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Retirement For Life
The only retirement show that won’t put you to sleep as we guide you to a comfortable and confident retirement. Christian Cyr, CPA, CFP® the passionate retirement specialist helps you navigate the complex world of retirement with a dash of fun, a heap of wisdom and plenty of real-life application. Whether you're already retired or planning for the future, the Retirement for Life Show is your passport to a secure and enjoyable retirement.
With over two decades of experience, Chris has been assisting individuals in achieving their retirement dreams, whether it's investing wisely, building wealth, or increasing retirement confidence. His expertise has earned him recognition in esteemed national media outlets such as Yahoo Finance, U.S. News and World Report, and CBS News.
Join Chris and his fellow professionals, Andrea Brannon and Emma Bean, CFA®, as they take you on a journey through essential retirement topics. We cover it all, from Retirement Planning and Investment Tips to Financial Planning, Social Security, Estate Planning, Tax Strategies, and much more. Tune in for practical insights and wisdom that will help transform your retirement goals into reality.
Retirement For Life
Re-release: Ready for Retirement - The AIM System - Part 1
The AIM Retirement System provides a comprehensive, team-based approach to retirement planning that typically takes two months to implement and features nearly 20 planning components designed to maximize retirement success.
• Process begins with a Connection Visit focused on understanding personal goals and retirement dreams
• Team approach includes specialists in tax planning, investment management, and financial advising
• Four main goals: maximize chances of retirement success, increase income stability, apply advanced tax strategies, maximize multi-generational wealth
• Initial meetings deliberately focus on personal information rather than financial details
• Most clients begin skeptical but grow comfortable as they progress through the system
• Multiple contact methods available: aimassessment.com, retire15.com, or through the website
• Virtual planning meetings are increasingly common and often more efficient than in-person meetings
• Connection Visit typically lasts 90 minutes with minimal pressure to proceed
• Information gathering between visits includes collecting tax returns, investment statements, and other financial documents
Ready to see if the AIM Retirement System might be right for you? Visit aimassessment.com to schedule a complimentary one-on-one visit and learn more about how we can help you prepare for the most treacherous part of your financial life.
We love hearing from you!! Record your retirement questions anytime at www.RetirementForLife.com
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- Elevate Your Retirement with the AIM Secure Retirement Assessment... our most popular tool! Powerful customized insights for retiree's or those nearing retirement. Answer 8 simple questions and receive your personalized assessment including the top three action items most likely to supercharge your chances of Retirement Success.
- If you're interested in learning more about our trademarked AIM Retirement System, visit: AIMRetire.com
- Want to connect with Chris? Schedule a 15 Minute Retirement Readiness call to discuss whatever's on you mind about retirement Retire15.com or just shoot him an email at mailto:admin@cyrfincial.net
- Try out the industry's leading financial planning software on your own. We give RFL listeners unlimited free access to the Free Online Planning Tool
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Retirement for Life, your passport to a comfortable and confident retirement. The podcast that's equal parts education and entertainment, where we break down the retirement maze with a dash of fun and a heap of wisdom from your host, Christian Sear, CPA, the passionate retirement specialist and president of Sear Financial Wealth Advisors. The independent registered investment advisor specializing in the AIM Retirement System.
Speaker 2:All right. Today's show, episode 19 and 20, we're going to spread this out over two episodes. On the Retirement for Life show, we're going to talk about the experience that a client has going through the AmRetirement system. We've done 18 episodes. Most of them have been about what we do, details about social security, mailbox money. By the way, the number one show we've had so far has been about the top 10 mistakes that you can make in retirement, interestingly enough, but we're always talking about detailed financial things. We've had a couple episodes where we talked about travel. That was a fun one. We have book Brooke. You booked what would you book?
Speaker 3:Like a health and wellness coach.
Speaker 2:We're going to have a health and wellness coach. But this episode, or these two episodes, is going to be strictly for people who are wondering what is it like for me and my spouse to go through the AIM retirement system. So we're not going to talk about details, boring financial details. We're going to walk through that experience. The AIM retirement System has four goals as we go through this process. First of all, before we get into the process, how long would you guess, Andrea, if you had to say from start to finish, from the time you first encounter us to the time you are officially a client, everything is running smoothly and you are what I would call a normal client. How long do you think that takes?
