Religion, Retirement and Advisors

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The advice given on the following programdoes not necessarily represent the views of iHeartMedia
It's management and staff. Since individualsituations can and will be different, please
consider this when exercising any options givenby our guests. It's time to get
your retirement plan in order. Welcometo the Empowered Retirement Show with Pete Simbolac

(00:21):
and Nick Tooman CFP. Reach outto the Empowered Financial Team now at six
O eight two one two seventy threehundred, or visit their website empowered FM
dot com. Now here's your host, Pete Simbolac and Nicktomy. Hey everybody,
it's Saturday morning and that means it'sthe Empowered Retirement Radio Show. Pete

(00:42):
Simbolac here with Nick Tooman, certifiedfinancial Planner. We're from Empowered Financial Management
and Nick, how are you doingtoday? I am doing fantastic. It's
a summer Saturday morning, which Ilove. And by the way, you
and I back together again after afew weeks. It's been a little while
since we've been together. Thank you, Kay for all the help that you've
done on the show. Ye greatto have him in the mix as well.

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So a fun Saturday morning is alwayswhen we get to talk about helping
people prepare for retirement. All right, so now this morning we're going to
start out being very controversial. Oh, just so you know, we're gonna
talk religion in politics right when wego for a retirement. Don't worry,
folks, don't turn it off.This is gonna be fun. Wow.

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Right, but let me go toreligion for just a moment, right,
are you lomping me in this withyou? We're gonna be fucking We're gonna
be fine. We're gonna make apoint when it comes to religion. How
many different opinions do you get onwhat you believe? Limitless? Right?
Limitless? Why? Because everybody's probablybrought up a certain way, right,

(01:49):
everybody has an opinion, everybody hasa background, everybody has a worldview that
they've been brought up with, andsometimes those worldviews change also our life experiences.
Right, Different things happen to differentpeople. There are some people who
are atheist. There are some peoplewho are Hindu. There are some people
who are Muslim. There are somepeople who are Christians. There are some

(02:10):
people who are agnostic. I mean, there's just all sorts of things.
Right, So how do you thencome up with a standard answer of maybe
our origins. And I understand folkstake this very lightheartedly. We're not getting
where we are making a point,but not a religious point. We're just
using that as example. But likeyou go to India, right, and

(02:32):
they're going to have an origin story. You go to China, they're going
to have an origin story. InMesopotamia they have an origin story. Christianity
through Judaism has an origin story.And there's some similarities. There's some language
that is very similar. Often inmany many cultures you find a flood,

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right, So you have with Judaismand Christianity, you've got the Great Flood.
Some places they think it's localized,but there's a story and there's often
a ship or a group of peoplewho were rescued. So there's some commonality,
even though you find lots of diversityin that understanding. Now, why

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in the world am I going tothese crazy links to make a point?
Because today the main point we're goingto talk about in finding an advisor and
what it means to be a fidiciary, and you're going to find that there
are probably a thousand different opinions ofwhat a fidishary is so let's talk about

(03:38):
that. Let's dig in, let'sgo there. What are you looking for.
I'm just using religion to use ajump off point where folks, we're
not going to get into religion,and we're not making a statement one way
or another. We're just making thepoint that you know, you hear commercials.
I see people say well, I'mthe only so I'm a fidiciary,

(03:59):
or I collect the money this way, or I have an opinion this way,
so I'm a fdiciat or I'm goingto give you an unbiased opinion,
and we're going to talk about that. Right that means you a fodiciary,
Folks. It's way more complicated andway more simple than that. And so,
folks, we're gonna have fun.We're gonna have a good show.
It'll be a fun show. Bythe way, we'll do a little economic
update, we'll have a little fun. We won't bring religion back into this,

(04:24):
right. I just wanted to useit as a jumping off point because
I think the fidiciary and how peopleact it out, it's probably been one
of the most misunderstood things and let'sget some clarity on it. But let's
also be real. Everybody has anopinion. So folks, when we come
back, let's jump in, havesome fun. And how do you find
that foditiator? See if I cansay it, fidiciary advisor for you.

