Jeffrey Panik - Escaping the Financial Fog: How to Take Inventory and Reclaim Your Future

In 3, 2, 1.

Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast for high achieving professionals and entrepreneurs who want to level up their game and become the best versions of themselves.

Today we are exploring a topic that is fundamental to our success, yet one that many of us often fail to properly plan our financial foundation.

Joining us is someone who brings a rare level of discipline to the table.

Jeffrey Panick is a Master of Science and Financial Services and a certified financial planner with over 25 years of experience.

But Jeffrey's perspective wasn't formed in a boardroom alone.

As a first generation college student who served in the US army to pay off his student loans, Jeff carries a military grade perseverance into his work today.

He is the founder of Balanced Wealth Partners and the author of the Future is Now, a guide designed to demystify the financial fog that many business professionals face in.

In a world of volatile markets and AI driven advice, Jeff is here to show us why human relationships and operational discipline are your greatest investment assets.

Join me now for my conversation with Jeffrey Panik.

Well, hey Jeffrey, welcome to the program.

We're delighted to have you.

Thanks for having me, Michael.

I'm excited about this.

We don't cover this topic very often and we're on season six now of the podcast.

And yet I think it's something that's absolutely essential, fundamental to our success because we're all working hard, we're all working on working in companies or building our own businesses, but we really failed to kind of plan this part of our life.

And it's something that a lot of people in North Americans were just, we're kind of ignorant to it.

So I'm excited to have you as our guest to maybe demystify a few things and maybe show us some proper pathways.

But we're going to be talking about financial services, we're going to talk about planning retirement.

Let's start at the beginning, though.

Jeffrey, you're in school.

I think you were living in Pittsburgh at the time.

Or Philadelphia or somewhere in that area.

Or Pittsburgh, somewhere in between.

Pittsburgh.

I was in Pittsburgh, yes.

Correct.

Correct.

I went to a school called Duquesne University, which if you look at it, you would never think it's pronounced that way.

So.

Yeah, it's like Duplin or what?

Yeah, exactly.

Yes.

No, I was going to school there and I had probably about six months left before I graduated and I got a letter from Sallie Mae.

I thought it was a magazine subscription service.

Seriously, because I had no idea that.

I understood I had student loans, but I never really quantified Totaling them and understanding what I had.

And this is in the 90s, I still wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.

And I made the decision to go in the Army.

They had a repayment program where if you went in for a certain amount of time, they would repay, they would defer and then repay all the loans as part of the service.

So for me, it really helped me out a lot because it really helped develop structure that I didn't really have before and really helped to kind of integrate with a lot of different people that from all kinds of socioeconomic, different backgrounds that you normally wouldn't have exposure to.

You know, the military is a big melting pot.

So it's a good.

That's probably one of the, I think, the biggest or best things that you meet people from everywhere that you would never meet otherwise.

And from that, really, you get to understand different personalities and how, if you're managing people, how to manage people.

Yeah.

You have an interesting backstory to that, though.

The reason you went to the military, finished school.

Let's start back.

You're in school.

What was the impetus for you going that direction?

I mean, I think from the standpoint of going in the military, it just.

Like I said, I didn't really.

I thought with the amount of loans I had, I was going to be really.

And unfortunately, in the United States now, it's more of the rule than the exception with the loans.

And unfortunately, if you don't do the right training, you don't have the return on the original investment to really be able to pay off the loans in a reasonable amount of time.

You have people deferring them out 20 years, and my intention was to get rid of them as quickly as possible once I really fully understood it.

And really from that point forward, I tried to better understand finances for myself, really.

Consumer finance.

Really.

What I never learned.

You know, my mother raised me.

My father died when I was an infant.

And I really had no one really, to really guide me as it related to money we were getting.

By week to week, you're just thinking about that.

You're not thinking about retirement or you're not thinking about how do I save for my first home, or what am I going to do?

And I was the first one that went to college.

And it was good in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways it wasn't good because I should have reached out and found mentors and really looked and really found more of something that I could have used as a takeaway from the years of college.

But Instead, I went in the military, which kind of offset a lot of the.

A lot of the, I think the downtime and the time that I wasted in college.

But you know what?

That's.

You had the heart to go do that because you grew up.

Not a silver spoon in your mouth.

Because it's easy to be, you know, if you're born from a family that's got means, but when it's just you and your mom or I don't know if you had siblings or not.

And as a single mom, there's a lot of responsibility there.

So you're working as soon as you can.

She was out working.

You're probably home by yourself.

It's a lot.

