0:02 Who are you? And where are you going? What do you want? [Music] Hello and welcome to People Making Money. I'm your host, Kevin Bemmel. And uh normally we're here at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time, but had a little um scheduling mishap for which I am responsible. Um but fortunately my guest uh Michael Scarpati um hung in there. We
0:39 got it straightened out. Um so today we're it's you know 10:15 Pacific time and we're starting the show. Uh but um very very happy to have uh Michael on the show today. So as you know people making money is about job hunting about starting and building a business and building up wealth. So the whole financial side of life and Michael has uh built a tool an online tool that is particularly adept at
1:16 helping you with the the wealthb buildinging side of life. uh he was uh kind enough to to share it with me um I think a month or two ago and I I um looked through it but um you know you're really going to get the the the this the straight stuff from from Michael here with with a lot of good advice. Now um I you know on Michael's behalf you know as I always mention when we have these these um you know a guest like Michael um he is not giving you investment advice. Okay. Right. Let's let's make that clear. Nor am I. Right.
1:52 Um when it comes to legal issues, accounting issues, investment issues, you need to talk to your advisors because they they will be familiar with your specific situation. Okay? So, we're we're here to give you um to help you learn and and maybe to put more of a point on it to to learn the questions that you need to be asking in order to get this figured out uh in the best way for yourself, your your family, you know, the loved ones to whom you're responsible. So, so Michael, uh thanks
2:29 for coming on the show today.
2:31 >> Oh, my pleasure. Thanks, Kevin, for having me. And and I I just have to point out if you look at the view behind him, okay, that is not a virtual view. That is the real thing. Okay.
2:42 >> Coming to you coming to you live from Austin, Texas.
2:45 >> There you go. So So Michael, before before we get into Retire US, uh I always like to ask my guests, uh you know, how did you like when you were a kid, right, growing up? Um, I mean, did you plan to become, you know, someone involved with helping people learn how to retire? I like I I can tell you I would I did not um, you know, grow up thinking I I want to be an independent trustee and probate administrator. That was not, you know, I
3:21 wanted to be an astronaut at one point. Um, I think I wanted to be an animator at one point. Um, but, you know, here here I am. So, I'm always I'm always curious. And I think viewers are too. You know, what is what was the path that that took you to the point of creating retire us?
3:42 >> That's funny. We uh somehow we end up here, but it's not it's not necessarily what we thought when we were kids. It depends on what age we we wanted to start at. If it was five, six years old, I'd probably tell you I wanted to be a Power Ranger. And uh now you know flash forward here 30 plus years later it's it's you know being a an entrepreneur founding this this company Retire us and we I think my entire life there's always been that entrepreneurial bug the entrepreneurial spirit um it's actually kind of funny there was I found an old uh like a sketchbook from when I was a
4:20 kid and there was there was some some drawings in there of like scar are patty enterprises. So the so somehow deep you know deep down and it's probably comes from my upbringing. Both of my parents are entrepreneurial and um my grandfather on my mother's side was a self-made man started actually as a janitor of a of a bank up in uh northwestern Pennsylvania and worked his way up to becoming chairman and CEO of that same bank and expanding it. So that entrepreneurial spirit has always kind of been a part of of my life and so I didn't I didn't know necessarily where it would land but um
4:56 retire us came through being in the financial services industry. So you said the disclosure very well. We're not here to give financial investment advice. Um, you know, my my job and objective is to help raise awareness, help raise the consciousness level of people and how we really take a look at our own finances and how we understand how the finances really need to integrate with our life and kind of who we are and how we're making decisions in a way that move us closer and closer towards our vision for the future and whatever that may may be
5:31 and how we kind of build wealth along the way versus unconsciously having our behavior get us further and further away from from those goals. And so, you know, the platform really was built out of being in the financial services industry for over 15 years
5:51 >> and just seeing a lot of issues that that exist. You know, the financial services industry, the way that it is designed right now, does not serve the consumer public to the best of of its ability. It's just it's very broken. And Retire US was really built out of in my opinion necessity to serve a much wider market than just these high- netw worth individuals where you know financial services tend to be marketed more towards we don't want to work with the 1 to 2% of wealth earners. We want to we
6:28 want to help support the 98%. That's really the true mission of of this organization. So when you say that the um the financial services industry or the the processes for it are broken, would you be more specific? what specifically is is wrong and or or how specifically does it not serve the interests of you know the the overwhelming number of of people who like you say they're you know not in the you know 1 to 2%.
7:04 >> So it's it's has to do with fiduciary duty. It has to do with fiduciary duty, fiduciary responsibility. And in a nutshell for your audience, what that what that means is is the advisor or the professional that you're working with in the eyes of the law, do they have to give you advice that is in your best interest?