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This is the Empower Time at radioshow, making your Retirement Better. Welcome
back everybody on a Saturday morning tothe Empowered Retirement Radio Show. This is

(05:10):
Nick Tooman and Pete Symbolack here tomake your retirement better. Folks. If
you want to get in touch withus, you can call us at six
eight two one two seven three zerozero, or you could visit our updated
website at retire Madison dot com.That's retire Madison dot com. Now Pete.
Before we jump into our economic update, I just wanted to let the
folks know that in the fall tolook for some upcoming retirement courses that we're

(05:34):
going to be reintroducing again. I'vebeen asked that question a few times over
the past couple of weeks. Peoplewho missed their courses this spring wanted to
know if we were going to dothose again, and we are looking at
the fall, So just pay attention. We'll give you some more information as
we have some dates, but wewill be doing those again. Coming up,

(05:55):
So Pete and that last segment wetalked a little bit about or we're
going to get into some of thethings happening in the economy and the market.
It's been a while since we've donea market update, so let's take
a step back talk a little bitabout what's happening and how that affects people
who are going to be heading intoretirement. Yeah, you know, I
think it's really important for people whoare, let's say, within five to

(06:15):
seven years of retirement to really bewatching this closely. We don't know,
right, You don't know until it'sbehind you what direction things are actually going
to go. But there are youknow, you drive down the road.
I'm wearing a hat that this islike my Root sixty six half. For
whatever reason, the shape of thatlogo, right, it's just it's a

(06:36):
golf half, folks, but itreminds me of Root sixty six for some
reason. You got the signage you'regoing down the road, it's telling you
what's ahead. You know, whenI was a kid, I think I've
told the story. It's a longtime ago, but when I was thirteen
years old and where I lived inTucson, Arizona, and I was with
my sister and her friends and wewere heading to Madera Canyon to do some

(07:00):
hiking on I'm thirteen years old,and my sister has a stick shift car,
low four banger Plymouth Horizon, Ithink it was. There. We
go getting all the details in there, and I asked her can I drive
the car? What's my sister say? She's she had to be six yea
what she was sixteen? Because she'sthree years older than me. I'm assuming

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she said no, way, Pete. No, she said yes, of
course, really yes, And soshe actually helped me shift it because I
couldn't quite do it all myself.But I got the foot and she got
the shifter, and I'm driving downthe highway. We're out of town.
We're out in the desert, andthere goes a sign. Guess what that
sign was. It was one ofthose yellow signs that says, hey,

(07:46):
s turn comes. So I'm goingprobably sixty five seventy miles an hour.
I'm just learning how to drive.I shouldn't be driving. And the sign
goes by a little you know they'ssupposed to be. You see it up
in front of you. There itgoes so you know, here comes the
S turn, and I turn withit, and I slide through the corner
one way, and I overturned theother way, and I slide through the

(08:09):
S turn the other way, comeback the other way, and I turned
hard all the way through the Sturn. Out in the desert. It
hit this pile of rocks that itwas like three feet high. A duke's
a hazard. Literally, the carflies about thirty feet in the air,
bends, the frame, punctures,the oil pan breaks, you know,
cracks the frame of the block andall that kind of stuff. By the

(08:31):
way, somehow it still worked enoughto we still went hiking and then got
help on the way back. Bythe way, people, when you tell
that story, the first thing Ithink of is that movie Vacation when they're
on the desert. But anyway,go ahead. But the point being is
the signs were there to tell me, to warn me to slow down,
And of course, being a novicedriver, what do I do. I

(08:54):
see it as it's going by alittle too late right then, I didn't
know how to react to it.So there's signs out there, folks.
It's a bizarre time. Right now. We are technically still in a bear
market. Meaning a negative market.And there are bull market rallies, meaning
good rallies during bear markets, andwe are we've been in the midst of

(09:16):
one of those. It is goingto come to an end. You know.
One of the SMP five hundred statisticswe were talking about prior to the
show is that eighty eight percent ofall the growth that has happened in the
SMP five hundred during this rally orthis year has come from six stocks.
Now there are five hundred stocks inthis index, and six have driven it

