December 21, 2025 • 12 mins
Some of the most damaging financial advice doesn’t look shady at all. It looks responsible. It looks optimized. And it looks great on a spreadsheet. This episode breaks down one of the most unethical practices James sees in financial planning, not selling high-fee products, but using projections and tax strategies to justify an advisor’s fee while ignoring the life those numbers are supposed to support.
The problem starts when advisors lead with “value creation” instead of purpose. Tax savings, Roth strategies, and optimized projections can be manipulated to look impressive, especially when spending is kept artificially low and retirement is delayed by default. The math may be correct, but the outcome can quietly cost years of freedom, experiences, and time.
Using a real case study, James shows how the same tax strategy looks wildly different once spending actually reflects the life someone wants to live. When travel, generosity, and earlier retirement enter the plan, the projected tax “value” shrinks, not because the strategy is bad, but because the goal changed. That’s the point most people miss.
This episode reframes what good advice should look like. Financial planning should start with how you want to spend your time, who you want to be with, and what matters most in your life. The tax strategy, investment strategy, and cash-flow plan exist to support that, not replace it.
-
Advisory services are offered through Root Financial Partners, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. This content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Viewing this content does not create an advisory relationship. We do not provide tax preparation or legal services. Always consult an investment, tax or legal professional regarding your specific situation.
The strategies, case studies, and examples discussed may not be suitable for everyone. They are hypothetical and for illustrative and educational purposes only. They do not reflect actual client results and are not guarantees of future performance. All investments involve risk, including the potential loss of principal.
Comments reflect the views of individual users and do not necessarily represent the views of Root Financial. They are not verified, may not be accurate, and should not be considered testimonials or endorsements
Participation in the Retirement Planning Academy or Early Retirement Academy does not create an advisory relationship with Root Financial. These programs are educational in nature and are not a substitute for personalized financial advice. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement with Root Financial.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
I'm going to show you the most unethical thing I
(00:02):
commonly see financial advisorsdo.
And I'm not talking aboutselling high-fee products.
We already know to look out forthat.
I'm talking about deliveringadvice that sounds good when you
first hear it, but ends upcosting you more than you might
imagine on the back end.
It's advice that looksresponsible in a spreadsheet,
but can quietly cost you yearsof freedom.
So by the end of this video,you're going to understand how
advisors can manipulate softwareto justify their fee.
(00:22):
And finally, when working withan advisor might actually make
sense compared to when itdoesn't.
So let's start with thatquestion.
I get that question a lot.
When does it make sense to workwith an advisor?
Now I'm an advisor.
I don't actually think it makessense for a lot of people to
work with an advisor.
And I'll get to that in a littlebit.
Here's where I do want to start.
Oftentimes, if you're exploringwork with an advisor, the
question at the top of your headis how do you justify your fee?
When does it make sense to workwith you?
(00:44):
Essentially asking, is the priceI'm going to pay for you going
to be offset by the value I'mgoing to receive by you and your
services?
So the question that commonlycomes up is, hey, can you show
me the value I'm going to getthat will justify me planning
your fee?
And here's what I say I say thatis actually quite a dangerous
question.
Now I get it, I understand it,and I'm going to answer what I
(01:04):
think you're asking, but let meshow you why this is actually a
very dangerous question.
I don't want to just tell youthis.
I want to actually show you whatyou might see for an advisor to
justify their fee.
So here's an overview of Jim andSally's situation.
61 years old, a couple milliondollars split between different
accounts.
And the typical advisor plan isgoing to be pretty basic.
Jim, Sally, let me show youworking until 65.
(01:26):
Let me show you spending 5,000per month.
You can see that in the goalshere.
Not really going much furtherbeyond that.
They're saying, let me show youwhat you'd be on track for, and
then let me show you how my feemight be justified.
Then let me show you the value Imight be able to create for you.
So you can see here, here's thegoals, retirement 5,000 per
month.
And when they look at this, acouple things are going to stick
out.
Number one, Jim and Sally,you're in a good spot.
