Faith Meets Finance: Navigating Retirement with Purpose with Michael Perez

Thinking about retirement—or helping others prepare? Here are 3 key takeaways to keep in mind:

1. Legacy Doesn’t Happen by Accident
Roughly two-thirds of Americans haven’t done any estate planning. Intentional planning is an act of love—it removes uncertainty and stress for your family. Don’t leave your legacy to chance or state laws. Start the conversation now.

2. Retirement with Purpose Starts with the Right Foundation
Mike outlines five pillars of a faith-driven retirement: Time, Calling, Financial Finish Line, Radical Generosity, and Legacy. These guideposts help shape retirement into a season of meaning, impact, and joy.

3. Family Conversations Are More Powerful Than You Think
Talking with your loved ones—especially adult children—about your plans brings clarity, peace, and stronger stewardship across generations. It’s not just about money. It’s about preparing hearts and minds for what’s ahead.

Whether you’re nearing retirement or advising those who are, this episode is packed with helpful, faith-rooted insights on planning for a future that matters.

Want to go deeper? Grab Mike’s book at faithfinancesbook.com.

For additional information about Kelly, check her out on Linkedin or www.SteadfastAgents.com.

To explore your options for long-term care insurance, click here.

Steadfast Care Planning podcast is made possible by AMADA Senior Care and Steadfast Insurance LLC.

Come back next time for more helpful guidance! 

Transcript

Kelly Augspurger [00:00:02]:
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Care Planning, where we plan for care, to live well.

Kelly Augspurger [00:00:06]:
I'm Kelly Augspurger, LTC insurance specialist, and your guide. With me today is Mike Perez, speaker, certified financial planner, certified kingdom advisor, and author of "Faith and Finances: Embracing Biblical Principles for Financial Success and Generosity". Welcome, Mike. Thanks so much for being here.

Mike Perez [00:00:26]:
Hey, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me, Kelly.

Kelly Augspurger [00:00:29]:
Today we are going to be talking about how faith and finance intersect in retirement planning, particularly in the lives of older adults. So, Mike, can we jump right in?

Mike Perez [00:00:40]:
Yeah.

Kelly Augspurger [00:00:41]:
Can I start asking you questions?

Mike Perez [00:00:42]:
You sure can. I'm ready for you.

Kelly Augspurger [00:00:44]:
Okay, great. Ready to get some wisdom here. So I know you've shared with me multiple different pieces of information and data regarding this topic, one of which was that approximately 73% of all the wealth in the United States is currently owned by Americans over the age of 55. And this is what was surprising to me, Mike, and that 83% of them believe in God. That's a large percentage of people.

Mike Perez [00:01:10]:
Yes, yes.

Kelly Augspurger [00:01:11]:
Right, yeah. What inspired you to write your book, "Faith and Finances, Embracing Biblical Principles for Financial Success and Generosity" and create your platform? Was it because of information like that, like what I just shared, or something different?

Mike Perez [00:01:23]:
I think that's part of the journey, but we would have to go back, let's see, 17 years was really the first time I even gave any thought to the intersection of faith and finances. And that was based on a sermon that I was listening to at my church from a guest speaker. He was speaking on a book that he had written called, "The ABCs of Financial Freedom", a guy named Barry Cameron. And so that was the start. And then when it really started to accelerate was about 10 years ago, I got introduced to the Kingdom Advisor movement out of Atlanta.

Mike Perez [00:02:00]:
I also got introduced to Generous Giving, which is kind of the generosity movement. And so that just put me on this path of really leaning into what does it look like to live out your faith through your finances. And so I've been on this incredible journey and then through just really fate in the last year and a half, I ended up writing this book which is pretty foundational to the whole concept of living out your faith through your finances. So it's a great read for anybody that wants to lean into that a little bit. And so, yeah, I would say the book is the culmination of the space that I've been playing in for about the last 10 years.