(09:41):
up over eleven percent. Without thosesix or flat, And I think before
the show we were talking about theimportance of people understanding what has been a
part of or what has made upsome of these rallies in the SMP and
in the NASDEC because if you don'tunderstand that, you just look at those
numbers and maybe you're not as heavilyinvested in some of those stocks or those

(10:03):
funds, whatever the case might be, and you're feeling like you're missing out.
But be careful, folks, becauseif you were looking at things like
a MidCap or a small cap typeof a mutual fund and thinking you were
getting the same returns as with theNASDAC and the SNP have returned. That's
not the case. So it's importantfor people to understand what has gone into
some of these rallies over the pastfew months or so. If if like

(10:26):
a Meta or a a Tesla oran Apple falls, that could be big
trouble, right, because it's thissmall group of you know stocks that are
driving everything. There's not a lotof breadth out there. There are other
statistics out there that tell us.I mean, in our Benesian economics,

(10:48):
we see us in a quad four. Right, that's still negative, that's
still bad. The only country thatI know right now that's in a quad
one, which is where we wantto be as Japan. Everybody else's in
bad, bad places. Here's whatthat means. We still have inflation out
there. The job numbers were great, right, I mean, where are

(11:09):
they coming from. You've got youknow, big employers and tech laying off
thousands of thousands of people, butyou're getting hired over here. So that's
been really good. But that's goingto encourage most likely the FED to potentially
even raise the rates even more.And I want to just I want to
continue with that thought about interest rateincreases because we've yet to have full clarity

(11:31):
as to what is going to happen, so that is also a big driver
of how the market reacts. Thesecond thing that has not yet happened is
with some of these big tech companiesor companies in general, they've not had
to live in a world yet wherethey've had to double the cost of their
debt. Now we've had these warrate increases over the last year, but
the economy and most companies have yetto feel the effects when they have to

(11:54):
go to refinance that debt and nowwe're paying double an interest cost than what
they paid four that's when the rubberis going to meet the road in terms
of performance and earnings. So wehaven't quite seen those effects yet, and
we will this summer. I thinkthere's seven trillion dollars of commercial real estate
coming due alone, and those wereall financed folks at two or three percent.

(12:16):
Now they're going to get financed asix percent. This is going to
be very interesting, especially with allthe vacancies in office space buildings right correct,
So it's just folks, be aware, that's right. Watch the signs
going by. Does that mean we'regoing to be day traders? We're not

(12:37):
talking about that. And by theway, as we move into a discussion
on fidiciary, what is your philosophyon investing? Do you want to of
what you know? You've got peoplethat buy and hold. What does that
mean? Well, everybody has adifferent definition. You have people that go
out there and do a sixty fortyportfolio, right, very vanilla, it's

(12:58):
your said allocation. And then theytell you don't look at it when the
market goes down, just don't becauseyou know what, over time it's going
to work itself up. We knowwhat our numbers are. YadA, YadA,
YadA. There are others that dolike to trade, they're active about
it. There's others that are tacticalabout it. There are people that go
long and short. What does thatmean? Well, okay, some people

(13:20):
actually short the market. They makemoney when a stock or the market goes
down. And of course they cango long, meaning when the market's good,
they can make money that way.Folks. There's a huge variety out
there, and I'm not telling atthis point one way or the other is
best, although I know my wayis best, but we're not discussing what

(13:41):
my way is right now. Righthaving a little fun, but folks,
you gotta pay attention to signs.You gotta pay attention to what's going on
around you. There are roadsides alongthe way. We're also talking about.
Who do you have to help youread those road signs, interpret them?
How do you handle it? Andby the way, it's much than just
the market. But folks, ifyou're five to seven years out, you

(14:03):
should be paying very close attention sothat you can make sure that if you
are five to seven years out,that doesn't become ten to twelve years out.
So I would encourage you if you'refive to seven years out from retirement
or even closer, and this marketyou've got concerns at all, I would

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say, pick up the phone andgive us a call. And here's why,
and I'll give us our phone numberin a sect, But here's why.
You want a second opinion. Atthe very least, do you have
all the bases covered? What happensif the market does go through a big
crash early in your retirement or justbefore you retire? Are you prepared for
that? Because we all know,folks, right, that's the most dangerous

