January 1, 2026 • 33 mins
With almost 25 years of experience as a financial advising professional, Jeff Panik knows that his job is to help clients strike a balance between living well today and planning for the future. Jeff founded Balance Wealth Partners with a simple goal in mind: to create tailored plans for intentional living.
Throughout his career, Jeff has worked with hundreds of families, individuals, and small businesses to help them set goals, strategically manage their assets, and work towards achieving their dreams. The first in his family to attend college, Jeff attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. After graduating, Jeff enlisted in the U.S. Army, spending much of his service in South Korea and later at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. When Jeff completed his service, he was honorably discharged and began working as a Financial Advisor trainee at a large brokerage firm. Jeff has worked at both large investment and independent financial planning firms, and today believes that being independent allows him to offer the personalized service and independent financial advice his clients need and deserve.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Email: jeff@balancewealthpartners.com
Business: Balance Wealth Partners
Website: www.jeffreypanik.com
www.balancewealthpartners.com
Social Media:
LinkedIN - www.linkedin.com/in/jeffpanik/
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Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can help you get more visibility on your products and services.
Throughout his career, Jeff has worked with hundreds of families, individuals, and small businesses to help them set goals, strategically manage their assets, and work towards achieving their dreams. The first in his family to attend college, Jeff attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. After graduating, Jeff enlisted in the U.S. Army, spending much of his service in South Korea and later at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. When Jeff completed his service, he was honorably discharged and began working as a Financial Advisor trainee at a large brokerage firm. Jeff has worked at both large investment and independent financial planning firms, and today believes that being independent allows him to offer the personalized service and independent financial advice his clients need and deserve.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Email: jeff@balancewealthpartners.com
Business: Balance Wealth Partners
Website: www.jeffreypanik.com
www.balancewealthpartners.com
Social Media:
LinkedIN - www.linkedin.com/in/jeffpanik/
Remember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss "Information That You Can Use." Share Just Minding My Business with your family, friends, and colleagues. Engage with us by leaving a review or comment on my Google Business Page. https://g.page/r/CVKSq-IsFaY9EBM/review Your support keeps this podcast going and growing.
Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can help you get more visibility on your products and services.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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(01:39):
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Speaker 1 (01:40):
Welcome to just minding my business. I hope you're having
an amazing day and our gust today has almost twenty
five years of experience as a financial advising professional, Jeff
Pani knows that this job is to help clients strike
(02:01):
a balance between living well today and planning for the future.
Jeff is the founder of Balance Wealth Partners and simple
goal in mind is to just create tailored plans for
intentional living. So welcome, Jeff. I'm so happy to have
you today.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Thank you for having me today.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Absolutely so. I like intentional living.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I like what everybody wants right, intentional absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
At Balance Wealth Partners, how does that? How do you
help people with intentional living?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I really, I think I think whether you're starting out,
or whether you're approaching retirement or in retirement, I think
most people would view their lives as almost like a puzzle,
and really it's a matter of kind of putting the
pieces together and taking the time to understand what the puzzle.
Even when you put the pieces together, you may not
understand what the result is. You know, with a lot
(03:02):
of things these days, with social security and medicare and
just life situations. It's really important to have someone who
knows your situation and has your best interest in mind.
And Google's good for search results and finding things, but
in some ways it can be a bit overwhelming and
(03:23):
doesn't always have your best interest in mind in terms
of some of the sponsored ads and things on there.
If you look at financial topics and other things.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Absolutely, and most people really don't understand all the nuances
that are involved with planning.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And we call it financial jargon. That would be that
would be in one of the books I have. I
have a financial jargon chapter that just goes through and
explains all the terms because they are sometimes I think
people get behind the terms. And then once you start
bringing up things, if you're not sure what it is,
it just makes it even further further difficult to understand. Uh,
(04:04):
And and really kind of work through whatever, you know,
whatever plan or whatever you're trying to do, UH, to
get to the end result.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Absolutely, And let's talk about your book. So, I know
before we went on, you were telling me you have
a book coming out, and you have a book that
you've already published, So let's let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Sure, yeah. So the first book I published was about
a year and a half ago, and it's specifically for
young adults, and really it's designed to be an introductory
guide to managing finances because what I found, most people
getting out of high school, college, technical trade school, they
have to start making all these decisions, whether it's about,
you know, whether you buy or lisa car, whether you
(04:47):
you know, what type of insurance you get, what you know,
are you going to buy a home, rent, how long
credit cards? All these things, what kind of bank account?
And school you're the education system really consumer finance, they
really don't teach that. So the purpose of the book
really was to provide a template for someone that really
wasn't you know, didn't really have any financial experience. And
(05:09):
my background was that I first to go to my
first and my family go to college and went to college.
I ended up with a bunch of student loans and
I ended up getting a notice from Sally May that
said I owed one thousand dollars a month for the
next ten years. You know, that was probably about thirty
plus years ago. I ended up going in the army
for a bunch of years, and they ended up paying
(05:31):
off and forgiving my loan as part of the service.
But it was really kind of a wake up call
for me. And I look now and say, you know,
when I was looking at writing a book, I thought
about my experience and I thought I could write something
that would help people that were in my situation or
are now.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, And what's the title of that book.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It's it's called Your Future Is Now and it's an
introductory guide to managing your finances.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
And I think that's so so important because one of
the things they don't teach us that in school at all.
And I know back in day school, in the college,
every credit card company was sending college students yes credit
(06:18):
and they didn't even have a job.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah. Well, you know, you look at if you if
you turn on during the weekends for college football, and
a lot of these other things have the commercial or
credit card commercials, and you go to a if you
go to a university bookstore, you know, there's there's no
shortage of credit card offers or people selling credit cards
right outside. So it's easy to get over your head
before you even know you're over your head. And that's
(06:41):
that's really a challenge for people. And uh, you know,
there's certain there's certain people where they learn money lessons,
but for a lot of people these days, it's really
finding it out the hard way, and really, you know,
the longer that it takes you to figure it out
and pay down, especially if you're have a bunch of
student loans and you have credit cards, it's going to
(07:03):
be very difficult to do things that we used to
take for granted, like home formation, you know, buying a home,
you know, buying a car, doing things that people used
to take for granted. You know, having all that on
the front end makes it just very difficult to do
simple things that people, like I said, used to take
for granted.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Absolutely, So what can younger folks get from the book?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Just yes, So I think really what you know, it's
really designed to be almost a reference because it's not
like all these things come all at one time. It's
really a matter where they come at different different in
a timeframe. I would say typically within the first three
years of when you become independent, you know, whether it's
you start working for your employer, what type of health
(07:48):
plan do you get? You know, there's not really anything
they can give you a document, but it's probably about
three hundred pages. It's really hard to course through. You know,
if you're setting up a retirement plan, what do you
do there? Or what even is that? And so there's
chapters and it's built out really to try to help.
