August 10, 2025 • 21 mins
Megan and Joe share information about Peak Retirement Planning!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's here, Megan Cassaway here from Peak retirement, planning for
the next hour. Here, We've got a lot in Storre.
We were we talking about, Meghan, You've got quite the
agenda here.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What we got We've got a lot. It's going to
be a jam packed hour, so I hope you're prepared.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Give me some specifics here. What are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, first of all, I would like to clarify that
there's only one reason that I am here today. When
Joe asked me to do radio, he said that his mom,
Jill was going to be on before me, and Jill
is my bestie, so of course I had to join afterwards.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
So there some big shoes to fill there, I.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Know, Mindy and Mikayla, Jill. My goodness, it's a good
thing I have big feet.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Oh no, today's seen though, it is going to be.
In order to be different, you must do things differently,
and so just talking about general theme of standards of excellence,
especially in everything that we do at peak.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So yeah, we had some Peak Olympics and that was
the excellence to the highest degree.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Oh my past week.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I think people are probably still sore from our team
from that big event we had.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Definitely, definitely, I'm pretty sure I got a six pack
just from laughing so much recording all of the different events,
and Joe, why don't you go ahead and share with
everyone what some of the fun events were.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yes, So we had a sprint race was the gold medal.
That was the bigger race of the day. And there's
a lot of office banter going on for a few
weeks of like who's going to be the fastest in
the office, And that.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Was a lot of fun. And you know, we're very
competitive team.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Obviously a lot of our team's former athletes, and we're
very competitive on how we serve clients and just making
sure we give them best outcomes and the best results,
and so that easily translrates when we're in the backyard
and competing against each other.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah. Fun, If I do remember correctly, I think there
was one team member in particular who was claiming that
he could be any single person on our team in
a sprint race. And I don't know if you remember
what place he actually ended up coming in that wasn't
it first?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
One first, one second, and one third.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And we have video footage of everything.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think multiple hit a kid in the head with
a ball too, didn't you, Megan?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Oh my goodness, No, that never happened. Don't listen to
anything that he says.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Guys, Okay, yes, I'm lying here.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But and how many medals did we give out?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I don't know Jill's the one that gave them all out.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Or what kind of medals were they?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
But we didn't give we didn't give out metals. Any
one of us was first place. Yeah, and we don't
settle for anything less than that. So standards of excellence
to the highest degree. And we call you, Megan around
the office, the director of Standards.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
What's that meaning? Why?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yes, honestly, it's it's my favorite title that that I wear. Basically,
it just means that I'm holding holding myself to our standards,
holding our team to our extreme standards. Because if we
don't have standards, we don't have everything. Anything can slip
through the cracks when we start to let things slip
in that area. So I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, and I think that's something like obviously, we do
retirement planning and have a specialized niche of people that
we serve, and you know, one reason why we have
that standard of excellence is because our clients work for
thirty forty years and now they're looking for a team
to trust them with their life savings. And I can
can't tell you how many compliments I've gotten from people
that are clients of ours and say, I love how
(03:14):
much how high the standard you hold for not only
how you serve us, but just for the team, which
ultiately allows us to serve clients the best. And like,
my biggest advice to anyone what brought us of what
service you're looking for, whether it's retirement planning or even
just getting your car fix. It's like, go to a
team that has very high standards of excellence, that really
(03:36):
cares about doing the right thing, and that's going to
mean something. And you know, we like our clients. They
get to meet several different team members as they work
with us, and we always have two advisors and every meeting,
it's like, if we don't hold them to that high standard,
our clients are going to suffer. And I think that's
when we look at successful sports teams, and you know,
(03:56):
the coaches are the ones that set the tone, and
it's the difference between six us in failure. When the
culture is going to focus on getting results, like you know,
we can talk about that Megan too.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Like we don't have a ping.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Pong table at our office, we don't have nat pods,
you know, we we when we're at our job eight
eight to five, nine to five, we're focused on producing
the best results. We're trying to grow ourselves the best
we can. We're trying to help our team members be successful.
And we do have a lot of fun, for example,
Peak Olympics, and you know, we're always laughing around the office,
but at the end of the day, clients are paying
(04:29):
us to get the job done and that's the first
and foremost and I think that's why we take it
so seriously. But anything else you would add to that, Megan,
of like why we put so much focus on standards,
Why does that so? And because like when we in
our hiring process, like we don't hire everyone because that's
so important to us.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So would you say about that, No, that's.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Exactly where it is going to go next, And we'll
talk about that a little later on in the segment,
about just how tough our hiring process is. And it
is tough for a reason, you know, Joe always jokes.
I think you've said this once or twice that if
he were to go through the hiring process, now he
doesn't know if he would get hired, which I think
that's a great thing.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Megan wouldn't hire me. Joe's laughing over.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
There that that's actually something that you know, I started
off just working in the marketing department at Peak.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And now I have wait, do you want to tell
how and you declined the job off for the first time?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Goodness gracious, So.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Let me tell a story, okay, and you can do
you can tell.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Your side of it, and then I'll come on afterwards
and share the truth.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So you know, Megan and I have we go way back.
