How A Finance Professor Built A Retirement That Lets Him Sleep Well At Night

You can know all the rules of money and still get blindsided by retirement. Brad sits down with Dr. Kevin Lynch, a former CFP program instructor with 20 professional designations, to talk about what happens when the paycheck stops and the decision becomes real. Kevin explains why he didn’t “need” an advisor, but absolutely wanted one, because managing your own money brings emotions to the surface in a way textbooks never can.

We unpack the planning framework that helped him sleep well at night: coordinating Social Security with annuities to create guaranteed income that covers the household basics, so the investment portfolio can stay invested even when the market turns ugly. Kevin shares what it felt like living through major drawdowns, why “don’t just do something, stand there” can be the most profitable move, and how building income guardrails changes your relationship with risk, news, and uncertainty.

Then the conversation widens into the part most retirement planning misses. After 90 days of doing almost nothing, Kevin discovers that “every day is Saturday” is only fun for a while. He tells the story of returning to faith, becoming a licensed chaplain, earning a Doctor of Ministry at 75, and building a nonprofit mission to teach practical personal finance in a church setting. We close with one piece of marriage advice that hits hard: plan retirement with your spouse, not just for your spouse.

Subscribe for more real retirement stories, share this with someone nearing retirement, and leave a review if it helped you think differently. What are you retiring to, and what would help you sleep well at night?

To learn more about Brad Pistole and the Ozark Retirement Group, please visit www.ozarksretirement.com 

Transcript

Welcome And A New Series

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Welcome to State Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol. Brad is a retirement income and tax planning certified professional, primarily serving clients in the Midwest, but he's sought after nationally for his expertise in helping people secure their retirement.

unknown 0:28

Mr.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Pistol is a licensed life insurance professional in approximately 20 different states, and he specializes in working with people who are near retirement and those who have already retired with wealth management, income planning, and asset protection strategies using life, health, long-term care, and annuity insurance products. And now, here to talk with you about securing your retirement, it's your host, Brad Pistol.

SPEAKER_05 1:00

Well, hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today for Safe Money Radio. And I just want to say this having hosted a radio show for 17 years now, there's been over 800 shows. I can genuinely say I am more excited about today's show than any show I've ever had. Because my good friend, who's also a client, he's a colleague, but my good friend, Dr. Kevin Lynch, is joining us on the show today. Kevin, thank you so much for being with us today.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Brad, it's a pleasure. I enjoyed it years ago the first time, and I'm going to enjoy it more today.

SPEAKER_05 1:35

Well, I want to say this to everyone that's listening because, you know, we always have a first-time listener. They don't know that we've been around for 16, 17 years, and they don't know there's been 800 episodes, so they're like, what's this show about? Well, I want to say this, you know, of all the years of guests, we've had a lot of great people. A lot of of your colleagues have been on the show. Wade Phoe, Ed, Spod, a lot of other people, uh, Michael Finka. But it's really cool today, just because of the fact that not only are you a colleague, you know, you found us on the internet, and we'll talk about that story later. You contacted us. Then I found out you worked at a place where I had studied, and then you actually became a client of ours, and then a great friend of ours, and you've been to the Ozarks, you've vacationed here. But here's why today is so exciting for all of our listeners. You know, life goes through transitions, business goes through transitions, and we're in this really fun period in business where we expanded our offices, we've added a couple of podcast rooms, we've added more staff, but we're about to start doing something that there's not any other show that I know of that does it. And actually, today represents the very first day of us doing that. We are gonna start having guests on the show who are clients who are gonna tell their story about what it's like to step over from the working world into the retirement world. And and Kevin, I know you know this as having taught about this all these years, but it's one thing to think you know what retirement's gonna be like, but you don't know what you don't know. So until you step over into that world, then you go, oh, this wasn't quite what I thought it was gonna be. You don't know. So we just want the blessing to be able to bless all of our listeners by having people on the show who are willing to tell their story, talk about transitions that they've gone through, and your story is fascinating. So I'm so excited for everyone to hear about you, your background, what what the beginning of your retirement was like because it's different than most. So as we get started today, for all of our listeners, just know you can always go to our website if you want to contact us. It's ozarksretirement.com. Just click on contact us, we'll get back in touch with you. But Kevin, let's

