April 14, 2025 • 27 mins
Financial transitions can be just as challenging as emotional ones for our military service members. Veterans who once had legal, financial, and human resources support readily accessible suddenly face navigating these complex systems alone—often at significant out-of-pocket expense.
The Warrior Retreat at Bull Run's innovative Financial Literacy Program addresses this critical need head-on. Led by dedicated volunteer Jeff Schlegel, this one-day workshop distills essential financial knowledge into digestible, actionable strategies specifically tailored to veterans and transitioning service members. What sets this program apart is its education-first approach—no sales pitches, no product marketing, just valuable information veterans can use immediately.
From developing a healthy "money mindset" to understanding budgeting both before and after separation, the workshop covers comprehensive financial ground. Participants learn about investment vehicles appropriate for different risk tolerances, insurance needs assessment, retirement planning, and navigating today's challenging housing market. Most importantly, the program encourages veterans to bring their financial decision-making partners, recognizing that successful money management requires household alignment and shared understanding.
"The best time to plant an oak tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today," says Schlegel, emphasizing that financial planning is never too late to start. The program helps participants develop personalized 30-60-90 day action plans focused on their unique "why"—because understanding your motivation for financial security makes the necessary sacrifices worthwhile.
Expected to launch within months, this program represents the Warrior Retreat's continued commitment to expanding practical support services for veterans. Subscribe to our podcast for updates on program availability and to hear more inspiring stories from the military community. Your financial future starts with knowledge—and we're here to provide it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Zilliox (00:00):
Good morning.
I'm your host, larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run this week.
Our guest is Jeff Schlegel.
He's a volunteer here at theWarrior Retreat and he's heading
up a new program that we'velaunched on financial literacy
for veterans and active dutysoldiers that will be separating
(00:23):
soon just to help them kind oftransition from their life in
the military into the differencefinancially, what you need to
think about when you separate.
Or maybe you're a veteran andyou've been out for a while but
you're having troublefinancially with budgeting and
(00:44):
getting a long-term goal allthat kind of stuff we're going
to talk to him about today.
So, jeff, welcome to thepodcast, hey.
Larry, thanks for having me soif you would tell us a little
bit about your background andhow you became involved with the
Warrior Retreat at Bull Run.
Jeff Schlegel (01:01):
Yeah, larry, as you know, the Willing Warrior
Retreat here is very importantto the local community and I
worked at a department ofdefense contractor here in the
Manassas area.
You all came on campus toparticipate in one of our family
days.
I had a chance to talk to someof your ambassadors and I just
became enamored with the missionthat comes here and I promised
(01:25):
myself that when I retired whichI did about two years ago I
would seek out a volunteeropportunity that would allow me
to give back to our veterans,especially as they come home.
And so the Willing WarriorRetreat and my ambitions and
goals for retirementvolunteering perfect synergy.
So it's been everything I hopedfor by coming here.
Larry Zilliox (01:46):
Wow.
Well, we're very lucky to haveyou.
We really appreciate it.
In addition to this program, Iwill say that Jeff is heavily
involved in our crowns team andgets the place looking amazing
for when our Wounded Warriorguests show up, so he wears many
hats here at the WarriorRetreat.
(02:08):
And this one, though, is abrand-new program that we're
going to launch here soon, andI'm pretty excited about it,
because I know that thetransitioning can be a shock on
many levels for our warriors andveterans, and just the loss of
tribe, the loss of purpose, butalso then just trying to
(02:32):
navigate the financial worldwhen you get out of the military
, because, let's face it, a lotof services were provided for
you in the military.
You had a legal problem.
You just went down legal andyou handed it to them and they
took care of it.
You know all your pay washandled by HR and finance and
direct deposit and any issues.
(02:54):
You go see them, and they wouldput a person on it and they
would straighten it out for you.
This is really going to be agreat program that helps
veterans and active duty, asthey're thinking about
separating.
So it's not.
They don't have to wait untilthey get out of the military to
think about coming to one ofthese programs.
(03:15):
Transitioning soldiers shouldbe thinking about what they're
going to do when they separate,a year or two in advance for
sure.
Jeff Schlegel (03:24):
So if you would just tell us a little bit about
this program and really how itcame to be yeah, thanks, larry,
and couldn't agree more withyour setup of the program and
one of the things that theWilling Warriors has had a
vision of expanding services forthe current veterans and, you
know, those looking totransition out of the military.
(03:47):
And the PenFed Grand Lodge hasjust brought us so many new
opportunities to expand thoseservices for the warriors and
their families.
And so when Sarah approached meabout hey, what about a
financial strategies, financialliteracy program, that was
something I was so excited aboutbecause way back when I was
much younger, people took timeto just educate me, help me
(04:11):
understand the basics of finance.
They didn't sell me anything,they taught me things.
And so when this program camealong, it was just such a great
opportunity to take advantage ofthe conference center here at
the Penfitt Grand Lodge, bringthe veterans and their partners
or spouses in and just talk tothem, share knowledge, empower
(04:35):
them, if you will, to then lookat their own personal situation,
take what applies to them.
So that's what got it started,and it's just such a great new
opportunity to share additionalinformation to help those that
could use it.
Larry Zilliox (04:50):
And the basis of the program comes from.
How was it developed?
Jeff Schlegel (04:56):
The network of great partners here with the
Willing Warrior is somethingthat we lean on all the time for
expertise outside our domainand in this particular instance,
people that we knew that wereproud sponsors and partners with
the retreat exposed us to thePinnacle Group, who had an
established financial strategiescourse, but it was a 12-week
(05:18):
course, larry, and when welooked at that the valuable time
of the warriors and theirpartners and spouses we didn't
see that being a great fit.