7:23 >> Right? Objectively, it's in your best interest. And the surprising truth, which is shocking, is that almost 85 to 90% of licensed professionals do not have that standard when they're giving their recommendations and their advice. And the reason for that is because the vast vast majority of financial professionals don't work for you. They work for an investment institution. And you are the customer of that investment institution. that financial professional is not an employee or or person that's kind of on
7:58 your payroll if that makes sense. And so because of that priorities get skewed in terms of who is you know what is the financial services industry really here to serve at the end of the day and you know to the best of the ability it's it's not the the the consumer it's it's the investment institution and it's just something that we need to be aware of right you know the independent fiduciary financial professional is hard to come by right it's hard it's hard to find most of the professionals out there don't check those boxes. They're not independent,
8:33 meaning they actually don't work for you, right? They work for a specific institution, right? You're not hiring them um to to work on your behalf. And they're non-fiduciary, which means they don't actually need to be giving you investment advice. And sometimes they can't because the the scope in which they can provide products or services is limited by the ecosystem in which they operate aka the institution that they really represent. And so it's just kind of this is the nature of it. I don't think most people are aware of it. And you know as a result people have trust
9:08 issues when it comes to working with financial professionals and and and of course they do.
9:12 >> Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting because this this is a um an idea or a concept that's near and dear to my heart because uh here in California, we have something called a professional fiduciary.
9:26 >> Um and it's a licensed profession. Now, it it's it doesn't relate to uh financial planning or or those kinds of things. It actually it's what um enables us enables me, for example, to serve as a probate administrator or a trustee, etc. But this idea of acting in a fiduciary capacity uh is is central certainly to my profession. Um prior in a prior life I was a a real estate broker and again I I had a fiduciary duty to my client. So I always had to act for in the best
10:02 interest of my client. Right. And and there have been some things happening in the real estate business over the last whatever it's been six months or a year to help clarify exactly, you know, to whom does a real estate agent owe that fiduciary uh obligation. Is it to the seller? Is it to the buyer? Is it to both? But for many, many years, real estate agents, at least in California, have had to make a written disclosure about to whom they owe that fiduciary duty. Um and and I know that for a while I won't mention the company because I don't want to cast dispersions but um a few years ago I was
10:40 working for with a company where I had a you know a series 7 I think it was and a I think it was a 63 or something right I had a number of securities licenses uh and and it was interesting because um and this is one of the reasons I didn't continue working with it is although I had all of these licenses. I had four in total. Um, what I realized was because my compensation was coming from the company for whom I worked, I didn't have a fiduciary obligation to the
11:16 individuals that I would be advising. and I felt that I was working at cross purposes because in order to make a living or in order to make money, I I would have to push products on them um that perhaps they didn't really need. On the other hand, if I only did what they needed, I probably wasn't I probably wasn't going to be able to make the kind of money that I wanted to make. And and I think that's a a quandry that many people who are in the financial services industry find themselves, right? we need to earn a living, take care of our families, etc. And yet we don't want to
11:51 feel uh ethically conflicted. So I'm just I'm I'm curious, you know, your thoughts on on on that issue.
11:59 >> Well, first of all, very well said. And what what super well explained like that that is that is the majority of the licensed professionals though, right? They do represent the institution or that's where the paycheck is ultimately coming from. The independent track is the entrepreneurial track where you're building your book of business. You're creating your clients brick by brick and you're generally getting compensated in in really two major ways. One way is through either flat fee. You're charging a flat fee kind of like a retainer uh like an attorney would charge.
12:33 >> But if you're not managing assets as well, those flat fees tend to be5 $10,000 a year. And that is a whole line that you can go directly to a fiduciary and they're not managing money though. They're they're building you systems. Their objective is to actually help you understand how all the facets of your financial life work together and start to put process in place, building systems and process of how your cash flow interacts with your long-term tax liabilities and how that is all driven towards retirement and your short-term savings and it's all going to work into the legacy plan. You know, this is those
13:09 flat fee fiduciary planners are building those systems. Now the problem is because they're not managing money, they have to cut, you know, they they charge a lot for that. Most people are priced out of the market to work with that systems fiduciary. The other side is the independent fiduciary that is a product fiduciary and there's plenty, you know, they have an open architecture which means they can vet the entire marketplace. They can access things that the most retail investors a lot of times have never even heard of
13:39 >> but they have asset minimums because their time there's only so much time in the day right and so this is this is the quandry this is the issue that is just created by the nature of the industry there's only a small sector of them to begin with because it's the entrepreneurial path most people turn over within the first six to 24 months of going down that path because of just the the the time it takes to build up your client base and build that build that revenue that you can support yourself. And once you get there,
14:15 basically people move up market, right? There's only so much time in the day as an independent product advisory, you know, fiduciary if that's the hat that I'm wearing. It takes me the same amount of time to work with someone that has $100,000 that has a million dollars. The difference is I'm going to get paid 10 times as much to work with a person with a million. So guess what? This is this is what happens. Those professionals are in the business to make a living as well, right? They want to help people. They want to make as well. So they move up market. And so there's just less and less capacity available for people that don't have these higher ass
14:52 don't meet these asset minimums.
14:54 >> And so that's that's the problem that we're presented with. And so what we've built with the Retire US platform is basically a way to leverage technology to streamline the process not only for the consumer to make it really easy and digestible and easy to get started but then to match them with independent fiduciaries and the tech that we've actually created to enable those independent fiduciaries allows them to close to 10x their output. So instead of having to spend, you know, 35 hours doing case work and and you know, a lot of more of the mundane tasks that are
15:30 required for each client that comes in, we're able to shrink that considerably and allow them to spend way more time with clients actually having the impactful conversations and explaining, you know, the the nuances and the systems that need to be put in place. and and and it allows us to open up that lane of access now without the asset minimums and without the heavy flat uh flat fees.