Kevin’s Career And 20 Designations

SPEAKER_05 3:38

do this. Let's start with your crazy life. You're this background, you know, all these different things you did to get to where you are today. Tell tell everyone a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Well, as they say, it was a dark and dreary night. Actually, I was actually born on a Monday morning and it was raining. But uh seriously, I when I I my my father was military, I grew up in in Germany. Uh, I came back to the United States as a sophomore in high school. Okay. And uh I get in my junior year, we went back to Germany and I came back in my senior year and graduated. I joined the military. I had a very short military career. Uh, I joined to be a helicopter pilot. God thought, you know, that's not a good idea, so I'm gonna make sure you don't pass the vision test. You can't fly if you don't have horizontal depth perception, and I don't. So my military career was very short. I only had one permanent party post, and veterans will understand what that means. I went in the army and I went to basic training, AIT, school, Vietnam, out, home. That was it, two years. Um, and then I I actually found my career sort of by accident. I was taking business administration in college, and one of the courses I took was credit administration, and you had one of the assignments was to go and and interview a credit manager. Well, folks, this was 1970. Credit cards hadn't been invented yet. The only credit I was aware of was, you know, auto loans. And there was a GMAC office on the way to school. So I stopped in there one day and asked if I can interview the credit manager. Lo and behold, I he gave me an appointment. I came back and we talked about my school assignment. And at the end of it, he said, by the way, if you know anybody at school who might be looking for a part-time job, let me know. Well, you have to understand during this interview, I was walking on crutches. Well, the reason I was on crutches is because I had wrecked a motorcycle, and I had to leave my job because I couldn't walk or stand. So, long story short, he hired me as a part-time person working at GMAC, and I was the young guy who calls you up and reminds you that your car payment is late. Time to pay the bills. That was my introduction into credit. Long story short, okay. 29 years later, after working for GM, Ford, and Chrysler, as well as Mitsubishi Corporation and Nissan, over that 28 years, I left that career and started a second career in financial services, specifically nationwide insurance, where I opened a nationwide insurance agency. Worked in that field for about 10 years, and at the end of that period, when I sold my agency, because I had always really wanted to be in a financial advisor, right? So, along the line of the story of going to work, I also started college in 1970, again, referring to my credit uh administration course. And over the years, I had three associates' degrees, then I got my bachelor's degree, and I got my MBA, and around 1985, I'm thinking, you know, I'm a smart guy, I've got an MBA. How come I'm broke? Yeah. So I said I need to learn about money. Yeah. And I discovered at the time, this was 1986, uh, the College for Financial Planning was at the time the sole source for certified financial planners. And I looked into it, I saw this is fascinating, this is cool. I wanted to learn it. Now I didn't do it originally because I wanted to go and help the world. I wanted to educate Kevin. But as I started going through the coursework, it it sort of planted a seed in me. This is what I want to do.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:35

I want to help people, you know, learn what I learned and know what I know so they can better their financial futures. So, again, back to my education story. I got I got my MBA and I started studying for my CFP. Meanwhile, I'm working along in my regular field, which was, you know, uh lending and banking versus financial services, the way we understand it, insurance, investments, planning. So when I uh one of the things I did while I was going to school and learning all these things and getting all these designations from the American College, you know, um, I I volunteered. I volunteered to be someone who would call alumni and solicit donations. Now, in the college world, that's called alumni relations. It's also called advancement. Okay, it sounds better than begging for money. So advancement. And I would go up there and work on these campaigns, you know, once or twice a year for three or four years. And when I became somewhat disillusioned, I didn't I didn't really want to do property and casualty the rest of my life, even though I had property and casualty and financial services. We had life and annuities and uh different products that we could sell, mutual funds. Um, it wasn't really planning, it was more product, not process. And I was really more interested in the process. So, long story short, because I had been volunteering so much, I learned of an opportunity at the college. And I applied and was hired. And the next 15 years, I was the primary instructor in the CFP program, the CLU program, the CHFC program, one that's near and dear to your heart and mind, the RICP program. Yes. And, you know, that's basically, you know, what I did over those years is teach the same things that I had done. Now, interspersed in that story, I left out a little three-year period where between leaving nationwide and going to the American College, I worked for a marvelous company called Thrivant Financial for Lutherans. And today it's known as Thrivant Financial. Uh, at the time, it was an organization that specifically served the Lutheran community with, you know, insurance and investments and long, all the things that one would need. And that's where I had my my deepest and my most rewarding feeling of actually serving people because I was, in fact, you know, a full service financial planner at that time, uh, doing not only the products but the services as well. So again, that that was like the the seed that was germinated in '86, you know, blossomed in the year 2007 to 2010. And I came to the college, and basically the next 15 years, um that's what I was involved in teaching in those programs. Okay. Um, and along the way, my students used to laugh because um I I had a couple of mottos. One of them was is um, you can never know too much and you will never know at all. And I say that because I have 20, that's two zero, twenty professional designations. And they said, Well, Mr. Lynch, Professor Lynch, why do you have so many designations? I said, Because there's so much to learn. Yes. You know, you've got one. Okay, you think that's enough? I'm telling you right now, it's not. And and actually, the reason I did it, I laugh when I say this, is I knew that someday I was gonna leave my first career and come into a second career. And you and I both know because I'm proud to say you were a lifelong member of MDRT. And what does that mean? That means Brad specializes in helping people, and that result that results in the fact that he's recognized as being in the top two percent of his craft. So I knew that one day I'd be competing against you, and I wouldn't have the experience, right? I wouldn't, I wouldn't have the years of experience, but I could do something I could know more than you. Because, and that's what I did. I said, if I'm gonna be competing against people with more experience, I'm gonna have more knowledge. Yes, okay, and you and I both know knowledge is wonderful when it's applied. That's just being smart and sitting in a little corner doesn't help anyone. Yeah, but if you're pretty smart and you choose to share that with other people by serving them, that's where you get your reward. So that's sort of what you know carried me along. And I got to, again, my college experience with the American College, and I was there for 15 years, and all this time, I'm getting older, folks. Those of you that can see the screen, um, yes, I'm old. Uh, I'll be 76 in October. So in in 2024, in January of 24, I decided, you know, I gotta retire.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

I'm gonna my wife always thought I was gonna she was gonna come into my office one day and find me slumped over my desk, die, you know, right as I finished a class. But I decided, no, we got to do some things, we have to have some fun. Um, you know, I worked my whole life, I did let's have some reward. So in January of 24, I retire. Now, do you want me to go into the retirement part now?