We go all the way back to college. We were
friends in college. We were at a Christian Bible study
together for athletes on campus there and afterwards we stayed
in touch. And when I started Peak retirement, and she
was one of the first people I called and said, hey,
you know, do you want to come help me and
you know, come work with me? And she was living
(05:49):
in Arizona at the time, and she actually turned it down.
She said no, And I was shocked because I just
had this big vision. I shared with her everything. We're
going to do, which is all come to folition. At
this point, she was all excited about it, you know,
very like minded we were doing, you know, had a
lot of the same same viewpoints and values.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And she declined it. And so that's my part of
the story. And that seems pretty cut and dry how
it was. I don't know how you can surecoat that
to make it sound any better.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I wish you guys could see me rolling my eyes
back here. Oh my goodness. Part of part of that
is true. I would say Joe's over exaggerating a little bit,
which is actually funny because that's something that I'm known for.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, her mom's her mom tells everyone that she that's
her biggest fall is the fact that she over exaggerates everything.
She turns it into a strength and own that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, I'm a marketer, so I'm a great at storytelling.
But no, you know, Joe and I stayed in contact
after college, and I remember I was in Arizona in
my little shoe box apartment and we had a zoom
call and he was walking through probably a sixty to
one hundred page word document with me, and little did
(06:59):
I know it was literally peak on paper. And I
just remember thinking to myself, whatever he does, he is
going to be successful. Joe's just one of those people
where whenever he puts his mind to something, you know
that he is going to do it. And so it
was really cool. I feel like I've been a part
of Peak since the beginning. But obviously at that time,
(07:19):
you know, he was looking for someone just part time.
I was living in another state with a much higher
cost of living and living on my own and needed
full time work. And so I said, you know what,
I will do everything I can to help you, and
so helped with the branding of our logos some other things.
Helped him pick out I think his first ever like
big boy suit that he purchased, and I sent him
(07:42):
a ton of like different ideas for referral gusts and
things like that, and so he makes it sound like
I just completely shot it down with absolutely nothing else
to offer, and that is just not the case. But
all that to say, it came back full circle here
we are today and everything worked out the way that
it was supposed to.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, and in all jokes aside, seriously, it's been awesome experience,
and you know, called her up again when we're looking
for an actual, you know, high level marketing position. And
she was again one of the first ones I reached
out to, and we just stayed in touch and she
ended up moving from Texas to to at that time,
to Columbus to work with us. And one of the
(08:24):
first things she asked me was so like, what's what's
Columbus like? You know, I loved Texas, you know, I
mean it does to.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Show you, guys, how good of a salesperson Joe is.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You know, is this a place that I want to live?
And I'm like, oh, Columbus is the best thing in
the world. And we actually, I mean I love Columbus.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I think it's a great place to raise a family.
I think it's a great place to you know, just
be four seasons of the year. It's great, people's cost
of living is great. And we actually have a lot
of clients all across the country, and we actually create
an itinerary for our clients out of town to come
in and we give them the best places to see,
the best places to eat, all the fun activities, all
(09:02):
the sports teams, and so I'm hyping it up and
I'm saying, this is the greatest thing in the world.
And what I actually tell people is, you know, Columbus
is either a place to live or to see for
a couple of days. It's not a place to come
vacation for a few weeks. You know you're gonna run
out of things to do. You're a miss home. But
it's a great place to live. So I don't know
was I wrong by that? Was I hype that, I
(09:23):
over hype that, or has this been great?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I will preface too as well. He told me if
you don't like it, there's tons of NonStop flights to
pretty much anywhere out of Columbus.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Weekend trip.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
He told me that as well. But now I mean
my family. I'm from Ohio, and so just being able
to be closer to family was everything. And so there's
obviously a lot more to do in Columbus than the
small town that I grew up in. So it's twenty
minutes into work and an hour and a half exactly
to go home and see my nephews. And so it's
absolutely perfect.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
And your mascot was the normal trucker truckers?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Can you believe that? In fun fact, you might have
to fact check me on this, But I am ninety
nine point nine to nine percent. Sure we are the
only high school in the United States with that mascot.
So telling Joe there's this giant semi. It's a really
cool mural in our basketball Jim. This giant semi is
(10:19):
like bursting through the walls and like bricks are going.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
To Since still still here listening in on the conversation,
I think we have to share how I think she'll
be very impressed with the other day, how I coordinated
my colors of my shirt with the dinner.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh my goodness, I've never seen Joe care so much
about a candidate dinner.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
We Oh my goodness, I care about the ball.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We were meeting with someone who graduated from Cedarville and
before we left, I said something to you. I was like, oh,
your shirt is I knew it was yellow, but I
didn't realize it was blue or blue and yellow. And
I'm like, oh, my goodness, that is Nora Checker colors.