Kelly Augspurger [00:02:40]:
Great. I know in your book, too, you have 5 pillars of a faith-driven retirement, right? You talk about these 5 pillars.

Mike Perez [00:02:47]:
Yeah, actually, I was going to say the pillars are not in this book. The pillars are actually coming out of the book. And this is something that we're doing right now.

Kelly Augspurger [00:02:56]:
Gotcha. So, okay, so after completing the book, these 5 pillars came about. So tell us, what are these "5 Pillars of a Faith-Driven Retirement", Mike?

Mike Perez [00:03:06]:
Yeah, so the whole message of "Faith and Finance" is kind of a broad message. And as I started kind of, as I said, playing in this space after the book, I thought, let me look more into what people in kind of that age, 55 and over season of life, what they're going through. And you just mentioned the research. And so I came up with what I call "The 5 Pillars of a Faith-Driven Retirement". And those 5 pillars are number one: "Time". What are you going to do with your time in this season of Life? The second thing is: "Calling". I think when we're younger, we're always wondering what our calling is. Well, I don't think the call on our life ends because we move into retirement, or a later season of life.

Mike Perez [00:03:50]:
There's a whole movement afoot around this concept of a "Financial Finish Line". So that's the 3rd pillar. And then the 4th pillar is "Radical Generosity", which is something near and dear to my heart. And then the fifth one, obviously we're all going to pass away at some point and we're going to leave a legacy. And so the 5th pillar is we work with people on their "Legacy".

Kelly Augspurger [00:04:10]:
I see. Okay, so these 5 pillars, you're using these then actively with your clients as you plan for financial planning, is that right?

Mike Perez [00:04:18]:
I've always talked about a lot of these things, but now we've kind of packaged it up and we're being much more intentional in how we interact with people around this. And obviously this resonates with pretty much the 55 and over crowd. Obviously, if you're 30 years-old, this may not resonate with you as much. I mean, the book that I wrote is appropriate for any age. But the 5 pillars is people heading into kind of that last season of life.

Kelly Augspurger [00:04:44]:
Gotcha. And why is each one of these pillars of a faith-driven retirement essential for older adults specifically, Mike?

Mike Perez [00:04:50]:
Well, I think...So, the first one we talked about is time. A lot of people in this season of life don't think they need any structure around their time. And the reality is they need a lot of structure because I meet people and they don't know where their time goes. And it just kind of gets away from them. The second thing is the calling. We're called to do something at every season of life. And so a lot of people struggle with what is my next act.

Mike Perez [00:05:17]:
It may not be exactly what you were doing in your 30s, 40s, or 50s, but everybody is called to something. And I think that's where a lot of meaning and purpose comes from in life, is you living out your calling. And then the financial finish line. The question I always ask is, when is enough enough? I mean, I meet people in my business dealings who I can prove to them mathematically they have enough and they still feel like they don't have enough, and they stress out around that, which to me seems like kind of a waste of time and energy. Exactly.

Kelly Augspurger [00:05:48]:
Yeah. And Mike, and just put a pause right there. Why do you think that is? Why do you think people struggle with, "When is enough enough?" Do you think part of that is just their personal experience and their background and how they were raised and just their experience with money and maybe how their parents interacted with money? Or do you think it's our culture? What do you think is behind that?

Mike Perez [00:06:08]:
I think it's all of the above. I mean, we all kind of have a blueprint that we work from, how we were raised, the environments that we were raised in. I think the culture has an impact on it. And then the other thing is, most people, this has been my experience, most people have not given a lot of thought to what does it mean to live out your faith through your finances. Because at the end of the day, no one's going to be 100% there. A lot of things can happen. And so there is an element of the faith walk with our money. And so I would say all of the above.

Kelly Augspurger [00:06:41]:
Okay.

Mike Perez [00:06:42]:
Yeah. And then we're talking about the 4th pillar, the radical generosity. And one of the things I always say to people is this, "Your money is going to be given away. The question is, are you going to be there?" So you're going to be...it's either going to be given away this side, or it's going to be given away on the other side. And as the great Ron Blue, who is co-founder of Kingdom Advisors, says, "Do your given while you're living, so you're knowing where it's going."