SPEAKER_05 12:51

Let's let's do it next. I tell you what, because that is that's why I didn't want to read Kevin's bio for all of you listening or watching right now. And yes, if you're watching, his beard does go on and on and on. You can't see it all on the screen. And I trimmed it recently, I cut a foot of it off. I remember when everyone said, What did you do? You know, so he cut cut his hair and trim some of the beard. But no, the next parts of the story just get better and better. So, just as an intro, if you're listening right now, I when I can genuinely say, you know, knowing people like Ed Slott and Wade Powell and Heather Schreiber, I say they're the smartest people I've ever met. But the smartest person I have ever met, the most educated person, 20 designations, his CFP, his C O U, his C H I mean, all everything is there. And we're gonna talk about later now his doctorate. Dr. Kevin Lynch is on the show with us today. So I wanted him to give you that background so that you can understand it's it's it is a retiree who's gonna tell a story, but it's one of the most educated, financially educated retirees you'll ever meet, and just one of the greatest people on the planet. So stay with us today if you have any questions throughout the show as he tells a story. He talks about some of the things he's gone through personally in retirement. You can always call us 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233, or just go to Ozarksretirement.com and click on the contact us button and we'll get back in touch with you. This is Brad Pistol, your host of Safe Money Radio. I'll be right back after this informative message.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Hey, it's Glenn Beck. Can you feel it? America's pride is on the rise again. And right here in the Ozarks, the same pride lives on in how we protect our families and plan for the future. That's where Brad Pistol, president of the Ozarks Retirement Group, comes in. Brad's a certified financial fiduciary, and most importantly, a trusted neighbor who's helped countless Ozark families find financial independence. Call Brad Pistol from the Ozarks Retirement Group, 417-581-9222. That's 417-581-9222, or Ozarksretirement.com.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

You're listening to Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol.

SPEAKER_05 15:01

Hi, this is Brad Pistol, the host of Safe Money Radio for almost two straight decades. I'm a retirement income certified professional, and I love talking to you each week about developing your safe and secure retirement income plan. Now let's get back to the show.

Why Experts Still Want Advisors

SPEAKER_05 15:20

So, everyone, if you're just now joining us, Dr. Kevin Lynch is on the show with us today. A friend, a colleague, also a client of ours who lives in the great state of North Carolina. North Carolina. So we have clients from all over the place. But it's what's really funny is that uh when I got the first email from Kevin reaching out to us, it was from a Texas, well, he was in, he he wasn't in Texas, he's in North Carolina, but I saw a Texas phone number. And so I said, Hey, do you live in Texas? And he said, I used to, but now I live in North Carolina, and and I'm not gonna be the typical person you talk to. Just go look at my signature line. And then I saw CFP T-L-U-R-R and I was like, why is this person contacting me? And so, Kevin, let's step into that next part of the story. You know, you were was 71 years old, maybe it was 2022. I was 72 going on 73, yes. And what was it that you you're you're deciding as a professor at the American College, teaching everyone how to do what you're doing in the financial world? And you what made you think, I need to get some help with my own retirement? What led you to reach out to me?

SPEAKER_04 16:25

Well, Brad, that's the exact question my students used to ask me all the time. You know, uh, Professor Lynch, with all your designations, why do you need an advisor?

unknown 16:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:34

And I said, well, let me explain the difference between the word need and the word want. Okay. I don't need an advisor, yeah, but I want an advisor because the things that my advisor knows, I probably taught them. But there's a major difference between, and this is the critical point, there's a major difference between managing other people's money because you're focused, you're uh you're academic, you're experiential, you're you know, you're you're official, you're professional.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Managing your own money, all of that is overcome by one thing emotions. Okay. Now, Brad loves me like a brother. I love Brad like a brother, but I could manage his money a lot easier than I can manage my own. And the opposite is true. Because when I spoke to him and told him what my plans were and what I wanted to accomplish, he knew from his portfolio what to look at and what not to look at. Now, admittedly, when I came to him, I sort of laid out what I wanted to do. I just wanted him to number one, verify that yes, I hadn't missed anything, and yes, you know, that's what that's appropriate, and here's what I recommend, and that's that's how our our trans, that's how the transaction occurred. But the part that's more interesting, and sort of what he was referring to earlier, is why did I pick him and not one of dozens of others, right? Someone to that is yeah, as I was coming to the realization that I'm gonna retire, this was the year 2022 late, the fall of 2022, we were coming out of COVID. I had already delayed my retirement because I originally had retired, planned to retire in 2020, but because of COVID, I extended it. Well, at the end of 2022, I said, you know, if not now, when? I'm getting older. So I started reading. And I counted it this morning, knowing that we were gonna have this discussion. I read 23 different books by different authors about retirement. Two of the books were brads. Totally. And what made me realize that this is a young man that I wanted to meet was in one of his books, he had an expression or he had a a word, and the word was swan, like you know, the big duck swan. But he wasn't referring to a duck or a swan or a geese or a goose. It means sleep well at night. And folks, when you're in retirement and you