15:56 >> So u you know a company that's been in the news a lot lately I I think because it's it's a meme stock is is Robin Hood. That's probably the best known sort of you know technology based or fintech you know company.
16:10 >> How is Retire US different from Robin Hood? Not not to pick on Robin Hood, but just you know as an an because I think most of these fintech companies follow the Robin Hood model and my sense is that retire us is a different model than that. So distinguish for us between the two.
16:32 >> Yeah and it really is and so the big the big distinguishing factor is Retire US is all about leveraging technology to blend that with human relationships. So we want to keep the human element. In our opinion, finance is something that is extremely human in nature. It may be the math that drives a lot of the decision- making, but there's a a lot of emotional components and nuance that does require human connectivity to truly understand what is going to be the right path for any given individual. Robin Hood and a lot of the other robo
17:09 advisors, Robin Hood's more of a do-it-yourself. It's more of a platform. It's almost like a brokerage platform. Kind of similar, old school to like a TDM trade, something along those lines, except it's a little bit more intuitive, user friendly. Gives gives the the everyday person access to trade themselves without having to kind of go through like a stock broker. You can buy and sell and and do and do things yourself through the Robin Hood platform. There's other other models out there that are more robo advisors, right? Robo advisors are kind of going all the way in the direction of using
17:45 the the AI algorithms to be your advisor, right? So you you complete the questionnaire yourself, you
17:53 >> give it your risk tolerance, your goals, and then it'll take that information and put together a portfolio for you right on your behalf. And so that's a little bit different than say the Robin Hood. Retire US is is blending the tech components of that, the ease, the frictionless, the the way to get started on your own without having to go through a bunch of hurdles, but then blending that ultimately with human beings, the actual independent fiduciaries themselves that you can meet with one-on-one to map things out and kind of get all of your finances aligned the way they need to be.
18:28 So, okay. So, this is this is interesting and and I you know I have actually I couldn't tell you a name of a robo advisor, but it strikes me if if I'm working with a robo advisor and it's asking me all these questions. What do I do if I don't really know the answer to a question that it's asking me? Right? I because I I'm sure you know this and probably a lot of the people, you know, watching this know. Anytime you fill out any kind of online application or or even paper application for some kind of financial account that has an investment aspect, one of the things they ask you
19:04 is your risk tolerance. And I I always look at those and my eyes kind of glaze over because to my mind they're very oversimplified
19:13 >> definitely
19:13 >> on the one hand and the way they're described is completely obtuse.
19:18 >> Yeah. So unless unless someone's a pretty, you know, pretty sophisticated in financial matters, I would think they're going to look at that and go, uh, I don't know, risky sounds too risky, right?
19:32 >> You know, they're all going to end up in the middle the middle category, right? Which may not necessarily be the right decision for them. And if they had if they had someone that they could ask a question to and could get clarification and education on these points, they would pro they might very well answer it differently. So I I again I'm curious what you know your thoughts about that aspect because it seems to me that this is one of the problems that uh retire us is is seeking to solve.
20:01 >> Yeah, without a doubt. you you uh the the the risk tolerance questionnaire is the the antiquated spirit of traditional financial planning and investment advice, right? That that questionnaire has been around forever. And I think that we most people don't actually really recognize what that's even gauging, right? There's there's a there's a major difference between risk tolerance and risk capacity, right? risk tolerance. We're it's talking about our ability to endure risk, right? So, if I ask you
20:36 what your what is your pain tolerance, right? You're going to tell me how much pain you can endure until enough is enough, right? And you got to give up. And that's what risk tolerance questionnaires are really measuring. It's how much emotional pain can you endure when the markets are going down, right? And at what point would you say, I got to pull the plug. I can't do this anymore. That does not tell us anything related to what's the measure of risk you actually should be taking, right? Your risk capacity based off of your
21:12 goals, based off of your timeline, based off of how much you have saved right now that you need to grow over time. What's the amount that you actually can lose until that goal becomes in jeopardy? Totally different thing, right? Totally different thing.
21:28 >> Absolutely. Yeah.
21:28 >> The risk tolerance questionnaire doesn't answer that. And this is where the nuance comes into play, right? A lot of times people don't know how to answer these questions. And that's where the human component is so integral, right? It's helping you kind of come to the the decision yourself through some additional seeking to understand empathy of your situation. I mean the human guidance we did a lot of market research about 85% of consumers want human beings
21:56 >> when it comes to financial professionals they want human beings to work with because I think we all understand intuitively that it's hard for something that's operating in ones and zeros to understand emotion and really how we feel. Right.
22:12 >> Right. I mean, it can it can, you know, there's these AIs, they kind of project a sense of emotional connection, but they really don't. Yeah. Yeah. I I have a follow-up question on it, but let's take a sponsor break. We'll be right back.
