Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's for informational purposes only and it is not intended to
be personal financial advice. The investments and services offered by
us may not be suitable for all investors. If you
have any doubts as to the merits of an investment,
you should seek advice from an independent financial advisor.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Live from the ws iHeart Studios, Welcome to the Retirement
Planning Show with your host Dave Kopak from the Retirement
Planning Group. Every week, Dave Kopak and his team discuss
the ways they can help people make informed decisions about
a wide array of retirement planning information that can support
you in developing a more certain financial future for you
(00:40):
and your family. No, it's time for the Retirement Planning Show.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Out of my lead.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Good afternoon recording the World Day weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I mean the brave souls that gave their lives so
we could live in freedom. God bless them a little
bit of gratitude, their courage and their dedication. Fallen heroes.
Fallen heroes, never forget the cost that they've given for
our freedom, protecting us. So for those that have family
(01:36):
members that you've lost, God bless you. For those that
are serving God, bless you, we stay united. The Right
Tirement Planning Group applauds your dedication and courage. Another crazy
(01:57):
week on Wall Street, a little bit of a down week,
but it's expected with the word tariff and what's happening
with the dialogue with this new budget that they're trying
to get through. So hopefully, you know, they'll be able
(02:19):
to pass what's needs to get passed and we can
go on our merry way here. But the bottom line
gets down to is that you know, we're still we're
down a little bit on the air. We expected a
little bit of a bounce, we got it, and we
expect a little of a backfill, a little profit taking.
(02:42):
Some people basically got in when we had to sell
off and now they're probably harved.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
You know, we came back almost twenty percent.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So but for those that are out there, this is
the Retirement Planning Show. I'm Dave Kopek, the president of
the Retirement Planning Group. I'm live in the studio, so
if you have a question in comment, don't be BASHFULS
three one five four to two one ninety seven ninety seven.
That's three one five four to two one ninety seven
ninety seven that's three one, five, four to two one
(03:12):
wsyr any question all, even if it's off topic, that's fine.
We always like questions because they think it makes it
much more interesting.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
To use the listeners.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
But you know, uh, we live in a society today
that a lot of people are returning that magical age
is sixty five. It's the largest surge ever folks. Eleven
two hundred people every day are turned in the age
of sixty five. So what does that mean? That means
that you're going to have to basically build out retirement
(03:46):
income portfolios in your lifetime in order to satisfy possibly
decades of retirement. So today, what I would like to
do is to talk about some bullet points that I
wrote down of what you should be thinking about pre
(04:08):
and post retirement, meaning how.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Do you choose how do you choose a professional team?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And I've got ten questions here that I think are
critical after almost doing this now for forty three years,
of how you should basically be screening and scrubbing the
person or team that you want to be working with.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
But before you.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Do that, you got to sit down and you got
to have a little soul search in yourself about what
are your goals and what are you trying to achieve?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Where are you.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
One year, two year, three years, five years before retirement?
Are already in retirement? Are you looking to retire earl?
Do you need a retirement income distribution plan? Do you
have a pension? What are the options you're going to
take for your pension? Take the max joint survivor pop up.
(05:19):
So when you start thinking about some of these questions
with your goals in mind, the first step is who
am I going to work with? Because it's been proven
over and over again working with a financial team is
going to be beneficial for you and it's going to
(05:41):
put you in a better spot when you ultimately walk
out the door into your retirement years. So are you
considering working with financial professional currently? If you are, that's
great and hopefully they're doing the job and you're satisfied
with what you're receiving. If you're just starting the process,
(06:04):
I say, after doing this now for almost forty three years,
interview the financial team just like you would for someone
that was basically coming in the door that wanted to
work for you a job. Interview what's their background, what's
their years of experience, what's their certification, their credentials, what's
(06:30):
their mindset, understanding their goals and how they communicate with
you is going to be critical, and that's number one communication, right,
How do you communicate with your clients email, phone calls,
(06:58):
text messages and how often will you communicate? You know,
a lot of financial teams have different ways in order
for them to facilitate contact management with their clients and
prospective clients.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
At the Retirement.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Planning Group, we send out two emails every week and
we also have what we call a ninety day no contact.
If we don't talk to our clients in a ninety
day period, there's a little bar that pops up that
says you haven't called mister Apple or missus Apple in
the past ninety days, and you should reach out to
(07:36):
them and see if everything is okay. So, for a
lot of us quarterly which is the ninety day no
contact semiannual, every six months annual. But you want to
build a relationship with your client base and they understand
(07:57):
exactly how frequently they will be having conversations with you.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Critical that everybody's on the same page where you're not
getting a phone call, Hey, I haven't heard from you
in the last seven or eight months, understanding what the client.
A lot of our clients they could care less. Some
they calls once or twice a month, sometimes depending on
(08:25):
what's going on in the markets. Number two, how is
the advisor compensated? We are a hybrid platform at the
Retirement Planning Group. Ninety five percent of our business is
fee based. The other five percent is commission based. Insurance, annuities,
(08:48):
long term care. Those are all paid by commissions, So
we charge a fee on assets that we have under management,
and we also get paid commission on any thing that
we do. As far as insurance products, every financial team
gets paid differently. Some don't work in the arena where
(09:10):
they do protection products, so it's a I think it's
critical that you understand how is the advisor being compensated?
How often do they get compensated? And you want to
make sure that you're comfortable with that process so there's
no misunderstanding right from the get go. The next, of course,
(09:34):
is the business model. Are you a wealth management platform?
Are you a fee based transactional platform? Are you're pretty
much just managing money where you basically do the total
wealth management. We are total wealth management. Not only do
we do asset management, We do asset protection, legacy planning,
(09:58):
tax tax planning, and of course protection products as far
as like long term care and life insurance, depending on
what the clients are trying to achieve. So it's important
for you to have an understanding of exactly what the
investment philosophy is, does it align with what you're looking for?
(10:22):
And are you comfortable with the way that the financial
team is compensated. Most of your teams today, folks are
fee based. That's a transition that's happened over the last
ten years. Very few, very few financial advisors are still
commission based. So we're going to get into some greater detail.
(10:45):
I'm gonna take my first break. I am live, I'm
in the studio. If you would like to ask a
question three one five four two one, ninety seven, ninety seven,
I'm Dave Kopek, President of the Retirement Planning Group. If
anything that I'm discussing is of interest to you, we
do offer a complementary consultation at our office at the
(11:07):
Business Park, Pioneer Business Park. All you have to do
is dial eight eight eight five eight zero one nine
one nine eight eight eight five eight zero one nine
one nine and say you want to come in for
a consultation and we'll be right back after this quick message.
We are living through the greatest wealth transfer in the
history of mankind. Trillions of dollars of wealth will change
hands from one generation to the next, your money to
(11:29):
our beloved children and grandchildren.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Are you ready?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Your future is written by chance, it's written by action.
Now's the time to build your plan, protect your assets,
and position yourself for the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Don't wait, take action.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
If future favors those that are prepared, call eighty eight
five eight zero one nine one nine. That's eight eight
eight five eight zero one nine one nine.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Big ja yourself in a boat on a river with
tangerine trees.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A monolate guys, somebody calls you you and all.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Right, we are back.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Dave Kopek, the president of Retirement Planning Group. If you're
not aware of who we are, all we do is
pre and post retirement planning. We have five locations in
New York State. Our corporate headquarters is in Multi Slash
Saratoga Springs, Albany, Glens Falls, Oneanna. Of course, our new
office now is in Syracuse, which we've had an unbelievable response.
(12:40):
I can't thank the people enough. I know that we've
met with a lot of individuals. We have a lot
of new clients, and again, if you're thinking about building
out your pre impost retirement plan, give us a call.
