Winning in Retirement

Financial Independence Day

• Akers Financial Group

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Brian Akers and Alex Monk from Akers Financial Group discuss the concept of financial independence, likening it to the U.S. Independence Day. They emphasize the importance of financial planning to achieve this state, where individuals can retire on their terms without financial stress. They highlight the need for a comprehensive financial plan, including understanding one's financial fingerprint, managing debt, and optimizing tax strategies. They also discuss the impact of external factors like job security and market volatility on financial independence. The show encourages listeners to start planning for their financial independence to ensure a secure retirement.

Unknown:

The following is a pre recorded show, welcome to winning in retirement with your host, BRIAN AKERS, Certified Financial Planner, professional and founder of AKERS Financial Group. Now helping you win in your retirement. Here's BRIAN AKERS,

BRIAN AKERS:

welcome to winning in retirement. I'm BRIAN AKERS, president and founder of AKERS Financial Group, and we welcome you to our radio show, podcast combo winning in retirement today, we have Alex monk. I'm from, from AKERS Financial Group. He's got a Certified Financial Planner practitioner. He's been with AKERS for 14 years. Financial Advisor, are you feeling okay

Alex Monk:

for I mean, I feel old when you start talking.

BRIAN AKERS:

You were young early. You're young when I hired you, and then now the family, all the all the things of life hit you.

Alex Monk:

I don't like the other option, so young when you hired me is good.

BRIAN AKERS:

Yeah, what's what's cool? Alex monk is here. He's here today to celebrate and to talk about independence day and what it means to us at AKERS Financial Group. And so we have a lot to talk about. So when, when is your independence day? Is going to be our big question for today? Now, Yes, Fourth of July is coming up. Yes, it's all about the United States of America and the Independence Day way back in what year? Oh,

Alex Monk:

don't do that. 1776

BRIAN AKERS:

to the numbers. I knew you wouldn't. I wouldn't. I knew I gotcha. You're coming with that. You've got to be ready today. I got a lot of things, bad jokes, I'm

Alex Monk:

ready. This is my favorite, favorite topic. Like, I was at a cookout last weekend, and I think this little girl came up to me and she says, you know, what is your job? Yeah. So I help people's dreams come

BRIAN AKERS:

true. Yeah. What'd she say?

Alex Monk:

What I'm like? Well, I help people retire, I help them manage their financial world like I'm their quarterback. There we'll have your general. Ooh,

BRIAN AKERS:

I'm sorry. Don't go too far with it. All right, let's, let's, let's just say financial independence day. We We love it the fourth of July, but at AKERS financial we call it Independence Day, because we think that's one of the most important things that we can add to our clients financial life. If you think about this, when is your financial independence day? Well, what does that mean, and why is that so important today? So, Alex, what does financial independence

Alex Monk:

mean? We're not talking about like you just moved out of your parents basement. We're talking about you're ready to tell work, I'm not coming back if you do that right, like this is on my terms. Now,

BRIAN AKERS:

I doubt define it this way. You go to work knowing that you have all your finances in order. You know what you want to do in retirement. The money's there financial advisors given that stamp of approval, that you're good, and then you choose the day that you want to retire. That's financial independence, is that you don't not, you do not need that job to provide income any longer. You choose to go to work because you're enjoying it, and it works really well.

Alex Monk:

And that's a, that's a mind shift, right? Like, it's a, I'm working. I'm working. I'm working like you start. You're grinding. You're not really thinking necessarily about the end

BRIAN AKERS:

game that you think day by day, paycheck by paycheck, paycheck is try to get, get to the next step. Right when

Alex Monk:

I first meet someone, and I say, Have you ever seen somebody that's retired and you know, has the setup like these things that you want your future self to look like? Well, if that's the case, then we need to figure out what that is and work backwards, because it can take five years, three years, 10 years.

BRIAN AKERS:

Well, imagine the stress of this year. If you were a government employee for years, you've been a government employee, and you have the security of you can work this job. You'll have this job until you want to retire, you'll have a pension, you have all these things that are sort of promised, guaranteed for you. And then, all sudden, this year occurs, and then insecurity occurs, fear, the fear, the fear that, oh, I might lose my job. I might need to change a job, might need to change my career, might need to change my location. Lots of life is changing, and the hardest part is you're not financially independent. You're not able to say, I'm done. You can do whatever you want, and then I want to choose to leave and choose what I want to do. Financial Independence is where we need to be so that we are in control of our time, of what we do, what we enjoy. It's okay to work longer when you enjoy it and you're financially independent, you know, everything's in good shot.

Alex Monk:

I'm not saying work is bad. Work is great mentally for most people, I enjoy work. We love our jobs, right? Alex, I don't think I have work, but that's weird. I just this is my life. Is

BRIAN AKERS:

radio. Let's not get that. We work hard for you. We love what we do, and it becomes it comes more meeting with friends, with meeting with clients, and talking about their life, what they're doing. I love when the winning and retirement signs up on the wall and the client goes, Hey, I'm winning in retirement. And that's a really fun thing.