And he's like, actually this because it's Cedarville colors. And
the candidate who were meet with us from Cedarville. And
(11:04):
I'm like, who are you and what have you done
with Joe? Do I need to take your temperature? Are
you feeling okay because you never pay attention to extreme
details like this.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, and that's something we do with all the people
we hire.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I know we'll talk about here in the next segment,
and you know, we'll get ready to wrap up on
this segment here, but we'll leading that into the next session.
We're like we go to dinner with all the people
we hire. We have an extremely intensive hiring process. I
think it goes back to standards of excellence. Is like
when you're looking to trust someone with your right retirement savings.
I mean, I would want them to be very intentional.
I wanted to have a CPA. I'd want them to
(11:35):
have a state planning. I want them to do all
the areas of retirement plant I'd want them to have
a rock star team who really cares about doing the
best work.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
So we'll talk about that on the next segment here.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
But this is Joe Schmidts with Peak Retirement Planning and
Meghan Castleberry and this is what matters on six' TEN wtvn.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Is all, right we're back.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
On looks like we've got a, Caller So, chris if
you want to send On andy and he's got a
financial question here we'll cover that. Here Joe Schmid's Meghan
castlebury peak retirement planning on, air filling in for.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Many Of kalen well quick question charitable deductions and when
you see those ads charitable, deduction tax, deductible or however it.
Goes SO i was a little perplexed last. Year so,
YOU i, mean if you're, able you will put aside some,
(12:28):
money and you, know for things like charitable. Deductions SO
i was a little confused last year WHEN i followed
with my tax guy and everything. Else so what is
the what is how does that? WORK i mean IF
(12:48):
i donate twenty five, dollars or IF i go to
a store and for like say, TOYS i don't want
to mention the, organization but you donate that much and
you have a receipt and you give it to your tax,
advisor your tax. Attorney how does that? Work because they
Said i'm not, cheap BUT i APPARENTLY i didn't.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Qualify So i'll explain it to. You so it's pretty.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Simple next year you're going to be able to write
all that. Off so this year it's still not really
going to matter for most. People ninety percent of people
take what's called the standard, deduction which is basically thirty
thousand dollars of tax free income up front if you're,
married and that you have to have over that and
charitable and state and local taxes and all this to
(13:34):
be able to itemize deductions where charity comes into. Play
but next, year if you're, married you can give two
thousand dollars up to a year and write it off
if you're. Married if you're, sayingle it's a, thousand and
then you just need to keep your, receipts give it
to YOUR, cpa and you'll be good to. Go so
that's going to be a huge advantage for, everyone and
it's also going to help charities because charities haven't been
getting as much money with all these changes to the
(13:57):
tax rules because of. That you, know it used to
not always be the way it is, now but, now
if you are seventy three or, older there's something called
a really seventy and a half or, order there's something
called a qualified charitable. Distribution so you sound like a
young guy on the phone, here but for anyone, listening
they can give right from AN ira to a charity tax.
Free so we'd always recommend people that are doing charitable
(14:18):
gifting to do it from that standpoint, there and there's
other strategies like donor advice funds that you can get
really creative. With one of my personal favorites here In,
COLUMBUS i, mean we're really passionate about charitable plenty And,
megan we can talk about. That next is The Certified
King advisor credential that we. Have but that's something that
right now here in the state Of ohio you can
give seven hundred and fifty. Dollars if you're, married it's
(14:40):
fifteen hundred to a OSIN sgo is what's called How
Christian Education Network Scholarship Granting, organization and this allows you
to basically give for. Free you're giving that money and
then that charity or that The christian schools in this
area are going to benefit from. That so that's something
we always recommend pe we'll get and then you get
(15:00):
a deduction on your state taxes when you follow your
taxes at the end of the. Year so again that's
a High Christian Education Network Scholarship graining organization and so
hopefully that's helpful for You andy. Though but thanks for
the question, there but definitely look forward to next year
getting that deduction and a lot of our content really
looking forward to, That.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Thank you very, much and that charitable donations aren't about
giving getting a tax deduction as giving to a what
are causes and stuff like? That got it very good, Information.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Thank you so. Much, yeah Thanks, Andy and that you
hit the nail on the head, There and we say
that all the, time, right if you're gonna, give do
it because of that of the goodness out of your
heart to serve and help. Others BUT i hate taxes
AND i wrote a book about, that and so we
need to make sure we're not get tipping Uncle.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Sam we need to pay our fair.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Share and AS i always, say IF i can use
my tax dollars to use it towards my values such
as THE Ihio Christian Education network scholarship graining, organization or
using that to offset it SO i can give more
than and that's always going to be SOMETHING i focus.