We do offer a complementary consultation and we will sit
(13:02):
down with you have a chat. The first meeting is
just let's have a conversation, and after that, if you
come back for the second meeting, we give you some
ideas and concepts as far as what we would like
to do, and then we usually send you home to
think about it. And the third meeting is we usually
that's the time we implement if we're going to transfer
(13:23):
assets and start building out your plan. But we are
a wealth management platform, we're not transactional and most of
our clients, as I said, ninety five percent of our
business is discretionary, fee based management and the other five
percent is basically protection products that we utilize in order
(13:43):
to utilize some of the insurance products that I think
are very suitable for individuals during the retirement years. So
we talked a little bit about the business model, communication,
We talked a little bit how we're compensated what do
you expect from the clients?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
What am I looking for as a financial advisor? Well,
I think the more input, the more dialogue you have,
the better off yard. It's no different relationship husband and wife,
boyfriend and girlfriend. The more you can have dialogue and
understand the reasoning and why the decisions are being made,
I think it basically helps you have more comfort and
(14:29):
ultimately why the financial team is doing what they're doing.
You know, I had a woman say to me not
that long ago, it's one of the bullet points what
made me become a financial advisor, What drove me to
get into this business, to manage assets, to manage relationships
(14:51):
with people. And I'm a child that grew up my
father died very young and my mother worked like a dog,
and I had a desire never ever ever to be
in that position again, and also desire that I could
help people basically have them understand how important it was
(15:12):
to have a plan in place in case there was
a devastating event.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
And we all have that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Feeling in our hearts that will never happen to me, Well,
for some of us, it does happen. There are events
that happen in our lives that basically changes us. So
I wanted to make a I guess a difference in
people's lives. Putting the apples together, so they're all lined
(15:42):
up and everybody knows what I call the domino effect.
When the first domino drops, we know where the rest
of them are going to go. So asking that question
to the Perspective team, I think is critical to understanding
exactly where the person heart is and ultimately why they
(16:03):
got into the business. Now here's the other critical one.
What type of investment products do you utilize through your platform?
How diversified is your portfolios? Is there any categories or
(16:27):
products that you don't utilize, meaning that you have a
bias against. I make this crystal clear with people, we
have no bias. We are an open architecture platform. That
means that we can basically have access. If there's a
ticker symbol, we can get it, an ETF or a
(16:47):
mutual fund, an insurance product. There's only one insurance company
that we can't do business with.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
The rest of them.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
We have access through what we call a master general
agency companies that we use in order to facilitate insurance products.
But when I started the business in nineteen ninety nine,
only focusing on pre and post retirement planning. I wanted
to make sure that we had an open architecture platform
(17:14):
and we had the ability to utilize all the products
that they're out there in order to facilitate what the
clients were looking for. So when people come in and
this say, are there any products or investments that you've
avoid in your practice? My answer to you is no,
there are certain products that I don't like, there are
(17:38):
certain products that I don't think are suitable, But that
doesn't necessarily mean that my personal feelings should be yours.
So it's important for you, as a consumer of financial
products to ask a very important question, do you have
any bias? And is it important for you, meaning you
(18:01):
the consumer, to have dialogue to understand exactly where your
money is going. Some of the teams that I've worked
with in the past, and I've worked with major organizations
Payne Webber, Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, and of course I
was the I SPEC the investment specialist for met Life
(18:23):
for a while for the New England region. There were
what we call quote unquote preferred products. These were products
that were either in house and there was a way
for me to be compensated differently by using those products
rather than the other ones that were out there on
our platform. I never wanted to be in that position
(18:47):
when I started the retirement planning group. I wanted to
be in a position that I was selecting the investments
that were suitable, not because I was paid differently. So
understanding what's in the cupboard, how many different types of
investment products are there? Is there any that are in
(19:09):
the cupboard that are basically not preferred rather than preferred?
Excuse me, I apologize.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
And then.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Once you have the products or the list of products
the solutions for your clients, how do you build it out? Well,
we're very fortunate to be part of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Advisors.
That means that we have access to their back office
(19:44):
for building and structuring portfolios with their portfolio managers, their CFAs, etc.
So my team, we typically have what we call ten
model portfolios that we build out that are secific for
people that are ultra conservative to overly aggressive, and I
(20:06):
think it's important that people understand that those models exist
with the help and the dedication that we receive not
only from Fidelity but also from our wholesalers. That come
into our office to discuss their particular platforms and the
products that they offer the retirement planning group. What do
(20:28):
I mean by that? Golden Sachs, JP, Morgan Fidelity. You
go through the whole laundry list of people that we
work with and the opportunities that we have instead of
working with just one specific group with their platform. I
(20:49):
think what we bring to the table is the ability
for you to have open architecture where we're getting a
lot of information from a lot of different sources, where
we can basically filter it, work it out, and then
build out platforms that we feel are not only suitable
for you depending on what you're trying to achieve, but
also cover what we consider to be probably the number
(21:13):
one concern for a lot of people, building out platforms
that meet your RTQ, your risk tolerance, because a lot
of times people will get on a platform don't feel
comfortable with it because there's either too much volatility or
too much risk. It's important on the front end to
(21:33):
do the work and you understand exactly exactly the amount
of volatility or potential volatility with the portfolios, because you
don't want to sell folks when the markets are selling
off to me, that means that you didn't do the
work on the front end right. If you're feeling high
(21:57):
anxiety and stress the way that your money is allocated,
that typically means that you've got too much risk in
your portfolio or you're improperly allocated the types of investments
that make you feel warm and fuzzy. So make sure
you're doing it right on the front end. And this
(22:20):
is a common question that we get consistently. Do you
have minimum account sizes? Does the Retirement Planning Group mandate
that you have to have a certain amount of money
in order to work through our platform? And the answer
to that is an emphatic no. And this might sound
(22:41):
like I'm patting myself on the back.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I'm not.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
But I said to myself when I did radio, whether
you got two thousand dollars or twenty million dollars, I'm
not going to treat you any differently because I feel
like it's almost a public service that if we're out
here trying to tell people how to basically manage their
assets and how to put their estates together, it's as
important to the guy that might have one hundred thousand
(23:05):
dollars rather than the guy that's got maybe two or
three or four million. So certain professionals that are out there,
and you'll never hear me talk negative about another financial advisor.
That's their business model. They have what they call a
tiered service based on account size. Okay, that's not us,
(23:28):
because I believe that with our platform, we have the
ability to facilitate what clients are looking for. With the
smaller accounts, you might not get as much attention, but
you will definitely get the communication that you expect. Our
platform is pretty simple. From zero to two million, you
(23:52):
pay one percent. From two million to four million, you
pay seventy five basis points from dollar one.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Meaning that it's not tiered.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Anything over four million dollars we charge fifty basis points
zero point five to zero. We have a very competitive structure,
probably one of the most competitive out there. But we
almost you know, there's a word that I try to
use consistently when we meet with individuals and we're talking
to prospective clients.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Fair. Fair.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
We want to have a fair platform that is not
only fair for the retirement planning group, but also fair
for you as a consumer of financial products. So again,
if anything that I'm discussing is of interest to you.
We have a opportunity to sit down with you at
(24:53):
our office in Syracuse, a Pioneer Business Park. If you
want to commit, it's right off of exit third. Our
telephone number is eighty eight five eight zero one nine.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Eighty eight five eat.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Zero one nine nine, and say, listen to Dave on
the radio. I'd like to comm in for a complimentary consultation.
And the worst thing that can happen is we become
friends and you have one of my horrible cups of coffee,
because I like my coffee chewy.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
I like it strong.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
So again, if you'd like to come in for a
complimentary consultation, it's eighty eight five eight zero one nine nine.
We'll be right back after this break. I'll see you
on the other side.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Smile that does seemed to me reminds me John Memories
everything one straight broadress.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah right, there's no footing. Good afternoon, Happymorrow Day, weekend.
God bless the individuals that sacrifice their lives to give
us our freedom.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
For those that did, thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
We will never forget the cost that you gave for
the freedom that we currently have here in the United States.
A lot of fallen heroes a lot of people have
a lot of blood has been lost, a lot of lives,
the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. So when you get
(26:33):
a chance this weekend, say a little prayer for those people.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
All Right, we're back again. This is talk radio.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
The last couple of weeks have been it's been Babbel radio,
meaning that the phones aren't ringing, So I'll give out
the telephone number if you have a question about your
own personal situation, whether it's on investment management IRA distribution
Planning IRAS four oh one k's four O three b's annuities.