Alex Monk:

Yeah, and a lot of that fear, and especially right now, the reason the market goes little crazy sometimes. It's the unknown, right? That's the biggest thing that people come in the first time, like Alex, am I going to be okay? Because they may not have looked or, you know, this, that, or the other, and a lot of times, or more recently, some of the government employees would make more if they retired. Right now, some of the ones I saw

BRIAN AKERS:

recently, well, some that 50 years, you know, there are some that one hit, that five, oh, number. That's a big number in the federal government, because 3030, you can be out. And then there's certain age limits and things like that. There's certain combos, generally 30 and out or but some want to go to 50 because they don't know what to do next. Especially I'm some of our research scientists, the ones that just love being in their lab, doing their thing,

Alex Monk:

and then it's the point where you're comfortable to take that risk if you want to go out and consult on your own, like do what you love, right? So take the stuff out of your job you hate and do what you love if you can. Yeah, so financial independence

BRIAN AKERS:

is what we're talking about today, and that's where you know the numbers are, right? And then you can make the decision to retire. Making the decision to retire is a different mindset. It's a thing of, can you trust the numbers? Trust your finances, trust your investments to to guarantee and give you the income you need to last the rest of your life? That's a different radio show than financial independence. So we're talking about that first step of financial independence that you've gotten to a point where you're at my I we like you to be totally out of debt. We like you to know what's going on, what your expenses are, so that we can match the cash flow and the income that we can produce out of the portfolios that we manage for

Alex Monk:

you, and then help help you understand the logistics, right? Because the big thing like, people get really good at working, at saving, and now we have to get them comfortable with what they've done, right, and then how do you access that? What are your taxes? Like, like, all these things that in meetings. Some people, they're just like, all right, Alex, you gotta stop too much, too much for one day. Yeah, and that's fine, like, but I want to understand where you want to go in your life so that we can put together the backside of it, because that's not for everybody,

BRIAN AKERS:

but that's the reason some people do not go to financial planners, is that they don't really want to talk about it all. They don't have their goals. They don't know what they want. But I believe in financial planning that you start it's sort of like anything that you get moving forward is going to actually make effective change for you and improve good financial planning is going to improve every piece along the way. We always start with a financial fingerprint. What's a financial fingerprint? Alex monk, it

Alex Monk:

is a unique thing that all of our clients have. Yeah? So your financial life is like your fingerprint, right? It's you. It's different, like even, even your you don't have a brother, sister, Yeah, same house, same parents, etc, different. 100% different, yep. So there is no like, hey, come in here. Are you an A, B or C? You go in this room, you buy that, you buy this. I can't How can you do that? Like, I need to know where you are, what you need, what makes sense for your life, and how do we apply that?

BRIAN AKERS:

And that's exactly what we do at AKERS financial growth and talk about financial planning. That leads to implementation. It starts with where you are now, understanding what it is, and then where you want to be, and basically connecting the two. Now a product might be part of solution, but the product is not the only solution. It's not one product. It's not going to be, hey, you got to buy this. It's going to be what fits, what is the right thing in your situation.

Alex Monk:

And it's a different approach, right? Because people that come to us from other advisors, they're like, Wait, so I have different options. Yeah, yeah. Well,

BRIAN AKERS:

the thing is, like, when they bring paperwork, we ask them to bring paperwork, we ask them to bring paperwork to understand you can always go on our website, AKERS, financial group.com, and under documents, you can see what we ask for right there, because we want to build this financial fingerprint to be able to come back and say, This is what you own. This is the risk level you're currently taking. Is this what you really want? And then some people don't know what they want. Some people know exactly what they want, and they just don't realize how it all works together. And we might, for the first time, be bringing every aspect of work and home, of pension and Social Security, of income, inheritance, all of this into one area all together, all written down, and that's a solid financial plan, which then gives us the strategies and the game plan to then implement one thing at a time, and that's what we do, and

Alex Monk:

know why we're doing it. That's what's important for me. It's like, How can I set goals and expectations on let's just call it investment results or returns if I don't have an outcome I'm looking for, right?

BRIAN AKERS:

Yeah. So your independence day is going to be that moment when we get through probably the first year of planning and we say, everything looks really good for you to retire. When do you want to do this? And we start to narrow down the right date, the right time, the right moment for you to go in and say, I'm done,

Alex Monk:

and then you can start doing all the other stuff, because I've seen people get. So busy when they retire? Yeah,

BRIAN AKERS:

the hardest thing is when you let somebody know you're retired and they go, Hey, got some free time. I need this. I need this. And if you have a pickup truck in retirement, you're gonna be a full time person, or full time work.

Alex Monk:

All that stuff is good, right? Like, there's no right answer, no wrong answer. You don't have to go to this, like, little community, you don't have to go to a certain state, you don't have to go watch your grandkids. You do have to play pickleball. No wait, that's not required either. So you can do whatever you want. It's just up to you.

BRIAN AKERS:

Well, millions play pickleball, but it has become the number one injury sport in America. It's top soccer. Did you know

Alex Monk:

that I did cripple ball? They call it.

BRIAN AKERS:

I wasn't ready for that one out. My sister in law is

Alex Monk:

a physical therapist inside gym.

BRIAN AKERS:

All right, so today's show is financial independence day. Yes, we celebrate the Fourth of July, but the Independence Day, you got to think about it. When will you be financially independent? Are you on the road to financial independence? Have you basically not even started? That is what financial planning does, wherever you are now we take you from there to where you need to be. This might take years. It might be a matter of, hey, I'm retirement ready, I think. And we look at it, and then all of a sudden an offer comes from work. You get a little severance combo, and you say, Hey, I'm ready. And we take it. Had two couple of those recently.