(01:48):
So so far, so good.
Why do you need an advisor?
Well, let me show you why youmight need a advisor.
I'm going to this tax tab andI'm going to show you what a
good tax strategy can actuallydo for you.
So Jim and Sally talking toclients here, showing them why
I'm going to justify their fee.
Here's your taxable income herein this green bar.
You can see here's where it iswhen you're working.
It's going to drop off when youretire.
(02:09):
Then it's going to pick up againdown the road.
Let me show you.
And they go through someprojections, they toggle some of
these here, talking about theequity allocation, where to hold
it, talking about withwithdrawal sequence, talking
about Roth conversions.
And they'll say, if we do allthis, let me just refresh the
screen here.
Jim and Sally, look, if you workwith me, I can add$900,000, in
fact, more than$900,000 justwith one simple tax projection
(02:33):
over the course of yourlifetime.
So sure, you might be paying me$15,$20,000 per year, but that
seems quite justified if I canadd almost a million dollars to
the value of your plan.
Now, so far, the math isn'twrong.
There's nothing incorrect aboutthese variables.
This is a good thing to do, buthere's why I say this is
unethical.
This is being shown as a thingthat should pull you in or that
(02:55):
should lure you in and say,okay, I should work with this
advisor, when they've completelymissed the bigger picture.
Not once do they actually askJim and Sally, what do you want
your life to look like?
What do you actually want to do?
My guess is when you think of alife well lived, it's not just
about implementing the perfecttrack strategy.
What trips do you want to take?
What's meaningful to you?
Who do you want to spend yourtime with?
What do you want to spend yourdays doing?
(03:16):
And if you don't go there, allof a sudden you start to trigger
this part of the mind that says,look at this value, look at this
thing that I can do to justifymy fee, but it misses the bigger
picture.
And you're probably thinking, sowhat?
If they're adding value, I canfigure the rest of the stuff
out.
But let me show you why thisactually matters.
By the way, as I'm going throughthis, if you want access to the
same software to runprojections, you can get access
in the Retirement PlanningAcademy.
(03:38):
Link is in the notes below.
But take a look at this.
What should have been done?
What a good advisor should bedoing with Jim and Sally is yes,
doing tax strategies, but notstarting there.
They should be starting withwhat do you actually want
retirement to look like?
And here's what I mean by that.
We haven't traveled at all sofar.
This is zero.
$5,000 for basic expenses, maybethat's enough.
(04:00):
But if I see a 100% probabilityof success, my mind's not going
straight to, oh, that's awesome,you're in a good spot.
My mind's going to you'reprobably being too conservative
with your spending here.
What else might you want to do?
So as we start exploring thatand start talking not just about
numbers, but start talking aboutwhat those numbers represent.
More time doing cool things withfriends, more time doing
(04:20):
meaningful things with family,more money that you can gift to
charities or to people you careabout, more time traveling.
We can start to fill this outand we can start to look at what
might this look like if you wereto spend more than you
originally thought you mightwant to.
And by the way, this is just onething that we can do here.
We haven't even explored yet,Jim and Sally, do you want to
retire earlier?
(04:41):
You know, I'm shown you workuntil 65 because I'm your
financial advisor.
That's what I think you shoulddo.
Set that aside.
If that's what the financialadvisor is saying, that's
probably not advice that'sperfectly aligned with what you
want.
When do you want to retire?
What does life look like foryou?
What are the things that bringyou the most amount of meaning
and value and purpose in yourlife?
So as we start having thoseconversations, we start
connecting these dollar amountsto what you actually want your
(05:03):
life to look like, which is theonly reason you should be doing
financial planning.
And as we start to explore this,what we can see is Jim and
Sally, you're still in a reallygood spot.
But here's the thing you're in aworse spot than you initially
were.
If we're just looking at yourfinal portfolio balance when you
die as a singular factor thatwe're focused on.
Unfortunately, that's where mostpeople's attention goes.