Sleep Well At Night Planning

SPEAKER_04 19:12

no longer have a paycheck coming in because you made the decision not to work anymore, there's a weight that descends upon you because of the critical nature of this decision. And when I saw Sleep Well at night, that that appealed to me, it rang a bell within my heart and said, Okay, this man understands. And and I when I wrote him and I wrote him an email, we got together, we talked for a couple, three or four or five times before we decided to do business together. And that was the thing that did it for me, because it it was a case that, you know, academically and uh, you know, from the advisory standpoint, I knew that in retirement I wanted to have guaranteed income, social security, and my portfolio all working together. And the as far as guaranteed income is concerned, you say, well, Kevin, well, you know, Social Security is guaranteed income. Yes, it is, but by me making the decision to augment my Social Security with annuities, I was able to build a portfolio that I can meet 111% of all of our retirement expenses, except for travel, through my social security and my annuities, and never touch my portfolio. So powerful. That that was the thing for me. And I knew to do that, I needed to have someone who uh, you know, I academically I knew all about annuities. I knew years ago, you know, I was licensed and I sold annuities through different companies, but I was no longer licensed anymore. And you know, for those of you that don't know, if you're not licensed, you can't buy and sell investments and insurance, right? You have to be licensed to do those things. So I wanted to find an individual who who was licensed, who was experienced, and I have to admit that when I found Brad's website after reading his book, and I knew where he had gotten his education from, which was my institution. Okay, I will admit that was a uh a couple of points in his favor. But um American college. But that that's that's you know, that's sort of how it came to pass. Again, like I said, I had read all these different books, and the majority of the books, and and I'm sure we'll touch on this later, but the majority of the books, folks, concentrates on dollars. You know, how much you have to have and what you need to do, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm here to tell you that's very important. But it is not the most important. Okay. Uh, yeah, you gotta have the money to live on, okay, but that's a given. That's not what retirement's about. Okay, the money is part of it, but the biggest part of it is okay, you woke up this morning, and this is the first day of the rest of your life, and oh, yeah, by the way. You don't have a job. So what are you going to do today? And many of the books, you know, they many of the books covered this. You know, they talk about uh uh envisioning your future, envisioning what you're gonna do in retirement. One of one or more of the books actually said, you know, write down. You got up today, it's your first day of retirement. What are you gonna do today? And actually, write down and do these things you say you're going to do. Yeah, and I did all of that. I mean, I I went through all those exercises, but I'm here to let you know that all that is good. I can't remember who it was. Um, it could have been Mike Tyson that says, Your plan is really good until someone punches you in the face. Well, when you get up on the first day of your retirement, it's like getting punched in the face, right? Uh, but again, I I digress a little bit, but uh we'll we'll get to when when if whatever which when you want to get there, Brad. We can go into that aspect of it too. But um, yeah, I had I I I have an advisor, and even today, all of my money is uh invested at one company. Yeah, okay, they control all of my investments. And at that company, I have a young man who happens to be, I believe he's 33. And prior to him, I had a woman who was 35. Both of these could be my grandkids, okay? But they were both CFPs, they were both highly, highly uh educated, they both were, you know, I I judged the advice their advice based on, you know, like I was grading a paper, and they were always on target. And the biggest advantage for me to having an advisor is not their knowledge, it's their ability to stop me from doing something stupid. Okay. Now, what does that mean? Well, folks, um, I don't know how old you are, but if you live through 20, or if you're old enough, if you if you lived through 2003, 2004, or even way back to 1994 and 95, the 2000s, 2020, 2022, you know, just this recently I was $70,000 down. Guess what? As of yesterday, it's all back. Right. Okay. So the thing is, you have to be able to, as John Jack Bogle used to say, uh, he had a famous expression don't do anything, just stand there. Yeah. Okay. When the market's going nuts, unless you've changed your plan, just watch it go nuts. It's hard to do, but I again I've done it four times in the last decade and a half. Yeah. Uh, and the worst example in 2020, I think Brad Brad knows this because I told him a story. In 2020, we were down $206,000 at that low point in March. And folks, it was all back by the end of the year. Okay, historically, it was all back by the end of the year. But what happened to those people who panicked and turned everything into cash, yeah, they never got, they're never going to get back. Not not from that. Well, I shouldn't say never. It'll be extremely difficult for them to return. So, again, a little off track. Get me back on track and there.

SPEAKER_05 25:09

Well, that's the beautiful thing about the sleep well at night and why you, you know, if I was in my normal office when we were talking and Kevin and I are on the phone doing a video chat, the swan's behind me because he sent me this beautiful picture. I did.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

I bought him a beautiful picture. I saw this swan. I said, I gotta send that to Brad. And I he got it in the mail, and apparently I had forgotten to put a card in it. He didn't know where it came from.

SPEAKER_05 25:31

No clue where it came from. I sent him an email. Hey, did you get my picture? Who's read my book and sent me this? Oh, it was Kevin. But no, it's if you come into my office, those of you who are local clients, you'll see the swan uh in my office every day. It's right behind my stand-up desk, and Kevin sent it to me. So here's what's beautiful about that, though. Weathering those storms like you're talking about in the 90s, the early 2000s, 2008, 2020, 2022, and now 2026 because of wars, the blips, the ups, the downs, which it's almost right back to where it was. But weathering that storm is because you put other guide rails in place that, like you said, your social security and your annuities guarantee 111% of the income that you need. So you don't have to worry about what's going on in the investment side of things because you have a team of advisors in different locations who have put together the right plan and you get to sleep well at night, no matter what happens in the world, because your income's taken care of. And that's what's so key. So let's do this. Let's you you alluded to something, and we've got, oh, let's see, we've got about, I try to take a break every so often, we got about five minutes. Let's do this. Let's see what it was like for not yet Dr. Kevin Lynch, because when you retired, you weren't

The First 90 Days Retired

SPEAKER_05 26:40

Dr. Kevin, that's right. What was it like when you woke up that first day and it was Saturday? You know, as our good friend and colleague Tom Hagman says, every day is Saturday.