But we saw a foundation offinancial literacy components
that if we narrowed it down, wecould create a one-day workshop,
touch on the most critical,vital elements that we think
(05:41):
would apply to, you know, thewarriors and their families and
then deliver that here at nocost to them.
So by leveraging the partners,taking a foundational workshop
put together by Pinnacle butthen leaning on our broader
partner set to bring in theexperts, because we're not the
experts, I'm not an expert, butI can say that what we'll share
(06:03):
can work if it applies to yoursituation.
So that's how we kind of gothere.
We're very excited.
Larry Zilliox (06:08):
Wow.
So Pinnacle came in and theyhad a whole program that was set
up.
I like the idea of being ableto pick and choose what you feel
works best for the veterancommunity, but also to put it
into a kind of mini program thatactually works from a time
(06:30):
element, because it's very hard.
It's very hard to get peopleinvolved in some sort of
training that takes weeks oreven days.
What was the process you usedto kind of distill it down?
What were the things that youwere looking for to say, okay,
this is really important, thisis really important.
(06:51):
We've got to include theseelements.
Yeah.
Jeff Schlegel (06:54):
So our focus was, first of all, if you're
currently in, or haveexperienced, financial
insecurity, there are immediatefinancial pressures that need to
be addressed, but there's alsothat longer-term strategy,
whether it's retirement planning, paying education, funds for
children, covering elderlyparents and the family.
(07:17):
So what we want to do iscultivate a menu of items that
address both.
Short-term what can I do today?
What can I do in 30, 60, 90days to get me on the right
track financially?
But then what can I do that Iwon't reap the rewards until
maybe 5, 10, 15 years.
(07:37):
So we want to help folks now,but we also want to set them up
for success when they need itthe most down the road.
And in today's environment,company pensions and all that
are just a thing of the past.
Right, so we have a self-fundedretirement generation in play
right now, and so how do weassure that if they don't know
(08:00):
how to maximize that, how totake advantage of those
opportunities presented by theircompanies or within the
financial community?
Our goal is knowledge andempowerment.
We want them to walk out ofthis workshop saying, okay, I
know what I need.
I now have an idea how toacquire it.
Then they're going to go chasedown the best way to follow
(08:22):
their dreams go chase down thebest way to follow their dreams.
Larry Zilliox (08:29):
So, looking at the overall program, the target
audience is veterans, male orfemale doesn't matter.
It's not a guide thing, but isthere a space in this program
for is it a certain age groupthat you're targeting, or would
some a veteran who's establishedand maybe been working for 10
(08:49):
years but really doesn't have ahandle on what their retirement
looks like?
Is that somebody who mightbenefit from this?
Jeff Schlegel (08:58):
Larry, I think this is a age group neutral type
of workshop, and what I mean bythat is, unless your retirement
is fully funded and you're inretirement and you're
comfortable, there's still timeand in the financial world, time
is almost more valuable thanthe actual dollars, because the
(09:21):
time value of money, which wewill cover in the workshop,
talks about how, in your earlieryears, smaller amounts invested
consistently over time is thebest way to build long-term
growth.
If you can find $50 today, itmight be hard, but you have to
(09:48):
ask yourself can I find $500 10years from now?
And what we have found is whenfolks haven't been exposed to
just the concepts of finance ina meaningful way, it can be
intimidating, right?
There can be a belief that ifI'm not a day trader, if I don't
have all AI tools on my desktopto follow the market, I can't
participate, I can't get ahead.
Now.
I think folks are far more savvythan they give themselves
credit for, and hopefully we'regoing to reinforce that.
(10:10):
What they've already started,they're on the right path, and
here's some adjustments orenhancements.
If they haven't gotten started,that's okay.
What can we do?
30, 60, 90 days to get yougoing.
What can we do?
30, 60, 90 days to get yougoing?
There's an old saying that ifyou need a full, mature oak tree
, the best time to plant it was20 years ago, yeah.
(10:31):
The next best time is today,yeah.
So if you didn't start savingbefore, shrug that off.
What can we do?
Starting today, going forward?
Yeah, it's never too late,absolutely not.
And it's not what we want toshare with folks and this is, I
think, an important point I wantto make.
Nobody at this workshop iscoming here to market or sell
(10:56):
anything to the warriors and theattendees.
We want to make that very clear.
The Willing Warrior Retreat isall about delivering knowledge,
understanding, comfort, peaceall on the benefit of the
warrior, not the people thatwork here, not the partners that
work with us.
So while they're at thisworkshop, we're going to be
sharing a lot of information,but we're not going to be
(11:19):
selling anything.
There's no commitment beyondtheir time.
And we're going to bring in ourpartners and have experts in
the room, but they're going tobe answering questions
generically, using hypotheticalsand examples, but nobody's
going to be handing out apamphlet like you're at a
timeshare right when to get thefree lunch that you've prepared
(11:39):
for them they've got to sign upfor this, right, although your
lunches are worth paying for, tobe honest with you.
But that's, I think, theimportant thing.
And because what we want themto do when they leave here is
take that action plan and thendecide okay, I want to make some
changes.
Should they go talk to theirown personal financial advisor?
(12:00):
Should they participate in themilitary financial readiness
program that's available to them?
How do we prepare them, empowerthem to then go take those
steps, because they're going tobe unique to every individual
attendee, everybody's why.