(05:26):
That's how they quantifysuccess, but it's completely
disconnected from what actuallyis successful, from what
actually brings value to whatyou should be doing.
But here's the other thing.
If I go back to this taxanalysis, you know, this
advisor, they just said we cansave you$900,000 plus dollars
just with this one simplestrategy.
And again, the math is accurate.
There's nothing about thisthat's incorrect.
But now look what happens if Irun the same exact analysis, not
(05:48):
on the base plan, where theyretired at 65, only spent 5,000
per month, never did anythingbeyond that.
When I do that, look at thisnumber.
That number goes down by half amillion dollars.
So what's the unethical thing Isee advisors doing?
I show advisors not reflectingwhat life should look like
because in doing so, it doesn'tallow them to fully quote
(06:08):
unquote justify their fee.
Now my tax strategy is onlysaving you$400,000.
Well, I could get a lot moreclients.
I could do a lot better job ofpitching people if I showed that
number to full$900,000.
So this is where I want you tobe careful.
This is where I want you tounderstand that tax strategies
are good.
Investment strategies are good.
All these strategies are good,but these strategies should be
(06:31):
secondary to the life that youwant to live.
First, optimize for what youwant to do, who you want to
spend time with, what you wantyour life to look like.
Then within the confines of thator within the guardrails of
that, then how can we optimizeour tax strategy to be the best
it can be?
Then how do we optimize ourinvestments, our cash flow plan,
our insurances, our estatedocuments, all those different
things should support, not bethe driving factor behind what
(06:54):
we're doing.
So the core insight here is thetax strategy did not change.
The life did.
But by life changing, it madethe tax strategy look less
appealing, look like less of athing that an advisor could use
to say, I'm gonna now justify myfee.
So that's why I want to go backto that initial thing.
Why is it dangerous to ask anadvisor to justify their fee?
And of course, by the way, I'msaying this somewhat tongue in
(07:16):
cheek.
You should be asking the advisorthat.
You should be making sure thatif you are paying money to
anybody, not just an advisor,but any service professional, is
their value that you'rereceiving?
I just want you to be aware ofsome of the things you might see
to justify a fee when thatshouldn't be the thing, that
shouldn't be the reason you'reactually working with an
advisor.
So that being said, why shouldyou work with an advisor?
(07:38):
We already saw it's not just toshow you a tax strategy that can
be manipulated.
It's also not to give you theright investment portfolio.
If all you need is investments,you could build a great
investment portfolio with two,three, four very low-cost ETFs.
Could you do better?
Probably, but that's a good,solid starting point depending
on your situation.
But the true, real reasons whyit makes sense to hire an
advisor, why the people who arehappy they hired an advisor did
(08:01):
so has nothing to do with thosethings.
It is about tax planning, butonly when that's integrated with
spending that aligns with yourlife.
It's helping you understandsocial security planning and
optimization.
It's helping you understandMedicare, healthcare options,
what you should choose, why andwhen.
There's estate planning, there'sbehavioral planning, there's
making sure that you havesomeone set up to help your
spouse if they're not thefinancially inclined partner in
(08:23):
the relationship.
But more than all of that, thenumber one reason you should be
working with an advisor isbecause time is your only
non-renewable currency.
The more time you spendobsessing over this and
obsessing over the tax strategyand obsessing over running a
projection and then rerunning itand rerunning it and rerunning
it, all of that is time that youcould be using to spend on
things that you actually careabout.
(08:44):
That's time that you could beusing to spend with your spouse,
to spend with your family, tospend doing things that will
bring true and lasting joy.
That's why at Root Financial,when we're working with clients,
they remain the CEO of theirlife.
We are the CFO, making sure thefinancial operations are fully
supporting what they want thatlife to look like.
So going back to that adviceadvisors give.
Advisors will say, pay me 20,000per year and I'll more than
(09:07):
offset it in taxes.
Yes, the math is true, but thatshould not be the reason that
you hire someone.
The real reason is a goodadvisor will show you when you
can retire, how much can youspend, how can you align all the
things you're doing from afinancial standpoint with what a
life well lived looks like.