Alex Monk:

The thing is, you gotta decide that, hey, I don't want somebody else handling my retirement. This is my retirement. I worked for it. I saved hard. Let's get it under control

BRIAN AKERS:

and bringing it all together. That's why we asked for a lot of information. We gather that so we can put it all together to see how it comes together, and then we can plan out through income withdrawals, taxation, net income. What is the goal? All of this comes together because we lead with financial planning at AKERS Financial Group. We're local, we're independent. We don't report to a big company on Wall Street or a big company in Iowa, or really any big company. We do report to you. We have offices in Forest Hill and Lutherville, and clients all around the mid Atlantic region and a bunch around the country, about 3435 different states right now, us, us, and a few around the world right now. What happens is this, it's easy to begin winning a retirement. Just give us a call and schedule your free meeting with one of our team of advisors by calling 833 when retire. That's 830 3w, I N, R e, t, I R, E, we'll give you a call on Monday to schedule your free in person meeting. Go to AKERS financial group.com, or call us at 833-946-7384 to start planning for your retirement. Now, did the American Revolutionary War began before or after the Declaration of Independence was signed? They answer that question. When we come back,

Unknown:

you're listening to a pre recorded show, welcome back to winning in retirement. Call 833, win retire now to schedule a visit with Brian and his team and begin winning in retirement once again, here's BRIAN AKERS,

BRIAN AKERS:

indeed. Welcome back to winning in retirement. I'm BRIAN AKERS, and here with me today is Alex monk. We're certified financial planner practitioners from AKERS Financial Group of financial advisors that work with our clients and help them go from where they are to where they need to be. And that's our process of helping get to financial independence. And that's what our show is about. Today. It's called Financial Independence Day. Happy Fourth of July. But financial independence is what matters. At AKERS Financial Group is helping our clients be financially independent. So, Alex monk, you ready for second quarter? This is I love America. So this is just, I have a history question, and I know this is not your thing. Oh, man. All right, I wrote the answer on your paper there, if you want to read the answer. Okay, so I was gonna say that loud. Was I All right? Back Back to the news. Did the American Revolutionary War begin before or after the Declaration of Independence was signed? I'm

Alex Monk:

gonna go before Brian and what day was that? Alex, oh, four days before my wife's birthday, June 17.

BRIAN AKERS:

It's a June 17, a whole year before they actually signed the Declaration of Independence. Now, our country bases our start date on July the fourth, 1776, and they signed that in what What city do you remember that? Philadelphia? Yeah, Philly, you were there. I've been I love history. So what I like about this is this there was a war before they declared their independence. Now, how does that tie into financial planning? Alex,

Alex Monk:

well, let me just give you one example, right? Yeah. Let's say you're retiring in five years, and you have to make a decision before that, retirement or war, whatever happens that impacts your benefits, right? Maybe it's a year, a whole year before, and this is just one thing that you have to do a year in advance that can impact the rest 4030, years of your life. So. Knowing just that, like, what do I need to do that I can't go back and and do

BRIAN AKERS:

right? So if you declare your independence at work, you gotta be ready for work to stop, right? So declaring your independence begins with a battle beforehand. A battle beforehand is financial planning, where you get everything together, everything organized, you and your spouse talk finances, right? Like with a counselor.

Alex Monk:

Do you remember the whole like, the biggest part of that war was the communication, right? The Spy networks, all that stuff. And that's all we're trying to do is just get everybody involved in the room and somebody that knows what this stuff is. Me, you Yep. And so explain it to you, give you your options and see what you want your life to be.

BRIAN AKERS:

Now, the idea of the War of for American independence began in 75 lasted all the way into 1883 they just 18 sorry, 1783 I a little carried away there. But there was a lot of lot of pieces to the war. It took a long time for it to finally finish up. But we were a country. We declared it. We put a line in the sand, almost like when you guys think about retiring, you'll put a line to say, I'm retiring. I'm gonna retire that year or that day. You then you figure out when's the best time to retire at your work, you figure out the best day to go in and tell them. Now, in the perfect world, we all get to decide every retirement, we get to walk in and declare independence,

Alex Monk:

have a party, wear the Hawaiian shirt, correct? We've had

BRIAN AKERS:

many do those. But there's also the opposite that people are facing today, and that is, hey, by Tuesday, you need to say if you're going to take this deal

Alex Monk:

right, are you ready to drive three hours again every day. That's important. Did you move or did you take another job? Like life's changing back or again,

BRIAN AKERS:

it's heading back to about five, six years ago. And what's happening is people have settled into a new normal, and then they're required. The requirements are changing, and those requirements are making people decide, what do they do? This leads to transitions in jobs, transitions in careers. And you need to take a moment and think about it. Now, for some people, they need to go ahead and buy in and drive the drive for a year, two years, whatever it's going to be. And that fits their independence plan. Other people, they call and we say, yeah, you've been ready to go for a couple years now. What are they offering? Anything yet, that kind of thing. And then there's those that have to find a job because they know they can't, because if they're going to be let go, that they need to have that job. So we got to be ready for it. And these things are going to happen, right? Like, yeah, a lot in private for years, but public is the first time, really, it's happened at this level. It's been a long, long time, like there's been acts like all it was in the 90s during Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, last time there was anything like this.

Alex Monk:

And the politics are that stuff's gonna change, right? It always does, like record, regardless of who's in office, who's doing this or that? I don't want my client's future or retirement to have anything to do with that.

BRIAN AKERS:

Yeah, we've talked about it for years, that the only one that cares about your retirement, like completely is you, because you're gonna have to live it. It's your money. You're gonna be have to deal with the checks coming in and understand that's enough live within the means and financial planners. We're going to help and coach, but we're not going to spend the money, and we're not going to plan the trips. We're not going to say what is very best for you when it comes to spending your money, but we get help. How to get money to you, how to take money out, how to pay less tax, how to choose your health care, how to plan your estate. All this ties into all the decisions that have to be made, right as we declare independence?

Alex Monk:

Yeah, one of the toughest things for me to see is a lot of the people that are retiring right now have been places for a long time, right? They're loyal people, and the world's just not like that as much as it used to be. And I see some of these people getting a negative experience that their companies, I'm going to take care of them forever, right? And I'd, I hate to break it to them, but I'm like, hey, they don't care how long you've been here. That person was 20 when you know you started. So it's a different world. You gotta protect you. Number one is you.