Why do we save?
Why do we want to acquirewealth?
That's going to be differentfor every single person, but the
(12:23):
methods of acquisition of thatwealth, the methods to get to
that why, are pretty fundamental, and that's what we're going to
focus on in the workshop.
Larry Zilliox (12:31):
You know I see, one of the hardest things, I
think, for transitioningsoldiers especially those
service members who've made it acareer very often is the
concept of when they get out,they need to pay for services,
and I know a few who haveresisted that to their detriment
(12:56):
.
You know, if you need a lawyer,you need a lawyer.
You have to pay a lawyer.
You don't have the legaldepartment to just walk down and
hand your problem to, but youcan't ignore your problem
because you don't want to pay alawyer.
You know you want to start abusiness, you need a lawyer.
You need an accountant, youwant to do your taxes.
You might be able to do yourtaxes, but you know, if you pay
(13:20):
a professional, you may get moremoney back.
It's that concept of having topay for services that I see
sometimes, and especially withsome that think, well, I'll just
put my money in a savingsaccount instead of investing in
it in the stock market oreventually maybe buying real
estate or some of those ways inwhich you can build wealth.
(13:42):
You ignore because you don'tknow how to do them and again,
to your detriment, but alsobecause they don't want to pay a
financial advisor and I knowfor how important a financial
advisor is, because they do allthe research and the work for
you and either they're afee-based or they take a
(14:05):
percentage, and neither one isreally bad if you have the right
financial advisor.
I know, typically my wife and Iwhen we're invited to weddings
for younger people, we find anindependent financial advisor
near where they live and we payfor two-hour consultation for
(14:26):
that couple as a wedding gift.
I think it's better than atoaster and hopefully it gets
them to think and it gets themstarted in the right direction,
and I think that's true of ourveterans and our separating
service members.
They need to sort of develop amindset of what finance and
(14:48):
civilian life is really allabout, and I see this course as
going to be godsend for them.
I really do.
I've got to applaud you for this.
It's just a fantastic approachto educating, which really is so
valuable, because the otherthing that service members
aren't used to is that whenthey're out, they're out, they
(15:13):
are on their own.
You know, I remember recordingan episode with Colonel Baker
about his first time he traveledto see his son in Korea.
He had just gotten out of theArmy.
He was a colonel, he had justgotten out of the Army.
He was a colonel.
Every other time when he wentto Korea there was a guy there
waiting for him with a car andthey took him to billets and
(15:35):
they checked him in.
And this time he got off theplane and was standing there all
by himself and it finally setin that, hey, I don't have the
military anymore.
And that's the same thing herefor our service members.
It can be daunting, and armingthem with this type of education
, I think it's just invaluable.
Jeff Schlegel (15:54):
Couldn't agree more, Larry.
And if you don't mind, I'll runthrough a quick summary of the
topics, because the listenersmight be thinking, okay, this
sounds really good, but what arethey going to cover?
Yeah, Right.
Well, the first things we'regoing to talk about and you use
this word it's having a moneymindset, right, Before you get
(16:18):
into any of the details.
It's how to think about money,how to think about how it can
work for you.
Right, when there's financialpressure, it can feel like
money's working against you.
Right, there's bills, there'sdebt, there's challenge, and
sometimes that can dim theforward-looking, the how can I
turn this around?
Can I turn this around?
So we're open the money mindsetpart.
We'll start the workshop off onthe right foot.
(16:42):
Success ahead of us.
Second is budgeting, and I'mgoing to circle back to
something you mentioned.
We're going to encourage theattendees to think about budget,
of their current situation, butalso what would they need to
absorb out of their direct payas they transition out of the
(17:05):
service.
So we've talked about how thecost of housing today that may
be covered In the future.
It's not.
So we're going to talk to themabout budgeting the as-is state,
but also the to-be state and ifthey plan to stay in the
service for a long time, thenthe as-is may equal that future
state.
But if they're going to betransitioning in any time frame,
(17:28):
you know two, three, five years.
Thinking now about thoseadditional costs that have been
kind of hidden from them becauseof the way they're covered in
their payroll.
That's part of the veteranfocus, if you will, of how we're
tailoring this workshop, youknow, to their needs.
Giving yourself a raise, youknow, you talked about interest
(17:50):
rates and there's so manyfinancial vehicles out there and
there's the time and a placefor all of them, depending on
where you are in your life,whether you're looking for
long-term growth, whether you'relooking for short-term
stability.
Are you looking to take somerisks?
Are you playing a conservative?
Short-term stability Are youlooking to take some risks?
(18:11):
Are you playing a conservative?
But one of the things thatwe're going to focus on is how
do we take that dollar thatmaybe is stagnant and can we
turn that into $1.25?
Can we turn that into $1.50 byjust adjusting the vehicle that
we choose to put that dollar in.
And it doesn't have to be highrisk, right?
It doesn't have to be anindividual stock.
There's so many investmentvehicles out there and what we
(18:35):
want, and we don't pretend toknow what's right for the
individual, but we're going totake the time to share those
options so as then they look attheir plan, their needs, their
goals, their budget, what's thesafest thing for them to do
where they are today and wherethey plan to be in the future.
Insurance there's multiple typesof insurance out there.
(18:57):
We're going to focus on lifeinsurance, property, home.
We're going to touch oninsurance mainly from the why do
you need it?
Types of insurance that are outthere and give you the facts on
all of them and there's no oneanswer.
That's going to be the answer,right, but where you are in your
(19:18):
life, who's depending on yourincome?