Kelly Augspurger [00:07:05]:
That's clever. Very clever. Say that one more time, Mike, say it one more time.

Mike Perez [00:07:11]:
"Do you're given while you're living, so you're knowing where it's going."

Kelly Augspurger [00:07:14]:
Oh, my gosh, that's great.

Mike Perez [00:07:16]:
And so one of the things we encourage people to do is, if you can, give it away while you're here so you can see the impact of it. And then legacy is another big one, because another interesting statistic is that 2/3 of Americans have done no estate planning, which probably means they haven't really given a lot of thought to legacy. And so we've been doing a lot of work in that space. We have this platform called estate mapping. And we really go granular with people on things such as, "What do you want at your funeral? How do you want to be remembered? How do you want the money to flow?" A lot of important things that a lot of people are not really addressing.

Kelly Augspurger [00:07:53]:
2/3 of people. Did you guys hear that? 2/3 of people have not done estate planning. That is insane to me. Yes, absolutely crazy. So, what does that mean for the families? I think that's the big question here. Those people that aren't doing estate planning. And are you specifically referring, Mike, to POA's, Financial and Health Care, trust, living will, those type, like, all those things, right? When we're talking about estate planning.

Kelly Augspurger [00:08:17]:
So 2/3 of Americans are not doing their estate planning. So what does that mean for the family? It means their family is in a crisis. Their family is now trying to pick up pieces of this puzzle and try to put them back together and figure it out, which can be really hard.

Mike Perez [00:08:32]:
I mean, and I've seen it. It creates a mess for the family. And I always tell people that if you do get the work done, it's an act of love. You're basically saying, "I love my people so much, I don't want them to have to not only deal with the grief that I'm gone, but to deal with the mess." And what a lot of people don't know is that if you don't do the work, there's a thing called the intestate laws of the state of Ohio where they will make something up for you. And I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing. It may just not be what you want.

Kelly Augspurger [00:09:01]:
Yeah, so golden nugget, pre-plan, right? Like, get your planning done so that your family doesn't have to deal with the mess afterwards.

Mike Perez [00:09:12]:
Yes.

Kelly Augspurger [00:09:13]:
Yeah.

Mike Perez [00:09:13]:
And one of the other things we say along those lines is that there's going to be a conversation about your stuff and your money. The question is, are you going to be there? And it's true. I mean, if you don't have those conversations, somebody else is going to have to do it.

Kelly Augspurger [00:09:27]:
That's right. So make sure you do it while you're living and while you're cognizant and you can have these rational conversations at the right time. The Steadfast Care Planning podcast is sponsored by the Certification for Long-Term Care, CLTC, an in-depth training program that gives financial advisors the education and tools they need to discuss extended care planning with their clients. Look for the CLTC designation when choosing an advisor. If you're looking to become a CLTC, enroll in their masterclass and enter "Kelly" in the coupon code field for $200 off. Well Mike, how can people begin to assess their current financial situation in relation to these 5 pillars?

Mike Perez [00:10:07]:
Well, I think one of the things that we've created is we have a lot of assessment tools. Like we have an assessment tool around time, like how do you want to spend your time? We have a thing called the time audit where we literally, there's 168 hours in a week, "How are you spending your time?" We have an assessment tool around calling. I mean, calling to me is really kind of that intersection where your passion and your talents intersect. And you start there and then you start looking at the opportunities where you can serve, or you can work a financial finish line. If you have a financial advisor, you need to start talking to them about that. Obviously that's something that we can help people with. And one of the things we talk about around the financial finish line is, think of it as a pie chart.