(27:10):
Today we're talking about the ten questions, kind of put
them together as far as the things that you should
be asking you meaning the consumer of financial products. And
I think it's important. It's important that you basically screen
and scrub. We always tell people when they come in
to the retirement Planning group for their first consultation, go
(27:31):
visit with some other people and see how they basically
bake the cake, because I think it's critical because as
we're quite well aware, are you're retiring in your late
fifties or early sixties. If you're fortunate enough to do that,
you could be working with this team for thirty forty years.
You know, my oldest client passed away last year. He
(27:53):
was one hundred and two. He skied in the Adirondecks
to age one hundred. A wonderful man ge executive. Couldn't
been a nicer man.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
I got clients because I've been doing for such a
long time that are in their nineties and eighties, and
you would think that some of them are in their
sixties and seventies because they're just so well taking care
of themselves and it's just you know, we're living longer lives,
the l word longevity, all right, Well, talking about some
(28:23):
of the questions that I want to Uh, it'll go
over with you.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
But like anything else.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
As again, our telephone number here at the studios three
one five four to two one ninety seven ninety seven,
three one five four to two one ninety seven ninety seven.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Guy asked me the other day.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
What's the biggest lesson you learned in my forty three
years of being in business? What's the biggest lesson that
I've learned in forty three years of doing this and
how it's impacted not only my practice, but how it's
(29:04):
impacted me. I thought that was such a great question
that I would bring it up today. Here's the first
and foremost, and I'll tell you a real quick story.
I was in my conference room when we were on
We had an office on Broadway and Sarah Tuga Springs,
New York, and a gentleman came in and he's with
(29:27):
his wife with radio listeners because I've been doing radio
now for over twenty five years. And he started the
conversation off great. The first meeting was good. Got to
the end of the meeting and I said to him,
(29:47):
I said, you know we're talking about, you know, how
we manage assets. He says, well, if you manage our assets,
you're not going to have all of them because I'm
going to keep some of it with my guyet at
the time it was Merrill Lynch. And we went back
(30:09):
and forth, and I said, basically, you want me to
make the sauce and facilitate what you're looking for, but
you're gonna keep assets at two different location.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yep, that's right. But I said, well, let me give
that some thought.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And I said, a matter of fact, I'm not going
to really give it too much thought because I'm gonna
basically say to you that You're not going to be happy,
and I'm not going to be happy because we're always
going to go back and forth what Dave said and
what this other guy said. So I said, why don't
you just keep all your money at Meryl Lynch And
that probably had the biggest impact on my business. That
(30:50):
was probably fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years ago. When I did that,
I can tell exactly it was. It was two thousand
and seven, so it was it's eighteen years ago. And
I said, if you want me to make the sauce,
and you want me to do the ingredients, but you're
going to have money and all over God's creation, then
this isn't going to work for you, and it's not
(31:11):
going to work for us. So that day on and
that day forward, I said, to every perspective client that
came in, you're either all in or all out. If
you want us to manage the assets, be responsible to
create a check, have wealth replacement for your surviving spouse,
(31:36):
make sure the legacy gets transferred to your children and
your grandchildren, protect your state, make sure that everything is
buttoned up. We can't do it by fragmentation. It has
to be done by consolidation and simplification, and that means
you're going to have to pick our team. Because there's
(31:56):
a key word in this whole thing is you're going
to have to trust us that we're going to be
able to take your individual goals and what you're trying
to achieve and build it out over a long working
relationship which could be decades, which could be decades. Well,
(32:21):
he grabbed his hat and walked out, and I never
thought i'd see him again. I never thought i'd see
him again. In about two weeks later. This is a
gentleman that was a New York City detective who was
recently remarried, and his wife called me and said, we
(32:46):
want to come back in and talk to you. So
they came back in and I explained to him the
reasoning why I had in order to make sure that
she was protected because this gentleman, this gentleman, when he
(33:07):
retired as a New York City detective, took.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
The pension Max. What does that mean. That means that
when he.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Passed away, there was no benefit for his wife. So
if he lived a long life, they were probably okay.
She came into the marriage with a little bit of money,
not a lot of money. He came into the marriage
with a little bit of money but a huge pension benefit.
(33:38):
So he basically said, I understand, I understand what you're saying.
I said, okay, So he consolidated, simplified everything. Money came
over from Merrill Lynch and I said to him, listen,
you need to understand that there is a huge a
(34:00):
Hilly's hill here with your plan if you die prematurely.
You do understand that Barbara, his wife, was going to
be in a very very difficult situation. She would not well,
I'm leaving her at the house. Yeah, but how's she
going to pay for the house Because the pension bendit.
The only thing she's going to get is to hire
the two solid securities. There's no pension benefit and she
(34:24):
has a small amount in her IRA, nowhere near what's
necessary for quality of life.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
So he said to me, all right, so what's the answer.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I said, from now you have the ability because of
your age, you're young enough you can buy a level
term insurance. And I said, she's going to need somewhere
around eight hundred thousand to a million dollars of benefit.
So if you pass away prematurely, she's going to be
(34:56):
able to have quality of life. Then I have to
go on a fire set, meaning that she's not going
to have to sell assets in order for her to
basically live. I thought his head was going to blow off.
So that's why he wanted to sell me life insurance.
It's not why I'm here. I'm here to tell you
(35:17):
what the hole is in your boat and how we
can plug it. Well, he left the office again unhappy
a second time, but came back like a week later,
filled out the application, got the life insurance, and to
make a long story short, he was dead within two years.
(35:39):
And to this day, his wife, Barb thinks I walk
on water because I had a conversation with him that
he didn't want to have. We had dialogue, and ultimately
he was a smart enough guy. He just didn't want
to hear some things that ultimately I had to say
(35:59):
to him. And that sometimes is the business that I'm in.
A lot of times I have to go in and
have conversations with people that the rest of my team
can have because of my experience, because of my forty
three years being in business, and I'm that Bashel. Sometimes
(36:25):
I don't like to have confrontation. Sometimes I don't like
to have the conversations that I have to have with people.
But I'm gonna say this, I'm going to highlight the
question again, what's the biggest lesson that I've learned in
all the years that I've been in business.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And here's the biggest lesson. Trust someone.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Simplify your life, consolidate assets, and build out a plan
that is based off of realistic expectations. My fingers crossed
that things are going to work out if you do that.
If you do what I just said, you will have
(37:12):
a successful plan. Life will be good and you're not
going to have to worry about if something happens to me, because.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
All the holes in the boat will be plugged.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Remember remember one thing. You have to trust your team
that they're working for your individual needs of your right back.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
In us.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Why are You've spent a lifetime saving for retirement. Now
it's time to make that money work for you. Here's
the secret most people miss. You have to create your
own retirement income plant. Social Security is not enough, the
pensions are rare. You need a strategy that turns savings
into monthly income that will last a lifetime. At the
Retirement Planning Group, Old Customized Income distribution plates, so you
(38:02):
can retire with confidence, retire smart, live well. Call eight
eight eight five eight zero nine for your complementary consultation.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Only for a.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
Moment, and the moment's gone.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Dream best before my eyes a curiosity.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
All right, we are back.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
I want to tip my hat to my great team
that's working with me this weekend, my engineer here and Albany,
and of course the engineer in Syracuse. You know, it's
a lot of times we get criticized, but a lot
of times we don't say.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
Enough thank you. So I want to thank the team
because they're.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Doing a great job. And I'm out in Syracuse a lot.
I was out Syracuse twice this week. I'll be back
out Tuesday for more appointments. So again I'm gonna highlight
what I just talked about and you guys can take
it for whatever it's worth. And before I forget, we
(39:23):
will have very shortly workshops and seminars, which we do
pretty consistently throughout New York. We're going to have some
in New York in Syracuse. When I get back. I'm
going to Ireland on Wednesday. I will be in Ireland
(39:44):
from Wednesday until the following Saturday with my beautiful bride
Julie and my friend Brian and Kathy McCann, who are
first generation and we're going to see some of their
family in Ireland. I've never been to Ireland. I look
forward to it and my wife is looking forward to
see some of her ancestry. So when I come back,
(40:05):
I will have some workshops that were going. We just
had a workshop in Albany at the Desmond. We had
one hundred and forty six people that came and we
discussed how to protect your assets and how to manage
money during your retirement years. I find it extremely informative
and educational for people. You can ask specific questions. And
(40:27):
we're going to have another workshop here in Aubany on
June twenty fifth on annuities, that dirty word called annuities,
the pros and cons, facts and what's not fiction. How
to build a retirement plan.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
Right.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
How to build a retirement plan because most of us
nine out of ten of us do not have pension benefits.
