingsaccount rates, things like that
.
That bucket of money yes, thoserates are going to change.
They're more than likely goingto go down, and hopefully they
do and they stay down.
But that means the economy isdoing well.
(21:58):
But you have to have your moneydiversified.
You have to have other areas sothat you don't have to strictly
worry about interest rates.
That's why it's important tosee a financial advisor Make
sure that you're.
I don't want to make theassumption that you should never
have CDs, but you shouldn'thave all your money in CDs.
That's not very diversified.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
So let's talk a little bit about diversification
, because you hear that all thetime.
That's probably the onequestion that I can ask at a
presentation what does diversifymean?
And people say, oh, to haveyour eggs in a different basket.
Talk a little bit about whatdiversification really means and
how important it is when we'retalking about investing or
preparing for retirement.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Sure.
So I'll have people come in myoffice all the time and they'll
say, yeah, I'm prettydiversified.
I don't like to put all my eggsin one basket.
I've got three differentadvisors, I've got you such and
such.
So I say I would like to seethose statements.
Let's really compare to see howdiversified you are.
And then I look at thestatements and all three
advisors are invested in thesame mutual funds.
(22:58):
That's not very diversified.
So I think people have themisconception of diversification
.
It's more of making sure wehedge our bets.
Certain sectors are going to dobetter at certain times bond
sectors versus stock sectorsversus large cap, small cap, cds
, so forth.
So it's good to have a goodrange of everything.
(23:19):
Now your risk is going todetermine how much, what
percentages and so forth that weput in each of those sectors.
But you should be diversified.
You should make sure thatyou're not counting on just this
one specific investment toreach your goal, because it's
probably not going to happen ifthat's what you do.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
In a meeting.
How technical do these termsget?
Should I bring a thesaurus withme?
Is I try?
Speaker 2 (23:42):
to make sure you understand what we're talking
about and make sure I'm nottalking over your head, because
(24:06):
I think it's important that Iknow.
If you're a pharmacist and youcome into my office and you
start talking about this druginteracts with this drug and so
forth, and you shouldn't takethat, I don't know what you're
talking about.
I don't do that every day.
I just tell me what pill totake and I'm going to take it.
So I understand when someonecomes into my office, they don't
really do this every day and itdoesn't mean that they're
(24:27):
ignorant.
They just don't do it every dayand that's OK.
So I try to bring it to a levelwhere they'll understand.
And if they want to go and getinto the weeds, I'll get into
the weeds.
But if they don't and they wantjust a broad overview, I try to
keep it as broad as I can.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Keeping in mind that we have a broad audience and
we'll definitely get yourcontact information for our
local folks.
But for somebody that's notlocal to Louisiana or they're
looking for a financial planner,what are the qualities?
What should they be looking for?
Because I know that you want toget somebody, obviously that's
trustworthy, but you can'tnecessarily just look in the
yellow pages of Google anddiscern that information.
(25:03):
What should they be looking forin terms of picking out a
financial advisor?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I'll just tell you this 90% of the financial
advisors out there are lookingfor the best interests of their
clients.
Unfortunately, there's probably10% out there that are looking
for the importance of their self, and I think it's important.
Though, when you go into anoffice, we all of us financial
advisors pretty much have thesame tools.
Okay, now, we might havedifferent strategies they may
(25:30):
differ a little bit as far as Ithink you need to go into this
versus that and so forth butthey're pretty close to the same
and we have the same toolsavailable.
I think the most importantthing when you sit down with an
advisor is can you relate withthat person?
Is this somebody you want to dobusiness with?
Because this isn't just aone-time fix.
This is a lifetime commitmentthat you're going to be working
(25:53):
with this person for a long time, and I don't want to work with
someone I don't like.
So you need to make sure youcan relate to that person and,
on your gut, if you're speakingwith someone, if you have a good
feeling about them and that youcan do business with them, and
if they're trustworthy.
So I think that's important butalso to ask around.
You don't want to know.
Someone's a really goodsalesman and he can tell you
(26:15):
everything he wants to hear.
He might be one of that 10%that isn't looking out for your
best interest.
So ask around.
Have you worked with this guy?
Have you worked with, have youheard of this guy?
What's your impression of him?
But I think, ultimately thebiggest thing and I tell
everyone that comes in my officethey tell me they're shopping
around.
I said that's great.
Just make sure, whoever you gowith that you're comfortable
(26:37):
with and that you want to workwith.
(27:03):
No-transcript would recommend,if you are dealing with a
financial advisor, check theirrecord.
Go to the FINRA website, seewhat their history is, see how
long they've been in theindustry.
Where are they job hoppers?
Have they been to one place?
Or have they jumped around todifferent firms and so forth?
(27:24):
And why is that?
Ask those questions.
Why have you moved 17 times inyour career?
Or why do you have all thesecomplaints?
And the complaints?
If someone has been reported,it's going to be listed on that
site, so you'll know if theyhave issues or not know if they
have issues or not.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Awesome, all right.
So what's the one final pieceof advice you would give our
listeners who are just startingout on their financial journey
toward financial independenceand they're looking to build a
healthy future in retirement?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I think you need to at least schedule you an
appointment with a financialadvisor.
Talk with them, go see multiplefinancial advisors, get a feel
what's out there and you'regoing to find that most of us
probably think alike and thenjust find that person that you
connect with and, if you likethat person, I would recommend
(28:14):
following their advice or atleast getting started.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
And I know there's somebody out there thinking do I
have to pay for this initialconsultation or to meet with you
, or to meet with any financialadvisor?
What should I expect?
I know it's going to vary,maybe, but let's talk about
neighbor's wealth management.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
A neighbor's wealth management.
We don't charge for thatinitial appointment.
Okay, but there can be feesdepending on what you do.
Okay, so, and we'll discussthat.
It'll be full disclosureCertain products have certain
fees that cost for you to get in.
Some are ongoing fees, butwe'll disclose all of that.
But to come in to sit down tohave that discussion of are you
(28:53):
on track, that sort of thing,we're not going to charge for
that.
There's no fee for that.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
You shared a lot of good information.
I'm so glad that I was able toforce you to come on in here and
sit down with me.
I know you're busy and wedidn't really I didn't really
have to break his arm to get in,but you've shared a lot of good
information and I know, atleast for our local partners or
local members, they definitelymay be interested in taking this
conversation a little bitfurther.
I know I'm going to have youcome back.
(29:18):
As a matter of fact, I'm goingto have you sign a contract
saying you're coming back beforeyou leave, but in the meantime,
how can you be reached?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Sure they can reach us online, wwwneighborswmcom, or
email me at jason atneighborswmcom.
Or they can call or text.
Office line is 225-819-5790.
Call, text, email.
Any way you can get in touchwith us.
Or you can call the creditunion directly and someone there
can get in touch with us.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
And one last thing what type of appointments do you
set?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Virtual in-person phone that's right, yeah, yeah,
sometimes I know we're all busyand a lot of people don't want
to come in, and that's fine.
We can do a virtual meeting ifthey want, and we can also just
do a phone appointment just totalk about.
Actually.
I had a phone appointmentyesterday.
Went really well.
Any kind of way is fine.
Eventually we'll have to meetface to face and I would hope
(30:15):
they would want to meet me faceto face.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Again, thank you so much for coming and sharing this
information, really appreciateit and we'll have you back
really soon.
Thank you.
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