Speaker 3:I think it takes a couple of months to get everything done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right there. This is a two-month process. We had a guy in the office yesterday and he's like, all right, let's do it. I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Right, I mean he wanted to go.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What'd you tell him?
Speaker 3:Well, I said we need to slow it down a little bit and wait about a month to. I mean they still have a final paycheck.
Speaker 2:They have a lot going on still. So it's not like you call up a financial advisor if they're doing a complex financial planning system and it's done in two days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's done in two days If it is you've done something wrong, right, but the four goals maximize chances of retirement success. Number two increase income stability. Number three apply advanced tax strategy to save six figures in taxes. And number four maximize multi-generational wealth. That's what we're doing. It's complex. I looked up the definition of complex financial planning. It is a comprehensive approach to managing finances that considers all aspects Mouthful. That's why it takes so long.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, michael Kitsis is a well-known person in the financial industry and he does a study once a year about quote how financial planners actually do financial planning. They define extensive financial planning as a process that includes at least 13 planning components, and I laugh at that because the AIM retirement system has nearly 20 components. It is complex, it takes a while right, and what makes it interesting to me is the team approach. I think that's what makes it unique. We have you can see, on the screen here I put up the value diagram. You know that diagram with all the bullet points. These are all the things that happen in the AIM retirement system. This is what we're doing for our clients. One person cannot do this, and one of the unique features of the AIM Retirement System is that right off the bat, you're going to be introduced to a team of people. I love that. Brooke gets mad because we have how many team meetings. Today is Wednesday. How many team meetings have we had so far this week, would you say?
Speaker 3:Several.
Speaker 2:I like team meetings, I like communication. I think that if I was entrusting somebody to my large nest egg, I think I would want a group of people, and so the AIM retirement system. One of the first things that happens is you get assigned a team. Typically, one of those people is going to be a CPA, a person who is on the tax side, and you could see on the value diagram that's the bottom left quadrant, that's what that person is doing. I also want an investment specialist. Right, we have CFA. Her responsibility is to manage the investments. That person needs to be a part of the team. Right, and at the top is the person who is the financial advisor right, a financial planner and advisor person who's really leading the discussion, right? So, andrew, your role in the firm is more of that of the top of this food chain here. You're kind of in charge of that relationship, but are you doing it yourself?
Speaker 3:Definitely not no.
Speaker 2:And so, anyway, I think that's what makes it interesting. There's a lot going behind the scenes with this team. It is complex. So what I want to ask you guys is how, as a retiree or a person nearing retirement, do you think that they are enjoying this process? Do you think it's a fun process for them?
Speaker 3:I think it's a nerve wracking process for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's your sense? Like, are people just giddy to go through this process?
Speaker 3:I think they're giddy to retire, but they're also nervous about it.
Speaker 5:What I love hearing is when clients say I've never retired before, so I don't know what I'm doing, and it's great that we can help them through this process.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:What percent of people that go through the AIM retirement system go through very suspect of the process, critical of the process, and what percent are just ready to go and are trusting of the process, would you say?
Speaker 3:I think most people come into it suspect just because they don't know what to expect. They don't know what retirement is and how they're going to get their income and it makes them nervous. So I think most are suspect of it. But I think by the end of it they all feel very comfortable.
Speaker 2:They start to shift towards being more comfortable.
Speaker 2:I envision this podcast 19 and 20, both episodes to be something that we can share with people who are just entering this process and listen to this discussion, to get a flavor and a feel for what it's like to this discussion. To get a flavor and a feel for what it's like. So we have made this. I would call it the flow diagram. This is our process for financial planning. Interestingly enough, it mimics the CFP board guidelines for providing financial planning services, but it looks like this, and what I love about this is that it's a continuous circle. You can see there's an entry point, brooke. You see that entry point says assess. Yep, yeah, that's the gateway in. We'll talk about that. But these are all the things assessing current circumstances, identifying goals, analyzing course of action, collecting information, all these things. But we're always doing all these things.
Speaker 3:Every time we have a visit, we're reassessing, we're reevaluating, we're just double checking everything.