SPEAKER_04 26:48

Every day is Saturday, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:49

And you did about let's say 30 or 40 Saturdays in a row after you retired when you could just do whatever you want. What was it like?

SPEAKER_04 26:58

What were some of the realities or the things that you faced when you retired and you're like, okay, now it was it it was very interesting because uh again, on that very first day, having read all the books and knowing all the things, the things I'm supposed to think about and how I'm supposed to feel. And one of the things you're gonna find, folks, is all these books they keep pounding on this one topic, which is you don't retire from something, you retire to something. You need to have a purpose. Well, my purpose was to breathe. I mean, wake up breathing daily, and I'm literally, that was it. I did absolutely nothing for about and I mean nothing. I would get up, I'd talk to my wife, I'd drink a cup of coffee, I might look outside, you know, I mean, read a book, whatever. I I didn't do anything. And I did that for about 90 days. Okay. Then at the end of the 90 days, I remembered, you know, one of the things I said I was gonna do is exercise. So I started going to the gym. And I did that for about 10 months, almost a year, 11, 11-ish months. Um, and during that year, that that first year, Kim and I made a number of trips. We went to we went to the Ozarks and met Brad. We went to Florida and we visited a place called the Villages. Now, I don't know if my wife will get mad if she hears this later, but about the third day I was at the villages, and for those of you that don't know what the villages is, it's the largest community, it's the largest retirement community in the world. There's about 250,000 people there, and literally, once you go on to the property, you never have to ever leave again. You're like living in the city. Everything's there, yeah. Because literally, hospitals and doctors and and you know, shopping and everything you can think of that's in a regular town is in there. About the third day, and the thing I loved is beside every road, there's a golf cart path. Yes, so you don't even have to have a car, you can get around with a golf cart. So, anyway, third day, I'm ready to sell everything and move down. And Kim says to me, Yep, you're welcome to do that if you want to live alone. So, needless to say, I'm still here in North Carolina on my six acres in the woods. And as long as my wife is alive and I'm with her, this is where I'm going to be.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:11

But uh, you know, it was we we traveled to we went to six different states in the all driving. We didn't fly anywhere at this point. Um, but we were, you know, we drove to Florida, we drove to Georgia, we drove, we did fly to the Ozarks. I I I thought about driving, but it would have would have wasted four days, two days out and two days back. So now okay, we'll fly.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

But you know, and we we did a lot of fun things, and uh, you know, by the end of the year, and in the beginning of 2025, I just you know, we weren't gonna be able to, I was gonna live here, I wasn't gonna be able to move. So we made a decision. We added uh we added a um addition to the back of the house. It's uh you know, 18 by 38 sunroom, right? It's uh it's it's nice. I put in a a deck over a patio and put a hot tub out there. So I've got my hot tub, which all throughout our lifetime, my kids, when I had kids at home, they always we always had a pool. We had four or five houses with pools. I was never the pool guy other than the cleaner of the pool guy. Oh, yeah. But I always wanted a hot tub. So I got my spa. And you know, it's um we have it, we have a very nice home, and it's very, very comfortable here. And my wife has what she could we call it her she shed. If you remember that state farm commercial where the ladies' she shed get hit by lightning, oh yeah. Kim has a she's got a 14 by 28 sea shed as uh shed. And literally, it's a it's if you know what a tiny home is, it's got a bathroom, it's got a kitchen, it's got you know, it's you could literally live out there, right? Um and most days she's over there, and that's where her and her friends go to do their crafting and their sewing and that kind of stuff. But um, you know, so you know, we're we had a unusual start because I I literally didn't do anything. Like I said, after about 90 days, that's when I started to go to the gym and we started doing the traveling. But I will say this, and this was a unique thing, on that 90th day, the day that it made a difference, I remember waking up one day. And earlier I mentioned when you're trying to plan and financially and you got this heavy weight because you made a decision to retire. About 90 days in, I remember waking up one day and having this feeling. Um, it I guess one description would be like euphoria. I'm not a drug using person, but from what I gather, it's what a drug person feels when they feel real happy. But it was almost like, you know, I've been truly blessed, and I have been. I've been truly blessed. I have no problems. I've got a great home, I've got a wonderful spouse, I've got a great partner, my cats love me, everything's wonderful, and I have nothing to worry about. I mean, I literally felt like I had the weight of the world was gone.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

So unique feeling for me. Um, and I I carry it forward most of it, most of the time until today. But uh, and I started um I started deciding in 2025. I decided, okay, enough of this resting, enough of this, you got to do something, got to have something to do. And I I want to pause you right there. Let's go. We'll stop before I go there. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 32:15

Because I want to take a quick break and I want you to come back and say, okay, you basically did 90 days of the Tom Hagna go, go, go. You went everywhere, did everything, took the trips, but then something shifted, and I want to talk about that. So if you're watching right now, we'll take a quick break so that you can know how to contact us. Anytime that you need our help, just contact us at ozartsretirement.com. Just go to the website. You can click on contact us. All of our videos are there. You can find links to being able to find this podcast, or you can go to YouTube and type in Brad Pistol. You can type in Brad Pistol Kevin Lynch and it'll pull up this video here in a few weeks. So Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us. Well, I must take a short break. This is Brad Pistole, and you're listening to Safe Money Radio. Let's pause for some exciting announcements.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Hey, it's Glenn Beck. Can you feel it? America's pride is on the rise again. And right here in the Ozarks, the same pride lives on in how we protect our families and plan for the future. That's where Brad Pistol, president of the Ozarks Retirement Group, comes in. Brad's a certified financial fiduciary, and most importantly, a trusted neighbor who's helped countless Ozark families find financial independence. Call Brad Pistol from the Ozarks Retirement Group, 417-581-9222. That's 417-581-9222 or Ozarksretirement.com.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

You're listening to Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol.