(14:46):
time. Those questions come, DoI have enough? When can I retire?
Will my spouse, be okay,what's going to happen? How you
got to give any answer to thosethings, even in a bad economic time
or a good economic time. Sofolks, pick up the phone and give
us a call at six or oheight two one two seven three zero zero

(15:07):
six or eight two one two seventhree zero zero. And this is to
schedule a complimentary visit. It's aboutforty five minutes to an hour and a
half depending on who your talking is. All right, give Nick a little
hard time, but the reality is, is your retirement the next twenty to
thirty years, is it worth anhour of your time? If it is,

(15:31):
you should give us a call orgo to our website retire Madison dot
com and schedule a request to visitthere six h eight two one two seventy
three hundred retire Madison dot com.Forty five minutes to an hour, and
let's have a discussion. And bythe way, no decisions are made in
that meaning other than we're going toget to know you, and by the

(15:54):
end of it, we're going todecide whether it makes sense to go to
a second visit. If we wantto go to that second visit, then
at by the end of that that'swhere you'll have enough information to make a
decision of whether you'd like to becomea client or not if what we do
is a good fit for you.Folks, watch the signs, be aware,
Pete. I just want to remindpeople when you do call, it

(16:17):
is on a Saturday, so ourstaff is off. You're going to leave
a message, or if you goto our website, calibill follow back up
with you on Monday to schedule thatvisit. So when you call, nobody's
in leave your name number that you'recalling about that visit. That complimentary visit.
And by the way, Pete,if we do go to that second
meeting, who we dive deep withyou, that is also complimentary as well.
Yes, it is, so folks, we're setting it up right.

(16:41):
I mean, we need to beaware of what's going on around us.
We talked a little bit about youknow, we're like diving into all the
conversations nobody wants to talk about.Actually, everybody wants to talk about they're
just afraid to talk about, right. So religion and retirement they go hand
in hand. It's it's just howyou mention politics in that first segment too,
So all the stuff. It justdidn't start with an R. So,

(17:04):
but folks, when we come back, we're gonna have some more fun.
We're gonna talk about finding the rightadvisor, fidiciary responsibilities, what all
of this stuff means, because itcan be very confusing and yet it's very
simple at the same time. SoI think, Nick, this will be
a fun couple of segments covering thissubject, I hope. So this is

(17:26):
the Empowered Retirement Radio Show, wherewe meet your retirement visions come to life,
that sort of thing. Welcome back, everybody. This is the Empowered
Retirement Radio Show. Nick Tooman andPete Symbolac here in studio as always here

(17:49):
to make your retirement better. Youcan reach us at six eight two one
two seventy three D or go toretire Madison dot com if you want to
take advantage of that offer that Petemade in that last segment. But we're
having a good time, and asalways, we do this to help make
your retirement better. We're having somefun here on a Saturday morning, and
it's important because we're talking about topicsthat can get deep or heavy, and

(18:11):
you know, over the last coupleof years, we've had challenges within the
stock market, and people want toknow if they're within a few years of
retirement, are there plans still ontrack? Can I retire? I wrote
an article in Kiplinger magazine earlier inthe year about is it possible in twenty
twenty three with all that's going on, can we still have a good retirement?
And so that's what we're here todo, not only here on Saturday,

(18:32):
but in some upcoming retirement courses inthe fall. So a lot of
good stuff, folks. We're gladyou can join us on a Saturday here
in the summer, So Pete.In this segment, for the rest of
the show, we're going to talkabout the importance of finding the right advisor
to help you in this journey,and specifically finding the right fiduciary advisor,
because there's all these I believe misunderstandingsabout what a fiduciary actually is, what

(18:56):
is their role, what do theydo? Everybody has a different opinion about
that, So let's talk about thatas we go through the rest of the
show. You don't the fun thingabout this, if I could use the
term fund, is that as afidiciary, it's actually really simple. Now
it is complicated we're going to bringthe complication into it. But in its
essence, a fidiciary is somebody whoputs your needs, your wants ahead of

(19:22):
their own. Right, My jobas a fidiciary is to put you ahead
of me, and that's it.It's that simple. I take care of
you even if it doesn't benefit me. That's what that means. So when
you say even if it doesn't benefitme, let's go a little bit farther
when we think of how we benefitfrom recommendations or any advisor that could be