Focus on life insurance forjust a second.
Life insurance can be viewed assimply income replacement.
So if you take the view I'mgoing to work for 20 more years
and I've got dependents relyingon this income, do I have enough
life insurance that, ifsomething happens to me in the
next 20 years, I've gotreplacement funds coming in to
(19:40):
take care of the family?
That's a very simple way tolook at life insurance.
Some people look at it asinsurance and an investment.
There's pros and cons to bothof those viewpoints.
We're not going to advocate forone or the other, but we're
going to educate on both of themand then let the individual
decide what makes sense for them.
Because one thing about and allthese financial strategies,
(20:03):
larry, is if they make theperson nervous right If they're.
If they think it's high risk,if they feel they have to check
the New York Stock Exchangeevery day.
If every dip in the market isgoing to make them feel insecure
, they're probably not in theright investment vehicle for
them.
Yeah.
So our goal isn't this product,that product, it's.
(20:27):
Here's the products, here's howthey work, and your risk
tolerance and your ability toride the wave of the market if
you choose to invest in it has alot to do with it, because
while your money's working foryou, you should be out living
your life, doing your job,experiencing your family, and
not watching the ticker everynight and worrying what have I
(20:50):
done?
And then investing and retiringand those can be two different
things, but they can also be thesame thing.
There's investing forshort-term goals college
education, 529s, a new house, anew car.
Then there's, ultimately,long-term investment in
retirement.
We're going to talk about thefoundational strategies and the
(21:10):
opportunities available tobalance out the short term and
long term.
And then, lastly, especially inthis market, just talking about
home buying would be a goodidea.
People hear interest rates andit can be pretty scary.
You hear a lot of people whohave interest rates that are low
so they're not selling becausethey don't want to give up that
(21:31):
low interest rate.
You got people that can'tafford to buy because the
interest rates are too high.
There's different types ofmortgage products, both in
length rates, adjustables, andagain, what we want to do is
help somebody if home buying isin their future.
How do we prepare them so whenthey sit down with that lender
(21:52):
and they talk 15 year versus 30year, they talk adjustable rate
versus fixed rate, balloonpayment right, all those kinds
of options can be a littleoverwhelming, especially if
you're a first-time home buyer.
And so our goal there is wethought that would be a good
idea.
And also, what about renting?
Is there an opportunity wherethat may be the better choice
(22:13):
for that individual right now?
So those are the key areas and,as we mentioned, we're going to
bring in some of our partnersand for each section we'll have
a kind of an expert, qualified,licensed expert to answer
questions, guidance and really,you know, give the attendees a
(22:38):
sense that they're not talkingto a salesperson pushing a
singular product.
They're talking to a panel ofexperts pushing knowledge.
That's our goal Educate,empower and have them go with an
action plan 30, 60, 90 days.
Here's what you're going to doand have an idea of how do I
(22:59):
fund my why.
Because the why matters morethan the balance sheet.
Because if you focus on the why, you're willing to sacrifice If
you just want to grow wealth.
To grow wealth that can getdistracted by many, many things.
But that why, if we can helpthem see that, visualize it and
then put a plan together for it,we think that'd be a powerful
(23:21):
tool for the, for the attendees.
Larry Zilliox (23:22):
Yeah, wow.
Well, I think you know it'sgoing to cover a lot.
It's a great, great program andwe're really excited to see it
get going here at the WarriorRetreat.
Pretty soon it'll be up andrunning, and how will people,
how will veterans, sign up forit?
Jeff Schlegel (23:41):
Yeah.
So right now we're in thecourse curriculum development.
We've got the categories laidout, we're lining up the panel
of experts, we're targeting arollout in a couple months
Perfect.
And we're going to startworking with our network, all of
our MilVet contacts that weknow well, that have the inroads
(24:03):
to the right people that wouldbenefit the most from this.
Great.
And then, after we get thatfirst one, we'll do some lessons
learned.
We'll get great feedback fromthe attendees and this is going
to be an evolution of thecurriculum, right?
Because, first of all, thefinancial industry and the
current situation is volatile,it's changing.
(24:25):
So we're going to take thatconstant feedback and adjust,
adapt and that's where taking afoundational program but then
tailoring it to this specificgroup the veterans and their
spouses.
And, by the way, larry, I can'tI want to stress this We'd like
the warrior and their plus oneto attend this.
(24:45):
Whoever that plus one is that'scritical to the financial
decisions in their family.
Because one thing we have foundif you talk to just one and
then they try to deliver themessage when they return home,
hey, jeff said we have to stopspending money on this and start
investing in that, who the heckis?
Jeff Right, but if we can getthem both in the class together
(25:10):
they hear the same information,they hear the answers, they
build that plan together it'sgot a much higher chance of
success.
So we want to open it up toboth the warrior and their
significant other.
That's really a key to theirfinancial decisions Wow.
Larry Zilliox (25:24):
Well, it sounds awesome and I know everybody
here at the retreat is reallyexcited about expanding some of
the programs.
We've got other programs thatare coming up, but this one in
particular, I know is going tobe very well received.
Jeff, thanks for joining ustoday.
We really appreciate it.
Jeff Schlegel (25:43):
Oh, of course, Larry, one thing I found since I
started here you mentioned Istarted on the ground crew,
right.
I actually started in the dunktank, right.
When you guys came out to theworkplace you sponsored a dunk
tank and my employees lovestanding up there and dunking me
over and over again.
Some even sent their kids up todunk me.
I think it was in fun.
(26:03):
I choose to remember it thatway.