And so I think it gives you a perspective, which is awesome, which is great.

And it's made you where you are today.

So that's why I like to cover that.

So what led you?

So you're in the military.

How long were you in?

Army, I believe.

Yes, in the army.

So, yeah, so I was getting ready to get out and wasn't sure what I wanted to do as I was getting out.

And financial services, there was a large firm that had a training program that was for three years.

And so I decided to go that route where they would train you.

The ins and outs of financial services.

I thought it was interesting.

It was something that, coming from the student loans and the misunderstanding of just not really understanding consumer finance.

I thought it was something that.

It always interested me, something that was constantly changing.

And so I went through the program and I've been in the industry now for about 26 years.

How long were you in the service for?

I was in the service for three years.

Okay, and what was your MOS?

He was at 96 Romeo, which is a ground surveillance, which doesn't exist anymore because now they have the drones, which.

You got got replaced by a drone.

Hey, that's not correct.

It's just, you know, technology will eventually catch up to you, probably, I guess.

Right.

Like it will with all things.

Well, appreciate your service.

Jeff.

You credit the US army for instilling the discipline you bring to financial planning.

So.

So for entrepreneurs that are listening, how does military grade discipline translate into a better investment strategy when the markets get volatile?

I think you have to separate emotion, which is extremely difficult.

And you know, when you're dealing with money, it's an extremely emotional topic.

Especially it becomes very emotional when you start to see the red.

You know, the more that you see the market dropping and you see your balance dropping, the more stressful it becomes.

And oftentimes the harder it is to look at what the big picture is, why you're taking on risk in the first place.

And really it's about time and about compounding.

And if you can understand that and separate that from the ups and downs, it'll go a long way in terms of maybe reassuring or feeling better about.

Otherwise, a pretty bad moment in time if you're having a big market correction.

Sure.

And I think the key, like I've lived through a bunch of them, you know, I've been in the markets for probably 30, 40 years actually.

So back when we used to have to call a stockbroker and issue a trade to now where we can do it ourselves or work with our financial planners.

And I learned some things early in life which were good.

For instance, Warren Buffett said, when the market's fearful, be greedy, and when the market's greedy, be fearful.

So I've always, like I was a dollar cost averaging guy.

I kept buying, just routinely just kept doing it because all boats rise and fall and eventually it does rebound.

And whenever I bet against the economy in the market, I've always lost.

That's when I have lost.

So we're as resilient and we do get corrections.

And it's even today's world, we're seeing how volatile it can get, you know, particularly with oil and gas or tech.

But really you see a lot of money into the market, you see tons of it and valuations are ridiculous.

So it's hard.

As an investor, where do I find those gems or a steady return and go there?

So the discipline, I think comes in handy.

And I think the military teaching you that where you're just staying on it, that's an important part of it as well.

Let's talk about.

You were the first in your family, as you mentioned, to attend college.

So how does that first generation perspective influence how you coach your families or people you work with who are perhaps building significant wealth for the very first time?

Yeah, I think it's a matter of understanding that not everyone, you mentioned the silver spoon, not everyone walks in the office fully educated about things.

A lot of times it's more you have to kind of talk to them and re educate them in a lot of ways because they have certain expectations or they have certain thoughts, whether it's on Medicare, Social Security, all these different programs.

It's, I've said when I started in the business, it was someone would call you, they would have to leave a voicemail on your regular phone.

We didn't have cell Phones and to now where you can go on Google and if you type in a financial topic, you get about three and a half million hits.

So how does that really affect you and how does that apply to you?

And I think really it's important to distinguish yourself from everyone else.

And it's very easy to say, well, what is the average?

Or what is my number, what do I need for retirement?

Or what do I need if I'm trying to hit this goal?

It's really specific, independent to you.

Your family situation and what you're trying to accomplish and what your short, medium and long term goals are.

Yeah.

Why do we have such a dysfunctional attitude towards money and investing?

You've been doing this for a quarter of a century now, so you've seen every scenario possible.

Why, why don't we teach it in our education?

Like to me for instance, I remember taking social studies and oh, here's the British Empire with all these countries and now it's just England.

Yeah, that's it.

It's not even uk.

It's, you know, it's one little place.

And the world's changing.

If you have a PhD from 20 years ago, to me that just means at one time in your life you used to know a lot about something.

Why do we keep people poor?

Because we don't teach what ought to be taught in school.

What's your take on that?

So, you know, I think the problem is you look now in the United states, only about 22 states have a requirement or in the process of adding a require of a financial literacy course to graduate high school.