And the warning here is if theadvisor only spends time trying
to quantify how the valuethey're gonna provide is going
(09:28):
to offset their fee, it probablymeans there's some projections
happening that are optimizingfor the financial at the cost of
the personal, at the cost ofwhat your life could be.
Now, before we wrap, I want totell one quick story.
I had a client and she wouldtell the story of her brother.
And her brother would save andsave and save and work and work
and work and optimize andoptimize and optimize.
And he had all the spreadsheetsand everything was prepared.
(09:50):
So much of his time he spentobsessing over the financial
plan.
He knew he could retire, he knewhe had enough, but he always
felt like doing this for onemore year and giving just a
little bit more attention wouldgive him the peace of mind that
he could finally do so.
And then one day he passed awayunexpectedly.
And as he was telling me this, Icould tell he didn't have a
plan.
He just had a spreadsheet.
And the unfortunate reality wasbecause he spent so much time
(10:11):
obsessing over this, it pulledhim away from actually being
able to enjoy any of this.
Even worse, not only did he passaway, but when he passed, his
wife was left without any ideaof what was actually going on.
All she inherited was a mountainof spreadsheets and a whole
bunch of different accounts, butshe had no idea what the
strategy was.
She had no idea what her lifecould look like.
She had no idea what she shoulddo next because she didn't have
(10:34):
a plan.
She just had spreadsheets.
And it was the spreadsheet thathe had been optimizing, not the
life that they could livetogether that he had been
optimizing along the way.
So don't optimize forspreadsheets when you could be
optimizing for time with peopleyou love.
My hope for you is that youdon't turn 90 years old one day
and look back on your life andsay, I missed all the things
that I really wanted to do, butat least I had a perfectly
(10:56):
optimized tax plan along theway.
That is not a fulfilling life.
That is a life you're gonna lookback on with regret.
So look at what matters most andthen make sure the financial
pieces are in order to fullysupport that.
Now, this video isn't a video ofme telling you you need a
financial advisor.
As I mentioned before, manypeople don't.
But if you're looking at thisand you've been in the
situation, you're saying, Ireally do need someone to help
me make some of these decisions.
This is exactly what we do atRoot Financial.
(11:18):
Click on the link below.
You can go to our website andsee the services we offer, the
types of people that we serve,or scan this QR code right here.
That QR code will take you rightto a page where you can schedule
time to talk with an advisorhere to see if this might be a
good fit.
Because yes, you want thefinancial details covered.
Those are crucial.
Those are the things that aregoing to be additive to what you
can do in retirement, but itwill never replace the life that
(11:39):
you should be living.
So get the financial plan dialedso that you can focus on what
actually matters.
And if an advisor can help withthat, that's a wonderful thing
to have.
The takeaway I want for you isto understand that retirement
planning is not about dying withthe biggest balance, it's about
getting the most out of lifewith the money you have.
I'm going to show you the most unethical thing I
(00:02):
commonly see financial advisorsdo.
And I'm not talking aboutselling high-fee products.
We already know to look out forthat.
I'm talking about deliveringadvice that sounds good when you
first hear it, but ends upcosting you more than you might
imagine on the back end.
It's advice that looksresponsible in a spreadsheet,
but can quietly cost you yearsof freedom.
So by the end of this video,you're going to understand how
advisors can manipulate softwareto justify their fee.
(00:22):
And finally, when working withan advisor might actually make
sense compared to when itdoesn't.
So let's start with thatquestion.
I get that question a lot.
When does it make sense to workwith an advisor?
Now I'm an advisor.
I don't actually think it makessense for a lot of people to
work with an advisor.
And I'll get to that in a littlebit.
Here's where I do want to start.
Oftentimes, if you're exploringwork with an advisor, the
question at the top of your headis how do you justify your fee?
When does it make sense to workwith you?
(00:44):
Essentially asking, is the priceI'm going to pay for you going
to be offset by the value I'mgoing to receive by you and your
services?