But ever since I've beeninvolved with this, just
watching this leadership teamlisten to the veterans, listen
to the warriors, hear theirneeds and then develop programs
tailored to provide themassistance, focused assistance
it's one of the best thingsabout this place, and I couldn't
(26:24):
be more excited to expand myparticipation beyond the ground
crew into an ambassador role.
Financial strategies, anythingto help the warriors I'm all in.
Larry Zilliox (26:34):
Wow, we really appreciate that and thank you
for joining us today For ourlisteners.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
You can find us on yourfavorite podcast platform, also
on YouTube and Wreaths AcrossAmerica Radio.
So listen and like andsubscribe.
(26:55):
If you have any questions orsuggestions, you can reach us at
podcast at willingwarriorsorg.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
Good morning.
I'm your host, larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run this week.
Our guest is Jeff Schlegel.
He's a volunteer here at theWarrior Retreat and he's heading
up a new program that we'velaunched on financial literacy
for veterans and active dutysoldiers that will be separating
(00:23):
soon just to help them kind oftransition from their life in
the military into the differencefinancially, what you need to
think about when you separate.
Or maybe you're a veteran andyou've been out for a while but
you're having troublefinancially with budgeting and
(00:44):
getting a long-term goal allthat kind of stuff we're going
to talk to him about today.
So, jeff, welcome to thepodcast, hey.
Larry, thanks for having me soif you would tell us a little
bit about your background andhow you became involved with the
Warrior Retreat at Bull Run.
Jeff Schlegel (01:01):
Yeah, larry, as you know, the Willing Warrior
Retreat here is very importantto the local community and I
worked at a department ofdefense contractor here in the
Manassas area.
You all came on campus toparticipate in one of our family
days.
I had a chance to talk to someof your ambassadors and I just
became enamored with the missionthat comes here and I promised
(01:25):
myself that when I retired whichI did about two years ago I
would seek out a volunteeropportunity that would allow me
to give back to our veterans,especially as they come home.
And so the Willing WarriorRetreat and my ambitions and
goals for retirementvolunteering perfect synergy.
So it's been everything I hopedfor by coming here.
Larry Zilliox (01:46):
Wow.
Well, we're very lucky to haveyou.
We really appreciate it.
In addition to this program, Iwill say that Jeff is heavily
involved in our crowns team andgets the place looking amazing
for when our Wounded Warriorguests show up, so he wears many
hats here at the WarriorRetreat.
(02:08):
And this one, though, is abrand-new program that we're
going to launch here soon, andI'm pretty excited about it,
because I know that thetransitioning can be a shock on
many levels for our warriors andveterans, and just the loss of
tribe, the loss of purpose, butalso then just trying to
(02:32):
navigate the financial worldwhen you get out of the military
, because, let's face it, a lotof services were provided for
you in the military.
You had a legal problem.
You just went down legal andyou handed it to them and they
took care of it.
You know all your pay washandled by HR and finance and
direct deposit and any issues.
(02:54):
You go see them, and they wouldput a person on it and they
would straighten it out for you.
This is really going to be agreat program that helps
veterans and active duty, asthey're thinking about
separating.
So it's not.
They don't have to wait untilthey get out of the military to
think about coming to one ofthese programs.
(03:15):
Transitioning soldiers shouldbe thinking about what they're
going to do when they separate,a year or two in advance for
sure.
Jeff Schlegel (03:24):
So if you would just tell us a little bit about
this program and really how itcame to be yeah, thanks, larry,
and couldn't agree more withyour setup of the program and
one of the things that theWilling Warriors has had a
vision of expanding services forthe current veterans and, you
know, those looking totransition out of the military.
(03:47):
And the PenFed Grand Lodge hasjust brought us so many new
opportunities to expand thoseservices for the warriors and
their families.
And so when Sarah approached meabout hey, what about a
financial strategies, financialliteracy program, that was
something I was so excited aboutbecause way back when I was
much younger, people took timeto just educate me, help me
(04:11):
understand the basics of finance.
They didn't sell me anything,they taught me things.
And so when this program camealong, it was just such a great
opportunity to take advantage ofthe conference center here at
the Penfitt Grand Lodge, bringthe veterans and their partners
or spouses in and just talk tothem, share knowledge, empower
(04:35):
them, if you will, to then lookat their own personal situation,
take what applies to them.
So that's what got it started,and it's just such a great new
opportunity to share additionalinformation to help those that
could use it.
Larry Zilliox (04:50):
And the basis of the program comes from.
How was it developed?
Jeff Schlegel (04:56):
The network of great partners here with the
Willing Warrior is somethingthat we lean on all the time for
expertise outside our domainand in this particular instance,
people that we knew that wereproud sponsors and partners with
the retreat exposed us to thePinnacle Group, who had an
established financial strategiescourse, but it was a 12-week
(05:18):
course, larry, and when welooked at that the valuable time
of the warriors and theirpartners and spouses we didn't
see that being a great fit.
But we saw a foundation offinancial literacy components
that if we narrowed it down, wecould create a one-day workshop,
touch on the most critical,vital elements that we think
(05:41):
would apply to, you know, thewarriors and their families and
then deliver that here at nocost to them.
So by leveraging the partners,taking a foundational workshop
put together by Pinnacle butthen leaning on our broader
partner set to bring in theexperts, because we're not the
experts, I'm not an expert, butI can say that what we'll share
(06:03):
can work if it applies to yoursituation.
So that's how we kind of gothere.
We're very excited.
Larry Zilliox (06:08):
Wow.