Further, a lot of those schools or a lot of those states have waivers where you can get a waiver so you don't have to take it.

And you know, I distinguish between finance and consumer finance.

And I think a lot of the books and textbooks that are written or being taught, they're more economic finance as opposed to I need to get a car loan.

How am I going to save money for a first time home purchase?

How don't I get all these loans?

How do I do the right things?

How do I go to community college?

How do I take AP classes?

How do you learn these things?

Well, the answer is you need to teach them in school.

But there's not a huge urgency.

And unfortunately I see a lot of if someone comes from a financially literate home and their family teaches them or they have a mentor that teaches them, they're.

I would say I compare your financial life is really like a marathon.

And, and really everyone starts at a Different place.

And I think some people that come from a financially or family or have mentors, they start at mile seven or eight so they're off in the distance.

And then you have people that really have no background, really aren't sure what to do.

They're standing at the starting line, you know, and people are handing them credit card offers.

And so it's just really unfortunate and unfortunately not a whole lot of motivation to make changes that have to be made.

Yeah, it seems like we're impatient as a society.

We want to get there fast.

Everybody wants to be an influencer, nobody wants to work the same way.

And you know, I learned very early in life from financial advisors that hey, if I can put away two, three thousand dollars and at 21 I did and about 3,000 every year and it just adds up over time and the miracle of compounding and people don't realize by the time you're 40 and 50 you can have seven figures in there if you've done it right.

Exactly.

And one thing I try to push across to everyone is I have some people say, well, I'm going to wait till I get to 500, I wait till I get a thousand a month and then I'll start saving.

You know, if you can save $10 and see the benefits of that over time, you're going to increase the savings over time.

And really the value now is automation.

You can automate the savings, you know, when it comes in via direct deposit from your employer, you can turn around and let that money come back out.

Or you can say, well I'm going to bonus myself or I'm going to put money aside if you're self employed where I'm not going to have to worry about things trying to catch up.

Because compounding works both ways.

If you don't take advantage of it, it'll take advantage of you later where you're just having to put a lot more money in to make up for lost time.

Yeah, you put a little bit up front, but we're so, we don't think we're going to die, we don't think we're going to get old, we don't think we're going to retire and we're just kind of live large or we live beyond our means.

You earn 50,000, you spend 60, earn 100, you spend 110.

And things just expand than kids and family and everything else where we go.

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And now back to my conversation with Jeffrey Panic.

Let's talk about balance.

Your firm is named Balance Wealth Partners.

So, in a world that often tells entrepreneurs to go all in on their business at the expense of everything else, how do you define balance from a wealth perspective?

I think it sometimes it goes beyond even wealth.

I think it goes, you know, into your family life.

I've seen a lot of people over the years that have more money than they could ever know what to do with or spend.

But their families are a mess and a disaster because they were so focused on making money that they forgot about their family.

And it's always I'll get around to it or I'll take them to this or I'll go on a trip with them and you just never get around to it.

And what ends up happening is you just don't have the relationship that you wish you would.

Which in the pre retiree book that I wrote, I think the biggest point of anything it's important to make sure you have enough resources to retire.

But it's also important to come up with what you want to do after the fact.

And I think it's imperative that you focus on your family, you focus on your health and you just don't say, well, I'm going to go play golf or I'm going to do this or that.

Unrealistic things that probably won't.

It's fine if you do that one or two days a week, but you're going to do that six or seven.

You may end up having a health issue where you can't play at all.

So it's important to have Multiple hobbies, volunteer, do things that you enjoy.

If you didn't enjoy working.

If you enjoy working, it's kind of like we spoke about the earlier, if you enjoy working, keep working.

Because it's a matter of just maybe not work as much.

But I think it's a matter of balance, whether it's in your work life, in your family or in retirement.

I think some of it has to do with just kind of taking a step back and really looking at your life puzzle and putting it together the way you would have wanted if you could have previously.

I wrestle with this one myself.

Like I know what it's supposed to be, but when you love working, I've always worked for myself, so I've never had a job.

So you have good times, you have bad times.

You know, during pandemic speaking career, we all got fired, all right, and have to transition and pivot.

But once you work for yourself, and I was fortunate to do that, you really don't want to retire because it's really not work.

But to your point, you know, I remember my first two kids, I was gone all the time building a business focused on generating the business.

So I'm trying to make up for it now and be a better papa than I was as a dad, but it's tough.

And it's finding that balance as you.

Get a little older.

It's kind of like, okay, you know what, I can do this in four days a week, I don't need to work.