SPEAKER_05 33:43

Hi, this is Brad Pistol, the host of Safe Money Radio, right here in the Ozarks. I'm a retirement income and tax planning certified professional through the American College, and I'm so happy to be hosting this show for the past two decades. Thanks for joining us today. Now let's get right back to the show.

Purpose Returns Through Faith And Study

SPEAKER_05 34:02

Okay, let's do this. Kevin, this is what's wonderful about you telling your story. All your years working with the American College, you're teaching, you have your CFP, you have 20 different financial designations, and then you retire, you take some vacations, you wake up doing whatever in the world it is you want to do for 90 days, and then I think probably what's coming is something I talk about in my book, Bulletproof, in chapter eight, it's pursuing what matters most. We talk about all these financial things, but then it's really about it's not even though having a lot of money is great, having no debt's great, being able to do whatever you want to do is great, but when every single day of your life is Saturday, something is normally kind of amiss, and you kind of want something more. So what happened in your world after being retired for a little bit?

SPEAKER_04 34:50

Um, I'm I'm I'm I'm really glad you put it that way and said it that way because again, I I uh I can almost trace it back to probably about 90 days, maybe 90 to 120 days before Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I remember the day that day specifically. But what happened to me was I decided that, you know, I was raised Catholic. I'm what's known as a cradle Catholic. I was Catholic from the day I was born. And I I pretty much I was always a Christian. I sort of walked, you know, I used to say I didn't leave the church, the church left me. Okay, and that's not totally true. What the fact of it is, I was no longer practicing. And as all of my story that I've told is going along, um, about the last seven to ten years of of my working career, I wasn't um, I wasn't really as faithful to my faith as I had been in my earlier life. And I don't know if it was simply, you know, Holy Spirit speaking to me or or how it came about. And the fact, I don't know how, but the important fact is it did, and that's what's important. I decided that, okay, I need to be able to contribute. I need to be able to do something. And I really wasn't looking for another job. I mean, I I don't need the income. And I was thinking, okay, how can I be of service? What can I do? I was too old to be a deacon in my church. Because I'm again I'm 74 at the time, I'm thinking these thoughts. I couldn't be a chaplain in the military because again, I'm too old. But I could be a chaplain if I wanted to be, and I would simply serve my community. So I pursued, I looked into that and I found, yes, there is such a thing. The International Fellowship of Chaplains. I I investigated them, I looked into them, I found them to be a credible group. I enrolled in their materials and studies, I went through the material and became a licensed chaplain. And then I thought to myself, okay, this is a start, but I need to have some credibility because I've got a whole lifetime of financial services.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:07

Okay, I have no lifetime or credentials in the world of ministry. So then I started, what am I? I'm a professor, right? I start researching.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:16

How do you get how do you get credentials in ministry? Again, I'm I'm I'm too old, right? Well, you're not. I wasn't too old. I found a non-denominational uh evangelical seminary, and even though I was older than the typical student, they embraced me, I embraced them, and I embarked, and literally, it's one of these things where at one point they were concerned because I was doing my work so quickly, they were concerned that maybe I wasn't really gaining the spiritual growth that I should be getting. Because again, Brad, they did not know me.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

So once I got with the chancellor, I sent him my resume, explained to him, look, guy, I'm 75 years old. Okay, I gotta hurry up and get this done, or I'm not gonna have any time to use my gifts. Right. He he, I mean, we laughed together. He really understood, but he they they had their heart was pure. They wanted to make sure I was getting the benefit of a good quality Christian education. And I assured him I was, but that I'm a professor, I'm used to writing papers and doing things like this. And I I did, I processed through a 10-course graduate study with dissertation, which averages 18 to 24 months, and I did it in slightly over 11. Okay, so in March, uh in March of just March 20th, last month, uh matter of fact, what day is today. So I'm four days short of a month ago. I my my uh doctoral of ministry was conferred. So now I've actually got a business plan, and Brad does not know this, but I've actually got a business plan that I'm putting together right now to establish a um not-for-profit organization, and I am going to embark on a Catholic version similar to what Dave Ramsey has for Financial Peace University, however, without the profit motive. I'm gonna create it such that it can be offered to churches with no contribution on behalf of the persons or people involved. Now, I did learn one thing years ago, and it's an expression that I you may have heard this. People who pay pay attention.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

So even though it's gonna be pretty much pro bono, I'm gonna figure out some way they got to have a little bit of skin in the game, even if they just buy their materials, right? Which of course will be at cost. You know what I'm saying? But that's that's in an embryonic stage right now. I'll you and I will talk again later because I know you're a man of faith, and I'll probably put you on my board of my board of directors. So we'll talk again. But folks, the all of that is to say this people think of retirement as sitting on a in a rocking chair on your front porch. That's not how it is, okay? Yeah, you will have your own experience, you will have your own planning, you will have your own first day, every day of Saturday, and you'll figure out, hey, you know, what do I want to do with the rest of my life?