It also provides examples and hypotheticals so that someone that
(08:09):
isn't really sure or needs some more background could kind
of learn from someone else's situation, you know, a hypothetical example,
and can kind of work through their own. And there's
QR codes built into the book, so they take you
to calculators that can be helpful, whether it's about budgeting
and whether it's about saving or even just how you
(08:31):
manage debt.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
That's so critical. So how can people get the book?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Sure, that book is on Amazon or both books are
on Amazon, Barnes and Noble pretty much where anywhere books
are sold. And you know, for your for your viewers,
I can have I can get it. I can get
you the link where I can just offer it as
a free book for you. So there'll be a PDF
where they can just pull up. Your viewers, if they
are interested, they could pull it up as a pdf. Uh,
(09:00):
and they can just take it as a free book.
Because I think it's invaluable and helpful. You know. That's
why it was written to be really try to help
people that I'm very sympathetic to because I came from
that situation where, uh, you know, my mother raised me
a single mother, and you know, it was very difficult.
And you know, going to college, you think you have
it made, but then you realize, you know, you you
(09:23):
signed all these documents and now you have to pay
for you have to pay for a bunch of student
loans that you that your salary that you're coming out
with doesn't necessarily account.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
For absolutely, And that's the reality. A lot of times
people think they go to college and they're going to
make all this money and it is nothing like that
now because I mean I remember coming out of college
and do you have experience.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
No, I mean not, I just graduated, and you know
that That's the other thing. The book is also designed
for the parent, really talking about how they can better
prepare the young adult for life. You know, there's a
section at that back that really talks about foundational tips.
You know, whether it's if you're thinking about a career,
maybe do an internship before you start down the road
(10:18):
of putting that as your major. And I always use
the example, it's like if you want to be a
nurse and you've never been to a hospital, haven't been
anywhere there, and you go, you know, if you go
for an internship and you realize you don't like blood,
probably not the probably not the best job. And so
it really is design where it talks about even education.
You know, there's a lot of things you can do
(10:38):
to try to minimize student loans, kind of talking about
it and just really helping the young adult to get
to the point where they can be financially independent. And
a lot of times it's a matter the conversation does
doesn't start in six months before graduation. It should start,
you know, when there's eight or nine, just learning things
(10:59):
that we know a lot of people would take for granted,
you know, even just simple things like playing games over
like you know, holidays, life, Monopoly. It's amazing if you
play games, the amount of lessons that you can take
from those games very very true.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Because I remember, you know, my kid at four of five,
I used to have to spell McDonald's because if I
said that word, he knew what that was. Yes, And
then we had to have the conversation about everything he
saw on TV. He wanted. Yes, we had to have
(11:35):
that conversation.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
And that's and that's the biggest thing I think is
that you see the influencers and the people on social
media where they just they just appear like it's just simple.
You know, it's simple to have all these rental properties,
or it's simple to have all these fancy cars or
do all these things. You know, it's it's really not.
And if you if you believe that, that's not the
(11:58):
way to go about it. I mean it most most
people get these things or get those things from hard work,
and and that's sometimes you know, people try to get
around it that there's not a good way usually to
get around that.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
True that and tons of mistakes, yes, and heartaches and
nothing's easy, and that's what they need to understand.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
No, And that's and that's one of the pieces, just
kind of like the parent talking about the mistakes that
they've made, really getting back to kind of humility and
just really working through where there's a lot of lessons
that you can teach your children from your mistakes so
they don't repeat them. And I think you know that
also humanizes you where you're where they understand that you're
(12:41):
not perfect and that if they if you can make mistakes,
they definitely can, and so they'll maybe pay a little
bit more attention.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yes, absolutely. And sometimes kids, you know how they are,
you don't know anything.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yes, yeah, that's the problem. Yeah, especially if they want something,
and that's where you definitely don't know anything. So especially
if you especially like you know, with relationships that they're
getting in relationships and you think it's a bad bad
mix or a bad match. They know everything and you
just say, you just say, well, just wait one day
you'll say I'm right.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yes, absolutely, And it seems like once they turn thirty
then you kind of know something.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yes, well, your brain it takes I think your brain
a while to develop, and I think there's a lot
of decisions that have to be made well before that.
And the education system. These kids have all kinds of
elective classes they take, but you know, something like financial
literacy they just don't really focus on. I think only
twenty two of fifty states have it as a mandate
(13:45):
to graduate, and there's a lot of waivers with that
as well. And you know, there's just things that are
basic that people used to take for granted, like writing
a check. You know, most kids fifteen, sixteen, seventy eighteen
year olds. They don't know how even do that, and
so you have to you have to build the basics
before you can get more advanced and go, you know,
(14:07):
get into the next level. And unfortunately, if your parents
don't teach you and you're not in a situation where uh,
you know, they work with you to learn finances and
consumer finance, you know, you're going to be really at
a disadvantage. And I compare it to like a marathon,
you know, where there's some people that start at mile
six or seven, and then there's other people that gun
(14:28):
goes off and you're just standing at the starting line,
just waiting for somebody to tell you what to do.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
True, very true. So, yeah, your other book, let's talk
a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
What's that title, So that that's uh, that is your
Future is now a guide to building your retirement puzzle
or putting your puzzle together, and so really that that
book is designed for pre retirees and people nearing in
or near retirement really to kind of say, you know,
you spent thirty forty years working in some cases and
(15:03):
you've accumulated things. It's like kind of like when you
go to move after living somewhere for twenty or thirty years,
you don't know how many things you have and how
you're going to get them in all the boxes. You know.
Really it's the same thing with retirement. It's you have
all these different things. A lot of times they work differently.
You know, you have coworkers, family members, friends that may
say you need to do this or do that, but
(15:24):
they have no idea of what your specific situation is.