Five, I'm going to take my weekends and go with family.

And that's where I've kind of transitioned to.

And like I say, looking after your health because I've met many, many, many well off folks who are sick, they're hurt, they can't even enjoy their money.

You know, it's, it's like I'm always reminded of Rockefeller, one of our first millionaires, Standard Oil.

But he had an outhouse, no running water, right?

He had not all the money, but nothing to spend it on.

Where something like 98% of the Canadian American population has a flat screen television and a cell phone.

So we put more money into subscriptions and the average home because people can find money if they want to.

They hit Starbucks once or twice a day.

The money's there.

It's the priorities that the issue we do, we want that instant gratification instead of putting away for a rainy day.

So I think that's to your point of where the balance is for you.

You got to find the balance for you and your family, right?

Yes.

You probably see that many business owners have what you call financial fog.

They know they're making money, but they're not sure where it's all going to go and how it all ends.

What's the first step to clearing that fog for them?

When you meet with clients and entrepreneurs, how do you get to the clarity that they maybe need to make their lives better?

I think an important thing at any age is really to take inventory, whether you're starting out, but in particular if you're just been going along for about 20 or 25 years, really to try to take a step back rather than.

Or, you know, I see people sometimes they come up with New Year's resolutions or they say, I'm going to do all this in a weekend.

We're going to sit down and try to do it.

Well, the reality is it may take 12 to 18 months to work through everything.

You have to inventory, get your statements, look at what your liabilities are, understand what the amortization schedules are.

If you have liabilities, you have to understand where your money is.

You need to also look and say, well, do you have pensions?

What guaranteed income sources do you have?

And you have to work through all of that over time.

You have to look at your estate plan, you have to look at your insurance, your home, all these things that you normally just would probably just make the payment on and not really think about.

Really need to look at it and see how is it all working together.

And really it's not a one size fits all.

It's not a one and done.

It's really a process, and I would call it an ongoing process, which sometimes people think they can just do it all and be finished, but never really finishes because your life changes, you move, different things happen.

Really, you have to adjust to life, but at the same time, you have to do it where your eyes are wide open with what's going on and you're just not in the dark.

Yeah.

What do you recommend for clients or people who are wanting to seek this out a little bit?

Let me give you an example.

You know, I work with some banks, but I'm also a client of the banks.

And we have advisors that, you know, that look after our particular accounts and take care of it.

And part of my financial plan was when I was younger, I would buy insurance because to me, I either got to create an estate or protect one.

That was what was taught to me.

So because I was a young family, I had to create one.

So I had to buy insurance.

But my banker, my relationship manager, didn't handle insurance.

Oh, it was like, okay, well, now I got to go see somebody else.

And so I go see my financial planner who can handle insurance products, universal life, something with cash, also handle the investment parts.

So where should people go these days?

Because there is compliance issues, there is regulation, and they're limited because of the competition stuff.

What should we avoid as entrepreneurs, as young investors, maybe people just listening, and where should we be focused?

You always want to know the person that you're talking to that's giving you advice, what their motivation is or what their end game is.

So really, you want to understand how they're getting paid and for what.

You also want to make sure that they, I would say, are independent from the perspective of not being captive to one company.

Because at that point, if you have a hundred companies out there and the person can only provide a service for one of those, that's, I would say, a problem in terms of just not really giving you the best private platform.

And really, the other important thing for anyone in my business is really to say, well, I know a lot of things, but I don't know everything.

And so it's important to understand where you need to turn over and have resources that you can provide for clients if you're not able to do it, whether it's accounting and taxes or whether it's detailed estate planning, making sure you have people there that have been vetted that you can try to pass on to the client that has a question or a need.

You're licensed as a financial planner in many different states, but for people listening, we have people all over the world who listen to the show.

What should be the questions they should be asking as they go on that journey and start that journey, and what should the answers be that they should be looking for?

Yeah, I think one of the other things is, you know, who initially, when you walk in the door, are you going to still be dealing with the same person?

And that's, I think, the case of the banks as well.

If you have a lender that you're using as a business owner, you want to make sure you have continuity with the lending relationship.

If you need to get loans for your business or even managing your cash management, you want to make sure if something happens, you know who you can call and they're going to answer, and it's not going to be a 1, 800 number.

And so I think, unfortunately for a lot of institutions, they're really focused on automating, which there's nothing to matter with that, but it's really important to have an end resource that if someone is in need or there's an issue that they can reach out to that can try to help them and get a resolution.

Interesting.