That means that we're going to have to take our
life savings and we're going to have to try to
build out out a retirement income distribution plan that could
possibly last for decades. Last year in twenty twenty four
(41:09):
was the record year for inflows. Inflows money going in
a product called annuities. They are misunderstood. I think there's
a lot of marketing that is not factual. These are
very beneficial products for people that are looking to stabilize
(41:30):
their portfolios and also put themselves in a position that
they can have multi year guarantees income that will last
a lifetime. And as I said, I've been doing it
for forty three years. We've allocated annuities to a lot
of people. That only makes up a very small percentage
of our portfolios, but it's something that is you as
(41:52):
a consumer.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
You need to understand these products.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Remember what I said, You don't want to be working
with a team that does not have an open architecture platform,
someone that has a bias towards investments that could be
extremely beneficial for you. So research your professional teams that
you're working with, the ones that are in your marketplace.
(42:19):
Find the team that you feel most comfortable with. You
should probably talk to two or three different teams. Most
of us now work with teams. We are no longer
you know one person offices. As I said, I'm going
to highlight these real quickly the ten things that I
think you, as a consumer of financial advice need to understand,
(42:44):
and especially sooner is better than later. You should be
working with a team no later than three years, five
to six years is probably profitable. When you turn fifty
nine to sixty, you should be looking searching out the
team that you want to work with, because sixty five
typically that's the age a lot of us retire at,
(43:06):
because it's that magical age where we're going to qualify
for medicare. So to highlight again the mindset that you
have to put yourself understand, you're in a job search.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Your job search is.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
To find the team that you feel comfortable with to
manage your wealth during your retirement years. Number one, which
I said, how are they compensated or are they fee based,
commission based?
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Combination?
Speaker 3 (43:36):
Don't be afraid to ask how do you get compensated
as a financial advisor? What's your business model? Your wealth
management platform? Are you strictly asset management, equity and fixed income?
You're transactional, you have discretion over the accounts. Take notes,
(44:00):
don't be afraid to ask questions. See if it aligns
with what you're trying to do with your risk tolerance
and what you're trying to achieve with your money. How
do you communicate? We communicate with our clients at least
twice a week through email blast. We also talk to
every ninety days. It's called the ninety day no contact. Typically,
(44:21):
our clients want to see a semi annual or annual
to go over everything. A lot of clients see us
at least on a semi annual basis. What do we
expect from our clients as financial advisors? The biggest thing
that I'd look for is communication. I want to be
able to have dialogue with our clients to make sure
(44:43):
that we're meeting their needs, We're facilitating what they're looking for.
Investment products? Is there anything that you have a bias?
Is there anything that in your research and your product
mix you do not choose or select. You know, the
(45:05):
buzzword out there right now and it's been for quite
some time two three years is alternative investments.
Speaker 4 (45:12):
Do we offer them to our clients? The answer is yes.
Do I like them?
Speaker 3 (45:16):
The answer is no, I don't like them. You know,
anytime there's a mania, there's always a hiccup. You know,
there's stories that are going on right now with some
of these private equity investments that people are dissatisfied with them.
They're lacking liquidity. The time frame has been extended.
Speaker 4 (45:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
I don't like I said over and over again, I
don't like being investments that I can't be out of
the next day. If I buy it today, I want
to be out of the next day. I like liquidity.
I think liquidity, especially with the ETFs and the choices
that we have with investments now, you can basically capture
a lot of the things that are currently out there
and you can have the liquidity that you're looking for.
(45:58):
Retirement income to distribution. Do you work in that arena?
This is an arena that I think we excel at
retirement income distribution. We work with a lot of clients
that do not have pension benefits, or if they have
pension benefits, we have a lot of structuring, a lot
(46:21):
of different alternative ideas and concepts in order for you
to basically maximize the income, minimize the tax and or what.
For a lot of people is important have some kind
of a legacy for your kids and your loved ones.
If you worked with the state, your greatest risk with
(46:41):
the state is getting to retirement, because if you don't
get to retirement, you don't get the pension, you get
the death benefit, which is three times your salary. The
other greatest risk with a state retiree is what if
you have a short life, you and your spouse.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
What's the legacy? What's the transfer of wealth to the kids? Nothing? Zero?
Who say so?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
There's ways that you can structure an income portfolio, right
if you have two pension benefits where one of you
can basically set up some form of a legacy, a
transfer of wealth to your children and your grandchildren if
it's important. And here's the one that I've always has
(47:27):
really been my pet peeve, especially doing radio now for
over twenty five years.
Speaker 4 (47:31):
The minimum account. And I understand why guys do this.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
Okay, I'm not patting myself on the back, but I
do understand why people offer certain tiered services. You know,
they came in and had a chat with us and
basically said that we should have minimums. I'm not doing minimums.
If you have the time to come in and sit
down with us, we'll make time to give you the
(47:54):
attention that you deserve. We might not be able to
spend as much time with you, but we will work
with you, we will communicate with you, and we will
basically put you, I think in a situation that's going
to be much more beneficial than your current environment that
you're working in. Team who is the team CPA's attorneys,
(48:17):
Product specialists.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
It's necessary, folks.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
In today's world, you need to understand the bumps in
the road how you can get hurt, not only as
far as wealth that can be gobbled up by nursing homes,
but wealth that can be lost simply by doing I
call the no plan plan doing nothing, especially with qualified assets,
(48:41):
irase four O, one k's, etc. And then finally the
big thing. You know, I always tell people, excuse me,
do little research on your part. Our business, when I
(49:02):
say has changed, is an understatement. When I came into
the business and I started working for pain Weber in
nineteen eighty two, we came to a desk and all
we did all day long was smile and dial dial
in for dollars. We got this great investment opportunity for you.
(49:26):
Those days are gone. Those days are gone. Now it's
wealth management. It's a platform where you have financial professionals
that are skilled in many areas of wealth management, and
it's important for you to find the team, an emphasized
(49:47):
team that facilitates what you're looking for your own personal,
unique situation, so your own personal individual goals are being
met for what possibly could be a working relationship that
could last longer in retirement than the total number of
years that you were employed. Doesn't sound possible, but that's
(50:11):
what's happening in the financial services industry. So again, if
we can be of assistance, it would be an honor.
As I said, we're in Pioneer Business Park, which is
right there by Carrier Circle. If you want to come
in for a consultation, all you have to do is
dial eight eight eight five eight zero nine nine. That's
(50:35):
eight eight eight five eight zero nine nine. As I said,
after June beginning of July, we're going to start building
out some workshops that we're going to be doing in
the Syracuse area. I'll let you know more about that
when I come back from Ireland. But again, a Memorial
Day weekend, please do yourself a favor.
Speaker 4 (50:57):
Don't drink and.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Drive O, get in a car, get a DD designated
driver and make sure that if you're out and about
that you're enjoying. I don't know what the weather's gonna be.
I don't know what the weather's gonna be like in Syracuse,
but I can tell you one thing. The weather here
the Capitol District region is not great. Hopefully it's gonna
(51:18):
warm up a little bit because it's.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
Been cold and rainy.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
So again, God bless all that have served and have
given the ultimate sacrifice. I'm Dave Kopek. I'll see you
in a couple of weeks for another retirement planning show.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
Thank you for listening to the Retirement Planning Show hosted
by Dave Kopek. If you would like to talk with
Dave or someone at the Retirement Planning Group, called eight
eight eight five eight zero one nine one nine. That's
eight eight eight five eight zero one nine one nine
during business hours, or visit RPG retire dot com. The
Retirement Planning Group has five convenient offices located in Syracuse, Audianta, Albany, Malta.