And really it's a matter of I call it. I
have what I call the Financial Life Inventory Plan, and
the purpose of that is really to take inventory of
your life and really go through. It's a checklist really,
to go through and put yourself in a position so
you can understand what you have, because that's really the
(15:47):
basis to kind of move forward, even when we start
planning and looking at things, because you want to take
inventory and understand all the pieces before you start putting
them together.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Absolutely, and for most people they definitely need help with
that because once they look at everything they have, it's
like noil.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
What no I mean? And it's and and you know,
the other thing I always bring up as well, is
it's not something that's a one and done. It's something
that you have to do on an ongoing basis. You know,
whether you're going into retirement and you're looking at Medicare,
whether you're looking at you know, how you manage yourself security.
You know what kind of health benefits do you have.
You know whether you have retire eehealth benefits, whether you
(16:27):
have to get Medicare supplement. There's a lot of things,
and that is really a continued item along a long
time where you just don't want to just do it
one time and then forget about it. You know, whether
it's changing your beneficiaries if there's a life event, or
you know, whether it's just making sure that there's just
not money out there that you could claim, uh that
(16:48):
you're not you're not aware of.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yes, you're so right, because I mean I'm semi retired
and having to fill out that paperwork alone if like
you need to help with debt is just unreal. And
then now they're making it so it is compute of
us and a lot of people entering into the retirement
(17:14):
arena they barely know how to work to compete.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, and it's you know, and some of these decisions
that are being made, especially around medicare. You know, if
you don't make your decision with the prescription drug and
some of these things at the right time, there are
penalties involved that can be irreversible. So it's just very
important to really go in with your eyes wide open
and making sure you're making informed decisions and approaching retirements.
Like you know, a lot of people are finished with
(17:40):
you know, the children are out of the house, they're raised,
they're not you know where you're having to pay money
every month for their education and to take care of them.
You know, So where does that money go? You know,
and that's another thing. Does it go to your debt,
does it go to savings or does it due to
some sort of combination. And that really is a period
of time, especially a lot of people pre retirees. They
(18:03):
usually will have three to five, six seven years before
really retiring or really slowing down, you know, where they retire,
And it's a matter of understanding where you're at and
what you need to do to if in case you
need to course correct or make changes. And you know,
I think the more that you know or the more
that you can understand, you know, the better off you
(18:25):
will be in the long run. And that book is
the same where there's QR codes, there's hypothetical examples that
talk about you know, social Security, Medicare, insurance. You know,
even with talking about car buying, managing debt, putting together
a budget. You know, that's the other thing. Whether you're
a young adult or someone going into retirement, those are
(18:46):
two periods of time where you're going through change, and
it's important really to understand what your budget is. You know,
if you're paying for two or three of the same
subscription services, you know, whether it's Amazon, whether it's Netflix,
all these things, you want to basically pair those back
and get make sure you understand where all the money's
going and what's going to be coming in.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And that's important throughout life because you oh, this is great.
Next thing, email unit, subscribe, you pay a food Yes,
it's like, do I really really needed you know what
I'm saying. You have the diact assessment because it's just
important on a like you said, it's not one and done,
(19:30):
it's a constant behavior.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
So at Balance Wealth Partners, how do you give us
a day in the office with the client?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Sure? I mean, you know, and I have staff that
helped me with everything. So it's like everything else. I mean,
you have to surround yourself with good people and you
have to have them obviously understand kind of what the
buy in for the company is, what you're trying to do.
By doing that, you know they can kind of understand
the direction of things. And it really it's a matter
of just trying to work with clients and you know,
(20:04):
doing reviews on an ongoing basis. But also, uh, there's
always things life life events that come up. Whether it's
a you know, a death, divorce, whether somebody is trying
to buy a home and they need to get fun.
There's there's always something. So it's really a matter from
a service perspective perspective and making sure that if someone
reaches someone reaches out a client, that they get a
(20:25):
callback or they someone answers the phone and that they
can help them and meet their need whatever it is,
or try to help them point them in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes, absolutely so how do people connect with you?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Sure? So, I'm on a LinkedIn as well as I
have website to Bounce well Partners. I also have Jeffreypanic
dot com which has the book information. There's a lot
of helpful videos on there from topics like social security,
medicare just talking about things in a fashion where they're
usually going to be about a one to three minute
video with little snippets, so it allows you really to
(21:03):
look at it. Whether you're watching, you can even look
at it's their closed captions, so you can see kind
of the you know, you don't have to listen to
my voice and you can kind of get some information
in a very short amount of time that they're designed
to be useful, helpful and educational.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, and sin sweet talking about the medicare situation. I
guess everybody knows what's happening in the news right now.
Does your company stay on top of the changes and
different things that could affect.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean one of the things is even with
social Security. Now, you know, if your income is behind
now behind, if your income has blow certain thresholds, now
you aren't you're not going to be in a position
where you have to pay Social Security taxes on your
Social Security. So for a lot of people, it's going
to be a nice amount of money that they have
coming in that some people aren't even aware of. But
(21:57):
you know, really there's always things that are constantly changed.
It's important, especially if you're around. So for an individual,
it's typically going to be less than seventy five thousand
income and for a couple less than one hundred and fifty.
You know, if you can stay below that, you know,
in most cases your sale security is not going to
be taxed, and so the benefit of that is, you know,
that could be significant savings. So you want to understand
(22:19):
what your other investments and other things are doing so
that you can really focus on staying below that. You know.
The other thing on the Medicare side is really more
on the I would say on the prescription side, you
always want to evaluate your Medicare plan each year, especially
if your prescriptions change or a lot in a lot
of cases, the provider will change the tier of your prescriptions.
(22:41):
So it's it's just unfortunate that it's so complicated the
Medicare system for people that are aging. It should have
it should have been designed, you know, much more simple
and it's anything but it's like the alphabet soup at
this point of different different plans and everything else.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
For sure, it's for sure because I remember having to
get some help because I'm like, you first enter into
these platforms and it's like walk walk, walk. Yes, what
in the world is all this jugging?