(19:44):
financially right. Right, And youdon't think of it as if you have
a lawyer, you're going through adivorce, you're going through a legal course,
right, that's a there or yourfidiciary, they legally put your interests
ahead of their own. That's whatthey do as a lawyer. So finding
actually, that's what we do whenwe are managing somebody's money or we're putting
a financial plan together, whether we'redoing wealth management or what have, income

(20:10):
planning. Our job is to bea fidiciary somebody who puts your needs,
your wants ahead of mine. Sowhat does that mean? That means that
if I can make a whole lotof money, but it would benefit you
better if, on the right hand, I can make a whole lot of
money both for you and me.But I can do the same thing here.

(20:30):
I'm gonna give an example real estateinvestment trust. A lot of brokers
sell real estate investment trusts as anoption. Okay, nothing wrong with that,
We do it too. An exampleof a fodiciary is if I have
the option to collect five percent commissionfrom your money, so you have one
hundred thousand dollars going into it,but actually only ninety five goes because five

(20:52):
goes to pay me. But ifI have the ability to get into that
same real estate investment trust and notget paid anything, and you get paid,
but maybe instead I have an assetmanagement fee of one percent, that's
being a fiduciary. I can makea lot more money the five percent upfront,
but the right thing to do iskeep you whole and have one hundred

(21:15):
thousand dollars going there and then meget paid a little bit along the way.
Does that make sense? It doesmake sense. And what you're describing
there is the difference between fiduciary doingthe right thing by you at all times
and making recommendations that would be considered, and I'm gonna use air quotes that
are suitable for you. So whatyou just described, you might recommend something

(21:36):
that you make more money on.It's really not the best for the client.
But if somebody ever questioned you onthat recommendation, you could validate or
say, well, it was suitablegiven their circumstances, but it really wasn't
ultimately the best based on what weknow about people. When we make recommendations,
it should be based on what weknow about their risk colors, about
their goals, what's going on intheir life. But in this world of
finance, we're all being taught tobe fedsiary. It's the buzzword. Right

(22:03):
by the way, we're fidiciary beforeit's cool. I'm just gonna say that.
Sean can vouch for me. Right. We've been talking fidiciary for over
a decade, so it's been along time. It's been the last what
five to six seven years that that'sbeen a big talking point. Why do
I bring that up? It's likebuying a house. You have a real
estate agent. They're selling the housefor the seller. You want to buy

(22:26):
a house, would you use that'sa real estate agent? Well, sometimes
people will, but you have torecognize they represent the homeowner that is selling
the house. They don't actually representyou. Okay, With a broker and
the suitability rules you're talking about,it's that same situation as a house.

(22:51):
They actually represent the broker dealer,not you. That's their first obligation,
the first even though what they putyou in or advise you to purchase or
having a profolio could be okay,yep, absolutely, It doesn't mean it's
a bad product or a bad option. It just means you got to understand
who you're working with. So whenyou see people who are duly licensed that's

(23:14):
what they call it, right wherethey're licensed for being a fidiciary and licensed
for being a broker, that's whereconflict can come in. Which hat are
they wearing and at what time?Who are they representing at each time?
That's the question, because if theirobligation is to the broker, you have
to understand their obligation is not toyou. Now, there are general rules

(23:37):
out there now from the Department ofLabor that says everybody's supposed to operate to
the best of their ability as afidishary. So hopefully that helps clean that
up some, but there's still theseproducts out there, right, and there's
still really high commissions. And bythe way, commission isn't necessarily a bad
word. The reason why I don'tlike commissions on investments is because they actually

(24:00):
come from your pocket on an insuranceproduct. They come through a surrender charge,
correct, So that could still bea good or bad thing. People
definitely could be motivated by the commissions. But even when you know, when
you and I know, for peoplethat don't know, Nick and I work
together back in the nineties in themortgage industry, back before we were in

(24:22):
financial planning, and then what happenedis I switched over. I really started
doing income planning starting in two thousandand five and started working my way forward.
The mortgage industry changed. You endedup going into the financial world getting
your CFP, and ultimately what weended up doing is working together. And