So the question that commonlycomes up is, hey, can you show
me the value I'm going to getthat will justify me planning
your fee?
And here's what I say I say thatis actually quite a dangerous
question.
Now I get it, I understand it,and I'm going to answer what I
(01:04):
think you're asking, but let meshow you why this is actually a
very dangerous question.
I don't want to just tell youthis.
I want to actually show you whatyou might see for an advisor to
justify their fee.
So here's an overview of Jim andSally's situation.
61 years old, a couple milliondollars split between different
accounts.
And the typical advisor plan isgoing to be pretty basic.
Jim, Sally, let me show youworking until 65.
(01:26):
Let me show you spending 5,000per month.
You can see that in the goalshere.
Not really going much furtherbeyond that.
They're saying, let me show youwhat you'd be on track for, and
then let me show you how my feemight be justified.
Then let me show you the value Imight be able to create for you.
So you can see here, here's thegoals, retirement 5,000 per
month.
And when they look at this, acouple things are going to stick
out.
Number one, Jim and Sally,you're in a good spot.
(01:48):
So so far, so good.
Why do you need an advisor?
Well, let me show you why youmight need a advisor.
I'm going to this tax tab andI'm going to show you what a
good tax strategy can actuallydo for you.
So Jim and Sally talking toclients here, showing them why
I'm going to justify their fee.
Here's your taxable income herein this green bar.
You can see here's where it iswhen you're working.
It's going to drop off when youretire.
(02:09):
Then it's going to pick up againdown the road.
Let me show you.
And they go through someprojections, they toggle some of
these here, talking about theequity allocation, where to hold
it, talking about withwithdrawal sequence, talking
about Roth conversions.
And they'll say, if we do allthis, let me just refresh the
screen here.
Jim and Sally, look, if you workwith me, I can add$900,000, in
fact, more than$900,000 justwith one simple tax projection
(02:33):
over the course of yourlifetime.
So sure, you might be paying me$15,$20,000 per year, but that
seems quite justified if I canadd almost a million dollars to
the value of your plan.
Now, so far, the math isn'twrong.
There's nothing incorrect aboutthese variables.
This is a good thing to do, buthere's why I say this is
unethical.
This is being shown as a thingthat should pull you in or that
(02:55):
should lure you in and say,okay, I should work with this
advisor, when they've completelymissed the bigger picture.
Not once do they actually askJim and Sally, what do you want
your life to look like?
What do you actually want to do?
My guess is when you think of alife well lived, it's not just
about implementing the perfecttrack strategy.
What trips do you want to take?
What's meaningful to you?
Who do you want to spend yourtime with?
What do you want to spend yourdays doing?
(03:16):
And if you don't go there, allof a sudden you start to trigger
this part of the mind that says,look at this value, look at this
thing that I can do to justifymy fee, but it misses the bigger
picture.
And you're probably thinking, sowhat?
If they're adding value, I canfigure the rest of the stuff
out.
But let me show you why thisactually matters.
By the way, as I'm going throughthis, if you want access to the
same software to runprojections, you can get access
in the Retirement PlanningAcademy.
(03:38):
Link is in the notes below.
But take a look at this.
What should have been done?
What a good advisor should bedoing with Jim and Sally is yes,
doing tax strategies, but notstarting there.
They should be starting withwhat do you actually want
retirement to look like?
And here's what I mean by that.
We haven't traveled at all sofar.
This is zero.
$5,000 for basic expenses, maybethat's enough.
(04:00):
But if I see a 100% probabilityof success, my mind's not going
straight to, oh, that's awesome,you're in a good spot.
My mind's going to you'reprobably being too conservative
with your spending here.
What else might you want to do?
So as we start exploring thatand start talking not just about
numbers, but start talking aboutwhat those numbers represent.
More time doing cool things withfriends, more time doing
(04:20):
meaningful things with family,more money that you can gift to
charities or to people you careabout, more time traveling.