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And you can pull the government forms and you're the
four numbers. You know, they're probably about a twenty thirty
page package of things that you can kind of browse
through and kind of realize that it would might probably
be good for a cold day in a fireplace.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
So yeah, and some help, Yes, yes, yes, for sure,
for sure because things are moving at the speed of lightning,
you know, constantly moving, and having someone that you can
trust to navigate you through is invaluable.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
It's just I mean, it's it's it's probably more important
now than ever, even with all the technology advances and
all the productivity and everything that you can get out
of technology. You know, there's a lot of generalizations. It's
easy to you know, look up these things, but the
web searches they can't really get your specific situation in mind,
(24:15):
given all the pieces that are involved. And that's really
I think where it's important to have someone that can
help you and be on the same side of the
table as you.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yes, absolutely, you can't get around it nowadays. You really
need you have to have someone that does understand you
first of all, and then matches your situation with the
availability of things and works best.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
For you exactly. And everyone's different, you know their vision.
It's really I mean, the other thing I look at
in the first chapter of the pre Retired book is
really a lot of it talks about goals and your vision.
You know, you really want to factor what your goals
are going into retirement where you just don't flip the
switch and one day you're retired. You know, you need
to have some planning around what you want to do.
You know, you've worked your whole life. It's important to
(25:07):
kind of have a strategy and like kind of like
you're doing. It's very popular where you look at it
down shifting, where you just slow down you keep going.
I think sometimes for someone that is very active, working,
you know, a lot of hours a week, the worst
thing they can do is just stop, you know. And
now I use the example of saying, well, you know,
I'm going to play golf where I'm in a garden
(25:28):
and you do that for a couple of weeks and
you realize you hate it after you're retired, you know,
and it's important to have those hobbies goals. Really, the
other thing I would say is really an accountability partner
someone that is with you, whether they're retiring at the
same time, you know, and a lot of cases it's
sometimes even better for it not to be a spouse,
you know, someone that has common interest where you know
(25:50):
you can kind of work through, you know. I use
the example of lifelong learning. You know, there's several three
or four different websites you can go to that offer
lifelong learning courses where you can learn new things. So
it's I think the important thing with you know, your
brain and just being you know, it's a muscle, so
you have to use it. And so I think having
(26:11):
all these technology is great, but it's a matter of
utilizing where it benefits you and doesn't just put you
in kind of a corner where you're just sitting there
watching the news waiting for the world to end. You know.
That's so I think really it's a matter of kind
of finding what you enjoy, you know, your family hobbies,
and then you know, working through to get to the
(26:32):
point where you can do that on a daily basis
rather than having to go in and work. And if
you're happy with your work, you know, it's a good
idea to continue and kind of work for you work
over time and transition.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yes, yes, and I think you're so right. I mean,
the days of retiring and sitting home that pretty much
over for a lot of retirees. They are they either
started your second it.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Which is that's a that's a great way to call it,
and I think that's the way more people need to
look at it. And unfortunately the people that are sitting
at home, that's the worst thing that you can do
for your memory, for your body. It's you know, like health,
it's you know, not just taking a financial check of yourself,
it's taking a health check of yourself as well before
you get to the point of retiring. Because there's a
(27:23):
lot of things. I use the example of, you know,
if you have a corporate dental plan, it will cover
a lot more than when you're off of that and
you're on the medicare where really you're having to pay
out a pocket. So a lot of these things, if
you can plan for, you can you know, you can
utilize your benefits while you need them, as opposed to
waiting till they're gone and then you have to come
(27:44):
out of pocket with a bunch of money that is
further going to draw down your savings.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
True, true, So it's so much to think about, so
much to think about.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
It it is, and that that I think is the
other piece. The one thing you never want to do
is say I'm going to solve this in a weekend.
You know, it's really a six to twelve month process
really to get everything together, go through a process driven
approach where you can get from not really sure where
you stand to being confident. And then that doesn't it's
not something where it's just don't one and done. As
(28:14):
I mentioned before, really you want to look on an
ongoing basis to make sure things are going the way
they should be and if they need to make changes,
there need to be changes rather than just kind of
not paying attention.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Absolutely, So if people want to connect with future, get
the book and connect with you, how do they do such?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yes, so you know, if you go to the balance
Well Partners site, or if you go to Jeffreypanic dot com,
there's my information on there, my contact information, and as
I mentioned, I'll provide you with the free book of
the young adult book. I think it's good for anyone
that is, whether it's a parent or young adult, where
at least it can kind of point them in the
right direction. As a reference, you know, because it's there's
(28:57):
so many things that are hard to figure out, even
if you're if you're young. You know, I look at
even myself. It's like, well, what is comprehensive coverage for
a car? You know? What is an umbrella policy? What
are things that it's not? You know, it's there for
the rainy day, the umbrella policy, but what is it?
And should I have it? And how do I get it?
You know. So these are all things that the book
tries to lay out in a in a way that
(29:20):
it doesn't overwhelm you with a bunch of financial jargon
and make it makes it so that you can look
at it and say, oh, well this is what this
is and then work from there.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yes, absolutely, so you kind of keep it nice and simple.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
So people try try it, you know that I think
if you can do that, that's what my goal is.
And it's difficult sometimes with things, but that's what it
goes back to as well as I use examples and
hypotheticals of circumstances. You know, if somebody is looking at
sol security in the second book, I have two or
three different scenarios where someone goes through the process of
(29:55):
applying and getting Social Security.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
The other thing I look at is your credit identity theft.
You know, there's chapters on that, you know, talking about
how you manage your credit, how do you protect yourself
against identity theft? You know, so that I walk through that,
so someone could just go through the process from start
to finish of putting themselves in a better financial position
as it relates to just doing things that will help
(30:20):
prevent a lot of probably harm later.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, and cybersecurity, that's a huge, huge, huge, and a
lot of times seniors are the targets.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Yeah, you know, that's the two main groups are seniors
and children, mainly because it's easy. You know, with the children,
nobody's monitoring their credit typically, and it's in the books
I always talk about it's important to freeze their credit
because you don't want to go on for five, six, seven,
ten years and then they go to apply for credit
and they have this history because there's fraud, and then
(30:54):
you have to go back and try to figure it
all out, and it just can be very costly and
very stressful to say the least.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Absolutely, absolutely, Wow, this has been amazing, Jeff. You have
really open my eyes and I'm sure my audiences are
things that you need to, you know, be thinking about,
not just for if you're getting ready to enter retirement,
but also in raising your children to be financially literate.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yes, yeah, and I think if you can, you know,
and there's things you can do. And I think it's
just a matter you know, everyone has a finite amount
of time. That's the one thing that we only have
so much of. I wish I could find like an
eighth day. It would be great because I would have
like I would be even more efficient. But then I
went a ninth day. That's the problem, you know, it's
if you can never get enough, and really with time,
(31:47):
you want to try to maximize it and make sure
the time you spend with them, you know you can
they can learn from you, because it's all as you know,
a blink of an eye with children, you know, before
you know it, you see them when they're an infant
and then they're like they're taller than you.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
So absolutely absolutely, because I see that with my son.