On so great point, There and let's talk now About
megan about The Certified Kingdom advisor. Credential now there's only
ABOUT i THINK i, looked there's like twenty to twenty
(16:10):
FIVE ks here In, Columbus. Ohio and basically what that
credential means is that you can Do Christian you basically
can hold yourself as A christian financial. Planner so there's
a lot that goes with. It you have to testify
as a, believer you have to get pastoral, references client,
references you have to have YOUR cfp, credential which is
the gold star of the financial, world and basically that
(16:33):
says that you know everything about financial. Planning and for,
me it took seven hours to take that. TEST i
had to study for years to get, it and it's
a big. Deal and so thirty percent advisors have THE cfp,
credential so you, know less than one. Third and then
out of those one third, advisors only two percent have
THE ka, credential and out of all the, advisors less
(16:55):
than half a percent have THE cka. Credential and it's
something that we're really proud of At Peak retirement because
everything we do is from a biblical standard and biblical
principle and from A christian. Worldview is how we serve.
Clients and we work with clients who Are christians and Non,
christians but you, know we always want to make sure
that we can serve them in a way that we
are proud. Of and something that we're called to. Do
(17:18):
and SO i know that a lot of people looking
for an advisor, though that is something that is important to.
Them they want to find an advisor who has a
like minded, viewpoint who has a like minded perspective of the,
world and SO i know that's something that we've seen
a lot of people reach out to us because of.
That SO i don't know what else you have to add, There,
megan BUT i know that's the point that you want
to make sure we mentioned here.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Today.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, Absolutely it's been really cool just to see how
we are able to serve people who value that and
so many people just want to have conversations about how
do they align their faith with their Finances and not only,
that but just amongst our, team it's a very important
credential to current team. Members we were just talking the other, day,
like how cool is it going to be when the
(18:00):
amount of CURRENT cka advisors In columbus is the amount
that we have at our. Firm and we always talk,
about you, know how are we going to Glorify god
with our, time, talent and. Treasures and so it's something
that we are having conversations about with new advisors looking
to work with us as.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Well so, yeah it's fun.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
TOO i, mean you, know The bible calls Us psalms
twenty four to one specifically is you, know The god owns,
everything it's our job to be the best. Stewards and
so that's actually one thing THAT i you, know one
of my purposes and missions of what we do is
helping people be the best steward of their. Wealth and
you know they we're not going to push our values
on someone's, plan but we're going to ensure that we
ask the right questions to make sure they find what
(18:38):
that purpose is for, them to ensure they're being the
best stewards of. It and so that's what makes it
the fun when you can see the. Impact and you,
know we work with what we Call midwestern, millionaires and
everyone Knows. Mandy you listen to, this and she's the
Biggest midwestern millionaire of, her all of them, All and
she's actually the new poster child four peak retirement because
she embodies everything that our clients you, know do and
(19:00):
say and how they. Behave and she is actually a
client of, ours and you, know many of, their her
whole family's clients of.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Ours and you know that crowd of.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
PEOPLE i, mean they just they have done the right
things up to this, point and now there creates more.
Opportunities and so when we have a conversation with someone
Like mendy AND i know she's listening right now on
her way up to the Lake, house but we tell
them you need to look to give gift or spend
your money because you can't take it with. You you
can put a beneficiary on that and it could go
(19:29):
to your kids or your loved ones or, whoever and
that can be if you want that to, be then that's,
great that's what will. Happen but what we see with
our clients a lot of times is they've done such
a good job, savings the money they pass with their
kids is probably going to be more than what they
need at that. Point and plus they're probably going to
be in their fifties or sixties at that point when
they actually reach life expectancy and pass. Away and so
we really try to encourage, clients how do you have
(19:50):
more purpose with your wealth, now and whether that's given
to charities like we talked, about maybe it's gifting to
the kids now so they can be able to experience
it now As mendy was talking her. Earlier she, just you,
know by the lake house that she can now take
the family to and have experiences, together and she can
bring friends in, there and it's up Towards randy's, Family
So i'm sure that they'll be interacting with them. More and,
(20:11):
so you, know that's what it's all, about is to
create those types of, experiences and that's what we get
to help our clients. With because our clients they're hard,
working they're diligent, savers and they're very very, frugal which
means that they're better savers than they are. Vendors and
so our job is to make sure that we can
get the fist that they've had all these years of
not spending money to open up to be more of
an open, hand to be able to do the things
(20:33):
that they've always dreamed. OF i know your parents' clients
of ours as, well just went on a big old
trip they.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Did they went on An alaskan cruise for two, weeks
something that they have wanted to do for quite some,
time and so they've been planning. That AND i will just,
say you, know both as a child but also working
at pee, retirement just being able to see your parents
live out their dreams after working so. Hard it's it's.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Incredible, yeah and we got to go to break. Here
but let's pick up on that talk about your parents
a little bit more. HERE i, know we've got some
fun stories to. Tell hopefully they're. Listening if now you
have to text them until, them we're gonna put them
on the you, know roast them here a little.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Bit but this is what.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Matters on six to TEN, Wtvn Joe, schmidz megancasplay with
peak Retirement, planning filling in For mikayla And mandy and
we'll catch you back here and you
It's here, Megan Cassaway here from Peak retirement, planning for
the next hour. Here, We've got a lot in Storre.