Speaker 4 (52:02):
And Glen Falls.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Tune in next week for retirement planning strategies with Dave
Kopeck right here on WSYRS. The Retirement Planning Show. Right
here on WSYRS, The Retirement planning show
It's for informational purposes only and it is not intended to
be personal financial advice. The investments and services offered by
us may not be suitable for all investors. If you
have any doubts as to the merits of an investment,
you should seek advice from an independent financial advisor.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Live from the ws iHeart Studios, Welcome to the Retirement
Planning Show with your host Dave Kopak from the Retirement
Planning Group. Every week, Dave Kopak and his team discuss
the ways they can help people make informed decisions about
a wide array of retirement planning information that can support
you in developing a more certain financial future for you
(00:40):
and your family. No, it's time for the Retirement Planning Show.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Out of my lead.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Good afternoon recording the World Day weekend.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
I mean the brave souls that gave their lives so
we could live in freedom. God bless them a little
bit of gratitude, their courage and their dedication. Fallen heroes.
Fallen heroes, never forget the cost that they've given for
our freedom, protecting us. So for those that have family
(01:36):
members that you've lost, God bless you. For those that
are serving God, bless you, we stay united. The Right
Tirement Planning Group applauds your dedication and courage. Another crazy
(01:57):
week on Wall Street, a little bit of a down week,
but it's expected with the word tariff and what's happening
with the dialogue with this new budget that they're trying
to get through. So hopefully, you know, they'll be able
(02:19):
to pass what's needs to get passed and we can
go on our merry way here. But the bottom line
gets down to is that you know, we're still we're
down a little bit on the air. We expected a
little bit of a bounce, we got it, and we
expect a little of a backfill, a little profit taking.
(02:42):
Some people basically got in when we had to sell
off and now they're probably harved.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
You know, we came back almost twenty percent.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So but for those that are out there, this is
the Retirement Planning Show. I'm Dave Kopek, the president of
the Retirement Planning Group. I'm live in the studio, so
if you have a question in comment, don't be BASHFULS
three one five four to two one ninety seven ninety seven.
That's three one five four to two one ninety seven
ninety seven that's three one, five, four to two one
(03:12):
wsyr any question all, even if it's off topic, that's fine.
We always like questions because they think it makes it
much more interesting.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
To use the listeners.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
But you know, uh, we live in a society today
that a lot of people are returning that magical age
is sixty five. It's the largest surge ever folks. Eleven
two hundred people every day are turned in the age
of sixty five. So what does that mean? That means
that you're going to have to basically build out retirement
(03:46):
income portfolios in your lifetime in order to satisfy possibly
decades of retirement. So today, what I would like to
do is to talk about some bullet points that I
wrote down of what you should be thinking about pre
(04:08):
and post retirement, meaning how.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Do you choose how do you choose a professional team?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And I've got ten questions here that I think are
critical after almost doing this now for forty three years,
of how you should basically be screening and scrubbing the
person or team that you want to be working with.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
But before you.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Do that, you got to sit down and you got
to have a little soul search in yourself about what
are your goals and what are you trying to achieve?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Where are you.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
One year, two year, three years, five years before retirement?
Are already in retirement? Are you looking to retire earl?
Do you need a retirement income distribution plan? Do you
have a pension? What are the options you're going to
take for your pension? Take the max joint survivor pop up.
(05:19):
So when you start thinking about some of these questions
with your goals in mind, the first step is who
am I going to work with? Because it's been proven
over and over again working with a financial team is
going to be beneficial for you and it's going to
(05:41):
put you in a better spot when you ultimately walk
out the door into your retirement years. So are you
considering working with financial professional currently? If you are, that's
great and hopefully they're doing the job and you're satisfied
with what you're receiving. If you're just starting the process,
(06:04):
I say, after doing this now for almost forty three years,
interview the financial team just like you would for someone
that was basically coming in the door that wanted to
work for you a job. Interview what's their background, what's
their years of experience, what's their certification, their credentials, what's
(06:30):
their mindset, understanding their goals and how they communicate with
you is going to be critical, and that's number one communication, right,
How do you communicate with your clients email, phone calls,
(06:58):
text messages and how often will you communicate? You know,
a lot of financial teams have different ways in order
for them to facilitate contact management with their clients and
prospective clients.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
At the Retirement.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Planning Group, we send out two emails every week and
we also have what we call a ninety day no contact.
If we don't talk to our clients in a ninety
day period, there's a little bar that pops up that
says you haven't called mister Apple or missus Apple in
the past ninety days, and you should reach out to
(07:36):
them and see if everything is okay. So, for a
lot of us quarterly which is the ninety day no
contact semiannual, every six months annual. But you want to
build a relationship with your client base and they understand
(07:57):
exactly how frequently they will be having conversations with you.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Critical that everybody's on the same page where you're not
getting a phone call, Hey, I haven't heard from you
in the last seven or eight months, understanding what the client.
A lot of our clients they could care less. Some
they calls once or twice a month, sometimes depending on
(08:25):
what's going on in the markets. Number two, how is
the advisor compensated? We are a hybrid platform at the
Retirement Planning Group. Ninety five percent of our business is
fee based. The other five percent is commission based. Insurance, annuities,
(08:48):
long term care. Those are all paid by commissions, So
we charge a fee on assets that we have under management,
and we also get paid commission on any thing that
we do. As far as insurance products, every financial team
gets paid differently. Some don't work in the arena where
(09:10):
they do protection products, so it's a I think it's
critical that you understand how is the advisor being compensated?
How often do they get compensated? And you want to
make sure that you're comfortable with that process so there's
no misunderstanding right from the get go. The next, of course,
(09:34):
is the business model. Are you a wealth management platform?
Are you a fee based transactional platform? Are you're pretty
much just managing money where you basically do the total
wealth management. We are total wealth management. Not only do
we do asset management, We do asset protection, legacy planning,
(09:58):
tax tax planning, and of course protection products as far
as like long term care and life insurance, depending on
what the clients are trying to achieve. So it's important
for you to have an understanding of exactly what the
investment philosophy is, does it align with what you're looking for?
(10:22):
And are you comfortable with the way that the financial
team is compensated. Most of your teams today, folks are
fee based. That's a transition that's happened over the last
ten years. Very few, very few financial advisors are still
commission based. So we're going to get into some greater detail.
(10:45):
I'm gonna take my first break. I am live, I'm
in the studio. If you would like to ask a
question three one five four two one, ninety seven, ninety seven,
I'm Dave Kopek, President of the Retirement Planning Group. If
anything that I'm discussing is of interest to you, we
do offer a complementary consultation at our office at the
(11:07):
Business Park, Pioneer Business Park. All you have to do
is dial eight eight eight five eight zero one nine
one nine eight eight eight five eight zero one nine
one nine and say you want to come in for
a consultation and we'll be right back after this quick message.
We are living through the greatest wealth transfer in the
history of mankind. Trillions of dollars of wealth will change
hands from one generation to the next, your money to
(11:29):
our beloved children and grandchildren.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Are you ready?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Your future is written by chance, it's written by action.
Now's the time to build your plan, protect your assets,
and position yourself for the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Don't wait, take action.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
If future favors those that are prepared, call eighty eight
five eight zero one nine one nine. That's eight eight
eight five eight zero one nine one nine.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Big ja yourself in a boat on a river with
tangerine trees.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A monolate guys, somebody calls you you and all.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Right, we are back.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Dave Kopek, the president of Retirement Planning Group. If you're
not aware of who we are, all we do is
pre and post retirement planning. We have five locations in
New York State. Our corporate headquarters is in Multi Slash
Saratoga Springs, Albany, Glens Falls, Oneanna. Of course, our new
office now is in Syracuse, which we've had an unbelievable response.
(12:40):
I can't thank the people enough. I know that we've
met with a lot of individuals. We have a lot
of new clients, and again, if you're thinking about building
out your pre impost retirement plan, give us a call.
We do offer a complementary consultation and we will sit
(13:02):
down with you have a chat. The first meeting is
just let's have a conversation, and after that, if you
come back for the second meeting, we give you some
ideas and concepts as far as what we would like
to do, and then we usually send you home to
think about it. And the third meeting is we usually
that's the time we implement if we're going to transfer
(13:23):
assets and start building out your plan. But we are
a wealth management platform, we're not transactional and most of
our clients, as I said, ninety five percent of our
business is discretionary, fee based management and the other five
percent is basically protection products that we utilize in order
(13:43):
to utilize some of the insurance products that I think
are very suitable for individuals during the retirement years. So
we talked a little bit about the business model, communication,
We talked a little bit how we're compensated what do
you expect from the clients?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
What am I looking for as a financial advisor? Well,
I think the more input, the more dialogue you have,
the better off yard. It's no different relationship husband and wife,
boyfriend and girlfriend. The more you can have dialogue and
understand the reasoning and why the decisions are being made,
I think it basically helps you have more comfort and
(14:29):
ultimately why the financial team is doing what they're doing.