22:23 >> Perfect.
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23:04 or visit magnumprops.com. So, we're we're back here at People Making Money. I'm your host, Kevin Beml, and my guest is Michael Scarpati, who is the founder of Retire US. And we've been we've been talking about, you know, really what is sort of the heart and soul of Retire. And what makes it different than say a a Robin Hood, which is so well known, or a robo advisor. And uh Michael was just talking about the uh
23:41 the necessity of the kind of uh human interaction that uh retire us brings to um to to financial planning for you know the 98% of us uh you know who are not a Warren Buffett or or whoever right and and um and and how most people really want that human connection needed in order to uh to to really understand what needs to happen. So, so Michael, my my follow-up question is
24:16 and and I think that people often times get get confused with um establishing financial goals and and taking the necessary steps to reach them and being a maybe a prudent investor Because I on the face of it that can sometimes be u you know it would seem to be in conflict maybe right because you hear
24:51 all these nostrumms around uh you know well you know you should have 40% bonds and 60% stocks or whatever whatever you all these things that fly around right um and so I'm I'm I'm curious how uh retire us helps people figure out what really are my financial goals and then you know what are the ways that I can reach them and what are the um um what are the implications of those various options for reaching
25:26 those goals.
25:28 >> Most people are driving in a car without a map, right? Most people, the the financial tools, the the investments, the mutual funds, your 401k, they're vehicles. This is all they are. They're are vehicles. But a vehicle is only as good as the map that is is navigating where that vehicle needs to go, right? And if that map is incorrect or we don't even have a map, it's impossible to understand and hold those investments accountable, right? We we like to as human beings, we love rules of thumb.
26:03 40%, you know, if you're in your 50s, you 40% equity, 60% bonds, whatever that may be. And it's all it's all BS. It's complete BS because it all depends on you. It all depends on your situation. If you if your retirement goal says you need $2 million and you have $2.5 million right now and you're 50 years old and whatever that that's that's your objective is to retire at 50. That's what you need. Guess what? Your game plan is way different. Your map is way different
26:39 than somebody who's 50 years old and isn't retiring in 20 years, right?
26:45 >> Or isn't, you know, quite on on pace. Protection may be the biggest thing that's important to you because you have a lot more to lose in a given year or two than you have to gain in a year or two, right? One major good year
26:58 >> may not change anything for you, right? One really bad year could set you back or could completely destroy your ability to retire. These are the things that
27:09 >> really make this such a personal journey. This is, you know, it's it's great to get started with rules of thumb, right? If that's the catalyst for us to just begin and take action, great. But once we really start, then we really should take a check and say, are we actually on the right path? Right? Is there any type of accountability that we can tie to our decision-making right now? Or are we just kind of navigating blindly hoping that we end up in, you know, at the beach?
27:43 >> Got our We got our cane out and we're looking to get there. Yeah. Yeah.
27:47 >> So, so let me um if if if it's okay, let me um I'll share my screen and I'll I'll show people your your website so they can see it and uh
27:58 >> and maybe you if you want to sort of um uh you know point out some uh you know some things about it so they can get an idea of what this is what this what this can do for them.
28:09 >> Thank you. Yeah, the the top is is really you know you deserve financial freedom. The mission of the company, right? The whole mission is to provide what we consider to be a better path to financial freedom. And that is one that is easily working with fiduciaries, people that we know we can trust, independent fiduciary planners. It's one that's very frictionless. It's easy. It only takes about 15 minutes for you to onboard data to get ready to have your first impactful meeting with a professional. And then there's no high fees or asset minimums. Instead, we have a very
28:45 cost-effective subscription model depending on what you're looking to accomplish. The lowest starting point is $60, less than $60 a month for basic planning. And you get steep discounts, 33% discount if you pay for that annually. So on the annual amount, it's only about 40 bucks a month. And you can work with independent fiduciary planners to really put together the map, right? And the map should be the thing that that dictates the rest. The a really good graphic that I think helps paint
29:20 the picture. If you click the about us page there at the top, there's this graphic that shows right here. See this this second block, this three all advisors aren't the same. And it's a little it's a little um small and maybe hard hard to read for the viewers, but this is this is kind of the the big story. There's these three types of financial professionals that you can work with.
29:44 >> The benefits advisor is the one at the bottom. This is the one through the workplace.
29:48 >> You have questions about the 401k, you give them a call.
29:51 >> Now, they're not going to tell you anything outside of what's held right there at the workplace because it's just outside of their scope of work, but it's a good starting point basically where most people begin the journey.
30:02 >> Second's the productbased financial professional. And this is what dominates the industry, right? This is what most people think when they think financial planner or financial advisor. It's product first. It's my portfolio, my stocks, my bonds, my mutual funds. And there's value here, tremendous value. However, having an open architecture is the biggest thing we want to look for, right? Is the product advisor giving you advice? Are they are they representing the institution in which those products will ultimately flow or are they able to vet the entire marketplace and be
30:38 product agnostic? Right? They can actually bring assets to all sorts of institutions, right? That's the kind that you really want because that provides the most optionality and it provides the highest level and and and highest probability that there being a fiduciary also in the process. And then the last is the system. Sorry, before you go on to the last one, just to to sort of put a a point on the products one, um how does how does the the um financial product side of this I mean is this is this like dealing with say um
31:16 you know a state farm insurance agent versus an independent insurance agent where the state farm agent he's going to sell you a state farm policy because that's who he represents versus an independent agent he's going to be able to, you know, shop your insurance needs across whatever a hundred insurance companies or, you know, whatever, however many he deals with. Is is that, you know, on as an example what you're talking about in terms of independence versus institution focused?