We were we talking about, Meghan, You've got quite the
agenda here.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What we got We've got a lot. It's going to
be a jam packed hour, so I hope you're prepared.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Give me some specifics here. What are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, first of all, I would like to clarify that
there's only one reason that I am here today. When
Joe asked me to do radio, he said that his mom,
Jill was going to be on before me, and Jill
is my bestie, so of course I had to join afterwards.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
So there some big shoes to fill there, I.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Know, Mindy and Mikayla, Jill. My goodness, it's a good
thing I have big feet.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Oh no, today's seen though, it is going to be.
In order to be different, you must do things differently,
and so just talking about general theme of standards of excellence,
especially in everything that we do at peak.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So yeah, we had some Peak Olympics and that was
the excellence to the highest degree.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Oh my past week.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I think people are probably still sore from our team
from that big event we had.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Definitely, definitely, I'm pretty sure I got a six pack
just from laughing so much recording all of the different events,
and Joe, why don't you go ahead and share with
everyone what some of the fun events were.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yes, So we had a sprint race was the gold medal.
That was the bigger race of the day. And there's
a lot of office banter going on for a few
weeks of like who's going to be the fastest in
the office, And that.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Was a lot of fun. And you know, we're very
competitive team.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Obviously a lot of our team's former athletes, and we're
very competitive on how we serve clients and just making
sure we give them best outcomes and the best results,
and so that easily translrates when we're in the backyard
and competing against each other.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah. Fun, If I do remember correctly, I think there
was one team member in particular who was claiming that
he could be any single person on our team in
a sprint race. And I don't know if you remember
what place he actually ended up coming in that wasn't
it first?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
One first, one second, and one third.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And we have video footage of everything.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think multiple hit a kid in the head with
a ball too, didn't you, Megan?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Oh my goodness, No, that never happened. Don't listen to
anything that he says.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Guys, Okay, yes, I'm lying here.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But and how many medals did we give out?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I don't know Jill's the one that gave them all out.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Or what kind of medals were they?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
But we didn't give we didn't give out metals. Any
one of us was first place. Yeah, and we don't
settle for anything less than that. So standards of excellence
to the highest degree. And we call you, Megan around
the office, the director of Standards.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
What's that meaning? Why?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yes, honestly, it's it's my favorite title that that I wear. Basically,
it just means that I'm holding holding myself to our standards,
holding our team to our extreme standards. Because if we
don't have standards, we don't have everything. Anything can slip
through the cracks when we start to let things slip
in that area. So I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, and I think that's something like obviously, we do
retirement planning and have a specialized niche of people that
we serve, and you know, one reason why we have
that standard of excellence is because our clients work for
thirty forty years and now they're looking for a team
to trust them with their life savings. And I can
can't tell you how many compliments I've gotten from people
that are clients of ours and say, I love how
(03:14):
much how high the standard you hold for not only
how you serve us, but just for the team, which
ultiately allows us to serve clients the best. And like,
my biggest advice to anyone what brought us of what
service you're looking for, whether it's retirement planning or even
just getting your car fix. It's like, go to a
team that has very high standards of excellence, that really
(03:36):
cares about doing the right thing, and that's going to
mean something. And you know, we like our clients. They
get to meet several different team members as they work
with us, and we always have two advisors and every meeting,
it's like, if we don't hold them to that high standard,
our clients are going to suffer. And I think that's
when we look at successful sports teams, and you know,
(03:56):
the coaches are the ones that set the tone, and
it's the difference between six us in failure. When the
culture is going to focus on getting results, like you know,
we can talk about that Megan too.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Like we don't have a ping.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Pong table at our office, we don't have nat pods,
you know, we we when we're at our job eight
eight to five, nine to five, we're focused on producing
the best results. We're trying to grow ourselves the best
we can. We're trying to help our team members be successful.
And we do have a lot of fun, for example,
Peak Olympics, and you know, we're always laughing around the office,
but at the end of the day, clients are paying
(04:29):
us to get the job done and that's the first
and foremost and I think that's why we take it
so seriously. But anything else you would add to that, Megan,
of like why we put so much focus on standards,
Why does that so? And because like when we in
our hiring process, like we don't hire everyone because that's
so important to us.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So would you say about that, No, that's.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Exactly where it is going to go next, And we'll
talk about that a little later on in the segment,
about just how tough our hiring process is. And it
is tough for a reason, you know, Joe always jokes.
I think you've said this once or twice that if
he were to go through the hiring process, now he
doesn't know if he would get hired, which I think
that's a great thing.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Megan wouldn't hire me. Joe's laughing over.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
There that that's actually something that you know, I started
off just working in the marketing department at Peak.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And now I have wait, do you want to tell
how and you declined the job off for the first time?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Goodness gracious, So.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Let me tell a story, okay, and you can do
you can tell.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Your side of it, and then I'll come on afterwards
and share the truth.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
All right.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So you know, Megan and I have we go way back.