You know, I had a woman say to me not
that long ago, it's one of the bullet points what
made me become a financial advisor, What drove me to
get into this business, to manage assets, to manage relationships
(14:51):
with people. And I'm a child that grew up my
father died very young and my mother worked like a dog,
and I had a desire never ever ever to be
in that position again, and also desire that I could
help people basically have them understand how important it was
(15:12):
to have a plan in place in case there was
a devastating event.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
And we all have that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Feeling in our hearts that will never happen to me, Well,
for some of us, it does happen. There are events
that happen in our lives that basically changes us. So
I wanted to make a I guess a difference in
people's lives. Putting the apples together, so they're all lined
(15:42):
up and everybody knows what I call the domino effect.
When the first domino drops, we know where the rest
of them are going to go. So asking that question
to the Perspective team, I think is critical to understanding
exactly where the person heart is and ultimately why they
(16:03):
got into the business. Now here's the other critical one.
What type of investment products do you utilize through your platform?
How diversified is your portfolios? Is there any categories or
(16:27):
products that you don't utilize, meaning that you have a
bias against. I make this crystal clear with people, we
have no bias. We are an open architecture platform. That
means that we can basically have access. If there's a
ticker symbol, we can get it, an ETF or a
(16:47):
mutual fund, an insurance product. There's only one insurance company
that we can't do business with.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
The rest of them.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
We have access through what we call a master general
agency companies that we use in order to facilitate insurance products.
But when I started the business in nineteen ninety nine,
only focusing on pre and post retirement planning. I wanted
to make sure that we had an open architecture platform
(17:14):
and we had the ability to utilize all the products
that they're out there in order to facilitate what the
clients were looking for. So when people come in and
this say, are there any products or investments that you've
avoid in your practice? My answer to you is no,
there are certain products that I don't like, there are
(17:38):
certain products that I don't think are suitable, But that
doesn't necessarily mean that my personal feelings should be yours.
So it's important for you, as a consumer of financial
products to ask a very important question, do you have
any bias? And is it important for you, meaning you
(18:01):
the consumer, to have dialogue to understand exactly where your
money is going. Some of the teams that I've worked
with in the past, and I've worked with major organizations
Payne Webber, Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, and of course I
was the I SPEC the investment specialist for met Life
(18:23):
for a while for the New England region. There were
what we call quote unquote preferred products. These were products
that were either in house and there was a way
for me to be compensated differently by using those products
rather than the other ones that were out there on
our platform. I never wanted to be in that position
(18:47):
when I started the retirement planning group. I wanted to
be in a position that I was selecting the investments
that were suitable, not because I was paid differently. So
understanding what's in the cupboard, how many different types of
investment products are there? Is there any that are in
(19:09):
the cupboard that are basically not preferred rather than preferred?
Excuse me, I apologize.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
And then.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Once you have the products or the list of products
the solutions for your clients, how do you build it out? Well,
we're very fortunate to be part of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Advisors.
That means that we have access to their back office
(19:44):
for building and structuring portfolios with their portfolio managers, their CFAs, etc.
So my team, we typically have what we call ten
model portfolios that we build out that are secific for
people that are ultra conservative to overly aggressive, and I
(20:06):
think it's important that people understand that those models exist
with the help and the dedication that we receive not
only from Fidelity but also from our wholesalers. That come
into our office to discuss their particular platforms and the
products that they offer the retirement planning group. What do
(20:28):
I mean by that? Golden Sachs, JP, Morgan Fidelity. You
go through the whole laundry list of people that we
work with and the opportunities that we have instead of
working with just one specific group with their platform. I
(20:49):
think what we bring to the table is the ability
for you to have open architecture where we're getting a
lot of information from a lot of different sources, where
we can basically filter it, work it out, and then
build out platforms that we feel are not only suitable
for you depending on what you're trying to achieve, but
also cover what we consider to be probably the number
(21:13):
one concern for a lot of people, building out platforms
that meet your RTQ, your risk tolerance, because a lot
of times people will get on a platform don't feel
comfortable with it because there's either too much volatility or
too much risk. It's important on the front end to
(21:33):
do the work and you understand exactly exactly the amount
of volatility or potential volatility with the portfolios, because you
don't want to sell folks when the markets are selling
off to me, that means that you didn't do the
work on the front end right. If you're feeling high
(21:57):
anxiety and stress the way that your money is allocated,
that typically means that you've got too much risk in
your portfolio or you're improperly allocated the types of investments
that make you feel warm and fuzzy. So make sure
you're doing it right on the front end. And this
(22:20):
is a common question that we get consistently. Do you
have minimum account sizes? Does the Retirement Planning Group mandate
that you have to have a certain amount of money
in order to work through our platform? And the answer
to that is an emphatic no. And this might sound
(22:41):
like I'm patting myself on the back.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I'm not.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
But I said to myself when I did radio, whether
you got two thousand dollars or twenty million dollars, I'm
not going to treat you any differently because I feel
like it's almost a public service that if we're out
here trying to tell people how to basically manage their
assets and how to put their estates together, it's as
important to the guy that might have one hundred thousand
(23:05):
dollars rather than the guy that's got maybe two or
three or four million. So certain professionals that are out there,
and you'll never hear me talk negative about another financial advisor.
That's their business model. They have what they call a
tiered service based on account size. Okay, that's not us,
(23:28):
because I believe that with our platform, we have the
ability to facilitate what clients are looking for. With the
smaller accounts, you might not get as much attention, but
you will definitely get the communication that you expect. Our
platform is pretty simple. From zero to two million, you
(23:52):
pay one percent. From two million to four million, you
pay seventy five basis points from dollar one.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Meaning that it's not tiered.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Anything over four million dollars we charge fifty basis points
zero point five to zero. We have a very competitive structure,
probably one of the most competitive out there. But we
almost you know, there's a word that I try to
use consistently when we meet with individuals and we're talking
to prospective clients.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Fair. Fair.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
We want to have a fair platform that is not
only fair for the retirement planning group, but also fair
for you as a consumer of financial products. So again,
if anything that I'm discussing is of interest to you.
We have a opportunity to sit down with you at
(24:53):
our office in Syracuse, a Pioneer Business Park. If you
want to commit, it's right off of exit third. Our
telephone number is eighty eight five eight zero one nine.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
Eighty eight five eat.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Zero one nine nine, and say, listen to Dave on
the radio. I'd like to comm in for a complimentary consultation.
And the worst thing that can happen is we become
friends and you have one of my horrible cups of coffee,
because I like my coffee chewy.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
I like it strong.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
So again, if you'd like to come in for a
complimentary consultation, it's eighty eight five eight zero one nine nine.
We'll be right back after this break. I'll see you
on the other side.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Smile that does seemed to me reminds me John Memories
everything one straight broadress.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah right, there's no footing. Good afternoon, Happymorrow Day, weekend.
God bless the individuals that sacrifice their lives to give
us our freedom.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
For those that did, thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
We will never forget the cost that you gave for
the freedom that we currently have here in the United States.
A lot of fallen heroes a lot of people have
a lot of blood has been lost, a lot of lives,
the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. So when you get
(26:33):
a chance this weekend, say a little prayer for those people.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
All Right, we're back again. This is talk radio.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
The last couple of weeks have been it's been Babbel radio,
meaning that the phones aren't ringing, So I'll give out
the telephone number if you have a question about your
own personal situation, whether it's on investment management IRA distribution
Planning IRAS four oh one k's four O three b's annuities.
(27:10):
Today we're talking about the ten questions, kind of put
them together as far as the things that you should
be asking you meaning the consumer of financial products. And
I think it's important. It's important that you basically screen
and scrub. We always tell people when they come in
to the retirement Planning group for their first consultation, go
(27:31):
visit with some other people and see how they basically
bake the cake, because I think it's critical because as
we're quite well aware, are you're retiring in your late
fifties or early sixties. If you're fortunate enough to do that,
you could be working with this team for thirty forty years.