I mean, yes, I remember when he was a baby
and now I gotta do this.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
I got to.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So you are so right, Well, so you have definitely
dropped some good information on us today I have definitely
appreciated and I know my audience appreciates it as well.
So I thank you so much Jeff for coming by
and sharing your wisdom with all of us.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
No, I appreciate the opportunity to be on your.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Show absolutely, Thank you. Thank you to our guests and
you our value audience.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Let's stop you by. We truly appreciate you. Many blessings
to you and yours.
Welcome to Just Minded My Business Media LLC, where you
get information that you can use.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
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(01:39):
from you.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Welcome to just minding my business. I hope you're having
an amazing day and our gust today has almost twenty
five years of experience as a financial advising professional, Jeff
Pani knows that this job is to help clients strike
(02:01):
a balance between living well today and planning for the future.
Jeff is the founder of Balance Wealth Partners and simple
goal in mind is to just create tailored plans for
intentional living. So welcome, Jeff. I'm so happy to have
you today.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Thank you for having me today.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Absolutely so. I like intentional living.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
I like what everybody wants right, intentional absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
At Balance Wealth Partners, how does that? How do you
help people with intentional living?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I really, I think I think whether you're starting out,
or whether you're approaching retirement or in retirement, I think
most people would view their lives as almost like a puzzle,
and really it's a matter of kind of putting the
pieces together and taking the time to understand what the puzzle.
Even when you put the pieces together, you may not
understand what the result is. You know, with a lot
(03:02):
of things these days, with social security and medicare and
just life situations. It's really important to have someone who
knows your situation and has your best interest in mind.
And Google's good for search results and finding things, but
in some ways it can be a bit overwhelming and
(03:23):
doesn't always have your best interest in mind in terms
of some of the sponsored ads and things on there.
If you look at financial topics and other things.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Absolutely, and most people really don't understand all the nuances
that are involved with planning.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
And we call it financial jargon. That would be that
would be in one of the books I have. I
have a financial jargon chapter that just goes through and
explains all the terms because they are sometimes I think
people get behind the terms. And then once you start
bringing up things, if you're not sure what it is,
it just makes it even further further difficult to understand. Uh,
(04:04):
And and really kind of work through whatever, you know,
whatever plan or whatever you're trying to do, UH, to
get to the end result.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Absolutely, And let's talk about your book. So, I know
before we went on, you were telling me you have
a book coming out, and you have a book that
you've already published, So let's let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Sure, yeah. So the first book I published was about
a year and a half ago, and it's specifically for
young adults, and really it's designed to be an introductory
guide to managing finances because what I found, most people
getting out of high school, college, technical trade school, they
have to start making all these decisions, whether it's about,
you know, whether you buy or lisa car, whether you
(04:47):
you know, what type of insurance you get, what you know,
are you going to buy a home, rent, how long
credit cards? All these things, what kind of bank account?
And school you're the education system really consumer finance, they
really don't teach that. So the purpose of the book
really was to provide a template for someone that really
wasn't you know, didn't really have any financial experience. And
(05:09):
my background was that I first to go to my
first and my family go to college and went to college.
I ended up with a bunch of student loans and
I ended up getting a notice from Sally May that
said I owed one thousand dollars a month for the
next ten years. You know, that was probably about thirty
plus years ago. I ended up going in the army
for a bunch of years, and they ended up paying
(05:31):
off and forgiving my loan as part of the service.
But it was really kind of a wake up call
for me. And I look now and say, you know,
when I was looking at writing a book, I thought
about my experience and I thought I could write something
that would help people that were in my situation or
are now.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Yes, And what's the title of that book.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
It's it's called Your Future Is Now and it's an
introductory guide to managing your finances.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
And I think that's so so important because one of
the things they don't teach us that in school at all.
And I know back in day school, in the college,
every credit card company was sending college students yes credit
(06:18):
and they didn't even have a job.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah. Well, you know, you look at if you if
you turn on during the weekends for college football, and
a lot of these other things have the commercial or
credit card commercials, and you go to a if you
go to a university bookstore, you know, there's there's no
shortage of credit card offers or people selling credit cards
right outside. So it's easy to get over your head
before you even know you're over your head. And that's
(06:41):
that's really a challenge for people. And uh, you know,
there's certain there's certain people where they learn money lessons,
but for a lot of people these days, it's really
finding it out the hard way, and really, you know,
the longer that it takes you to figure it out
and pay down, especially if you're have a bunch of
student loans and you have credit cards, it's going to
(07:03):
be very difficult to do things that we used to
take for granted, like home formation, you know, buying a home,
you know, buying a car, doing things that people used
to take for granted. You know, having all that on
the front end makes it just very difficult to do
simple things that people, like I said, used to take
for granted.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Absolutely, So what can younger folks get from the book?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Just yes, So I think really what you know, it's
really designed to be almost a reference because it's not
like all these things come all at one time. It's
really a matter where they come at different different in
a timeframe. I would say typically within the first three
years of when you become independent, you know, whether it's
you start working for your employer, what type of health
(07:48):
plan do you get? You know, there's not really anything
they can give you a document, but it's probably about
three hundred pages. It's really hard to course through. You know,
if you're setting up a retirement plan, what do you
do there? Or what even is that? And so there's
chapters and it's built out really to try to help.
It also provides examples and hypotheticals so that someone that
(08:09):
isn't really sure or needs some more background could kind
of learn from someone else's situation, you know, a hypothetical example,
and can kind of work through their own. And there's
QR codes built into the book, so they take you
to calculators that can be helpful, whether it's about budgeting
and whether it's about saving or even just how you
(08:31):
manage debt.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
That's so critical. So how can people get the book?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Sure, that book is on Amazon or both books are
on Amazon, Barnes and Noble pretty much where anywhere books
are sold. And you know, for your for your viewers,
I can have I can get it. I can get
you the link where I can just offer it as
a free book for you. So there'll be a PDF
where they can just pull up. Your viewers, if they
are interested, they could pull it up as a pdf. Uh,
(09:00):
and they can just take it as a free book.