We go all the way back to college. We were
friends in college. We were at a Christian Bible study
together for athletes on campus there and afterwards we stayed
in touch. And when I started Peak retirement, and she
was one of the first people I called and said, hey,
you know, do you want to come help me and
you know, come work with me? And she was living
(05:49):
in Arizona at the time, and she actually turned it down.
She said no, And I was shocked because I just
had this big vision. I shared with her everything. We're
going to do, which is all come to folition. At
this point, she was all excited about it, you know,
very like minded we were doing, you know, had a
lot of the same same viewpoints and values.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And she declined it. And so that's my part of
the story. And that seems pretty cut and dry how
it was. I don't know how you can surecoat that
to make it sound any better.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I wish you guys could see me rolling my eyes
back here. Oh my goodness. Part of part of that
is true. I would say Joe's over exaggerating a little bit,
which is actually funny because that's something that I'm known for.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, her mom's her mom tells everyone that she that's
her biggest fall is the fact that she over exaggerates everything.
She turns it into a strength and own that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes, I'm a marketer, so I'm a great at storytelling.
But no, you know, Joe and I stayed in contact
after college, and I remember I was in Arizona in
my little shoe box apartment and we had a zoom
call and he was walking through probably a sixty to
one hundred page word document with me, and little did
(06:59):
I know it was literally peak on paper. And I
just remember thinking to myself, whatever he does, he is
going to be successful. Joe's just one of those people
where whenever he puts his mind to something, you know
that he is going to do it. And so it
was really cool. I feel like I've been a part
of Peak since the beginning. But obviously at that time,
(07:19):
you know, he was looking for someone just part time.
I was living in another state with a much higher
cost of living and living on my own and needed
full time work. And so I said, you know what,
I will do everything I can to help you, and
so helped with the branding of our logos some other things.
Helped him pick out I think his first ever like
big boy suit that he purchased, and I sent him
(07:42):
a ton of like different ideas for referral gusts and
things like that, and so he makes it sound like
I just completely shot it down with absolutely nothing else
to offer, and that is just not the case. But
all that to say, it came back full circle here
we are today and everything worked out the way that
it was supposed to.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, and in all jokes aside, seriously, it's been awesome experience,
and you know, called her up again when we're looking
for an actual, you know, high level marketing position. And
she was again one of the first ones I reached
out to, and we just stayed in touch and she
ended up moving from Texas to to at that time,
to Columbus to work with us. And one of the
(08:24):
first things she asked me was so like, what's what's
Columbus like? You know, I loved Texas, you know, I
mean it does to.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Show you, guys, how good of a salesperson Joe is.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You know, is this a place that I want to live?
And I'm like, oh, Columbus is the best thing in
the world. And we actually, I mean I love Columbus.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I think it's a great place to raise a family.
I think it's a great place to you know, just
be four seasons of the year. It's great, people's cost
of living is great. And we actually have a lot
of clients all across the country, and we actually create
an itinerary for our clients out of town to come
in and we give them the best places to see,
the best places to eat, all the fun activities, all
(09:02):
the sports teams, and so I'm hyping it up and
I'm saying, this is the greatest thing in the world.
And what I actually tell people is, you know, Columbus
is either a place to live or to see for
a couple of days. It's not a place to come
vacation for a few weeks. You know you're gonna run
out of things to do. You're a miss home. But
it's a great place to live. So I don't know
was I wrong by that? Was I hype that, I
(09:23):
over hype that, or has this been great?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I will preface too as well. He told me if
you don't like it, there's tons of NonStop flights to
pretty much anywhere out of Columbus.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Weekend trip.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
He told me that as well. But now I mean
my family. I'm from Ohio, and so just being able
to be closer to family was everything. And so there's
obviously a lot more to do in Columbus than the
small town that I grew up in. So it's twenty
minutes into work and an hour and a half exactly
to go home and see my nephews. And so it's
absolutely perfect.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
And your mascot was the normal trucker truckers?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Can you believe that? In fun fact, you might have
to fact check me on this, But I am ninety
nine point nine to nine percent. Sure we are the
only high school in the United States with that mascot.
So telling Joe there's this giant semi. It's a really
cool mural in our basketball Jim. This giant semi is
(10:19):
like bursting through the walls and like bricks are going.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
To Since still still here listening in on the conversation,
I think we have to share how I think she'll
be very impressed with the other day, how I coordinated
my colors of my shirt with the dinner.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Oh my goodness, I've never seen Joe care so much
about a candidate dinner.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
We Oh my goodness, I care about the ball.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
We were meeting with someone who graduated from Cedarville and
before we left, I said something to you. I was like, oh,
your shirt is I knew it was yellow, but I
didn't realize it was blue or blue and yellow. And
I'm like, oh, my goodness, that is Nora Checker colors.