You're very passionate about financial literacy.

It comes across in your writing, your audios, and the things you publish and talk about.

Why is confidence a more important metric for your clients than just roi?

Rate of return.

Yeah, so I think what you wanted, the rate of return is important.

There's no question about it.

You want to stay close to the benchmark that you're looking at.

The other thing really is for people to understand what they're even invested in.

You know, and I think it's important.

And for someone, just because someone is 30 doesn't necessarily mean they should be super aggressive.

It's really based upon what the goal they're looking to use that money for is.

And so, you know, if they go to their neighbor and say, well, how are you invested?

And they're super aggressive, but they have this money set aside for their first time home purchase as an example, that's a problem.

It's a matter of adjusting and changing based upon what their need is or circumstances.

And that's especially important as you get closer to retirement.

And I always say it's important to understand what is kind of with your investments to take a look and understand what is under the hood.

The important thing is just to have a basic understanding but not try to be an expert.

But you want to at least have a general idea how your money is being invested, because that can some ways make you understand if the market is shooting up and you're supposed to be invested in the market, why isn't going up?

There's a lot of obvious questions that kind of come along with that.

Let's talk about legacy and family wealth.

You've helped hundreds of families manage their assets.

So how do you facilitate those difficult conversations around intergenerational wealth so that the kids don't lose what the parents built because we tend to hand it to them and they can't keep it.

You know, I saw one stat that said time the third generation comes around, it's done, it's gone.

They're spending it because they didn't learn how to make it, so they don't know how to keep it.

I think that's certainly true.

You get in the second or third generation of a business, it's very rare to see the third generation still there without the business being turned over or bankrupt.

And really it's a matter of conversation and Communication.

I think the essential piece of finance really is communication and really having open conversations, but having kind of boundaries around it.

Most of the time, it's very difficult for people to have a family meeting to really talk about what their intentions are, because it just gets emotional.

But it is probably the most important thing.

Everyone can understand what everyone's wishes are as well as just to have a clear succession plan.

As a business owner, most business owners really don't take a step back and think about how they can.

You know, they just think one day they may sell or they may transition it to their family.

Well, a lot of times you have a health issue that gets in the way.

And it's really important to have a succession plan where you can spell out whether you have key people.

The worst thing that can happen is something happens to you and the key people go out the door to the competitor and your clients go while you're incapacitated.

So you want to have a defined process for the people that work at your company as well as for your family.

And I think if you can do that, it takes away a lot of the friction as well as to have a reasonable path.

And I don't think you necessarily have to tell them everything, but you want to certainly have them clued in.

So it's just not people sitting around, really.

You have relationships with siblings that are destroyed because of money and because of communication or lack thereof.

I think sometimes you keep either things private or just, again, it's a matter of just understanding that people have to learn.

You just can't expect to turn all this money over because of, because of their friends, because of their spouses.

Money can get spent very quickly if there's not an intention around it.

And really it's about being intentional and really about purpose.

I think that is the biggest thing that's often lost.

What is the purpose for this wealth?

What is the purpose for what you're doing?

And if you're not sure about that, you really need to probably sit back and maybe think a bit and do a.

Do an assessment of what you really want.

Let's talk about how the technology works, because the role of the certified financial planner.

And you know, in our tech world, we've got AI now.

So I've been using AI to look at, hey, which funds are amazing?

Which this.

So the question is, why do I need a financial planner when I could probably get the best one in the world from an AI point of view?

But the one thing it can't do is it can't do the Human to human.

It doesn't take responsibility AI, it's not accountable.

We need that human element.

And you know, a robo advisor can't tell you how a divorce or a business partner dispute or a sudden health change can impact things.

This is where we need the advice of financial planners.

What's your take on that and how do you see that evolving and where do you think it's going?

I think it's certainly, again, things are going to become what I would say, more commoditized, especially on the investment platform where the AI can pick up and it's very competitive.

Really where I see it as an advantage is it allows someone like me to course through a lot of information but also understand, have back checking involved and also understand what the person's circumstances are.

And I understand if I'm working with someone, what their background is and what they're trying to do.

So if I see them, they ask a question about it.

Part of it is just for them to understand that they can ask other questions than just about investments really, because it's easy.

You know, I look at identity theft, all these things that normally people wouldn't say, well, financial advisor is supposed to help you with.

But really it's a matter of educating people on things that they normally wouldn't think about.

Because usually the things that don't get you are the things that end up getting you.

And I think the AI is great in everything, but I think people long for relationships where you're communicating with other humans.