Mike Perez [00:10:51]:
And the circumference of the pie is how much money you have coming in. And then there's basically 5 uses of money. We call it, Owe, Grow, Live, Give, "Owe" is actually taxes and debt payments, but you have those 5 uses of money. And so everybody's got to figure out what the appropriate balance is for them and how they're spending their money and how much is enough. Because until you get your handle on that, it's going to be hard to figure out what's appropriate for some of these other things, like legacy and all of that.

Kelly Augspurger [00:11:16]:
That makes sense. At what age do you suggest that people start doing this? Like really applying these 5 pillars to their lives?

Mike Perez [00:11:23]:
These 5 pillars? I would say usually as people start to roll into their 50s, after they've kind of gone through a large chunk of the accumulation phase, maybe their kids are grown up, they start to become empty nesters. Then inevitably people start thinking about what's next. What does this last season of life look like? I mean, there's a great book that was written years ago by Bob Buford called "Halftime". And the premise of the book was, how do you go from the pursuit of success to the pursuit of significance? Because what I have found is you start getting into this season of life and people start to look at things a little bit differently. They want to know that their life mattered, that they can leave a legacy if possible, not have to worry about money like they did when they were raising their family. So I would say 50s is really when people start to get more interested in the things that we're talking about with the 5 pillars.

Kelly Augspurger [00:12:17]:
Okay. So really kind of in that retirement red zone. Like they're gearing up, they're preparing for retirement, they're serious about engaging and planning for retirement. And so now it's like, "Okay, let's buckle down, let's assess, let's take a look at these 5 pillars so that we can come up with a good plan and have significance in our retirement. And in our older years." Okay.

Mike Perez [00:12:38]:
Yeah.

Kelly Augspurger [00:12:39]:
Well, Mike, how do you see longevity and extended care planning fit within your approach to retirement planning?

Mike Perez [00:12:45]:
I think that, I mean, I've been in the financial services industry for a long time, and as I look at this season of life, I think one of the greatest risks to your situation is if you or your spouse, if you have one, has an extended period of time where you need care. Because I know you know this, it can break the bank. And so I'm a big advocate that if you can, I think the term you use is co-fund, but have some protection around that, I think that's a good thing because without that, you're going to end up spending your own money. So I don't know if anybody is ever, unless you're super rich, anybody is ever going to be 100% risk free. But I think it's part of managing kind of that financial finish line and just trying to be a good steward of what you've been blessed with.

Kelly Augspurger [00:13:34]:
Okay, so it can break the bank. We know that. It can also break the family.

Mike Perez [00:13:39]:
Yes.

Kelly Augspurger [00:13:40]:
Like if the family has to step in and provide care because there was no plan, or there aren't liquid funds in order to be able to pay for care, or you're worried about running out of money, that means the spouse, the adult kids, the nieces, the nephews, whoever, grandkids. They're stepping in to help mom or dad because they need the help and they love them. So of course they're going to help. Because they need the help and they don't know what else to do. So planning for extended care, really important.

Kelly Augspurger [00:14:06]:
I agree. I think it is one of the biggest risks in retirement plan that needs to be thought of and have a written plan of care and then a way to fund that written plan of care, whether or not that includes insurance. But to have that written plan of care and discuss, "Well, how are we going to pay for this, if this is needed," is going to be really helpful and important in that retirement plan. Well, Mike, what about family dynamics? Let's talk about this. How can family dynamics play a role in this discussion around financial decisions and legacy planning? What do you see?

Mike Perez [00:14:37]:
I think the older generations, they're not overly keen on talking about a lot of these things. It was kind of a taboo. I think my generation, the younger generations, I think, are a little bit more open about talking about it. And so our encouragement to people is, let's start having some conversations. I think one of the big conversations is you take a husband and wife. I ask this question all the time because like I said, I do a lot of estate mapping. But I will ask the question, if husband and wife, "If you get knocked out together, who is the one person that is not only going to have to deal with the grief that you're both gone, but they're going to have to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess? Who is that person that's going to have to deal with that burden?" Because they said, whoever it is, we should be inviting them into the conversation so that they're not blindsided because that is a heavy weight. The other thing, and you probably have heard this, too, they say we're now in the midst of the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world.