You know, my oldest client passed away last year. He
(27:53):
was one hundred and two. He skied in the Adirondecks
to age one hundred. A wonderful man ge executive. Couldn't
been a nicer man.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
I got clients because I've been doing for such a
long time that are in their nineties and eighties, and
you would think that some of them are in their
sixties and seventies because they're just so well taking care
of themselves and it's just you know, we're living longer lives,
the l word longevity, all right, Well, talking about some
(28:23):
of the questions that I want to Uh, it'll go
over with you.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
But like anything else.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
As again, our telephone number here at the studios three
one five four to two one ninety seven ninety seven,
three one five four to two one ninety seven ninety seven.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Guy asked me the other day.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
What's the biggest lesson you learned in my forty three
years of being in business? What's the biggest lesson that
I've learned in forty three years of doing this and
how it's impacted not only my practice, but how it's
(29:04):
impacted me. I thought that was such a great question
that I would bring it up today. Here's the first
and foremost, and I'll tell you a real quick story.
I was in my conference room when we were on
We had an office on Broadway and Sarah Tuga Springs,
New York, and a gentleman came in and he's with
(29:27):
his wife with radio listeners because I've been doing radio
now for over twenty five years. And he started the
conversation off great. The first meeting was good. Got to
the end of the meeting and I said to him,
(29:47):
I said, you know we're talking about, you know, how
we manage assets. He says, well, if you manage our assets,
you're not going to have all of them because I'm
going to keep some of it with my guyet at
the time it was Merrill Lynch. And we went back
(30:09):
and forth, and I said, basically, you want me to
make the sauce and facilitate what you're looking for, but
you're gonna keep assets at two different location.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yep, that's right. But I said, well, let me give
that some thought.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
And I said, a matter of fact, I'm not going
to really give it too much thought because I'm gonna
basically say to you that You're not going to be happy,
and I'm not going to be happy because we're always
going to go back and forth what Dave said and
what this other guy said. So I said, why don't
you just keep all your money at Meryl Lynch And
that probably had the biggest impact on my business. That
(30:50):
was probably fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years ago. When I did that,
I can tell exactly it was. It was two thousand
and seven, so it was it's eighteen years ago. And
I said, if you want me to make the sauce,
and you want me to do the ingredients, but you're
going to have money and all over God's creation, then
this isn't going to work for you, and it's not
(31:11):
going to work for us. So that day on and
that day forward, I said, to every perspective client that
came in, you're either all in or all out. If
you want us to manage the assets, be responsible to
create a check, have wealth replacement for your surviving spouse,
(31:36):
make sure the legacy gets transferred to your children and
your grandchildren, protect your state, make sure that everything is
buttoned up. We can't do it by fragmentation. It has
to be done by consolidation and simplification, and that means
you're going to have to pick our team. Because there's
(31:56):
a key word in this whole thing is you're going
to have to trust us that we're going to be
able to take your individual goals and what you're trying
to achieve and build it out over a long working
relationship which could be decades, which could be decades. Well,
(32:21):
he grabbed his hat and walked out, and I never
thought i'd see him again. I never thought i'd see
him again. In about two weeks later. This is a
gentleman that was a New York City detective who was
recently remarried, and his wife called me and said, we
(32:46):
want to come back in and talk to you. So
they came back in and I explained to him the
reasoning why I had in order to make sure that
she was protected because this gentleman, this gentleman, when he
(33:07):
retired as a New York City detective, took.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
The pension Max. What does that mean. That means that
when he.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Passed away, there was no benefit for his wife. So
if he lived a long life, they were probably okay.
She came into the marriage with a little bit of money,
not a lot of money. He came into the marriage
with a little bit of money but a huge pension benefit.
(33:38):
So he basically said, I understand, I understand what you're saying.
I said, okay, So he consolidated, simplified everything. Money came
over from Merrill Lynch and I said to him, listen,
you need to understand that there is a huge a
(34:00):
Hilly's hill here with your plan if you die prematurely.
You do understand that Barbara, his wife, was going to
be in a very very difficult situation. She would not well,
I'm leaving her at the house. Yeah, but how's she
going to pay for the house Because the pension bendit.
The only thing she's going to get is to hire
the two solid securities. There's no pension benefit and she
(34:24):
has a small amount in her IRA, nowhere near what's
necessary for quality of life.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
So he said to me, all right, so what's the answer.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I said, from now you have the ability because of
your age, you're young enough you can buy a level
term insurance. And I said, she's going to need somewhere
around eight hundred thousand to a million dollars of benefit.
So if you pass away prematurely, she's going to be
(34:56):
able to have quality of life. Then I have to
go on a fire set, meaning that she's not going
to have to sell assets in order for her to
basically live. I thought his head was going to blow off.
So that's why he wanted to sell me life insurance.
It's not why I'm here. I'm here to tell you
(35:17):
what the hole is in your boat and how we
can plug it. Well, he left the office again unhappy
a second time, but came back like a week later,
filled out the application, got the life insurance, and to
make a long story short, he was dead within two years.
(35:39):
And to this day, his wife, Barb thinks I walk
on water because I had a conversation with him that
he didn't want to have. We had dialogue, and ultimately
he was a smart enough guy. He just didn't want
to hear some things that ultimately I had to say
(35:59):
to him. And that sometimes is the business that I'm in.
A lot of times I have to go in and
have conversations with people that the rest of my team
can have because of my experience, because of my forty
three years being in business, and I'm that Bashel. Sometimes
(36:25):
I don't like to have confrontation. Sometimes I don't like
to have the conversations that I have to have with people.
But I'm gonna say this, I'm going to highlight the
question again, what's the biggest lesson that I've learned in
all the years that I've been in business.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And here's the biggest lesson. Trust someone.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Simplify your life, consolidate assets, and build out a plan
that is based off of realistic expectations. My fingers crossed
that things are going to work out if you do that.
If you do what I just said, you will have
(37:12):
a successful plan. Life will be good and you're not
going to have to worry about if something happens to me, because.
Speaker 4 (37:22):
All the holes in the boat will be plugged.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Remember remember one thing. You have to trust your team
that they're working for your individual needs of your right back.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
In us.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Why are You've spent a lifetime saving for retirement. Now
it's time to make that money work for you. Here's
the secret most people miss. You have to create your
own retirement income plant. Social Security is not enough, the
pensions are rare. You need a strategy that turns savings
into monthly income that will last a lifetime. At the
Retirement Planning Group, Old Customized Income distribution plates, so you
(38:02):
can retire with confidence, retire smart, live well. Call eight
eight eight five eight zero nine for your complementary consultation.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Only for a.
Speaker 4 (38:20):
Moment, and the moment's gone.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Dream best before my eyes a curiosity.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
All right, we are back.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
I want to tip my hat to my great team
that's working with me this weekend, my engineer here and Albany,
and of course the engineer in Syracuse. You know, it's
a lot of times we get criticized, but a lot
of times we don't say.
Speaker 4 (38:56):
Enough thank you. So I want to thank the team
because they're.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Doing a great job. And I'm out in Syracuse a lot.
I was out Syracuse twice this week. I'll be back
out Tuesday for more appointments. So again I'm gonna highlight
what I just talked about and you guys can take
it for whatever it's worth. And before I forget, we
(39:23):
will have very shortly workshops and seminars, which we do
pretty consistently throughout New York. We're going to have some
in New York in Syracuse. When I get back. I'm
going to Ireland on Wednesday. I will be in Ireland
(39:44):
from Wednesday until the following Saturday with my beautiful bride
Julie and my friend Brian and Kathy McCann, who are
first generation and we're going to see some of their
family in Ireland. I've never been to Ireland. I look
forward to it and my wife is looking forward to
see some of her ancestry. So when I come back,
(40:05):
I will have some workshops that were going. We just
had a workshop in Albany at the Desmond. We had
one hundred and forty six people that came and we
discussed how to protect your assets and how to manage
money during your retirement years. I find it extremely informative
and educational for people. You can ask specific questions. And
(40:27):
we're going to have another workshop here in Aubany on
June twenty fifth on annuities, that dirty word called annuities,
the pros and cons, facts and what's not fiction. How
to build a retirement plan.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
Right.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
How to build a retirement plan because most of us
nine out of ten of us do not have pension benefits.