And he's like, actually this because it's Cedarville colors. And
the candidate who were meet with us from Cedarville. And
(11:04):
I'm like, who are you and what have you done
with Joe? Do I need to take your temperature? Are
you feeling okay because you never pay attention to extreme
details like this.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, and that's something we do with all the people
we hire.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I know we'll talk about here in the next segment,
and you know, we'll get ready to wrap up on
this segment here, but we'll leading that into the next session.
We're like we go to dinner with all the people
we hire. We have an extremely intensive hiring process. I
think it goes back to standards of excellence. Is like
when you're looking to trust someone with your right retirement savings.
I mean, I would want them to be very intentional.
I wanted to have a CPA. I'd want them to
(11:35):
have a state planning. I want them to do all
the areas of retirement plant I'd want them to have
a rock star team who really cares about doing the
best work.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
So we'll talk about that on the next segment here.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
But this is Joe Schmidts with Peak Retirement Planning and
Meghan Castleberry and this is what matters on six' TEN wtvn.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Is all, right we're back.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
On looks like we've got a, Caller So, chris if
you want to send On andy and he's got a
financial question here we'll cover that. Here Joe Schmid's Meghan
castlebury peak retirement planning on, air filling in for.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Many Of kalen well quick question charitable deductions and when
you see those ads charitable, deduction tax, deductible or however it.
Goes SO i was a little perplexed last. Year so,
YOU i, mean if you're, able you will put aside some,
(12:28):
money and you, know for things like charitable. Deductions SO
i was a little confused last year WHEN i followed
with my tax guy and everything. Else so what is
the what is how does that? WORK i mean IF
(12:48):
i donate twenty five, dollars or IF i go to
a store and for like say, TOYS i don't want
to mention the, organization but you donate that much and
you have a receipt and you give it to your tax,
advisor your tax. Attorney how does that? Work because they
Said i'm not, cheap BUT i APPARENTLY i didn't.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Qualify So i'll explain it to. You so it's pretty.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Simple next year you're going to be able to write
all that. Off so this year it's still not really
going to matter for most. People ninety percent of people
take what's called the standard, deduction which is basically thirty
thousand dollars of tax free income up front if you're,
married and that you have to have over that and
charitable and state and local taxes and all this to
(13:34):
be able to itemize deductions where charity comes into. Play
but next, year if you're, married you can give two
thousand dollars up to a year and write it off
if you're. Married if you're, sayingle it's a, thousand and
then you just need to keep your, receipts give it
to YOUR, cpa and you'll be good to. Go so
that's going to be a huge advantage for, everyone and
it's also going to help charities because charities haven't been
getting as much money with all these changes to the
(13:57):
tax rules because of. That you, know it used to
not always be the way it is, now but, now
if you are seventy three or, older there's something called
a really seventy and a half or, order there's something
called a qualified charitable. Distribution so you sound like a
young guy on the phone, here but for anyone, listening
they can give right from AN ira to a charity tax.
Free so we'd always recommend people that are doing charitable
(14:18):
gifting to do it from that standpoint, there and there's
other strategies like donor advice funds that you can get
really creative. With one of my personal favorites here In,
COLUMBUS i, mean we're really passionate about charitable plenty And,
megan we can talk about. That next is The Certified
King advisor credential that we. Have but that's something that
right now here in the state Of ohio you can
give seven hundred and fifty. Dollars if you're, married it's
(14:40):
fifteen hundred to a OSIN sgo is what's called How
Christian Education Network Scholarship Granting, organization and this allows you
to basically give for. Free you're giving that money and
then that charity or that The christian schools in this
area are going to benefit from. That so that's something
we always recommend pe we'll get and then you get
(15:00):
a deduction on your state taxes when you follow your
taxes at the end of the. Year so again that's
a High Christian Education Network Scholarship graining organization and so
hopefully that's helpful for You andy. Though but thanks for
the question, there but definitely look forward to next year
getting that deduction and a lot of our content really
looking forward to, That.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Thank you very, much and that charitable donations aren't about
giving getting a tax deduction as giving to a what
are causes and stuff like? That got it very good, Information.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Thank you so. Much, yeah Thanks, Andy and that you
hit the nail on the head, There and we say
that all the, time, right if you're gonna, give do
it because of that of the goodness out of your
heart to serve and help. Others BUT i hate taxes
AND i wrote a book about, that and so we
need to make sure we're not get tipping Uncle.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Sam we need to pay our fair.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Share and AS i always, say IF i can use
my tax dollars to use it towards my values such
as THE Ihio Christian Education network scholarship graining, organization or
using that to offset it SO i can give more
than and that's always going to be SOMETHING i focus.