31:46 >> Yep. Great analogy. It's exactly that's exactly how you want to look at it is the investment professional themselves. Who do they really represent? Do they represent you or do they represent the institution where these products will ultimately land? Right.
32:03 >> Right. Okay. Gotcha.
32:04 >> It's the vast vast majority of financial professionals are product professionals that are tied to institutions. And so this is where it starts to get tricky and where you got to really do your due diligence to understand who is the the person on the other side of the table and who do they truly represent. And then that brings you to the systems professional. The systems professional, now these are the flat fee typically, right? They're going to charge five $10,000 a year and they're putting together systems for you. They're really looking to build the framework so that you can make decisions with intent. And
32:41 now the secret that most people aren't aware of is that this is a really this is really the starting point. You should start with the systems. Most people start from the bottom. They start with their benefits workplace.
32:55 >> They then start to build up some some savings outside of the workplace. They supplement that with products and then they never really put a system in place. Right? The most successful people start from the top right and work counterclockwise. They put together a system first. That system then dictates the products that will work best for the system they've put in place. and then they supplement that decision- making with how they're going to leverage the benefits through the workplace. And so that's how financial mastery is truly created. So, and and you know your graphic here I think is spot on because
33:30 starting with you've got you know the person right that this starting with systems mean makes it person focused
33:37 >> as opposed to starting with benefits uh benefits or or products where it's it's focused on something else um which you know
33:47 >> would would would it would appear only coincidentally uh you know serve the individual
33:53 >> and that's the thing in this graphic you know and if you want to go take a look retired us this each next to each of them it explains the different approach that they take and that's the you you hit the nail on the head if you look under benefits it's a timebased approach typically where the advice is being given meaning you have your workplace benefits advisor says all right you want to retire at year 2035 or at age 65 or 35 years of service right it's all kind of built around this this point in time which
34:23 >> is important but that's where the the guidance starts starts and ends, right? You want to take that point in time, then continue to expand on it and start to set goals around that point in time and start to understand exactly what that point in time means for you in the future, right? Based off of your lifestyle and your expectations. And that's where these different approaches are are really key. And like you said, system starts with the human, which is all unique. Every single situation is going to be different. we start there first and then the rest starts to kind of follow that framework and fit into
34:59 place.
35:01 >> I mean, you know, the more you talk about this, the more sense it makes because, you know, if you're talking to your benefits manager about you, let's say your 401k, right? And you're telling him, okay, I want to retire, let's say, in, you know, 40 years. I mean, that's that's fine, but what's going to happen in that 40 years? mean is the only thing you're going to be doing for the next 40 years is working toward retiring or, you know, are you going to get married? Are you going to have children? Um are you going to start a business? Are you going to, you know, do are are you going to take some time off to travel? Which, you
35:37 know, is a much more popular thing to do among I think it's okay for me to call them younger people. I have the gray hair to do it, right? But I mean, you know, these these ideas or or or how we live our lives, we we have um so much so many more options these days. Um and when it comes to planning our finances, if the if the person we're talking to is not asking us these these life, you know, based questions, it occurs to me that they're not really going to be able to give us sound
36:12 advice.
36:13 >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean there's there's levels to the whole thing. If you want to actually go back to the homepage real quick, I'll show you another graphic that basically hits on exactly what you're talking about. If you go back to if you scroll down a couple slides, you're going to see kind of a mountain that's going to come up. Keep going. Right here. There you go. Okay.
36:29 >> So, we kind of break this down into different levels and you'll see there's six key areas that we're focused on these financial milestones. And then to the right hand side you kind of see we categorize it as various levels of financial wellness or overall financial health or financial consciousness. And what you'll notice here current situation risk and insurance short-term savings retirement tax diversification legacy. Not in one place do you see investments, right? Because investments should be a result of a plan, right? A plan. Just because you have an
37:05 investment portfolio does not mean you have a plan. And that's the that's the big key here is putting the systems, building the plans first so that then we are able to hold those investments, hold that portfolio accountable. That's the key that a lot of people miss. They just kind of get started but there's no true plan that's really driving that decision making forward. So you again again it's very interesting what you're saying and it really resonates with me because in my work I
37:40 often times see the results of a lack of planning.
37:44 >> Yeah.
37:45 >> Because somebody dies they have no estate plan. Now the the court is going to oversee the administration of their estate. And so often because there is no plan uh the the beneficiaries or the heirs start fighting right and um a a lot of the accumulated wealth gets diminished u because of the you know the cost of the probate working its way through the court etc. number one. And number two, people that someone might have wanted uh helped out or protected,
38:20 um you know, I may not be able to legally help them out at all. So, I've got one case right now where um the deedent had a longtime partner um but he did not marry this person and then he died and now his partner of 30 years legally I cannot give him a penny because the partner doesn't qualify as an heir. Right. And so where you know unfortunately the planning wasn't done and so there's the end result.