Speaker 2:It doesn't stop right. It's not like when you're retired. Whatever we know now is what's going to be known forever.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Things change, so much changes. So this is the flow or the work diagram. So we're going to walk through this process. So let's start with the initial gateway into the AIM retirement system. So there are four things. What are the four ways that they can get? How do we usually hear first from a person who is interested in an AIM retirement system?
Speaker 3:We have a lot of people that go through the AIM assessment. So they go to aimassessmentcom and then we get an email and then we reach out to them that way. Or some people just schedule a 15-minute phone call.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and some people go to our website. Still it's funny. So for a person like Austin they don't use the website, but most of our retirees they go to the website and they want to check us out. There's a big button on the top start here and the start here button introduces them to all the different ways they can contact us. I have a lot of 15-minute calls, so retire15.com I had three of them yesterday. It's just people that want to talk for 15 minutes.
Speaker 2:I think this is a great idea. Of course, I think every idea I have is a great idea, but maybe a good way is just to have a quick conversation, right, but either way, it all starts with the conversation. The best way to go through the process is to go to aimassessmentcom, because with the AIM assessment you're actually kind of getting this try it before you buy it type of feeling. You're getting to know what the AIM assessment could possibly mean to you, what the retirement planning system could mean to you, without going through the whole process, almost bypassing some of the legwork we're going to talk about today. But one way or another, it starts with a conversation and that conversation is brief and you're scheduling. What is the connection visit? Hey there, RFL show listeners.
Speaker 2:Did you know that 97% of Americans associate the word financial advisor with simply investing money? But sadly there is one key piece of information most retirees do not realize until it's too late, and sometimes they miss it altogether. And although retirement is this great emotional victory, sadly it's actually the beginning of the most treacherous part of your financial life. If you're considering working with a fiduciary who works exclusively with retirees and those nearing retirement, go to aimassessmentcom. That is AAMassessmentcom. Schedule a complimentary one-on-one visit with me, Ask questions about your retirement situation, Learn more about our trademarked AIM Retirement System and see if we may be a good fit for you. It all starts here with the conversation AIMassessmentcom. Before you come to your very first visit in the AIM Retirement System, what are you doing? If you're 65 years old, you've decided you want to go through the process. What's the very first thing that you're getting here?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so we're scheduling a connection visit and then from there I'll send you a video, you know, kind of describing what that connection visit entails, also a little information about the AIM process. I'm also sending a financial profile, basically a quick form, just to learn a little bit of information about you, how you think about money, if you're going to need the funds in a certain amount of years, any other specific financial goals or items that we should know about before building your plan.
Speaker 2:And you're like what's going on? I? Just got a financial profile. They're asking me questions. The financial profile we're fiduciaries. Asking me questions. The financial profile we're fiduciaries. I think people are surprised that the first two hours of interaction really we don't talk about finances.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:We're asking questions like what do you want to do in retirement?
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:What is scaring you the most about retirement? Do you want to spend time with your grandchildren in retirement? Do you want to go travel abroad, every continent? What do you want to do? And we really key in on those. But yeah, so before you even come to visit for your first official visit, the connection visit we have a financial profile on you. We have sent you a video about what to expect in this first meeting. We have given you a document that explains what the AIM retirement system is and we have given you a list of things we want you to bring to that first meeting. Virtual meetings are becoming more prevalent. Where did I just had a virtual visit with somebody, david, in Alabama? So this can be done virtually, in fact, what have we found about virtual visits through the AIM Retirement System?
Speaker 3:They're very effective.
Speaker 2:I mean you can they're better.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean yesterday we had both right. We had a virtual meeting I had with this gentleman from Alabama, but we also had somebody in the office. It seems like to me the in-office visits tend to take longer and that's not a problem. But what I love about the virtual visits is that they're just quick and to the point and we're able to be more efficient with those meetings. And I think the people who are comfortable with a virtual visit appreciate that the world's become such a smaller place. But whatever we do, we're going to always send you we're big on client experience we're going to send you a reminder, right? What's the reminder? What's it say?
Speaker 5:I just first off I give them a phone call reminder, just to let them know their visit's coming up, and then, eventually, we send them a text, just another quick reminder right before, so they don't miss it right.