Mike Perez [00:15:38]:
And the thing that frightens me is in many cases, the next generation is not ready to receive it. And we're going to end up ruining families, we're going to end up ruining lives, because as I like to say, more money only makes you more of what you are. And so we need to have these adult conversations with our adult children. I mean, you don't have to give them every, dollar and cent, but we need to start having conversations to say, "Hey, here's potentially what's coming down the road," and make sure that everybody is ready to steward whatever is put in their care.

Kelly Augspurger [00:16:11]:
I'll tell you what, it provides so much peace of mind for a family when you do that. To give you an example, my in-laws invited us, myself, my husband, his sister, into a conversation with their financial advisor. This was several years ago. They were doing a comprehensive meeting. And they wanted us there just to know this is the plan, this is what we have, this is where it is, this is who you contact. And even just like meeting them face-to-face so we know who they are so that when we have to contact them in the future, we know who they are.

Kelly Augspurger [00:16:40]:
Like we've met them before, we've had a face-to-face meeting and it just provides more familiarity and overall comfort and peace. And so, like you said, maybe you don't want your kids to know every dollar, but for them to at least know who do they need to contact and maybe set up a meeting so that they can at least meet them, or talk on the phone, how do they get ahold of them so that when the time comes, it's not as hard.

Mike Perez [00:17:03]:
That's exactly right. And you go back to what we were saying, that 2/3 have done nothing. So we know

Mike Perez [00:17:10]:
that even though these conversations should be taking place, they're not.

Kelly Augspurger [00:17:14]:
That's right. And they need to be. So, for us having this discussion, Mike, this is really an encouragement to people, is if you haven't had these conversations, if you haven't done your estate planning, if you have not done any planning at all, now is the time. Don't put it off, don't wait. Because it really just makes things more difficult later on. So bite the bullet and do it. That's our encouragement to you.

Kelly Augspurger [00:17:37]:
The Steadfast Care Planning podcast is sponsored by AMADA Senior Care. AMADA provides complimentary consultation with a senior care advisor to find the right care from in-home caregiving to community care, as well as long-term care insurance claim advocacy and unique support partnerships for financial advisors to address family transitions and generational retention. To learn more, visit www. SteadfastWithAmada.com Well Mike, I know because you have been a financial planner for many years.

Mike Perez [00:18:12]:
Yeah.

Kelly Augspurger [00:18:13]:
I know that you work with lots of families and have lots of real life experience. So can you give us a real life example of how people have successfully implemented your teachings on radical generosity and those 5 pillars that you talked about?

Mike Perez [00:18:27]:
Yeah, part of me, I'm kind of a life coach at heart. So I'm always talking to people kind of directly or indirectly about how they're living their lives, what are they doing with their calling. I mean, one of my favorite questions is, "What haven't you done in this life that you would like to do before it's all over? Because whatever it is, you need to get it done." But I would say the 2 pillars, well, the 3 pillars that I spend a lot of time on is the financial finish line, which is really just a lot of conversations and number crunching to say what is enough, and get comfortable with that. Because I don't want people worrying about money and always thinking they don't have enough when that's not really true. And then as a man of faith, generosity is very important to me. So we're having a lot of conversations around encouraging people to be more and more generous.

Mike Perez [00:19:21]:
I'm kind of surprised, to be honest with you. When I see numbers for clients, people are not that...I mean, they're just not that generous. I mean, when you look at it as a percentage of what they have coming in, I don't see a lot of generosity the way I think it should be. And so we're just always trying to encourage people to take that next step. I mean, we've been doing things like people that hit 70 and a half, they can do all their charitable giving out of their IRA and they don't have to pay any taxes, which is a big deal because most people don't itemize. So there's a lot of encouragement around that. Another thing that we've been encouraging is scholarship granting organizations where you can get tax credits by giving money and you can send less fortunate kids to Christian school.