So Pinnacle came in and theyhad a whole program that was set
up.
I like the idea of being ableto pick and choose what you feel
works best for the veterancommunity, but also to put it
into a kind of mini program thatactually works from a time
(06:30):
element, because it's very hard.
It's very hard to get peopleinvolved in some sort of
training that takes weeks oreven days.
What was the process you usedto kind of distill it down?
What were the things that youwere looking for to say, okay,
this is really important, thisis really important.
(06:51):
We've got to include theseelements.
Yeah.
Jeff Schlegel (06:54):
So our focus was, first of all, if you're
currently in, or haveexperienced, financial
insecurity, there are immediatefinancial pressures that need to
be addressed, but there's alsothat longer-term strategy,
whether it's retirement planning, paying education, funds for
children, covering elderlyparents and the family.
(07:17):
So what we want to do iscultivate a menu of items that
address both.
Short-term what can I do today?
What can I do in 30, 60, 90days to get me on the right
track financially?
But then what can I do that Iwon't reap the rewards until
maybe 5, 10, 15 years.
(07:37):
So we want to help folks now,but we also want to set them up
for success when they need itthe most down the road.
And in today's environment,company pensions and all that
are just a thing of the past.
Right, so we have a self-fundedretirement generation in play
right now, and so how do weassure that if they don't know
(08:00):
how to maximize that, how totake advantage of those
opportunities presented by theircompanies or within the
financial community?
Our goal is knowledge andempowerment.
We want them to walk out ofthis workshop saying, okay, I
know what I need.
I now have an idea how toacquire it.
Then they're going to go chasedown the best way to follow
(08:22):
their dreams go chase down thebest way to follow their dreams.
Larry Zilliox (08:29):
So, looking at the overall program, the target
audience is veterans, male orfemale doesn't matter.
It's not a guide thing, but isthere a space in this program
for is it a certain age groupthat you're targeting, or would
some a veteran who's establishedand maybe been working for 10
(08:49):
years but really doesn't have ahandle on what their retirement
looks like?
Is that somebody who mightbenefit from this?
Jeff Schlegel (08:58):
Larry, I think this is a age group neutral type
of workshop, and what I mean bythat is, unless your retirement
is fully funded and you're inretirement and you're
comfortable, there's still timeand in the financial world, time
is almost more valuable thanthe actual dollars, because the
(09:21):
time value of money, which wewill cover in the workshop,
talks about how, in your earlieryears, smaller amounts invested
consistently over time is thebest way to build long-term
growth.
If you can find $50 today, itmight be hard, but you have to
(09:48):
ask yourself can I find $500 10years from now?
And what we have found is whenfolks haven't been exposed to
just the concepts of finance ina meaningful way, it can be
intimidating, right?
There can be a belief that ifI'm not a day trader, if I don't
have all AI tools on my desktopto follow the market, I can't
participate, I can't get ahead.
Now.
I think folks are far more savvythan they give themselves
credit for, and hopefully we'regoing to reinforce that.
(10:10):
What they've already started,they're on the right path, and
here's some adjustments orenhancements.
If they haven't gotten started,that's okay.
What can we do?
30, 60, 90 days to get yougoing.
What can we do?
30, 60, 90 days to get yougoing?
There's an old saying that ifyou need a full, mature oak tree
, the best time to plant it was20 years ago, yeah.
(10:31):
The next best time is today,yeah.
So if you didn't start savingbefore, shrug that off.
What can we do?
Starting today, going forward?
Yeah, it's never too late,absolutely not.
And it's not what we want toshare with folks and this is, I
think, an important point I wantto make.
Nobody at this workshop iscoming here to market or sell
(10:56):
anything to the warriors and theattendees.
We want to make that very clear.
The Willing Warrior Retreat isall about delivering knowledge,
understanding, comfort, peaceall on the benefit of the
warrior, not the people thatwork here, not the partners that
work with us.
So while they're at thisworkshop, we're going to be
sharing a lot of information,but we're not going to be
(11:19):
selling anything.
There's no commitment beyondtheir time.
And we're going to bring in ourpartners and have experts in
the room, but they're going tobe answering questions
generically, using hypotheticalsand examples, but nobody's
going to be handing out apamphlet like you're at a
timeshare right when to get thefree lunch that you've prepared
(11:39):
for them they've got to sign upfor this, right, although your
lunches are worth paying for, tobe honest with you.
But that's, I think, theimportant thing.
And because what we want themto do when they leave here is
take that action plan and thendecide okay, I want to make some
changes.
Should they go talk to theirown personal financial advisor?
(12:00):
Should they participate in themilitary financial readiness
program that's available to them?
How do we prepare them, empowerthem to then go take those
steps, because they're going tobe unique to every individual
attendee, everybody's why.
Why do we save?
Why do we want to acquirewealth?
That's going to be differentfor every single person, but the
(12:23):
methods of acquisition of thatwealth, the methods to get to
that why, are pretty fundamental, and that's what we're going to
focus on in the workshop.
Larry Zilliox (12:31):
You know I see, one of the hardest things, I
think, for transitioningsoldiers especially those
service members who've made it acareer very often is the
concept of when they get out,they need to pay for services,
and I know a few who haveresisted that to their detriment
(12:56):
.
You know, if you need a lawyer,you need a lawyer.
You have to pay a lawyer.
You don't have the legaldepartment to just walk down and
hand your problem to, but youcan't ignore your problem
because you don't want to pay alawyer.
You know you want to start abusiness, you need a lawyer.