That means that we're going to have to take our
life savings and we're going to have to try to
build out out a retirement income distribution plan that could
possibly last for decades. Last year in twenty twenty four
(41:09):
was the record year for inflows. Inflows money going in
a product called annuities. They are misunderstood. I think there's
a lot of marketing that is not factual. These are
very beneficial products for people that are looking to stabilize
(41:30):
their portfolios and also put themselves in a position that
they can have multi year guarantees income that will last
a lifetime. And as I said, I've been doing it
for forty three years. We've allocated annuities to a lot
of people. That only makes up a very small percentage
of our portfolios, but it's something that is you as
(41:52):
a consumer.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
You need to understand these products.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Remember what I said, You don't want to be working
with a team that does not have an open architecture platform,
someone that has a bias towards investments that could be
extremely beneficial for you. So research your professional teams that
you're working with, the ones that are in your marketplace.
(42:19):
Find the team that you feel most comfortable with. You
should probably talk to two or three different teams. Most
of us now work with teams. We are no longer
you know one person offices. As I said, I'm going
to highlight these real quickly the ten things that I
think you, as a consumer of financial advice need to understand,
(42:44):
and especially sooner is better than later. You should be
working with a team no later than three years, five
to six years is probably profitable. When you turn fifty
nine to sixty, you should be looking searching out the
team that you want to work with, because sixty five
typically that's the age a lot of us retire at,
(43:06):
because it's that magical age where we're going to qualify
for medicare. So to highlight again the mindset that you
have to put yourself understand, you're in a job search.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Your job search is.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
To find the team that you feel comfortable with to
manage your wealth during your retirement years. Number one, which
I said, how are they compensated or are they fee based,
commission based?
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Combination?
Speaker 3 (43:36):
Don't be afraid to ask how do you get compensated
as a financial advisor? What's your business model? Your wealth
management platform? Are you strictly asset management, equity and fixed income?
You're transactional, you have discretion over the accounts. Take notes,
(44:00):
don't be afraid to ask questions. See if it aligns
with what you're trying to do with your risk tolerance
and what you're trying to achieve with your money. How
do you communicate? We communicate with our clients at least
twice a week through email blast. We also talk to
every ninety days. It's called the ninety day no contact. Typically,
(44:21):
our clients want to see a semi annual or annual
to go over everything. A lot of clients see us
at least on a semi annual basis. What do we
expect from our clients as financial advisors? The biggest thing
that I'd look for is communication. I want to be
able to have dialogue with our clients to make sure
(44:43):
that we're meeting their needs, We're facilitating what they're looking for.
Investment products? Is there anything that you have a bias?
Is there anything that in your research and your product
mix you do not choose or select. You know, the
(45:05):
buzzword out there right now and it's been for quite
some time two three years is alternative investments.
Speaker 4 (45:12):
Do we offer them to our clients? The answer is yes.
Do I like them?
Speaker 3 (45:16):
The answer is no, I don't like them. You know,
anytime there's a mania, there's always a hiccup. You know,
there's stories that are going on right now with some
of these private equity investments that people are dissatisfied with them.
They're lacking liquidity. The time frame has been extended.
Speaker 4 (45:35):
You know.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
I don't like I said over and over again, I
don't like being investments that I can't be out of
the next day. If I buy it today, I want
to be out of the next day. I like liquidity.
I think liquidity, especially with the ETFs and the choices
that we have with investments now, you can basically capture
a lot of the things that are currently out there
and you can have the liquidity that you're looking for.
(45:58):
Retirement income to distribution. Do you work in that arena?
This is an arena that I think we excel at
retirement income distribution. We work with a lot of clients
that do not have pension benefits, or if they have
pension benefits, we have a lot of structuring, a lot
(46:21):
of different alternative ideas and concepts in order for you
to basically maximize the income, minimize the tax and or what.
For a lot of people is important have some kind
of a legacy for your kids and your loved ones.
If you worked with the state, your greatest risk with
(46:41):
the state is getting to retirement, because if you don't
get to retirement, you don't get the pension, you get
the death benefit, which is three times your salary. The
other greatest risk with a state retiree is what if
you have a short life, you and your spouse.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
What's the legacy? What's the transfer of wealth to the kids? Nothing? Zero?
Who say so?
Speaker 3 (47:06):
There's ways that you can structure an income portfolio, right
if you have two pension benefits where one of you
can basically set up some form of a legacy, a
transfer of wealth to your children and your grandchildren if
it's important. And here's the one that I've always has
(47:27):
really been my pet peeve, especially doing radio now for
over twenty five years.
Speaker 4 (47:31):
The minimum account. And I understand why guys do this.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
Okay, I'm not patting myself on the back, but I
do understand why people offer certain tiered services. You know,
they came in and had a chat with us and
basically said that we should have minimums. I'm not doing minimums.
If you have the time to come in and sit
down with us, we'll make time to give you the
(47:54):
attention that you deserve. We might not be able to
spend as much time with you, but we will work
with you, we will communicate with you, and we will
basically put you, I think in a situation that's going
to be much more beneficial than your current environment that
you're working in. Team who is the team CPA's attorneys,
(48:17):
Product specialists.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
It's necessary, folks.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
In today's world, you need to understand the bumps in
the road how you can get hurt, not only as
far as wealth that can be gobbled up by nursing homes,
but wealth that can be lost simply by doing I
call the no plan plan doing nothing, especially with qualified assets,
(48:41):
irase four O, one k's, etc. And then finally the
big thing. You know, I always tell people, excuse me,
do little research on your part. Our business, when I
(49:02):
say has changed, is an understatement. When I came into
the business and I started working for pain Weber in
nineteen eighty two, we came to a desk and all
we did all day long was smile and dial dial
in for dollars. We got this great investment opportunity for you.
(49:26):
Those days are gone. Those days are gone. Now it's
wealth management. It's a platform where you have financial professionals
that are skilled in many areas of wealth management, and
it's important for you to find the team, an emphasized
(49:47):
team that facilitates what you're looking for your own personal,
unique situation, so your own personal individual goals are being
met for what possibly could be a working relationship that
could last longer in retirement than the total number of
years that you were employed. Doesn't sound possible, but that's
(50:11):
what's happening in the financial services industry. So again, if
we can be of assistance, it would be an honor.
As I said, we're in Pioneer Business Park, which is
right there by Carrier Circle. If you want to come
in for a consultation, all you have to do is
dial eight eight eight five eight zero nine nine. That's
(50:35):
eight eight eight five eight zero nine nine. As I said,
after June beginning of July, we're going to start building
out some workshops that we're going to be doing in
the Syracuse area. I'll let you know more about that
when I come back from Ireland. But again, a Memorial
Day weekend, please do yourself a favor.
Speaker 4 (50:57):
Don't drink and.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
Drive O, get in a car, get a DD designated
driver and make sure that if you're out and about
that you're enjoying. I don't know what the weather's gonna be.
I don't know what the weather's gonna be like in Syracuse,
but I can tell you one thing. The weather here
the Capitol District region is not great. Hopefully it's gonna
(51:18):
warm up a little bit because it's.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
Been cold and rainy.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
So again, God bless all that have served and have
given the ultimate sacrifice. I'm Dave Kopek. I'll see you
in a couple of weeks for another retirement planning show.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
Thank you for listening to the Retirement Planning Show hosted
by Dave Kopek. If you would like to talk with
Dave or someone at the Retirement Planning Group, called eight
eight eight five eight zero one nine one nine. That's
eight eight eight five eight zero one nine one nine
during business hours, or visit RPG retire dot com. The
Retirement Planning Group has five convenient offices located in Syracuse, Audianta, Albany, Malta.
Speaker 4 (52:02):
And Glen Falls.
Speaker 2 (52:03):
Tune in next week for retirement planning strategies with Dave
Kopeck right here on WSYRS. The Retirement Planning Show. Right
here on WSYRS, The Retirement planning show
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