Mike Perez [00:20:05]:
So little things like that that we're always encouraging people. And one of the questions that I ask people is, "Do you have a giving plan?" And I would say 99% of the time people are like, "What are you talking about?" Nobody's even thought about that. And then the legacy thing is just huge to me. And like I said, we built this platform called "Estate Mapping" that is unlike anything I've seen out there. That just gets full granular on what's going to happen at the end. And the money part is fairly straightforward, but the conversations around who gets what and when is a big deal. And the other thing is, "What do you want to be remembered for?" I mean, a lot of people have never had those conversations. So we're trying to have conversations around, "What do you want people to say about you when you're gone. What do you want them to think about you? Let's be intentional about that."

Kelly Augspurger [00:20:55]:
That's right. And that's the legacy. We know, I think a lot of times when people hear legacy, they think financial legacy, but there's a much deeper legacy at play here. "How do you want people to remember you?"

Kelly Augspurger [00:21:07]:
"What do you want to be well known for after you leave this earth?" And so it really involves deeper conversations where you're digging into kind of the weeds here, but it's really important because maybe that means that you're going to change some of the decisions you're making now and how you spend your time for the rest of your life. All right, Mike, do you have any advice for those who feel overwhelmed by financial responsibilities associated with aging?

Mike Perez [00:21:33]:
I don't want to diminish this because inevitably people are going to have feelings of being overwhelmed from time to time. But having been doing what I've been doing for 33 years, I'm such a believer, and I know you probably feel the same way. I am such a believer in planning. As the old saying goes, "People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan." And so this is why the work we do is so important. I mean, going back, we were talking about long-term care. How many families actually kind of play that out and say, "Okay, somebody needs extended care. What does that mean to the family?" Or are people in my shoes having those conversations with the clients? So nothing can take the place of planning.

Mike Perez [00:22:18]:
And as you know, I mean, you can have the best laid plans and things can still get a little sideways, but I would rather have a plan and have that happen than not have a plan at all. So I think the more prepared you are, the less overwhelmed you will be. But once again, I'm not going to diminish that. Everybody's going to go through a period of time where they might feel overwhelmed by things.

Kelly Augspurger [00:22:41]:
And then in what ways do you see the intersection of faith and finances evolving in the future, Mike? Do you think that this is going to change, or do you think it's just going to kind of continue to be the way that it is?

Mike Perez [00:22:52]:
I am one of several voices out there trying to change the conversation, because what's interesting to me is money and possessions was one of the most written about things in the Bible, and yet it's one of the least talked about things in church. And so I'm doing everything I can to influence the conversation so that people will think about how do I live out my faith through my finances. Because I hate to say this, but one of my observations after 10 years is that in many cases, Christians, non-Christians, if you look at how they handle money, it really doesn't look that much different. And the reason the over 55 crowd is really exciting to me is number one, that's kind of where I am. But the other thing is, is that I think of the scripture with the Apostle Paul. He talked about finishing the race strong. I see a lot of my peers not finishing the race strong.

Mike Perez [00:23:53]:
And I don't think we were destined just primarily for a life of leisure in these later years, you should have fun and you should rest and vacation, grandkids and all of that. But I believe that you can do some of your best stuff in the latter stages of life. I'll share something with you real quickly, I was listening to a podcast last June. I was driving in the car. They had a guy on who's like 81 years old. He's still an executive coach and mentor. He's worked with all these people over the years, wrote a book called, "Decade by Decade".

Mike Perez [00:24:25]:
His name's Bobb Biehl. As he was talking on the podcast, he went through all the different decades of life. 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and so on. What do you think was the most productive decade of life based on his observations?

Kelly Augspurger [00:24:37]:
The most productive? The 60s.