(24:44):
I was just insurance only, butI wanted to operate as a fiticiary.
I had a conflict of interest becauseI represented the insurance companies. So how
do I do it? I broughtyou in because you were fittishary only,
right, you were investment only witha ftitionary responsibilit So you and I teamed
up so we could do that togetherbecause I recognized back then either and when

(25:06):
it wasn't my obligation, it wasmy obligation. That's just kind of how
we operated. Yeah, and thechallenge is for those and you mentioned the
Department of Labor and some of thelaws and requirements that have changed to make
people operate and gravitate more to thatfiduciary role. I'm going to use a
phrase teaching an old dog new trick. So if you've operated where you're making
throughout your career just very suitable recommendations, you have products to sell, it's

(25:30):
going to be hard to make thatchange where you forget all of those thoughts
and biases about operating one way andnow overnight have to operate as a fiduciary.
Again, I'm not being critical ofanybody, but if you've operated in
that way, to make that changecould be a challenge. And what you're
describing what how you and I worktogether. We did that so we could
bring recommendations together by looking at ourclients in their totality, looking at their

(25:55):
situation in total a panoramic way.So in our an our company, we
brought on investments in in twenty fourteen. So we solve that because you are
having conflicts with your employer, right, so we took that out of the
picture and lo and behold, thisis what we have. No, folks,
we're just getting to the root ofthis issue. So when we come

(26:18):
back from the break, we're goingto go deeper and give you another opportunity
to set up a visit with us. But we're going to go deeper about
different types of advisors and what's rightfor you. This is the Empowered Retirement
Radio Show, Given clarity to yourretirement. Welcome back, everybody. This

(26:41):
is the Empowered Retirement Radio Show.On a Saturday morning, a summer Saturday
morning, Nick Tooman and Pete Simbolachere to help make your retirement better.
And Pete, I think this isa great show, great topic. We're
talking about choosing that advisor to godown that path with you, that arne
of preparing for retirement, and morespecifically, we're talking about the importance of

(27:04):
fiduciary. What is a fiduciary,Understanding the choices that you have when considering
who's that fiduciary that's going to helplead me down this path and you know,
in that last segment talked about whatit means to be a fiduciary,
you know, as a certified financialplanner. Inherently I'm a fiduciary and I
have to maintain that standard or upholdthat standard of care when working with people,

(27:27):
otherwise it could affect my designation.So it always amazes me, though,
when we talk about this topic,that when you have the Department labor
and you're talking about regulations and thingslike that, that we have to be
told that we should be doing what'sin the best interest of the client.
But that's just how the industry operatesin the world we live in, and
you know, when it's suitability versusdoing what's best for the client. It

(27:48):
still makes me smile to think somebodyactually has to tell me that. I've
felt like I've operated that way foryears. Right, We've worked hard about
being very transparent about these things.And when I sit across from somebody and
I tell this to my client andthey smile and we laugh about it.
But if I can simplify it evenfurther before we go on, I look
at people sitting across from me,as though I was helping my parents through

(28:10):
a situation. I wouldn't just givemy parents generic advice or advice that I
would say is okay. I wouldtry to dig and find the best thing
I could for them in the universeof things out there. So let's go
deeper on that then, Nick,let's really dig in. So I want
to bring up what we call theadvisor pyramid. All right, as we
talk about a fidiciary. Everybody's responsibilitythese days is to be a fidiciary.

(28:33):
But what does that really mean?How does it translate to you? Because
and by the way, I'm goingto say this before we go into the
pyramid, that is this, youcannot find unbiased advice. People advertise it,
and I get it. I understandtheir purpose, but they have done
research. They have their own biasesof what works best for you. Does

(28:57):
that mean it's bad. No,Let's just be transparent. You can line
six people up, They're going tohave six different answers and weeds to do
it, and they're all going tobelieve that they're doing what's in your best
interest. I'm glad you say this, Pete, because the people that we
serve most often are people that arewithin three to five years of retirement,