BRIAN AKERS:

And we've seen all this coming for years, pensions are slowly, slowly going away. They're changing how they calculate it. They're changing how they do cost of living. They're changing that ever since the risk has started in the early 80s, it's gone from the responsibility of the company to provide retirement to you, and

Alex Monk:

usually when your company says, Hey, we got this offer for you about our retirement plan changing? Yeah, it's usually not good. Yeah, right. It's not like the best.

BRIAN AKERS:

And then recently, there's consolidations of 401, K companies, all kinds of things being all put together. And then they give you investment choices which are basically all one set thing, which we also don't like. But then what? Business, they do give us some other choices. So you have to handle and work with this, and that's why financial planners are here. We're here to guide you through these times. Now, imagine that you have your own small company, your small business, you every day, have this idea you are you in business or not? So this struggle of up and downs is sort of a day to day way life is for small business, right, right?

Alex Monk:

And that's like a retired life, right? Like trusting your ability to earn, yeah, which is what people do their whole career, versus trusting your ability to have saved enough,

BRIAN AKERS:

right? So someone that had been more independent, the thing that drives them in retirement is, do they want to stop doing it? Those that work for somebody or for some entity, they trust that job, and almost the people that are paying their paycheck more than they trust what they've saved that themselves Absolutely. So this, it's a mental game, but we want you to understand the numbers. Make sure you're okay. We only can know the numbers if we spend time together do that. Yeah,

Alex Monk:

and what you just said is so true. I tell people there's like, this is so nerve wracking. I'm so nervous, Alex. I'm like, Well, you just did the thing that was risky. You had nothing, you took on debt, you started a job, and you worked there, and you were just banking on your ability to work and live right like you. You nailed it.

BRIAN AKERS:

Now the hardest part is this, you don't all sudden wake up on Monday with$1,000,000.04 Oh, 1k or a $3 million 401, K. It starts small. It starts right today. It means you go look at your are you saving money? And you begin to pay yourself first, the only way to be independent later is if you prepare to be independent later. That's sort of like the war. The War The Battle of finances is battling your own spending habit, battling what you want to give your family versus taking care of the family. Do I believe paying yourself first and throwing your money to your future self and with purpose will get you where you want to be, but you have to have a little bit of pain to get there by saving now every one of us can look at our budget and cut something out and then save 50 bucks. So you need to start there financial independence. You want to listen to the show going, Oh, that sounds great. Not me. And then I like to say, yes, you it can be you

Alex Monk:

absolutely. And if you don't want to budget down to the minutia, then Okay, give me a round number. If you say you spend eight a month and you bring in 10. Where's the two? Give me your bank

BRIAN AKERS:

statement. I pick out a couple for you. I told someone to stop going to Wawa four times a day. I'm sorry. That's a different story.

Alex Monk:

I get that though, like, and it becomes habitual, like, you need your $8 coffee just to have a good Wednesday. I mean,

BRIAN AKERS:

my math is this, I used to do sell it Tuesdays at the office. I remember I spent 100 bucks on Tuesday for salad. After the year, I looked at the budget and that was $5,200 so 52 weeks times 100 that's and that's salad to share with people, right? That was 5000 bucks. So imagine if you spend 50 bucks a week. That's $2,500 that's a great way to save money. Not eating. Well, you can eat cheaply, selective eating. If somebody brings free salad on Tuesdays, like for you, then you take the salad and you save your money.

Alex Monk:

I appreciate that, because that is compounded. You know, that money I saved while you bought me lunch. So good looking now, but it's easy like to see, when you're like, your 500 turns into a million. That's a cool thing to see. Absolutely, when you're 50 turns into 100 that's a cool thing to see.

BRIAN AKERS:

It's the same percentage. It's the same amount of time, though, right? And we got to get this money started. The younger in life you can start, the better that money will grow. Compounding of your investments and being in the market over time is a modern miracle that we need to take advantage of by putting your money in like Roth, Ira, stock funds, things like that. That just makes great sense.

Alex Monk:

It's just like a real easy thing, start early and do less.

BRIAN AKERS:

That sounds like a new slogan we got to work with. Oh, yeah, I'm not a big fan of doing less on anything in life,

Alex Monk:

right? I know I get that, but like you have, you don't have to do as many drastic things, all right?

BRIAN AKERS:

So this quarter, we talked about the American Revolutionary War. The battle started way before the Declaration of Independence was signed. There was about a year battle, and beforehand, The war lasted beyond the Declaration of Independence signature. This is all about you and your finances when it comes down to it. So when we're talking about financial planning and investment planning, we really, truly have to look at your situation and know what's best for you. We do this for a living so that you don't have to one of our favorite things is sit down and talk to you about where you are, and then over the years, lead and guide you till that day when you declare independence and you're retired. And like a client of mine, a few weeks ago, came in back from their first retirement trip. They were. Happy they point as I'm winning in retirement, they were, you could tell that they had a great time getting away and the stress of their career was gone. That was a very sweet, sweet time to be able to talk to a client about that. Now, at AKERS Financial Group, you're going to be advised and told what to basically not told what to do. Sorry, I almost slipped on that one. You're going to be recommended what you should do. You're not going to be sold something regardless of whether you need it or not. AKERS Financial Group, we're gonna sit down and talk with you about your financial fingerprint. So give us a call at 833 when retire, or go to our website. At AKERS financial group.com we celebrate independence day. Do you? We'll explain what we're referring to in a moment.