Because I think it's invaluable and helpful. You know. That's
why it was written to be really try to help
people that I'm very sympathetic to because I came from
that situation where, uh, you know, my mother raised me
a single mother, and you know, it was very difficult.
And you know, going to college, you think you have
it made, but then you realize, you know, you you
(09:23):
signed all these documents and now you have to pay
for you have to pay for a bunch of student
loans that you that your salary that you're coming out
with doesn't necessarily account.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
For absolutely, And that's the reality. A lot of times
people think they go to college and they're going to
make all this money and it is nothing like that
now because I mean I remember coming out of college
and do you have experience.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
No, I mean not, I just graduated, and you know
that That's the other thing. The book is also designed
for the parent, really talking about how they can better
prepare the young adult for life. You know, there's a
section at that back that really talks about foundational tips.
You know, whether it's if you're thinking about a career,
maybe do an internship before you start down the road
(10:18):
of putting that as your major. And I always use
the example, it's like if you want to be a
nurse and you've never been to a hospital, haven't been
anywhere there, and you go, you know, if you go
for an internship and you realize you don't like blood,
probably not the probably not the best job. And so
it really is design where it talks about even education.
You know, there's a lot of things you can do
(10:38):
to try to minimize student loans, kind of talking about
it and just really helping the young adult to get
to the point where they can be financially independent. And
a lot of times it's a matter the conversation does
doesn't start in six months before graduation. It should start,
you know, when there's eight or nine, just learning things
(10:59):
that we know a lot of people would take for granted,
you know, even just simple things like playing games over
like you know, holidays, life, Monopoly. It's amazing if you
play games, the amount of lessons that you can take
from those games very very true.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Because I remember, you know, my kid at four of five,
I used to have to spell McDonald's because if I
said that word, he knew what that was. Yes, And
then we had to have the conversation about everything he
saw on TV. He wanted. Yes, we had to have
(11:35):
that conversation.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
And that's and that's the biggest thing I think is
that you see the influencers and the people on social
media where they just they just appear like it's just simple.
You know, it's simple to have all these rental properties,
or it's simple to have all these fancy cars or
do all these things. You know, it's it's really not.
And if you if you believe that, that's not the
(11:58):
way to go about it. I mean it most most
people get these things or get those things from hard work,
and and that's sometimes you know, people try to get
around it that there's not a good way usually to
get around that.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
True that and tons of mistakes, yes, and heartaches and
nothing's easy, and that's what they need to understand.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
No, And that's and that's one of the pieces, just
kind of like the parent talking about the mistakes that
they've made, really getting back to kind of humility and
just really working through where there's a lot of lessons
that you can teach your children from your mistakes so
they don't repeat them. And I think you know that
also humanizes you where you're where they understand that you're
(12:41):
not perfect and that if they if you can make mistakes,
they definitely can, and so they'll maybe pay a little
bit more attention.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yes, absolutely. And sometimes kids, you know how they are,
you don't know anything.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Yes, yeah, that's the problem. Yeah, especially if they want something,
and that's where you definitely don't know anything. So especially
if you especially like you know, with relationships that they're
getting in relationships and you think it's a bad bad
mix or a bad match. They know everything and you
just say, you just say, well, just wait one day
you'll say I'm right.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yes, absolutely, And it seems like once they turn thirty
then you kind of know something.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yes, well, your brain it takes I think your brain
a while to develop, and I think there's a lot
of decisions that have to be made well before that.
And the education system. These kids have all kinds of
elective classes they take, but you know, something like financial
literacy they just don't really focus on. I think only
twenty two of fifty states have it as a mandate
(13:45):
to graduate, and there's a lot of waivers with that
as well. And you know, there's just things that are
basic that people used to take for granted, like writing
a check. You know, most kids fifteen, sixteen, seventy eighteen
year olds. They don't know how even do that, and
so you have to you have to build the basics
before you can get more advanced and go, you know,
(14:07):
get into the next level. And unfortunately, if your parents
don't teach you and you're not in a situation where uh,
you know, they work with you to learn finances and
consumer finance, you know, you're going to be really at
a disadvantage. And I compare it to like a marathon,
you know, where there's some people that start at mile
six or seven, and then there's other people that gun
(14:28):
goes off and you're just standing at the starting line,
just waiting for somebody to tell you what to do.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
True, very true. So, yeah, your other book, let's talk
a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
What's that title, So that that's uh, that is your
Future is now a guide to building your retirement puzzle
or putting your puzzle together, and so really that that
book is designed for pre retirees and people nearing in
or near retirement really to kind of say, you know,
you spent thirty forty years working in some cases and
(15:03):
you've accumulated things. It's like kind of like when you
go to move after living somewhere for twenty or thirty years,
you don't know how many things you have and how
you're going to get them in all the boxes. You know.
Really it's the same thing with retirement. It's you have
all these different things. A lot of times they work differently.
You know, you have coworkers, family members, friends that may
say you need to do this or do that, but
(15:24):
they have no idea of what your specific situation is.
And really it's a matter of I call it. I
have what I call the Financial Life Inventory Plan, and
the purpose of that is really to take inventory of
your life and really go through. It's a checklist really,
to go through and put yourself in a position so
you can understand what you have, because that's really the
(15:47):
basis to kind of move forward, even when we start
planning and looking at things, because you want to take
inventory and understand all the pieces before you start putting
them together.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Absolutely, and for most people they definitely need help with
that because once they look at everything they have, it's
like noil.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
What no I mean? And it's and and you know,
the other thing I always bring up as well, is
it's not something that's a one and done. It's something
that you have to do on an ongoing basis. You know,
whether you're going into retirement and you're looking at Medicare,
whether you're looking at you know, how you manage yourself security.
You know what kind of health benefits do you have.