Mike Perez [00:24:41]:
Bingo. Is it? Yes, yes. And you might say, well, how could that be? Well, it's not necessarily about working 80 hours a week. It's about impact and influence and those kinds of things. The 2nd decade, most productive was 70s, the 3rd was 50s. And, man, that really resonated with me and got me fired up because I'm thinking, man, there's so many amazing things we could do in this season of life.

Mike Perez [00:25:06]:
And I heard a great line, I was at a big faith based conference last week and it said, a big part of your legacy is setting up the next generation for their destiny. And so that excites me as I work with various people in this space of setting up the next generation for their destiny, but at the same time, walking alongside my peers and doing some great things.

Kelly Augspurger [00:25:30]:
Absolutely. So, whether you're in your 50s, or 81. Right. Like the person you heard on the podcast who's still coaching, there's still work to do. And even if you are fully retired to your typical career, that doesn't mean you no longer have a job to do. Like, I'm a believer, too, in that as long as we have breath in our lungs, we have purpose here and we have meaning. And so how are we going to use that time to encourage others to come alongside people, to share encouragement, to share God's word with them? It's all really important.

Kelly Augspurger [00:26:05]:
And so keep going, right?

Mike Perez [00:26:07]:
That's right.

Kelly Augspurger [00:26:08]:
Keep working. Even if it, obviously you don't have to work full time in an office, but there's still work to do.

Mike Perez [00:26:13]:
And it's interesting because, I mean, I see a lot of baby boomers today that are very much in demand. I mean, I still feel very blessed that, I was on the tail end of the baby boomers, but I feel very blessed that I'm still in demand, still doing good work. And as long as I have good health and good mind and all of that, I'm just going to keep leaning into it. I think of Ephesians 2: 10, it talks about doing good works, and it doesn't say, once you retire, that all stops, right? Let's keep going. It just may look different.

Kelly Augspurger [00:26:41]:
That's right. Well, Mike, any final advice on what people can do, or how they can plan to live well?

Mike Perez [00:26:47]:
Yeah, I think the one word that I've always liked is the word intentional. I think too many of us live our lives in a reactive state. We're just constantly just reacting to whatever comes our way. And I'm just a big believer that we've got to all be more intentional to say, "You know what, this is how I'm going to steer my life. This is the direction that I'm going to go." Doesn't mean it's going to go perfectly, but I just encourage people to live more intentional. And then the other thing I've learned over all these years, and I say this to people all the time, is retire to something, not from something.

Mike Perez [00:27:22]:
The person that I hear that they're like, "I've got 3 years, 30 days, 6 hours, or whatever, until my retirement.

Kelly Augspurger [00:27:31]:
I'm like, "I think they're retiring from something."

Mike Perez [00:27:35]:
So I always say to people, if in doubt, don't do it. You just make sure that you're very intentional about what it's going to look like on the other side. And these 5 pillars will help people figure out what that can be for them.

Kelly Augspurger [00:27:48]:
Terrific. Well, Mike, where can people find out more information about your book and your platform?

Mike Perez [00:27:53]:
Yeah, so if you go to the website www.FaithFinancesBook.com, it's got an S on the end, FaithFinancesBook.com you can get the eBook there, you can get the audiobook there. If anybody wants to talk to me for 15, 20 minutes, I'll talk to anybody and try to help you as best I can. There is a link on that website to request some time with me. That would probably be the best way. And then we are getting ready to roll out, we're really just right on the cusp, but we're getting ready to roll out some workshops around the 5 pillars of retirement. So stay tuned for that and we'll see where we go.

Kelly Augspurger [00:28:33]:
Wonderful. Well, Mike, thank you so much for your time today and your input and wisdom. Really appreciate it. I think people hopefully learned something new today. And we'll go and check out your platform and your book and learn, so that they can really lean into their faith and finances and have them really work together. They're not meant to be separate.

Mike Perez [00:28:52]:
Yeah.

Kelly Augspurger [00:28:53]:
Thank you, Mike. Have a wonderful day.

Mike Perez [00:28:55]:
You, too. Thank you, Kelly.