SPEAKER_03 40:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:30

At least, at least that's been my experience and the experience of many others. Remember, I said I read a lot of books. Okay, this is not an uncommon thing. What becomes uncommon or different is most people do not pursue a doctorate when they're 75 years old. Okay. And then I have this other thing that happens to me frequently. I'll be reading something or I'll see something, and it'll automatically kick, click. I could do that, I would be really good at that. And the the point is, I'm not looking for a job, right? But my brain has not yet accepted, Kevin, you're retired. You're not supposed to think like that, okay? Because if you if you think about it, and again, I'm not going to give a history lesson, but folks, why do we retire why do we retire at 65? Most people don't know. I'm going to give you the answer really quick. In Germany in the 1930s, prior to the rise of Hitler, there were a leader named Hindenburg. And uh he was a general and he was the leader of the country at the time. He was a Prussian. You may have seen pictures of him, big white mustache, pointy helmet. They had massive unemployment at the time. So he devised the idea or came up with the plan. We're going to make the old people retire, then the young people can get jobs. So he artificially just picked the number 65. Remember now, in the 30s, most people didn't live past the age of 60 to 65. So his plan was to get all the old people out, get the young people in the jobs. That way there won't be, you know, riots in the streets and so on and so forth. So I say to you today, why do we retire at 65? Because Bismarck thought it was a great idea. Okay. So it really has nothing to do with reality. And for those of us, again, those of us who are Christian, we understand that part of our vocation in life is what we do. Our job is our vocation. Our vocation is the way we repay God's love and grace through the efforts that we put forth, especially helping others. Well, folks, if when I came to that realization, it just seemed obvious to me, okay, I'm gonna be a chaplain, I'm gonna get my credentials in line, I'm gonna be able to go out and do something and help people. And the good news is I'm in a position, thank you, Lord, that I don't need income. I have income. So I can do this not for the profit motive. Okay, and you know, I'm blessed that I can do it. So that's that's sort of where I'm going. I say all that to say this. Yeah, that may not be your purpose. Yeah, your purpose may be to love and raise grandchildren. I know that is uh extremely important to my friend Brad. Unfortunately, my two children, and I my wife and I joke about that. We think they got together and said, you know, if we don't give dad any grandkids, he'll spend all his money on us. He'll give it to us. My daughter is 48, my son is 42. Um, I I see no grandchildren in my future. So we uh we uh we have a bunch of fur babies.

Serving Others In Retirement

SPEAKER_04 43:40

We have fur grandbabies in our house. We have lots of fur babies.

SPEAKER_05 43:43

And I know you go to soup kitchens and serve, and you do you do so many great things.

SPEAKER_04 43:48

Well, again, and see folks, that's that's the thing. Um again, I'm I'm a member of the Knights of Columbus, which is a Catholic men's organization. Um we we serve meals at the Salvation Army. We actually cook the meals yesterday. Wednesday's our day. Yesterday we had baked chicken, green beans, rice with gravy, fruit cup, and a roll. And it was again, we do that. I'm a meal on wheels volunteer. And you know, ever when I take the meals to my families, the ones that have pets, I they got a little bag, I got little treats for the dog and the cat, right? And it's just um anyone who's experienced what you get by if people always look at volunteering as what you give. It's not, it's what you get.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:33

Um the feeling that I get helping those people doing those things is way more. I mean, I I have to believe it's more my feeling of of gratitude is more, it is have is even more intense than their feeling of gratitude. At least that's my personal experience.

SPEAKER_05 44:51

Well, I want to say this to everyone listening right now because you now you can see why I love Kevin so much and why it's just such an amazing story. You know, uh you may not know this from listening, but I started off in ministry, so I have my minister's credentials. I'm booked F F. We went we went the other way. We did. I'm book F page 203, Sebastian County, Arkansas. I've done 30 weddings. I can't tell you how many funerals I performed, the weddings of my own children, you know, some amazing things. But and now it's a different form of ministry doing this to people every day. But it's super cool. And now Kevin in reverse roles doing this, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 45:21

But I will say that you know, Brad, I didn't it's now that you mentioned that, all of a sudden it hit me. It's the reverse. We're the same, we just did it in reverse, and I'm much older than you.

SPEAKER_05 45:31

Yes, we this is so cool. But now I will say this. Um, and and he doesn't know I'm gonna do this, so hopefully he'll forgive me later. But he sent me an attachment of some things he's worked on and some stuff he's produced. And as a person who is in the world of finance, an RICP, a TPCP, now doing all my social security planning, you know, I'm only six financial designations in on my journey to 20 to try to catch him. But you learn all these things and you're always looking for incredible resources. And he sends me some of the things he's done, like this paper, Why Annuities Are Special, The Case for Annuities in Every Retirement Income Portfolio. Dr. Kevin Lynch did this. Just pages and pages and pages of stuff that I haven't ever seen anything as good as this material. Then he has also written a story, My Annuity Story, which is fascinating, telling about his background. He wrote a paper on annuity types, all the different annuity types. And I'm always telling people when they call and say, Well, what kind of annuity should I get? And I go, Well, that's a loaded question. There's at least seven different types, and I go into SPIAs, EAs, FIAs, variables, QLACs, you know, Rylas, all these different and his papers on all these things, like he said, he's forgotten more than I will ever know. He's written stuff that is now resources to me that I'm going to pass on to you. This stuff's incredible. It's it's just amazing to me to find someone like Kevin, and I know that there are literally tens of thousands of you who are watching and are listening, and many of you will end up being on the show as our clients and our guests. The beautiful thing is you taking your story, your journey, what you did in life, what your expertise was. And then when you retire and go have your fun for 90 days or 100 days or six months or two years or however long your go-go years last, you will eventually find your way back full circle into the things that make you feel complete and that give you peace and that allow you to serve because you will realize that your legacy and what you're passing on to other people is what's most important. And so, Kevin, thank you so much for joining us. We got like two minutes. Do this for us. I know it's hard to do in two minutes, but what advice would you give as a retiree now to those watching who are maybe planning on retiring and thinking about it? What advice would you give to our listeners today?