You know whether you have retire eehealth benefits, whether you
(16:27):
have to get Medicare supplement. There's a lot of things,
and that is really a continued item along a long
time where you just don't want to just do it
one time and then forget about it. You know, whether
it's changing your beneficiaries if there's a life event, or
you know, whether it's just making sure that there's just
not money out there that you could claim, uh that
(16:48):
you're not you're not aware of.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yes, you're so right, because I mean I'm semi retired
and having to fill out that paperwork alone if like
you need to help with debt is just unreal. And
then now they're making it so it is compute of
us and a lot of people entering into the retirement
(17:14):
arena they barely know how to work to compete.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Yeah, and it's you know, and some of these decisions
that are being made, especially around medicare. You know, if
you don't make your decision with the prescription drug and
some of these things at the right time, there are
penalties involved that can be irreversible. So it's just very
important to really go in with your eyes wide open
and making sure you're making informed decisions and approaching retirements.
Like you know, a lot of people are finished with
(17:40):
you know, the children are out of the house, they're raised,
they're not you know where you're having to pay money
every month for their education and to take care of them.
You know, So where does that money go? You know,
and that's another thing. Does it go to your debt,
does it go to savings or does it due to
some sort of combination. And that really is a period
of time, especially a lot of people pre retirees. They
(18:03):
usually will have three to five, six seven years before
really retiring or really slowing down, you know, where they retire,
And it's a matter of understanding where you're at and
what you need to do to if in case you
need to course correct or make changes. And you know,
I think the more that you know or the more
that you can understand, you know, the better off you
(18:25):
will be in the long run. And that book is
the same where there's QR codes, there's hypothetical examples that
talk about you know, social Security, Medicare, insurance. You know,
even with talking about car buying, managing debt, putting together
a budget. You know, that's the other thing. Whether you're
a young adult or someone going into retirement, those are
(18:46):
two periods of time where you're going through change, and
it's important really to understand what your budget is. You know,
if you're paying for two or three of the same
subscription services, you know, whether it's Amazon, whether it's Netflix,
all these things, you want to basically pair those back
and get make sure you understand where all the money's
going and what's going to be coming in.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And that's important throughout life because you oh, this is great.
Next thing, email unit, subscribe, you pay a food Yes,
it's like, do I really really needed you know what
I'm saying. You have the diact assessment because it's just
important on a like you said, it's not one and done,
(19:30):
it's a constant behavior.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
So at Balance Wealth Partners, how do you give us
a day in the office with the client?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Sure? I mean, you know, and I have staff that
helped me with everything. So it's like everything else. I mean,
you have to surround yourself with good people and you
have to have them obviously understand kind of what the
buy in for the company is, what you're trying to do.
By doing that, you know they can kind of understand
the direction of things. And it really it's a matter
of just trying to work with clients and you know,
(20:04):
doing reviews on an ongoing basis. But also, uh, there's
always things life life events that come up. Whether it's
a you know, a death, divorce, whether somebody is trying
to buy a home and they need to get fun.
There's there's always something. So it's really a matter from
a service perspective perspective and making sure that if someone
reaches someone reaches out a client, that they get a
(20:25):
callback or they someone answers the phone and that they
can help them and meet their need whatever it is,
or try to help them point them in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes, absolutely so how do people connect with you?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Sure? So, I'm on a LinkedIn as well as I
have website to Bounce well Partners. I also have Jeffreypanic
dot com which has the book information. There's a lot
of helpful videos on there from topics like social security,
medicare just talking about things in a fashion where they're
usually going to be about a one to three minute
video with little snippets, so it allows you really to
(21:03):
look at it. Whether you're watching, you can even look
at it's their closed captions, so you can see kind
of the you know, you don't have to listen to
my voice and you can kind of get some information
in a very short amount of time that they're designed
to be useful, helpful and educational.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, and sin sweet talking about the medicare situation. I
guess everybody knows what's happening in the news right now.
Does your company stay on top of the changes and
different things that could affect.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean one of the things is even with
social Security. Now, you know, if your income is behind
now behind, if your income has blow certain thresholds, now
you aren't you're not going to be in a position
where you have to pay Social Security taxes on your
Social Security. So for a lot of people, it's going
to be a nice amount of money that they have
coming in that some people aren't even aware of. But
(21:57):
you know, really there's always things that are constantly changed.
It's important, especially if you're around. So for an individual,
it's typically going to be less than seventy five thousand
income and for a couple less than one hundred and fifty.
You know, if you can stay below that, you know,
in most cases your sale security is not going to
be taxed, and so the benefit of that is, you know,
that could be significant savings. So you want to understand
(22:19):
what your other investments and other things are doing so
that you can really focus on staying below that. You know.
The other thing on the Medicare side is really more
on the I would say on the prescription side, you
always want to evaluate your Medicare plan each year, especially
if your prescriptions change or a lot in a lot
of cases, the provider will change the tier of your prescriptions.
(22:41):
So it's it's just unfortunate that it's so complicated the
Medicare system for people that are aging. It should have
it should have been designed, you know, much more simple
and it's anything but it's like the alphabet soup at
this point of different different plans and everything else.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
For sure, it's for sure because I remember having to
get some help because I'm like, you first enter into
these platforms and it's like walk walk, walk. Yes, what
in the world is all this jugging?
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And you can pull the government forms and you're the
four numbers. You know, they're probably about a twenty thirty
page package of things that you can kind of browse
through and kind of realize that it would might probably
be good for a cold day in a fireplace.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
So yeah, and some help, Yes, yes, yes, for sure,
for sure because things are moving at the speed of lightning,
you know, constantly moving, and having someone that you can
trust to navigate you through is invaluable.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
It's just I mean, it's it's it's probably more important
now than ever, even with all the technology advances and
all the productivity and everything that you can get out
of technology. You know, there's a lot of generalizations. It's
easy to you know, look up these things, but the
web searches they can't really get your specific situation in mind,
(24:15):
given all the pieces that are involved. And that's really
I think where it's important to have someone that can
help you and be on the same side of the
table as you.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yes, absolutely, you can't get around it nowadays. You really
need you have to have someone that does understand you
first of all, and then matches your situation with the
availability of things and works best.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
For you exactly. And everyone's different, you know their vision.
It's really I mean, the other thing I look at
in the first chapter of the pre Retired book is
really a lot of it talks about goals and your vision.
You know, you really want to factor what your goals
are going into retirement where you just don't flip the
switch and one day you're retired. You know, you need
to have some planning around what you want to do.