38:51 >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean we don't rise to the level of our goals. we fall to the level of our systems. And so that's what this is all about. When you start to do real planning, in a lot of senses, you're planning for the worst and hoping for the best, right? You're actually putting the contingency strategies in place because we cannot control what the stock market's going to do. But we can control our exposure. And if we understand our risk capacity in conjunction with our risk tolerance, we can start to put systems in place so that the market volatility may not necessarily derail
39:26 things, right? And so we it's all about clarity, right? Consciousness and being aware of the true needs. And this process is really designed to make that as simple as possible to give us that clarity so that you know if the worst does happen we're prepared for it. We hope that the best happens and things will will be great in that scenario as well. But most people are kind of just blindly hoping that the markets will take them to the promised land. And sometimes that will be true, many times
40:01 it will not be. It's all going to depend on your timing and and um your risk, but that's what we're, you know, when we're building true systems, that's what we're looking to get a little bit more control over. And and so you you mentioned a few minutes ago um sort of to to to join the platform. It's a monthly subscription. If you pay it on an annual basis, you're talking uh around $40 a month. That's not even $500 a year. Um, and what does clarify again for us what what does someone get as a subscriber to retire
40:39 us? Um, obviously they get access to all the resources here on on on the platform. What does that entail? And I mean is it is it additional cost to you know talk to one of the you know independent fiduciary uh financial advisors? does, you know, does the cost go up as you work your way up, you know, up the mountain here? How how does that work so people can get a a broader picture of of the the the journey that you're looking to help them take?
41:13 >> It's a great question and and and what's unique about the platform is that the subscription, the price of admission gets you access to those independent fiduciaries and their planning. So you do through the subscription itself, you get to work directly with these independent um professionals included in that in that cost. And they will depending on where you kind of want to prioritize your your
41:41 >> mountain up here, you know, where where you want to go,
41:45 >> right?
41:46 >> If you want to get to the summit, that's going to be that's going to entail, you know, additional layers of planning. And so essentially these are the areas of focus based off of the tiers that you select. Now level one mindfulness is actually our free tier. So and that's all about getting getting a grip on the current financial situation. So in that free tier you have access to a couple of of different tools that we offer to give you analysis. One of them is called a financial checkpoint. It's about a four minute to five minute quiz that you go through and it's going to give you an immediate analysis on your retirement pacing, your tax planning, and it it
42:24 also pulls out, we call them financial red flags, and these are kind of the blind spots. These are the areas within the current situation that we should probably dig a little bit deeper into, right? at least start to become more aware of because they're the things that are probably standing in our way from getting to the next the next levels of the mountain. And so that's a really I encourage everybody to go to retire.us. You can get started for free with that free financial checkpoint. That will at least give you an idea of kind of where you stand and what might be some areas you need to further evaluate. And then when you're ready, you know, you can
42:59 upgrade to basic planning to get started uh with those first four foundational areas, the retirement, the short-term, the risk, and the current uh situation.
43:09 >> Excellent. Okay. And so you you answered my you already answered my follow-up question, which is how can people get get started with this without, you know, having to make a financial commitment. So that's great. So they can start out um doing, you know, figuring out their current situation and then and then build from there. Uh so um do do you on the platform do you is it you're looking to find the uh independent fiduciary with whom you work the best and are mo most comfortable or is it you know you're you you're going
43:44 to work with a variety of fiduciaries depending on what the partic what particular uh you know financial need or goal is. uh you know t talk a little bit about how that works and and how the interaction uh you know works with these fiduciaries. Do do you work through the platform? Are you working with those people off off platform? How does that interaction happen?
44:09 >> Yeah, great great great question. So it's all it's all meant to be designed so that the platform helps connect you and streamlines the process of communication, meetings, data gathering, you know, um analysis and ultimately is the is the glue of the process making it very simple and streamlined. And so based off of your goals and your concerns and your progress and kind of where you are based off of that uh financial checkpoint and then the uh the profile that you complete, we're going to match you with a a fiduciary that is essentially going to work very well
44:45 within your stage of planning and kind of what your major focuses are.