SPEAKER_04 47:43

For those of you that are married, and I'm gonna assume that's the majority, okay? Something that it that I did not do, even though I should have, is I just always assumed that whatever I wanted is what my wife wants. Because she has followed me in 52 years of marriage all over the United States. We've lived in nine different states, we've owned 11 different homes, and wherever I went, she went. It was almost, I realize in the Bible the story of Ruth is about a woman following her her mother-in-law. But for our purposes, it was my wife always following me wherever I went. Well, when I retired, Kim's attitude was uh twice as much husband, half as much money, right? But and again, her her desires in life were not something I really thought about. So I I boil that down to this the person you're gonna be spending the rest of your life with really needs to have input on the planning stage. Now, in my defense, she has never been involved, she's never wanted to be involved. You know, my job is to drive everywhere and pay for everything. Her job was everything else. So in retirement, your life changes. Now you're together 24, you know, what's uh seven, 24-7, 365?

SPEAKER_05 48:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:00

So you're gonna be with that person a lot more than you ever have been before. Think about that. Really, I mean, really think about that and find out what are the things that you're gonna have in common, what are the things that you're not gonna have in common? How can you make sure that as you live the rest of your life together with all the time in the world? How can you capitalize on it? And it's a totally different thought for us than money, it's and how to, you know, when, how, how much, where, all that's important. But how are you going to be happy with your partner? To me, that's critical. That's the reason I didn't know, and I was so surprised when I wanted to immediately go to the villages, not realizing that that was absolutely not gonna be in the cards. Yeah, and I I was literally, she well, she's never been that way before, she's always come with me before. Well, that's different because now we're retired and it's it's a whole different phase of life. So that's probably not the answer you were expecting or hoping for, but from the bottom of my heart, that's my message is that's your partner, you're gonna be with her for the rest of your life, or him for the rest of his life. The biggest thing to focus on is how can you both enjoy that time together?

SPEAKER_05 50:18

Kevin, you just reminded me of watching a sitcom for all those years, and in that famous sitcom of Seinfeld, someone says, It's gold, Jerry, gold. What you just said is gold. I wasn't expecting it. It may be the best part of the show. And I'll say this as a research specialist who studies all the facts, figures, numbers, graying, graying divorce is a real deal. And what happens

Marriage Planning And Final Blessing

SPEAKER_05 50:40

is so many people don't spend time together when they're in the working world. He's gone all day, she's doing whatever, maybe they both have careers, then they retire, get together, and spend time together and realize we don't know how to get along with each other. So I know we're out of time, but what you said was so good. And I hope for all those watching, this is someone who, yes, he's in North Carolina, yes, he's an extremely educated man, but he's been right here to Lambert's and he's thrown the rolls across the table at the moment. Yes, we have. That's great, too. And so he's one of us. We're coming back. We have to have him come back again, be live on the show with us in the studio. Thank you for watching. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 51:18

Can I say one thing? One thing, folks. I was a professor for 15 years, and what made me different than every everybody else at the American College was the manner in which I ended each and every class. And this time together with with Brad and you today, I'd like to end it the same way. And that is the famous benediction of a hero of mine, Robert H. Schuller, who created the Crystal Cathedral. He used to end his weekly telecast on Hour of Power with this phrase God loves you, and so do I. And I do.

SPEAKER_05 51:52

Kevin, thank you so much for joining us today. We'll have you back on again. And to all of you watching, if we can ever help in any way, just call us anytime, 866-780-7233, or go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us, we'll personally get back in touch with you. Well, I'm about out of time, and I would like to thank you for listening to Safe Money Radio. If you're serious about your financial future, give me a call, and together, we'll get your retirement savings on the fast track to accumulation while reducing exposure to market losses. Thanks for listening, and until next time at the same time, I'm Brad Pistol, reminding you to stay safe so you can step into a secure future.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

You've been listening to Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol. Find out how to contractually guarantee that your hard-earned money is safe while avoiding market loss so you can have the retirement that you deserve. Call Brad Pistol now for your complimentary safe money book and safe money information kit at 866-780. That's 866-780-7233. The preceding information does not represent tax, legal, or investment advice. Surrender charges apply to base contracts. Optional lifetime income benefit writers are used to calculate lifetime payments only and are not available for cash surrender or in a death benefit unless specified in the annuity contract. Fees may apply. Guarantees are based on the financial strength and claims paying ability of the insurance company. No information presented today should be acted upon without meeting with a qualified and licensed professional. Obviously, by calling us now, you are just taking the first step towards protecting your retirement. It's important that you read all insurance contract disclosures carefully before making a purchase decision. Rates and returns mentioned on this program are subject to change without notice.