Unknown:

You're listening to a pre recorded show, welcome back to winning in retirement. Call 833, win retire now to schedule a visit with Brian and his team and begin winning in retirement once again. Here's BRIAN AKERS,

BRIAN AKERS:

welcome back to winning in retirement. I'm BRIAN AKERS, president and founder of AKERS Financial Group, which hosts this show winning in retirement? It's our Radio Podcast. Today we have Alex monk, Certified Financial Planner. Good morning,

Alex Monk:

Alex, good morning. Brian. Happy July 4. Independence Day.

BRIAN AKERS:

Absolutely. July 4 is a wonderful day for the country to celebrate all the things that have been done over the last 249 years and but at AKERS Financial Group, we like freedom. We like Independence Day, so we do call it Independence Day. And then we also call our radio show today financial independence day. Oh, it's a good thing to think about. It's independent. Independent for the country is a wonderful time where they broke away from the taxation and all the things are going on. And then we became our own country, and that was a big deal. It's been a big deal for 249, years. I have to say that when you think about financial planning and retirement, it's a big deal. It's a breaking away from from where you work to being on your own, to trust what you've built, trust what you own, trust what you have. It's a big day to be financially independent, and then to declare your financial independence and actually retire,

Alex Monk:

yeah, and and just be comfortable with what you have set up like, knowing, hey, this is what's going to happen if this happens. This is why I'm doing this. This is where this is coming from. Here's what we like to do in this scenario. I need $40,000 for a patio. You know, whatever it may be like,

BRIAN AKERS:

I actually did that yesterday for someone. It was, it was 40,000 for a patio.

Alex Monk:

It's, it's always the numbers are getting big too, especially like cars, patios, additions, good lord, whoo. Huge numbers, bathrooms, Oh, yeah. I mean anything really, right? And then having it done, right? And completely, I can't help you with that, but I can help you get the money out of the lower tax rate,

BRIAN AKERS:

right? Yeah. So the idea is this, we're doing this show today about financial independence. We call it Financial Independence Day show, oh, first question is, when is your financial independence day? Do you have one planned now this quarter we're talking about, do you celebrate independence day? Now? What sense, right? Well, in all sense, right? Um, the Fourth of July. Do you weigh the flag and all? That's a wonderful thing, but it's a financial show. So let's talk about financial independence. For those that are our financial independence, the key thing is this, you work because you choose to, cause you want to, not because you have to. That is a different mindset when it comes to working in your career, when you go to work because I want to be there. Big, big difference, and

Alex Monk:

it changes value too for people. What do you mean by that? So like, when I I sit with someone and I'm like, we know everything, 234, whatever, meetings in and I say, you can do whatever you want, as long as you don't start spending double what you've been spending your whole life, right? Or something you know, like that. And just to see them decide, is this worth that now that the utility of that extra dollar doesn't change their life, right? Like it doesn't impact plus or minus? Yeah, I had a

BRIAN AKERS:

client within one year the first the first meeting, the husband said, Oh, I'm working until I'm 68 years old. 69 I love my job. Maybe 70. And then the wife says I'll probably retire at 65 and then about a year, year later, after going through all the financial planning and me telling them, you're totally financial independent right now, you don't need to wait years or because all that is going to change is change your worth, and that's money that's really not needed to make your retirement better. It's more. Is more for what? What's your reason? Do you want more? Or is, or is there a line? And then also, any got an offer at his job, hates his job, now an offer to retire, and he the phone. Calls made. The wife says, Okay, I'm gonna work a little longer for healthcare, but he's gonna go ahead and take it. So he went from one year ago, hey, I love my job, working four or five more years, to knowing and securely, knowing they're okay, they don't need to work unless they want to, and then to actually go ahead and say, yep, I'm ringing the bell, I'm out. And then I think he's going to do something else. Be great, and

Alex Monk:

he'll figure that all right, like, once you get your honey do list, all your like, Oh, I gotta do this, that, and the other, done your trip, and then you're like, you know, on Tuesdays, I would like to whatever, yeah,

BRIAN AKERS:

the hard part is the opposite. Like, I had a couple come in and they're in their mid 60s. They have lots of debt, lots of things, they owe money. And the hardest part is, one wants to retire, like, July 1 of next year.

Alex Monk:

Because why? Like, just because of the age or age number, and

BRIAN AKERS:

they're they're done. They want to do something different, but that's something different would mean a lot less money. And my thing is, the math tells me you can't. I did not like that to be able to say the math tells you you can. I said the only problem we have is this. We have to have enough assets, or we got to pay off debt. We got to get rid of the debt so the cash flow works. We have to do something, right?

Alex Monk:

And that's what makes me nervous when I meet people and they're like, Well, I'm trying to save as much as I can and pay everything off and enjoy my life. Yeah, and I'm like, Well, if you already have debt, what were you doing before? Right? Just blow like, because that's really hard to do when you keep adding adding that

BRIAN AKERS:

savers truly become wealthy because they let the money run, let it double and double and double, and they go from that four to 8,000,008 to 16 million. That's something we see with their clients, that's the fact that they let it, let it there, let it grow, and then we're there. Hey, we need to use some of this money. Let's start annual gifting. Let's start charitable giving. There's a lot of other advanced planning when it comes to what to do with wealth once you've accumulated. But then that for for the Americans, that for all the Americans that are still working paycheck to paycheck, or trying to figure out if they have enough when it comes to Independence Day, I believe it's a huge deal to understand that the goal isn't retirement. The first goal is, am I financially independent so that I could retire? Financial independence, as I would define it, is where you know when you stop working, the assets, the pensions, the Social Security, the things that you've earned in life, and the debt and the cash flow will all work together to provide for you from now throughout the rest of your life, regardless, regardless of ups and downs, you have to have room for that. You got to take less risk. You also have to understand that we don't pick how long you're going to live. We try to plan beyond normal life expectancy. If you say 95 100 we'll plan the numbers to them. But the idea is the habits have to be great habits so that you can have the money to rely on no matter what life brings us.