Speaker 2:All right. So you've entered the doorway into the AIM retirement system, you've gotten these things that are trying to help you understand what to expect and you finally get to the first meeting. The very first question we ask, I think, is how are we doing on time?
Speaker 3:Yep, right question we ask, I think, is how are we doing on time?
Speaker 2:Right, and that sets the bar for, look, we have carved out time for you in this first meeting. Are you going to be rushing out the door in 30 minutes? So we want to understand what that time is, but we want to. This is a in-depth get to know you type of thing, and that's what it is. It's a fiduciary meeting. What do I mean by that? Like, when I say it's a fiduciary meeting, what do I mean by?
Speaker 3:that Well, I mean a fiduciary has to do what's in your best interest at all times. But if we don't know you, how do we know what your best interest is? I have to learn about you.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite questions at the connection visit is tell me how you and your spouse met. When we ask that question, what's the typical reaction?
Speaker 3:They're all surprised.
Speaker 2:Like why are you asking me a personal question? No, you don't get it. We are going to be partners in your retirement, but this is going to be for the rest of your life. We're going to take care of all this financial stuff, but I need to know you, we need to know you, your team needs to know you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's my favorite part is getting to know people.
Speaker 2:Team needs to know you. Yeah, that's. My favorite part is getting to know people. Yeah, I like Andrea, because it's been 13 years now that you've been a part of this adventure. And when people call Austin, when people call, how many people want to talk to me and how many people want to talk to Andrea?
Speaker 5:It's heavily majority to Andrea. They want to talk to her or Kayla or whatever.
Speaker 2:I heard from my one of our clients is a friend of my mother and she told me the other day she goes. You know what she goes. So-and-so, my friend, mom's friend, just loves Austin.
Speaker 5:She just loves.
Speaker 2:Austin. It's about getting to know you, right? So we're spending the first 15 minutes of this connection meeting. This is your first impression of our team. We're just bombarding you with questions about you, right? But then we're going to get into your retirement dreams and goals, and I think that's important.
Speaker 2:I mean, would you say, I'm going to try and pry this out of you, andrea, so don't feel bad if you get the answer wrong. Okay, but when I am dealing with our clients that we've had for a decade or more, what do I want them? Do I want them to follow every last step that we suggest to them, or what do I want them to follow?
Speaker 3:We always say to follow their gut. They need to do what makes them happy. Yeah, and makes them comfortable.
Speaker 2:And a lot of times that's spending a lot of money on a RV. Is that what they're?
Speaker 3:called A lot of people. Yeah, they want to travel, yep.
Speaker 2:It's like okay, we need to learn what you really are going to do in your retirement. What I don't want to do is think I know you after 10 minutes and then you come up to me two years later and say I need $80,000 to purchase a vehicle to go around the country and visit national parks. I want to know that ahead of time and we're talking about like your true dreams beforehand. So we're spending time working on your goals and also your fears, right? A lot of people come to us. They have this preconceived notion or something that's on their mind that is unnecessarily large in their list of concerns, and we'll tackle that. So we're going to learn your fears and your concerns in this first visit. How much time? Well, first of all, how long does the average connection visit the first visit? How long does it take, would you say?
Speaker 3:I would say at least an hour, usually an hour and a half.
Speaker 2:And of that hour and a half, how much time do we spend talking about us, or investments, or strategy?
Speaker 3:Specifically about us. Maybe five minutes, just quick overview of us. But I mean, investments is more the questions they ask, otherwise we don't go into it at all.
Speaker 2:Because at the end of this hour, hour and a half, they're going to make a decision. Right, we have told them what we do a little bit. We've explained how we do it a little bit. They've met the people, the team that they're going to be working with for the rest of their lives. That's a lot to take in an hour and a half, at the end of this meeting. What's the ultimate decision that the people going through this process, what are they making at the end of this connection? Visit?
Speaker 3:I mean, do they want to move forward Do? They want to have a second visit with us.