On so great point, There and let's talk now About
megan about The Certified Kingdom advisor. Credential now there's only
ABOUT i THINK i, looked there's like twenty to twenty
(16:10):
FIVE ks here In, Columbus. Ohio and basically what that
credential means is that you can Do Christian you basically
can hold yourself as A christian financial. Planner so there's
a lot that goes with. It you have to testify
as a, believer you have to get pastoral, references client,
references you have to have YOUR cfp, credential which is
the gold star of the financial, world and basically that
(16:33):
says that you know everything about financial. Planning and for,
me it took seven hours to take that. TEST i
had to study for years to get, it and it's
a big. Deal and so thirty percent advisors have THE cfp,
credential so you, know less than one. Third and then
out of those one third, advisors only two percent have
THE ka, credential and out of all the, advisors less
(16:55):
than half a percent have THE cka. Credential and it's
something that we're really proud of At Peak retirement because
everything we do is from a biblical standard and biblical
principle and from A christian. Worldview is how we serve.
Clients and we work with clients who Are christians and Non,
christians but you, know we always want to make sure
that we can serve them in a way that we
are proud. Of and something that we're called to. Do
(17:18):
and SO i know that a lot of people looking
for an advisor, though that is something that is important to.
Them they want to find an advisor who has a
like minded, viewpoint who has a like minded perspective of the,
world and SO i know that's something that we've seen
a lot of people reach out to us because of.
That SO i don't know what else you have to add, There,
megan BUT i know that's the point that you want
to make sure we mentioned here.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Today.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, Absolutely it's been really cool just to see how
we are able to serve people who value that and
so many people just want to have conversations about how
do they align their faith with their Finances and not only,
that but just amongst our, team it's a very important
credential to current team. Members we were just talking the other, day,
like how cool is it going to be when the
(18:00):
amount of CURRENT cka advisors In columbus is the amount
that we have at our. Firm and we always talk,
about you, know how are we going to Glorify god
with our, time, talent and. Treasures and so it's something
that we are having conversations about with new advisors looking
to work with us as.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Well so, yeah it's fun.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
TOO i, mean you, know The bible calls Us psalms
twenty four to one specifically is you, know The god owns,
everything it's our job to be the best. Stewards and
so that's actually one thing THAT i you, know one
of my purposes and missions of what we do is
helping people be the best steward of their. Wealth and
you know they we're not going to push our values
on someone's, plan but we're going to ensure that we
ask the right questions to make sure they find what
(18:38):
that purpose is for, them to ensure they're being the
best stewards of. It and so that's what makes it
the fun when you can see the. Impact and you,
know we work with what we Call midwestern, millionaires and
everyone Knows. Mandy you listen to, this and she's the
Biggest midwestern millionaire of, her all of them, All and
she's actually the new poster child four peak retirement because
she embodies everything that our clients you, know do and
(19:00):
say and how they. Behave and she is actually a
client of, ours and you, know many of, their her
whole family's clients of.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Ours and you know that crowd of.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
PEOPLE i, mean they just they have done the right
things up to this, point and now there creates more.
Opportunities and so when we have a conversation with someone
Like mendy AND i know she's listening right now on
her way up to the Lake, house but we tell
them you need to look to give gift or spend
your money because you can't take it with. You you
can put a beneficiary on that and it could go
(19:29):
to your kids or your loved ones or, whoever and
that can be if you want that to, be then that's,
great that's what will. Happen but what we see with
our clients a lot of times is they've done such
a good job, savings the money they pass with their
kids is probably going to be more than what they
need at that. Point and plus they're probably going to
be in their fifties or sixties at that point when
they actually reach life expectancy and pass. Away and so
we really try to encourage, clients how do you have
(19:50):
more purpose with your wealth, now and whether that's given
to charities like we talked, about maybe it's gifting to
the kids now so they can be able to experience
it now As mendy was talking her. Earlier she, just you,
know by the lake house that she can now take
the family to and have experiences, together and she can
bring friends in, there and it's up Towards randy's, Family
So i'm sure that they'll be interacting with them. More and,
(20:11):
so you, know that's what it's all, about is to
create those types of, experiences and that's what we get
to help our clients. With because our clients they're hard,
working they're diligent, savers and they're very very, frugal which
means that they're better savers than they are. Vendors and
so our job is to make sure that we can
get the fist that they've had all these years of
not spending money to open up to be more of
an open, hand to be able to do the things
(20:33):
that they've always dreamed. OF i know your parents' clients
of ours as, well just went on a big old
trip they.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Did they went on An alaskan cruise for two, weeks
something that they have wanted to do for quite some,
time and so they've been planning. That AND i will just,
say you, know both as a child but also working
at pee, retirement just being able to see your parents
live out their dreams after working so. Hard it's it's.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Incredible, yeah and we got to go to break. Here
but let's pick up on that talk about your parents
a little bit more. HERE i, know we've got some
fun stories to. Tell hopefully they're. Listening if now you
have to text them until, them we're gonna put them
on the you, know roast them here a little.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Bit but this is what.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Matters on six to TEN, Wtvn Joe, schmidz megancasplay with
peak Retirement, planning filling in For mikayla And mandy and
we'll catch you back here and you
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