Alex Monk:

Yeah, and having that like, the plan to know where you want to be like, That's my favorite thing. Is when someone comes in, Brian says, All right, here's my scenario. What should I do? And they'll do what I like. I've had people start pensions because they're still working, but the other pension is a normal age difference, and you add it to the 401, K, or you start Social Security to pay down debt. Like, there's so many cool I think they're cool. I mean, just awesome ideas, tax planning alone, yeah? Like, every day I want to get out of bed and beat the IRS, like, independently for each client. But

BRIAN AKERS:

you know, that's actually true. So when I laugh, yeah, that is you.

Alex Monk:

I love it. Oh, I could show me the new rules, like, how can we get this client, their money at a better way, because there's so many things in retirement we can't control, right? You can't control what the government does. You can vote. You know it's going to change, whatever it's going to change, something's going to change, right? The market will crash three to four times in a 30 year retirement at a minimum, maybe. So let's plan for all of these things that we can't control with things we can, which would be tax planning, knowing where our stuff is. All the easy stuff,

BRIAN AKERS:

I believe it's never too late to improve your finances so that you can declare your independence someday, you have to start. You have to build a strategy so that you are better off tomorrow than you were yesterday. The hardest part with any of this is, I believe, gathering all the information, looking at it all together, and then knowing what to do first. And that's what financial planning is going to help do, is lead you down a path of, alright, this is best for you and your situation. This will really help you get to where you need to be. If we do, if you do more of this, more of that. It just fit all your

Alex Monk:

goals, yeah? And the benefit of doing it on your terms is huge, because you're the one driving the bus, right? You get to decide this, that, and the other, if you're in that situation and that fortunate, yeah, the other side of that scenario is the world dictates your trajectory. Yeah. Yeah, and that is not something that I would want people to work for,

BRIAN AKERS:

right? So the control, the control part, comes down to your finances and your advisor, your team of people, on the help you deliver what you need. Now, when I'm thinking about all this, I think about, how do we know what we need? How do we make these decisions? One of my things I've been using is you take your current net income, you know, the money you live off of now that number, and we start there. Now, that net income is your bring home pay, and if you live within that means, then that's a good number. If not, we need to analyze every bank statement for the last 12 months, look at every line and see where did your money go. Well,

Alex Monk:

because usually, if they're a super good saver, a really good saver, right there. Let's just say they make$100,000 their net pay is probably 65 grand a month. They think they make way more than that, but when you show them the math on the cash flow side, they're like,

BRIAN AKERS:

oh. And so in the when you match retirement gross to pre retirement gross, you don't need to make 100 to match it. You could be in the 70 range and match it depending on or lower. If you have different tax planning, did the Roth IRA, and then we can take that out. We can be higher on the on the income flow, and less tax and more net,

Alex Monk:

and pay zero on capital gains. If we have some planning years like we can do so many cool things.

BRIAN AKERS:

I had a police officer. He had put in in the 40s a years, and he's like, I don't know if I can retire. And I like, what if I could show you can make more money retired than you are right now? Nah, ain't, no way. And so we went through it and we went through the numbers. I said, this is how we would do it. And he's like, All right, so let's figure out how to go I said, Well, when's the best time for you to retire? So we planned that out. We planned on how to get rid of a couple of desks, get him lined up to retire, and then we started turning those things on, and he's retired and has more income than he was, making more bring home pay than he was.

Alex Monk:

And we, that's what we do all day, right? Like they people retire once, maybe twice in their life. Well, we do it for people, or help them every day. So it's like, we'll show you what we've seen.

BRIAN AKERS:

I think it's very important when you say that, that we do it all the time, because a lot of people, it's their one time, and it's got to stick right. It's got to be the right time workout,

Alex Monk:

right, right. Like, if you were gonna go build a, I don't know, an addition on your house, are you gonna go get the guy that's done it once,

BRIAN AKERS:

you will see multiple projects. We want to see if they're still standing from a few years ago, unless it's a relative, then you might let them try. I

Unknown:

wouldn't recommend that either.

BRIAN AKERS:

Well, when we talk financial independence, we love Independence Day. We love financial independence day. That's what this show has been all about. Today at AKERS Financial Group, we're local, we're independent. We don't report to a big company on Wall Street. We report to you. We do have offices in Forest Hill and Luther Lutherville and clients all around the country and even a few around the world. It's so easy to begin winning in retirement, just give us a call and schedule your free meeting with one of our team of advisors by calling 833, win retire. That's 833, W, I n, r, e, t, I, R, E, we'll give you a call on Monday to schedule your free in person meeting. Go to AKERS financial group.com, or call us at 833-946-7384, to start planning for your retirement. Now, how does the Declaration of Independence apply to you winning in your retirement? Let's talk about that. When we come back, you're

Unknown:

listening to a pre recorded Show. Welcome back to winning in retirement. Call 833, win retire now to schedule a visit with Brian and his team and begin winning in retirement. Once again. Here's BRIAN AKERS,

BRIAN AKERS:

welcome back to winning in retirement. I'm BRIAN AKERS, and today I have Alex monk, this show is winning in retirement. Our radio podcast put on by AKERS Financial Group, Alex and I are certified financial planner practitioners. That means that we are financial advisors. We're here to advise you on your retirement. The show gives general advice, but generally in person, as we recommend, to talk about you where you are and where you need to be. As we talk through things today, we want to steer you towards our website, AKERS financial group.com, if you look at the radio podcast tab, you hit that right there. You can actually hear past shows anytime you like. You can hear this show again. You can play it at fast speed if you want, or slow speed any of your podcast ways of listening are all ways to access information about AKERS Financial Group, and we offer that free hour of time where we sit down and go over your situation, where you are, which I think is a great way to get started. So Alex monk, you ready to go fourth quarter? Let's do it. America. America, all right. So fourth July is, I'm actually it was yesterday, but Independence Day is every day for our clients, right? Yeah, and

Alex Monk:

earlier, it's like the the line in the sand, like all these different things. Well, basically, we're becoming our own little island, right? You're your own little country. You don't have to work anymore. You've amassed enough stuff that it'll support you, right, right? Natural resources, money, whatever it is, in your case, it's, we're talking about money. That's scary. I mean, I. Yeah, it's like, trying to teach my my toddler responsibilities. I'm like, Yeah, you get to do these cool things, but you have to, you know, do these other things that go with it. Like, when you get a house, you gotta empty your trash like you don't.