(29:17):
are recently retired or went through life'stransitions. So we have biases based on
what we've seen works most effectively forpeople at that stage. Absolutely, and
we are not so bodacious or proudor whatever the word is to say we're
right for everybody. We're not rightfor everybody. There are different styles and
that'll come up in this pyramid.So if you could envision this, folks,

(29:40):
here you have a pyramid in frontof you, and it's split into
thirds and the largest, whitest basedown at the bottom is the first level
of advisorship, which really are you'rewhat we would call custodians, right,
your vanguard, your fidelity, tediummeritory. That's right, schwab. You
know we throw more in there,but that's what we're talking about. Often

(30:00):
use for do it yourselfers, right, Nothing wrong with that. You go
there because you get low fees,lots of options. Yes, you can
pay extra to get an advisor,but most people don't. Most people are
going to have low fees, managetheir own money and then go forward from
there. So very low service,so to speak, but lots of availability

(30:23):
of options that you can make yourown choices from. And you mentioned the
fees. I just want to makesure people understand sometimes the fees that you
pay, even for these do ityourself platforms where they give you an investment
lineup, sometimes it takes a littlebit of digging. So for instance,
if you're using mutual funds, understandingwhat expense ratios. So yes, in

(30:44):
general the fees are lower with thoseplatforms, but sometimes you are paying more
than you think when you use thetds and swaps things like they left you
that up to you. They leaveit up to you, right, because
then you pick that mutual fund thathas the higher expense ratio. So now
let's move up to that middle,that middle stack of this pyramid, which
is going to include advisors that youand I'm going to put out names out

(31:10):
there because there's not a right orwrong, or a good or bad.
Nobody's criticizing or praising. But you'reEdward Jones, You're Morgan Stanley, you're
Woodell and Reid, you're ubs right, all these companies out there that they're
typically wealth management. What I meanby that is they manage your money.
That's what they do, and theymight do it very very well. And

(31:32):
people have different styles and so peopleare looking for different things. We're not
criticizing that, but here's some prosand cons. So we're going to pay
a little bit more money because we'regonna pay somebody to actually manage our money
for us, right yep. SoI think that's first and foremost. But
there are some hidden I want tobring this up. There's some hidden fees
that people don't necessarily notice in Oneof my big peeves personally for this particular

(31:57):
group is that they a lot oftimes have this thing called revenue sharing.
Do you understand, folks, whatrevenue sharing is. Go to, for
example, I'm just thrown out asan example, go to Edward Jones.
Go to their website, look atdisclosures and look at revenue sharing, and
they will tell you that they putmoney they put you into mutual funds,

(32:22):
that companies that all knows mutual fundspay them money to put you in.
Does that make sense? It soundslike to me a little bit of a
kickback for Yeah, And I don'tthink we're legally allowed to use those words
as a kickback, but that's oneway somebody might think about it. They're
getting paid third party for you beingin that mutual fund, and it doesn't

(32:43):
mean that those funds that you endup in they're bad for you at all.
They could have done really well overthe years, but could they have
picked five or six different ones ratherthan that one. It's or if they
weren't getting paid. And you know, Edward Jones, I'm just going to
bring it up because it's out there. You know. They twenty five percent
of the revenue ISH is made fromrevenue sharing. It's pretty substantial. It's

(33:04):
a very substantial amount of money.Now does that mean an Edward Jones person
bad? Of course not. Doesthat It's just there. You need to
know that it's there. Just likewhen we work with insurance products, guess
what they're going to pay us acommissioners, no way around it. We
disclose that with people and talk arewe through it so that it's not an

(33:24):
issue. So when we bring upthings like revenue sharing, you're going to
get not typically a full plan,you're going to get a wealth management plan,
right, and you're going to getsome other relationships that you may or
may not like. When you saythe word wealth management or managing money,
I do think people mistake that forfinancial planning, but it's not. It's

(33:46):
money management. Which again is okay, there's nothing wrong with that. But
when it comes to preparing for retirement, and we're going to make an offer
here at a minute. When itcomes to preparing for retirement, money management
is a part of actually prepare.It's just a part, yep. But
it is the way people single themselvesout right, I mean it separate themselves.