44:50 >> And from there, the platform is is the connector and you'll do virtual meetings with that same professional typically. So you start to kind of build out this relationship. You can always if for whatever reason you don't love the professional that you're with, you always have the opportunity or the ability to ask to be reassigned. But we've actually never had that had that happen. So we we do a pretty good job of matching people with um with the ones that that will will work well within what they're focused on. And then we get the process into into a cadence. So it's really about instead of this being a a
45:27 gigantic overhaul and a big overwhelming thing right up front, we actually segment the process into two key stages. So goal planning comes first where it's all about getting clarity, right? Where are we now in relation to where we need to be? What does that mean for whether or not we're on pace and what our investments should be doing to to get into alignment with that vision? And then once that's established, then we actually cycle over to cash flow planning. So goal planning comes first to kind of make sure the ships are are are rowing in the right direction. And
46:03 then cash flow planning comes in to make sure that there's efficiencies that are not being missed, right? that we're we're taking advantage of all the things we can do to expedite the success to speed the boat up if you will and reconcile the the the goals that we set, right? We set a retirement goal kind of based off of, you know, higher level data. Once we start to look at cash flow and see what our lifestyle really costs, it helps us reconcile and make sure that we're definitely pointed in the right direction. And then that process repeats itself over time. So after cash flow
46:39 planning, things are going to happen, markets are going to move, tax laws are going to change, goals may shift, and we need to re-evaluate the goals. And so it's kind then we go back to cash flow, then we go back to goals. And it gets us into a really good cadence pretty much every six months where
46:56 >> you're just kind of getting into a financial routine that's really designed to help you build wealth, right? So it it holds accountability to our decision- making and gives us clarity on on what we should be doing day in and day out.
47:09 >> Got it. And so and you know throughout the show today we've been talking about we we've been talking from the perspective of someone who uh you know needs to have a financial plan etc. I I'm I'm curious what opportunity is there if any for people who do finan independent fiduciary financial planning and are maybe you know disillusioned with you know the the the sort of institution representation side and would really
47:46 like to be involved in the kind of in in giving the kind of advice and working with people in the way that that Retire US uh facilitates. What opportunity might there be, you know, for for for those folks?
48:02 >> There's tremendous opportunity. Give us a call if that if you fit that boat. Give us, you know, give us give us a call because there is a ton of opportunity. The entire objective of the platform is to either one create more independent fiduciary planners and we have tracks for that which can connect you with existing RAAS that can can bring you into that track if it's something that you're interested in in pursuing or two if you already are an independent fiduciary and are starting to find capacity is becoming an issue you would like to offer your services
48:37 and be able to facilitate many more client household meetings throughout the course of the year but find yourself being capped for capacity. We have solutions for that as well. That's that's really the objective here. So know we're a platform experience. We we we are a platform company. We cater to both sides of the market, right? Which is the independent fiduciaries and the consumers themselves. So just reach out to us. you can you can connect with us right on retire us and um you know we we would be happy to to have a conversation with you because we're always looking to
49:12 expand the opportunities for for both sides of of the market.
49:17 >> Okay. And and the the fiduciaries they're they're they're working for a a registered independent advisory I assume. And do do they have to already be licensed or can you help them, you know, get licensed? You know, not to get too much in the weeds, but just curious about that.
49:36 >> Yeah, I mean there's we we have in the past through one of the RAAS that we're partnered with, we have had um training programs to support that. Um so there are there's always opportunities there. We're we're in the we're in the we're in the business of never saying never, right, when it comes to things, especially as we continue to scale and open up the opportunity.
49:57 >> So, um we're always open to looking at various paths. So, if there's if there if you're out there, you're a financial professional and you are interested in going down or or going down the financial professional track, we have some potential opportunities there. Um, the easiest opportunities for sure are the ones that are already connected with an RAIA. U, if you're a solo practitioner or if you're part of a larger RAIA, we there's a lot of, um, support that we can bring to the equation to make things more scalable.
50:29 >> Excellent. Excellent. So, um, you know, we're we're we're kind of we're running short on time here, but, uh, I want to make sure, you know, before, uh, before we end the show, um, you know, are there are there aspects of retire us, um, that we haven't discussed that, you know, you you you'd like for the the viewers to know about? And so, you know, kind of as a as a wrapup to to the show, um, certainly want to give you an opportunity to, uh, you know, to bring to bring those up.
51:04 >> Oh, I appreciate that. I mean, I think I think you did a really great job of of kind of navigating through all the all the different components of it. You know, the the the big thing that I've found and and through the market research that we've done is that the major reason people do not get started in this process is they don't know who to trust. They feel like it's going to take too much of their time. They feel like it's going to be too complicated and complex and they're worried about whether or not they'll qualify for it. Whether that means asset minimums or just the the overall out-of-pocket cost. And Retire us is really designed to
51:41 solve all of those problems for you and make it really easy to at least take the first step. Right? Taking the first step is the is the biggest reason most people miss their opportunity to create financial freedom earlier in their life. And it's because they do not take action. Finance is one of the easiest things for us to procrastinate.
52:03 >> And what we found is that just trying to make it as easy as possible to take that first step, get some clarity, what you'll find is that the second step is way easier and the third step's even easier than that and everything then starts to fall into place. But getting out of your own way to take that first step
52:22 >> is the challenge. It really is the challenge with this stuff. And so,
52:26 >> you know, hopefully with the platform, we've made that as easy as possible to at least take that first step.
52:32 >> And, you know, once once you get that first step out of the way, everything else kind of starts to fall into place um a lot easier.