You need an accountant, youwant to do your taxes.
You might be able to do yourtaxes, but you know, if you pay
(13:20):
a professional, you may get moremoney back.
It's that concept of having topay for services that I see
sometimes, and especially withsome that think, well, I'll just
put my money in a savingsaccount instead of investing in
it in the stock market oreventually maybe buying real
estate or some of those ways inwhich you can build wealth.
(13:42):
You ignore because you don'tknow how to do them and again,
to your detriment, but alsobecause they don't want to pay a
financial advisor and I knowfor how important a financial
advisor is, because they do allthe research and the work for
you and either they're afee-based or they take a
(14:05):
percentage, and neither one isreally bad if you have the right
financial advisor.
I know, typically my wife and Iwhen we're invited to weddings
for younger people, we find anindependent financial advisor
near where they live and we payfor two-hour consultation for
(14:26):
that couple as a wedding gift.
I think it's better than atoaster and hopefully it gets
them to think and it gets themstarted in the right direction,
and I think that's true of ourveterans and our separating
service members.
They need to sort of develop amindset of what finance and
(14:48):
civilian life is really allabout, and I see this course as
going to be godsend for them.
I really do.
I've got to applaud you for this.
It's just a fantastic approachto educating, which really is so
valuable, because the otherthing that service members
aren't used to is that whenthey're out, they're out, they
(15:13):
are on their own.
You know, I remember recordingan episode with Colonel Baker
about his first time he traveledto see his son in Korea.
He had just gotten out of theArmy.
He was a colonel, he had justgotten out of the Army.
He was a colonel.
Every other time when he wentto Korea there was a guy there
waiting for him with a car andthey took him to billets and
(15:35):
they checked him in.
And this time he got off theplane and was standing there all
by himself and it finally setin that, hey, I don't have the
military anymore.
And that's the same thing herefor our service members.
It can be daunting, and armingthem with this type of education
, I think it's just invaluable.
Jeff Schlegel (15:54):
Couldn't agree more, Larry.
And if you don't mind, I'll runthrough a quick summary of the
topics, because the listenersmight be thinking, okay, this
sounds really good, but what arethey going to cover?
Yeah, Right.
Well, the first things we'regoing to talk about and you use
this word it's having a moneymindset, right, Before you get
(16:18):
into any of the details.
It's how to think about money,how to think about how it can
work for you.
Right, when there's financialpressure, it can feel like
money's working against you.
Right, there's bills, there'sdebt, there's challenge, and
sometimes that can dim theforward-looking, the how can I
turn this around?
Can I turn this around?
So we're open the money mindsetpart.
We'll start the workshop off onthe right foot.
(16:42):
Success ahead of us.
Second is budgeting, and I'mgoing to circle back to
something you mentioned.
We're going to encourage theattendees to think about budget,
of their current situation, butalso what would they need to
absorb out of their direct payas they transition out of the
(17:05):
service.
So we've talked about how thecost of housing today that may
be covered In the future.
It's not.
So we're going to talk to themabout budgeting the as-is state,
but also the to-be state and ifthey plan to stay in the
service for a long time, thenthe as-is may equal that future
state.
But if they're going to betransitioning in any time frame,
(17:28):
you know two, three, five years.
Thinking now about thoseadditional costs that have been
kind of hidden from them becauseof the way they're covered in
their payroll.
That's part of the veteranfocus, if you will, of how we're
tailoring this workshop, youknow, to their needs.
Giving yourself a raise, youknow, you talked about interest
(17:50):
rates and there's so manyfinancial vehicles out there and
there's the time and a placefor all of them, depending on
where you are in your life,whether you're looking for
long-term growth, whether you'relooking for short-term
stability.
Are you looking to take somerisks?
Are you playing a conservative?
Short-term stability Are youlooking to take some risks?
(18:11):
Are you playing a conservative?
But one of the things thatwe're going to focus on is how
do we take that dollar thatmaybe is stagnant and can we
turn that into $1.25?
Can we turn that into $1.50 byjust adjusting the vehicle that
we choose to put that dollar in.
And it doesn't have to be highrisk, right?
It doesn't have to be anindividual stock.
There's so many investmentvehicles out there and what we
(18:35):
want, and we don't pretend toknow what's right for the
individual, but we're going totake the time to share those
options so as then they look attheir plan, their needs, their
goals, their budget, what's thesafest thing for them to do
where they are today and wherethey plan to be in the future.
Insurance there's multiple typesof insurance out there.
(18:57):
We're going to focus on lifeinsurance, property, home.
We're going to touch oninsurance mainly from the why do
you need it?
Types of insurance that are outthere and give you the facts on
all of them and there's no oneanswer.
That's going to be the answer,right, but where you are in your
(19:18):
life, who's depending on yourincome?
Focus on life insurance forjust a second.
Life insurance can be viewed assimply income replacement.
So if you take the view I'mgoing to work for 20 more years
and I've got dependents relyingon this income, do I have enough
life insurance that, ifsomething happens to me in the
next 20 years, I've gotreplacement funds coming in to
(19:40):
take care of the family?
That's a very simple way tolook at life insurance.
Some people look at it asinsurance and an investment.
There's pros and cons to bothof those viewpoints.
We're not going to advocate forone or the other, but we're
going to educate on both of themand then let the individual
decide what makes sense for them.
Because one thing about and allthese financial strategies,
(20:03):
larry, is if they make theperson nervous right If they're.
If they think it's high risk,if they feel they have to check
the New York Stock Exchangeevery day.