BRIAN AKERS:

Those are hard things to learn. Yeah? It's like,

Alex Monk:

Huh? So switching at a late stage in life to trusting that you've done it it's worth a second opinion.

BRIAN AKERS:

And so basically, financial planning is like coaching you and making these wise decisions, and then we implement and make things happen and make sure it's all invested and put together the way you needed to be, right?

Alex Monk:

And we may sound casual, like to have a good time and joke about this stuff, but it's because we're so comfortable with it, right? Like, hey, this is we live and breathe this stuff. So it's second nature, whereas other people, it creates anxiety, and that's what we're here to help you with. Let's show you how your money can work for you.

BRIAN AKERS:

All right, so I got a little tricky question for you. All right, so the declaration, Declaration of Independence applies to financial planning. And there's a little quote in Declaration of Independence called life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Do you view that as a retirement plan? Life liberty and pursue, pursuit of happiness? I do. I do that's like a pretty good retirement plan, right? Pursuit of Happiness kind of nails it, right? And Mackenzie right gives you that flexibility. Because what makes you happy, what makes him happy, what makes her happy? They can be different. Yeah, so the idea of retirement, the concept of life liberty, the liberty to choose and make your decisions, which is when you're financially independent, pursuit of happiness is writing down the goals. What is that? What is that morning? Maybe it's a slow morning that makes you happy and get you going. Maybe it is being responsible for something. Maybe it is volunteering somewhere. Maybe it is doing some work somewhere where you enjoy each and every day,

Alex Monk:

or knowing you have a plan for when things don't go as great as they might. Right, like right? Because last time I checked, everyone's life ends the same way. Yep, afraid so. So again, we got a plan, like we're gonna live forever, but like we're gonna die today. It's really hard, but we wanted to stay flexible, so that your money is able to adapt and change and grow with you the person and serve your needs, whatever they

BRIAN AKERS:

may be. Yeah. So independence is where you look at your money. You've got your finances. You gotta understand the taxation of each account now, as you've saved it all, it is what it is. And then we tell you how it works. When you are starting the Save we would recommend what kind of retirement plan we like the most.

Alex Monk:

Pay your tax now, and it's like, set it and forget it. Never pay your tax

BRIAN AKERS:

now. Never again. Roth, Ira, Roth, 401. K, Roth, four, 3b, Roth, TSP, it's where you pay tax now. You might not be able to save as much, but you pay the tax now, and that money grows, and all it grows to becomes tax free in retirement. And technically, you don't have to say you don't have to have as much money if it's all tax free.

Alex Monk:

So you said you don't have to have enough money and as much money as much? Yeah? But that's because, let's say it's all pre tax. You got a million bucks. How much is yours?

BRIAN AKERS:

A million bucks. If I draw for the area, let's call it, let's say that 70% is mine, 30% is somebody else's,

Alex Monk:

right? So that would be your, your partner, yeah. And retirement, yeah,

BRIAN AKERS:

my tax part in retirement uncles. So Uncle Sam and I are retiring together, and he gets 30% of the take, and I get 70, and he will always outlive you, right? He'll keep getting it, and he's gonna want more if I have too much left over, yeah. And

Alex Monk:

then if you try to pay the tax on it while you're alive, there's other issues that you can run into. What do you mean by that? I mean, the more money, more Mo Money, Mo Problems. They say, yeah, like, but the higher income goes, the more you have to pay for certain things, healthcare, this, that the other, Oh, yeah. And then that's gonna only escalate. Like, that'll change more and more. So just being proactive a little bit, and do it on your terms. Like that's, if anybody hears anything, I want to help you do whatever you want to do on your terms. Yeah.

BRIAN AKERS:

So the idea of financial independence day is this, when is your financial independence day? Have you figured it out? Have you calculated? Have Are you okay? Are you independent? Do you want to be someday? That's exactly what planning comes in and says, Well, let's get started. Let's refine it. Let's get started and declaring your financial independence. These are all phases of the planning. We help all the different phases. We have teams of advisors here to help you. The idea is this, where are you when it comes to your own financial

Alex Monk:

independence, and what's your relationship with money to like, a lot of retirement is it's a whole mind shift, paradigm shift. It's wild to see, like, the first 10 years of retirement for people, for me, is wild to see the, you know, the C suite executive and then 10. Years down the road, what that person you know, transforms into, like the Fisher, the granddad, the this, the that,

BRIAN AKERS:

yeah, I know what you're talking about. So we, we have different companies where we work with them, the leaders of the companies, and when we do that, we help them try to get ready to retire. And then we it's hard to catch up with them, you know, because they're so busy. And so we get hired to take care of things, and then, all sudden, they retire, and then they are more free, more free. Of course, they have a Things To Do list when they retire, and boards and all this stuff to be on. And then after a few more years, slows down a little bit, and then you check in, and the meeting isn't like it used to be. It's not about a quick meeting about things to do with 1000 maybe, like five items on it. And they're like, yes, yes, yes. They make quick decisions. It's a combat combination of, hey, what you doing? Share

Alex Monk:

some of that. You know, this is what I did with my money. Hey. And the most successful people that I've met, I always ask them, just for my own personal thing, like, Hey, if you could go back in your life, what would you do different? Yeah, and the answer is, usually spend more time with my family this that the other, because at a certain point the money loses value. And I don't want to sound like callous or anything like that about it, but knowing where that is, so that you can say, I'm okay, I want to spend time with my sick mom or my wife or this or that, that is the hugest thing for me.