52:42 >> Well, yeah. I I Well, well said. I mean, like I said, I I see it on the estate planning side. I mean, but it it it's so it's so true. Um getting, you know, taking that first step. It's, you know, it it's it's like we're babies again and we're taking literally taking that first physical step. There's many times during our lives when we need to do that, whether it's starting a business, whether it's dealing with creating a financial plan, etc. So, Michael, I I I really appreciate you coming on the show today. Um, I just very very clear
53:17 explanations not not just of what Retire us is about, which presumably, you know, you're the expert, but just of what people need to do in order to take control of their financial lives and really get on that wealth building journey. And and I would I would add um and this is my impression uh you know even if you already started your your you know your wealth building journey if you're not satisfied with how it's going I I would recommend you give Retire US a try uh because it may very
53:56 well be a better solution for you and and and it may help you stay on that journey better than what you're doing right now and and in in the end, this is a long our financial futures are or the road to our financial futures is typically a fairly long road and and so, you know, we're we're going to we're going to make we're going to make some changes along the way. Um and and so I I uh you know, I recommend that that you you check out retire us and see if if this is a better solution for you. So,
54:29 >> I appreciate you saying that. Thank you so much. And and believe it or not, most of the users on the platform have had or have one financial professional or more that they've either worked with traditionally. It's just a very different approach and perspective that most people have never really experienced. So I I think it's
54:51 >> you can make the argument that we add some of the most value to people that have actually already started and have had experience with a financial professional historically because they already value that that that process. Except a lot of times they don't know what they don't know yet. And this is one of those opportunities to kind of really expand our understanding of what is all out there and what we can be doing and um it can go a long way.
55:20 >> Yeah.
55:21 >> Yeah. I I will say I I'll add one thing to that and and that is in in my practice um where I'm essentially responsible for the management of other people's money. I I only work with independent fiduciary wealth advisors and financial professionals because I can't afford to have someone who is doing something that is not in a fiduciary capacity because then that redowns to me and and I'll say on a personal level when I made the change in my life from product focused uh
55:56 financial professionals to in essence independent fiduciary professionals and saw the difference in the interaction. It it was it was um it was really eyeopening for me and a much a much more pleasant experience that really then engaged me more deeply in what I needed to do. And in the end, that's what it is. We we need to be engaged in our own financial futures. And so what again I I'll say this I think what Michael has created here is is a more effective way
56:31 for most of us to be engaged in dealing with our financial futures and and so therefore we will do so more effectively and that's in the end that's the name of the game
56:42 >> then that's the mission you know this is a missiondriven organization and it's come out of being in the industry for so long and just seeing a lot of bad financial plans is the reality right you just after 15 years in the business, you talk to a lot of people that say, "Oh, I've had a financial advisor for years. I have I have a financial plan." And then when you look at it from this other perspective, go there's, well, there's a lot missing here. There's a lot of things that that stones have not yet been, you know, turned over and
57:10 >> right
57:11 >> underneath them there's there's there could be some scary things. So, we we gota we got to put a a couple more frameworks in place to really, you know, make this rock solid. And and um you know, those Those things happen often and it's just because very few people have true access to this this premium level of of perspective when it comes to the financial guidance side of things. So, we're excited to be of service however we can. We're I'm super grateful, Kevin, for that that you allowed me to come on your platform just to spread our message a little bit. Um, you know, if you want to get in touch with us, retire us is the is the
57:47 website, but also on socials on Instagram and LinkedIn retired. are also great places to uh to follow us as well for you know a lot of content education um that will help you know educate you and potentially help you know what you you know learn learn some of those things that are the blind spots.
58:07 >> There you go. So and and and Michael I will put all of those links in the show notes to this episode. So after it posts on YouTube right after the show ends I go and I update all of that. So, so for those of you who watching, if you didn't have a chance to write down the URL and the Instagram and such, all of that will be in the show notes for you. And I encourage you to to follow up on those, to follow Retired us on on LinkedIn and Instagram and um and and and get that education that's so so necessary. So, so Michael, I I I can't thank you enough for for uh you know, dealing with the
58:42 scheduling mishap and and coming on the show today. I'm gonna I'm gonna if you don't mind hanging tight for just a minute, I'll quickly wrap up the show and then we can talk offline for a moment. So So folks, those of you who we've had a few uh live viewers, thank you so much for joining us. It's always a kick to to know that there are people watching us as as we um as we record the show. Um this is the the last show for for this week. Uh, next week, uh, Monday at these are all Pacific time, at 10:00 a.m. is my show, Trust and Estates Weekly. On Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. is my
59:20 show, Business Lessons from the Military. And then a week from today, I'll be back with the next edition of People Making Money. And then next week is my every other week show, Jiggers's Place, where we're going to it's it's it's at 5:00 p.m. Okay. uh Pacific time, 8:00 PM on the East Coast, and we're going to sit we sit back, we have a cocktail, we talk about all the non-financial issues of life as we head into the end of the week because, you know, and and Michael pointed this out at the beginning of the show. Finances are not the endgame. Our lives
59:57 are the endgame. financing. Our finances are how we create the help create the life that we want to live for again for ourselves, our families, our loved ones. So, uh, join me next next week, Thursday, 5:00 PM Pacific time for a cocktail and a schmoo at at Jiggers's place. So, again, Michael, thank you so much for coming on the show and um, looking forward to seeing you all next week. Signing off as I always do. Marie, darling, you are my belt. You know you are courage at all times my friends.