We can start to fill this outand we can start to look at what
might this look like if you wereto spend more than you
originally thought you mightwant to.
And by the way, this is just onething that we can do here.
We haven't even explored yet,Jim and Sally, do you want to
retire earlier?
(04:41):
You know, I'm shown you workuntil 65 because I'm your
financial advisor.
That's what I think you shoulddo.
Set that aside.
If that's what the financialadvisor is saying, that's
probably not advice that'sperfectly aligned with what you
want.
When do you want to retire?
What does life look like foryou?
What are the things that bringyou the most amount of meaning
and value and purpose in yourlife?
So as we start having thoseconversations, we start
connecting these dollar amountsto what you actually want your
(05:03):
life to look like, which is theonly reason you should be doing
financial planning.
And as we start to explore this,what we can see is Jim and
Sally, you're still in a reallygood spot.
But here's the thing you're in aworse spot than you initially
were.
If we're just looking at yourfinal portfolio balance when you
die as a singular factor thatwe're focused on.
Unfortunately, that's where mostpeople's attention goes.
(05:26):
That's how they quantifysuccess, but it's completely
disconnected from what actuallyis successful, from what
actually brings value to whatyou should be doing.
But here's the other thing.
If I go back to this taxanalysis, you know, this
advisor, they just said we cansave you$900,000 plus dollars
just with this one simplestrategy.
And again, the math is accurate.
There's nothing about thisthat's incorrect.
But now look what happens if Irun the same exact analysis, not
(05:48):
on the base plan, where theyretired at 65, only spent 5,000
per month, never did anythingbeyond that.
When I do that, look at thisnumber.
That number goes down by half amillion dollars.
So what's the unethical thing Isee advisors doing?
I show advisors not reflectingwhat life should look like
because in doing so, it doesn'tallow them to fully quote
(06:08):
unquote justify their fee.
Now my tax strategy is onlysaving you$400,000.
Well, I could get a lot moreclients.
I could do a lot better job ofpitching people if I showed that
number to full$900,000.
So this is where I want you tobe careful.
This is where I want you tounderstand that tax strategies
are good.
Investment strategies are good.
All these strategies are good,but these strategies should be
(06:31):
secondary to the life that youwant to live.
First, optimize for what youwant to do, who you want to
spend time with, what you wantyour life to look like.
Then within the confines of thator within the guardrails of
that, then how can we optimizeour tax strategy to be the best
it can be?
Then how do we optimize ourinvestments, our cash flow plan,
our insurances, our estatedocuments, all those different
things should support, not bethe driving factor behind what
(06:54):
we're doing.
So the core insight here is thetax strategy did not change.
The life did.
But by life changing, it madethe tax strategy look less
appealing, look like less of athing that an advisor could use
to say, I'm gonna now justify myfee.
So that's why I want to go backto that initial thing.
Why is it dangerous to ask anadvisor to justify their fee?
And of course, by the way, I'msaying this somewhat tongue in
(07:16):
cheek.
You should be asking the advisorthat.
You should be making sure thatif you are paying money to
anybody, not just an advisor,but any service professional, is
their value that you'rereceiving?
I just want you to be aware ofsome of the things you might see
to justify a fee when thatshouldn't be the thing, that
shouldn't be the reason you'reactually working with an
advisor.
So that being said, why shouldyou work with an advisor?
(07:38):
We already saw it's not just toshow you a tax strategy that can
be manipulated.
It's also not to give you theright investment portfolio.
If all you need is investments,you could build a great
investment portfolio with two,three, four very low-cost ETFs.
Could you do better?
Probably, but that's a good,solid starting point depending
on your situation.
But the true, real reasons whyit makes sense to hire an
advisor, why the people who arehappy they hired an advisor did
(08:01):
so has nothing to do with thosethings.
It is about tax planning, butonly when that's integrated with
spending that aligns with yourlife.
It's helping you understandsocial security planning and
optimization.
It's helping you understandMedicare, healthcare options,
what you should choose, why andwhen.