BRIAN AKERS:

And so there's a concept, the concepts called Fire, financial independence. Retire early. So the idea would be this, as you're growing that career, that gets to a point where you hit that financial independence, and then you decide, hey, I might not work as long. I might retire early. Can I do it? Fire, financial independence. Retire early because you say, because you are financially independent, we get to say, yes, you're fine at 59 you're fine at 57 years old, you're fine at 61 and it's going to work out well because of this plan. And then we, like with some of our clients, you fast forward 10 years later, and they wonder why we couldn't squeeze a couple years earlier. But the problem is, they were pursuing that career, and every time they when they quit, they'd have to give up a large number, because every year you give up the next year's big number.

Alex Monk:

And think about it right, like you've been motivated to be financially driven in that role. So it's really hard to break away from it, especially if you're successful in your career, you're going to want to be successful in your retirement. So you're going to tend to overdo things, you know, all

BRIAN AKERS:

those, yeah, I catch myself when I end up saying to the clients, like, when they say, Well, should I should I retire? And like, well, they're always going to pay you more, and the and the best job to have is that final job that pays you more. So when I use that comment is when someone says, I'm almost ready to retire, maybe I should quit and go part time. And I'm like, Well, if you do a couple more good months at where you are, you won't ever have to be part time, because a couple months

Alex Monk:

not about money, then, yeah, go part time, keep something to do. But if it's financial, then,

BRIAN AKERS:

if it's pure financial, the job you have is probably financially better than the job you're getting, unless it's going to require the same level of stress and all those levels. So sometimes

Alex Monk:

imagine being the new guy at the last two years of your career. Horrible.

BRIAN AKERS:

I've seen clients do it. I've seen them struggle with that, especially if it's in the same office where they go from being the head of it to a consultant. That's a brutal thing. But today, what we're trying to do is this. We're trying to cover financial independence, financial independence. And the concept is, when is your financial independence day? Independence Day is a great time for the country to celebrate its independence, but let's talk about your independence.

Alex Monk:

It starts when you you look yourself in the mirror, you decide, hey, I'm going to take control my finances, right? And we're here to help you whenever you're ready.

BRIAN AKERS:

I believe right now is a great time. About halfway through the year, you get all your statements, all your information. You basically start there, where are you at? And go from

Alex Monk:

there and find out, like, there's no like, I tell people I'm not going to judge you at all on anything that you've done before you came into this room now after. I'm like, but that's why we're friends. You know what I mean? That's what that's my job is to tell you, Hey, you did this wrong. Yeah,

BRIAN AKERS:

well, I'm not sure how to respond. Well, it's like, I've heard you say that and do that with clients. I don't really go in that direction. I do. I do more serious of let's evaluate the numbers. And I get back, then I say, Well, have you thought about this? And be thought about? And I do cover worst case scenarios, and then we handle the rest. I like getting rid of the worst case scenario so we know we're okay in the worst of times. And then we make our money last a lifetime, and that's a fun combo,

Alex Monk:

yep. And then I want them to be able to know that, hey, there's no question that's dumb. I need to just call him and make sure I'm not not asking. I tell him I'd rather you ask me eight stupid questions, and one of them be the perfect one, instead of not asking any of them.

BRIAN AKERS:

But guess what? It. The bottom line is, our clients aren't coming to buy a product. They want an advisor, and that advisor is given advice. That's why they ask questions. And the fact that they know they can ask questions is the whole idea of talking about financial independence. So that's really, really the right thing, right?

Alex Monk:

Alex, I nothing gives me more value than being that person that people trust.

BRIAN AKERS:

Yeah, that's a good way to end the show here today. Great show today. Alex monk, we appreciate it very much. Today, we did cover financial independence day. When is your financial independence day? We do look forward to meeting with you. We want to win, and we want you to win in your retirement by taking advantage of the opportunity to begin planning with us at AKERS Financial Group to schedule your free meeting with one of our team of advisors. Go to our website, at AKERS financial group.com scroll to the meeting section and let us know you'd like to schedule a free meeting right there. That's AKERS financial group.com where you can call us at 833 win, retire. That's 830 3w. I n, r, e, t, I R, E, we'll give you a call on Monday to schedule a free in person meeting with one of our team of advisors. Start planning for your retirement now. Go to AKERS Financial Group com, or call us at 833-946-7384, thank you for listening. I'm BRIAN AKERS from AKERS Financial Group, and we want you to be winning in retirement.

Unknown:

You've been listening to winning in retirement with your host. BRIAN AKERS of AKERS Financial Group. AKERS Financial Group offers securities through arcadios capital. An SIPC and FINRA member firm. Advisory services are provided through arcadios wealth. AKERS Financial Group and arcadios do not share any common ownership. Neither arcadios nor AKERS Financial Group provides tax or legal advice. Advice given on winning in retirement is general in nature, and one should seek further advice from their financial advisor, broker, attorney andor, tax accountant before investing, be sure to read each prospectus carefully to understand all the risks associated with each investment. Examples and scenarios shared are meant to be for illustrative purposes only past performance is not indicative of future results.