(34:07):
So that's your second level. Youoften pay a little bit more in
fees than what you do on thatfirst level of advisor because now you're getting
personalized care on your money. Nowthere is a third level of advisors,
and we call them the holistic.That's, you know, an overused word.
I like to say panoramic. You'recovering all the bases. You put

(34:28):
an actual financial plan together. Youcan either pay for that or get paid
through an asset management fee. Butyou're covering all of the bases, not
just investments. It can be alittle bit more expensive than level two or
level one, but you now havethat broad spectrum of all the things that
are needed. Legacy planning, healthcareplanning, tax planning, income planning,

(34:53):
investment planning, all sorts of lifeplanning that goes on, debt planning,
all in one place, it mightbe more expensive the fees that you pay
maybe throughout the year in your mind. But as we were talking before the
show, if planning correctly and lookingat your retirement money, it looks at

(35:14):
your situation and totality. What ifyou save yourself each year from a mistake
or two, or you tax engineeryour money better over time. So yes,
the fees quote unquote could be alittle bit more in the long run,
it could save you hundreds, maybethousands of dollars, depending on if
you plan correctly. So, youknow, folks, think about your own
situation. What is it as you'relistening to the show that you want and

(35:36):
need. If you're within three tofive years of actually retiring, or if
you've always managed your own money andyou've retired and you just want to enjoy
life and you don't want that burdenand you want somebody to partner with you,
or you've went through a life transition, you sold a business, whatever
the case is. We've made anoffer at the beginning of the show if
you give us a call today tomeet with one of our advisors to talk

(35:59):
about what you want and what youneed at this point in your life.
To prepare for that dream retirement.We made that offer to meet with one
of our advisors for about an hour. It's complementary. It can be done
at our office out in Middleton orvia zoom and to set up that meeting,
you can do it one of twoways. You can call us at
six to eight two one two seventhree zero zero and leave us a message

(36:21):
because our staff is off on Monday, requesting that visit and Caleb will call
you on Monday to set that up. Or you can go to our website
at retire Madison dot com. Requestedthat way. But this visit is just
an opportunity for us to get toknow each other and figure out if what
we do as fiduciaries, as peoplewho help prepare others for retirement, is
what you need and what you want. So ft we just went through the

(36:45):
three levels of the advisor pyramid.Do you want a level one? Do
you want a level two? Doyou want a level three? We are
level three. We're that top level. Well, I guess we're level one,
right, go from top to bottom. There you go. So at
the top the few are the smallerbut more comprehensive. That's what we do,
not everybody wants that, and that'sokay. Yes, we are not

(37:05):
trying to be all things to allpeople. We are letting you know who
we are and why do we thinkit's better? Because how do accidents happen?
Well, by nature, right,they're an accident. They're self defining.
There's something that happened that wasn't supposedto happen. Well, it could
have been prevented maybe, Well,if you could have prevented it, would
you have prevented it? That's whatLevel one advising does helps us avoid those

(37:29):
life accidents in retirement by doing theplanning up front. Folks. If that's
important to you, I'll tell youa call six or eight two one two
seventy three hundred or go to retireMadison dot com and request that appointment today.
Again, our staff will call youback on Monday. Nick, this
time has flown by. We startedwith religion and politics, got into retirement,

(37:53):
we got into the economy, andthen we criticized all our associates out
there in our financial world. Ihave what we've done a good job today?
Well, actually we're not really criticized. We're just talking about what's out
there. YEA, Hopefully nobody takesa hell. We're having a good time
and we have to have some levitywhen we talk about all these topics.

(38:13):
Folks, how does this fit inyour world? This is your world,
retirement, and I hope we madeyour retirement world better. This is the
Empowered Retirement radio show. We're signingoff for this week and we look forward
to talking with you next week.Investment advisory services offered through Track Capital Management,

(38:37):
LLC and SEC Registered investment advisor.Information presented is for educational purposes only
and it should not be considered specific. Investment advice. Does not take into
consideration your specific situation, and doesnot intend to make an offer or solicitation
for the sale or purchase of anysecurities or investment strategies. Investments involve risk

(38:58):
and are not guaranteed, and passperformance is no guarantee of future results.
For specific tax advice on any strategy, consults with a qualified tax professional before
implementing any strategy discussed here in