You know, you've worked your whole life. It's important to
(25:07):
kind of have a strategy and like kind of like
you're doing. It's very popular where you look at it
down shifting, where you just slow down you keep going.
I think sometimes for someone that is very active, working,
you know, a lot of hours a week, the worst
thing they can do is just stop, you know. And
now I use the example of saying, well, you know,
I'm going to play golf where I'm in a garden
(25:28):
and you do that for a couple of weeks and
you realize you hate it after you're retired, you know,
and it's important to have those hobbies goals. Really, the
other thing I would say is really an accountability partner
someone that is with you, whether they're retiring at the
same time, you know, and a lot of cases it's
sometimes even better for it not to be a spouse,
you know, someone that has common interest where you know
(25:50):
you can kind of work through, you know. I use
the example of lifelong learning. You know, there's several three
or four different websites you can go to that offer
lifelong learning courses where you can learn new things. So
it's I think the important thing with you know, your
brain and just being you know, it's a muscle, so
you have to use it. And so I think having
(26:11):
all these technology is great, but it's a matter of
utilizing where it benefits you and doesn't just put you
in kind of a corner where you're just sitting there
watching the news waiting for the world to end. You know.
That's so I think really it's a matter of kind
of finding what you enjoy, you know, your family hobbies,
and then you know, working through to get to the
(26:32):
point where you can do that on a daily basis
rather than having to go in and work. And if
you're happy with your work, you know, it's a good
idea to continue and kind of work for you work
over time and transition.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yes, yes, and I think you're so right. I mean,
the days of retiring and sitting home that pretty much
over for a lot of retirees. They are they either
started your second it.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Which is that's a that's a great way to call it,
and I think that's the way more people need to
look at it. And unfortunately the people that are sitting
at home, that's the worst thing that you can do
for your memory, for your body. It's you know, like health,
it's you know, not just taking a financial check of yourself,
it's taking a health check of yourself as well before
you get to the point of retiring. Because there's a
(27:23):
lot of things. I use the example of, you know,
if you have a corporate dental plan, it will cover
a lot more than when you're off of that and
you're on the medicare where really you're having to pay
out a pocket. So a lot of these things, if
you can plan for, you can you know, you can
utilize your benefits while you need them, as opposed to
waiting till they're gone and then you have to come
(27:44):
out of pocket with a bunch of money that is
further going to draw down your savings.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
True, true, So it's so much to think about, so
much to think about.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
It it is, and that that I think is the
other piece. The one thing you never want to do
is say I'm going to solve this in a weekend.
You know, it's really a six to twelve month process
really to get everything together, go through a process driven
approach where you can get from not really sure where
you stand to being confident. And then that doesn't it's
not something where it's just don't one and done. As
(28:14):
I mentioned before, really you want to look on an
ongoing basis to make sure things are going the way
they should be and if they need to make changes,
there need to be changes rather than just kind of
not paying attention.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Absolutely, So if people want to connect with future, get
the book and connect with you, how do they do such?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yes, so you know, if you go to the balance
Well Partners site, or if you go to Jeffreypanic dot com,
there's my information on there, my contact information, and as
I mentioned, I'll provide you with the free book of
the young adult book. I think it's good for anyone
that is, whether it's a parent or young adult, where
at least it can kind of point them in the
right direction. As a reference, you know, because it's there's
(28:57):
so many things that are hard to figure out, even
if you're if you're young. You know, I look at
even myself. It's like, well, what is comprehensive coverage for
a car? You know? What is an umbrella policy? What
are things that it's not? You know, it's there for
the rainy day, the umbrella policy, but what is it?
And should I have it? And how do I get it?
You know. So these are all things that the book
tries to lay out in a in a way that
(29:20):
it doesn't overwhelm you with a bunch of financial jargon
and make it makes it so that you can look
at it and say, oh, well this is what this
is and then work from there.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yes, absolutely, so you kind of keep it nice and simple.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
So people try try it, you know that I think
if you can do that, that's what my goal is.
And it's difficult sometimes with things, but that's what it
goes back to as well as I use examples and
hypotheticals of circumstances. You know, if somebody is looking at
sol security in the second book, I have two or
three different scenarios where someone goes through the process of
(29:55):
applying and getting Social Security.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
The other thing I look at is your credit identity theft.
You know, there's chapters on that, you know, talking about
how you manage your credit, how do you protect yourself
against identity theft? You know, so that I walk through that,
so someone could just go through the process from start
to finish of putting themselves in a better financial position
as it relates to just doing things that will help
(30:20):
prevent a lot of probably harm later.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, and cybersecurity, that's a huge, huge, huge, and a
lot of times seniors are the targets.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Yeah, you know, that's the two main groups are seniors
and children, mainly because it's easy. You know, with the children,
nobody's monitoring their credit typically, and it's in the books
I always talk about it's important to freeze their credit
because you don't want to go on for five, six, seven,
ten years and then they go to apply for credit
and they have this history because there's fraud, and then
(30:54):
you have to go back and try to figure it
all out, and it just can be very costly and
very stressful to say the least.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Absolutely, absolutely, Wow, this has been amazing, Jeff. You have
really open my eyes and I'm sure my audiences are
things that you need to, you know, be thinking about,
not just for if you're getting ready to enter retirement,
but also in raising your children to be financially literate.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yes, yeah, and I think if you can, you know,
and there's things you can do. And I think it's
just a matter you know, everyone has a finite amount
of time. That's the one thing that we only have
so much of. I wish I could find like an
eighth day. It would be great because I would have
like I would be even more efficient. But then I
went a ninth day. That's the problem, you know, it's
if you can never get enough, and really with time,
(31:47):
you want to try to maximize it and make sure
the time you spend with them, you know you can
they can learn from you, because it's all as you know,
a blink of an eye with children, you know, before
you know it, you see them when they're an infant
and then they're like they're taller than you.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
So absolutely absolutely, because I see that with my son.
I mean, yes, I remember when he was a baby
and now I gotta do this.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
I got to.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So you are so right, Well, so you have definitely
dropped some good information on us today I have definitely
appreciated and I know my audience appreciates it as well.
So I thank you so much Jeff for coming by
and sharing your wisdom with all of us.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
No, I appreciate the opportunity to be on your.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Show absolutely, Thank you. Thank you to our guests and
you our value audience.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Let's stop you by. We truly appreciate you. Many blessings
to you and yours.
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