There's estate planning, there'sbehavioral planning, there's
making sure that you havesomeone set up to help your
spouse if they're not thefinancially inclined partner in
(08:23):
the relationship.
But more than all of that, thenumber one reason you should be
working with an advisor isbecause time is your only
non-renewable currency.
The more time you spendobsessing over this and
obsessing over the tax strategyand obsessing over running a
projection and then rerunning itand rerunning it and rerunning
it, all of that is time that youcould be using to spend on
things that you actually careabout.
(08:44):
That's time that you could beusing to spend with your spouse,
to spend with your family, tospend doing things that will
bring true and lasting joy.
That's why at Root Financial,when we're working with clients,
they remain the CEO of theirlife.
We are the CFO, making sure thefinancial operations are fully
supporting what they want thatlife to look like.
So going back to that adviceadvisors give.
Advisors will say, pay me 20,000per year and I'll more than
(09:07):
offset it in taxes.
Yes, the math is true, but thatshould not be the reason that
you hire someone.
The real reason is a goodadvisor will show you when you
can retire, how much can youspend, how can you align all the
things you're doing from afinancial standpoint with what a
life well lived looks like.
And the warning here is if theadvisor only spends time trying
to quantify how the valuethey're gonna provide is going
(09:28):
to offset their fee, it probablymeans there's some projections
happening that are optimizingfor the financial at the cost of
the personal, at the cost ofwhat your life could be.
Now, before we wrap, I want totell one quick story.
I had a client and she wouldtell the story of her brother.
And her brother would save andsave and save and work and work
and work and optimize andoptimize and optimize.
And he had all the spreadsheetsand everything was prepared.
(09:50):
So much of his time he spentobsessing over the financial
plan.
He knew he could retire, he knewhe had enough, but he always
felt like doing this for onemore year and giving just a
little bit more attention wouldgive him the peace of mind that
he could finally do so.
And then one day he passed awayunexpectedly.
And as he was telling me this, Icould tell he didn't have a
plan.
He just had a spreadsheet.
And the unfortunate reality wasbecause he spent so much time
(10:11):
obsessing over this, it pulledhim away from actually being
able to enjoy any of this.
Even worse, not only did he passaway, but when he passed, his
wife was left without any ideaof what was actually going on.
All she inherited was a mountainof spreadsheets and a whole
bunch of different accounts, butshe had no idea what the
strategy was.
She had no idea what her lifecould look like.
She had no idea what she shoulddo next because she didn't have
(10:34):
a plan.
She just had spreadsheets.
And it was the spreadsheet thathe had been optimizing, not the
life that they could livetogether that he had been
optimizing along the way.
So don't optimize forspreadsheets when you could be
optimizing for time with peopleyou love.
My hope for you is that youdon't turn 90 years old one day
and look back on your life andsay, I missed all the things
that I really wanted to do, butat least I had a perfectly
(10:56):
optimized tax plan along theway.
That is not a fulfilling life.
That is a life you're gonna lookback on with regret.
So look at what matters most andthen make sure the financial
pieces are in order to fullysupport that.
Now, this video isn't a video ofme telling you you need a
financial advisor.
As I mentioned before, manypeople don't.
But if you're looking at thisand you've been in the
situation, you're saying, Ireally do need someone to help
me make some of these decisions.
This is exactly what we do atRoot Financial.
(11:18):
Click on the link below.
You can go to our website andsee the services we offer, the
types of people that we serve,or scan this QR code right here.
That QR code will take you rightto a page where you can schedule
time to talk with an advisorhere to see if this might be a
good fit.
Because yes, you want thefinancial details covered.
Those are crucial.
Those are the things that aregoing to be additive to what you
can do in retirement, but itwill never replace the life that
(11:39):
you should be living.
So get the financial plan dialedso that you can focus on what
actually matters.
And if an advisor can help withthat, that's a wonderful thing
to have.
The takeaway I want for you isto understand that retirement
planning is not about dying withthe biggest balance, it's about
getting the most out of lifewith the money you have.
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