Speaker 2:How much pressure do we put on people? No pressure. It's kind of fun to meet a new person for the first time. It's in a controlled environment, it's not like you're at the. I saw at the fair the other day. I was walking through and I was scared Like a lot of these people walking through. It was like a lot of guys wearing vests, scary guys. And this is a controlled environment. I mean, this is a group of people that are credentialed professionals and it's a comfortable meeting and we're just getting down to understanding each other. So that's basically what it is. We talk a little bit about risk. We try to understand are you scared of investing? Are you comfortable with investing All that stuff? And we're collecting some stuff also. What sorts of things are we collecting at this first meeting, would you say top of mind?
Speaker 3:I mean to be able to have a second meeting. We're going to need a tax return.
Speaker 2:We're going to need some statements, just basic information to put a plan together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're scanning a lot of stuff. I mean tax returns and stuff like that. Yeah, all right. So you spent an hour and a half with us. You've decided, yeah, let's go through with this process and see what it means. This is the next phase. Here You're collecting additional information and we're doing that because we need to be able to come up with our recommendations right, and in this process, this value diagram, there's a lot here. So, between your first visit, the connection visit, and your strategy visit, what type of communication are these soon-to-be retired people or retirees? What kind of communication are they getting from us after their first meeting?
Speaker 3:So they're going to hear from the planner. They're going to need more information. Surely we need a little bit more than what they maybe brought with them. So, as we're building the plan, we have additional questions.
Speaker 2:Is it annoying for a retiree, or soon to be retiree, in between the connection visit and the strategy visit? Do you think our financial planners are annoying? Sometimes I feel like they are.
Speaker 3:They probably could be yeah.
Speaker 5:So there is a lot of information we do need to put together.
Speaker 2:We need look at the end of the day I'm going to. I thought about this. I almost put this in an email yesterday and I took it out because I felt it sounded cheesy and it's actually a sad commentary on my life, but I was telling this person, I was going to tell this person in the email. I want my legacy to be the person who built well-researched, well-thought-out, highly crafted retirement planning. I spend half of my day thinking about how I'm going to share information with people, like we're doing right now, and you know what? I spend the other half of my day doing, figuring out how we can do retirement as best as possible. And every day you'd think there's like a process and it's done, and once you've nailed it, you've nailed it. No, because as times change, as products change, as technology changes, the way to best implement retirement planning changes. So I hope that my legacy is and is that sad, brooke, that I want me to be remembered, because I want to be remembered as a retirement planner, is that?
Speaker 3:No no.
Speaker 2:I think you look down on that. She looks down on it. She thinks all he is is a bald guy with the vest on who all he cares about is retirement.
Speaker 3:I just can't relate. That's all. We are asking a lot of detailed questions.
Speaker 2:I need to see your pay stubs. I need to see your tax return. I need to see the pension paperwork that you told me you have. I need to see that Social Security statement that tells me exactly how much you're going to be receiving at full retirement age and if you take it at 62 and if you take it at 70, you say you have a will. I want to see a copy of it and and that is trying for most people, but I think it's necessary so I think we'll leave it there for this episode. We've gotten to the point where we have basically talked to you for about an hour and a half and we've been bugging you a lot for a lot of information, but the strategy visit is upon us and that's where the real magic is. So we'll tackle that the next process in the next episode, but I think it was a great start to the Amrit. What do you think?
Speaker 3:It's great.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Is it was the? Is the strategy visit. One more question, Then I promise we'll stop the episode. What's better, the connection visit or the strategy visit?
Speaker 5:Honestly, there's no right answer. I think, people like the strategy visit because they get that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Like yesterday they were so excited to see that they had a high chance of retirement success and that they felt good about going on their vacation and yeah.
Speaker 2:I feel like for us, the connection visit is more fun. Like I said meeting somebody for the first time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that part.
Speaker 2:But I know for the client experience it's got to be the strategy. We know that the strategy visit is going to be a slam dunk. It's going to be great. We know that now we've done our job there for them, though it's this big unveiling, it's this unveiling, it's this unveiling of can I retire and what are we going to do to make it happen. So we'll talk about that strategy visit next, in the next episode Investment advisory services provided by Sear Financial Inc.
Speaker 4:SEC registered investment advisor. All content on this podcast is for information purposes only and should not be considered investment. Legal or tax advice Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources and no representations are made by our firm as to another party's informational accuracy. Considered investment, legal or tax advice Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources and no representations are made by our firm as to another party's informational accuracy or completeness.