If every dip in the market isgoing to make them feel insecure
, they're probably not in theright investment vehicle for
them.
Yeah.
So our goal isn't this product,that product, it's.
(20:27):
Here's the products, here's howthey work, and your risk
tolerance and your ability toride the wave of the market if
you choose to invest in it has alot to do with it, because
while your money's working foryou, you should be out living
your life, doing your job,experiencing your family, and
not watching the ticker everynight and worrying what have I
(20:50):
done?
And then investing and retiringand those can be two different
things, but they can also be thesame thing.
There's investing forshort-term goals college
education, 529s, a new house, anew car.
Then there's, ultimately,long-term investment in
retirement.
We're going to talk about thefoundational strategies and the
(21:10):
opportunities available tobalance out the short term and
long term.
And then, lastly, especially inthis market, just talking about
home buying would be a goodidea.
People hear interest rates andit can be pretty scary.
You hear a lot of people whohave interest rates that are low
so they're not selling becausethey don't want to give up that
(21:31):
low interest rate.
You got people that can'tafford to buy because the
interest rates are too high.
There's different types ofmortgage products, both in
length rates, adjustables, andagain, what we want to do is
help somebody if home buying isin their future.
How do we prepare them so whenthey sit down with that lender
(21:52):
and they talk 15 year versus 30year, they talk adjustable rate
versus fixed rate, balloonpayment right, all those kinds
of options can be a littleoverwhelming, especially if
you're a first-time home buyer.
And so our goal there is wethought that would be a good
idea.
And also, what about renting?
Is there an opportunity wherethat may be the better choice
(22:13):
for that individual right now?
So those are the key areas and,as we mentioned, we're going to
bring in some of our partnersand for each section we'll have
a kind of an expert, qualified,licensed expert to answer
questions, guidance and really,you know, give the attendees a
(22:38):
sense that they're not talkingto a salesperson pushing a
singular product.
They're talking to a panel ofexperts pushing knowledge.
That's our goal Educate,empower and have them go with an
action plan 30, 60, 90 days.
Here's what you're going to doand have an idea of how do I
(22:59):
fund my why.
Because the why matters morethan the balance sheet.
Because if you focus on the why, you're willing to sacrifice If
you just want to grow wealth.
To grow wealth that can getdistracted by many, many things.
But that why, if we can helpthem see that, visualize it and
then put a plan together for it,we think that'd be a powerful
(23:21):
tool for the, for the attendees.
Larry Zilliox (23:22):
Yeah, wow.
Well, I think you know it'sgoing to cover a lot.
It's a great, great program andwe're really excited to see it
get going here at the WarriorRetreat.
Pretty soon it'll be up andrunning, and how will people,
how will veterans, sign up forit?
Jeff Schlegel (23:41):
Yeah.
So right now we're in thecourse curriculum development.
We've got the categories laidout, we're lining up the panel
of experts, we're targeting arollout in a couple months
Perfect.
And we're going to startworking with our network, all of
our MilVet contacts that weknow well, that have the inroads
(24:03):
to the right people that wouldbenefit the most from this.
Great.
And then, after we get thatfirst one, we'll do some lessons
learned.
We'll get great feedback fromthe attendees and this is going
to be an evolution of thecurriculum, right?
Because, first of all, thefinancial industry and the
current situation is volatile,it's changing.
(24:25):
So we're going to take thatconstant feedback and adjust,
adapt and that's where taking afoundational program but then
tailoring it to this specificgroup the veterans and their
spouses.
And, by the way, larry, I can'tI want to stress this We'd like
the warrior and their plus oneto attend this.
(24:45):
Whoever that plus one is that'scritical to the financial
decisions in their family.
Because one thing we have foundif you talk to just one and
then they try to deliver themessage when they return home,
hey, jeff said we have to stopspending money on this and start
investing in that, who the heckis?
Jeff Right, but if we can getthem both in the class together
(25:10):
they hear the same information,they hear the answers, they
build that plan together it'sgot a much higher chance of
success.
So we want to open it up toboth the warrior and their
significant other.
That's really a key to theirfinancial decisions Wow.
Larry Zilliox (25:24):
Well, it sounds awesome and I know everybody
here at the retreat is reallyexcited about expanding some of
the programs.
We've got other programs thatare coming up, but this one in
particular, I know is going tobe very well received.
Jeff, thanks for joining ustoday.
We really appreciate it.
Jeff Schlegel (25:43):
Oh, of course, Larry, one thing I found since I
started here you mentioned Istarted on the ground crew,
right.
I actually started in the dunktank, right.
When you guys came out to theworkplace you sponsored a dunk
tank and my employees lovestanding up there and dunking me
over and over again.
Some even sent their kids up todunk me.
I think it was in fun.
(26:03):
I choose to remember it thatway.
But ever since I've beeninvolved with this, just
watching this leadership teamlisten to the veterans, listen
to the warriors, hear theirneeds and then develop programs
tailored to provide themassistance, focused assistance
it's one of the best thingsabout this place, and I couldn't
(26:24):
be more excited to expand myparticipation beyond the ground
crew into an ambassador role.
Financial strategies, anythingto help the warriors I'm all in.
Larry Zilliox (26:34):
Wow, we really appreciate that and thank you
for joining us today For ourlisteners.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
You can find us on yourfavorite podcast platform, also
on YouTube and Wreaths AcrossAmerica Radio.
So listen and like andsubscribe.
(26:55):
If you have any questions orsuggestions, you can reach us at
podcast at willingwarriorsorg.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
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