And it, especially if in a case where they have your best interest in mind.

I think if you can find that, I think it makes it much more.

I'm not concerned about the AI from that aspect.

No, it's going to me, it's an amplifier.

So it amplifies what you're doing if you're focused, if you're focused on the transaction.

It's like I saw one stat that, you know, it's.

Fund performance isn't the number one reason people drop their financial planner.

It's relationship performance is they never hear from them around tax time.

Hey, what's your contribution this year?

That's it.

And they're not proactive with their financial advisor.

Is there a good place to start?

So if I'm looking for a financial advisor and I want to find someone who has a comprehensive perspective like you would have, but you're not in an area where we can hire you as our financial planner, where should we start looking?

Yes.

So I think one of the good areas is really, you know, One of the things people will ask family and friends if they've had good experiences.

Another area would be you can go to the certified financial planner website.

You can search for planners in your area.

You want to make sure they act as a fiduciary.

You want to make sure you do the right background checks.

You can go to certain websites and check the person's background to make sure that they don't have any issues.

And because there's certainly enough advisors out there where you can find one that has experience and at the same time has good ratings.

And so the one thing I say always is you always want to.

It's like a chemistry test between the advisor and the client or prospective client.

The prospective client, always.

It's a good idea if you interview three, four different advisors and get one that may fit best for you.

And it may be one that surprises you where you just.

Your personality seem to work pretty well.

And the other thing I always tell people, you want to make sure that if you're meeting with someone that they're going to be your point of contact, that they just don't push you off on someone.

Because I see that a lot as well.

Not like a junior associate's job is just to tee you up.

Your book the Future is now an introductory guide to managing your finances.

Who's that ideal for?

That particular someone graduating high school, college, and really someone that's looking for guidance.

And I use it more as like a reference or a resource.

You're not going to need everything all at one time.

But you may come back and say, well, I just started working at this employer.

They have a match.

What's a match?

What do I do with the 401k?

What is that?

Does a lot of financial jargon.

And I've tried to make it so I break it up in different sections that are applicable for different parts of their life that they're going to be forced, whether they want to or not, to try to learn.

Sure.

In April, you have a new audiobook coming out called the Future is Now your blueprint for solving your retirement puzzle.

Great title.

Perfect.

It's a puzzle.

Why are you calling a puzzle?

And what I'd like you to address in there.

For some people who maybe they were slow and contributing, maybe they don't have those things, and maybe they have to have a side gig.

We're starting to see a lot of businesses like, for me, I've always believed in multiple streams of revenue, particularly when the pandemic hit on my speaking career kind of tanked.

Like all speakers.

So we had to create another stream.

And so part of my retirement plan, and I've talked to other business professionals who didn't put away in 401s, didn't put away in their registered accounts, but they put money into their business and they built up nice little bit.

And that is their retirement plan and they plan on having other people run it.

And they built up where it's scaled or at least generates additional income outside of Social Security and any other pension benefits.

Who's best for this?

The future is now for that blueprint for the audiobook.

It's really for someone, it's designed someone approaching retirement, I would say, you know, within say five to seven years that really they have to make decisions about when to take Medicare and when to take Social Security.

Do they make up for a shortfall or deficit?

You know, looking at even estate planning, all the different pieces of life that kind of come together.

And I even mentioned understanding what you're going to do afterwards.

And it may be you continue to work but really have a plan in place to say, well, what happens if one day I have something happen?

You get it in an accident example, you can get in an accident any age, but what happens to your business then?

These things have to be thought about really.

I would say any age, but especially when you're approaching retirement, it's a matter of I use the example of your health.

You just don't want to say, well, I'm going to start exercising, you want to get a physical, you want to do a lot of background and work before you just decide to go run a marathon.

And I think really, you know, whether it's volunteering, I use the example of if you want to volunteer at a hospital, you don't like blood, you probably need to go and do something, something else.

And so really it's a matter of finding what your passion is, what your purpose is.

It may be just doing what you're still doing, but have an off ramp if something happens.

And I think that's the thing where some people say, well, I enjoy what I'm doing, I'm just going to keep working, I'll stop when I die.

Well, usually you become disabled or something happens and if you haven't planned appropriately, your family ends up in a real mess.

And so that's why you plan for the worst.

And if you do that, everything ends up usually working out pretty well.

That's good.

No good advice.

Are you seeing a lot of those folks that are approaching retirement, maybe entrepreneurs where they're Creating little side gig businesses to supplement Social Security and their Medicare.

I don't think there's any question about that.

I see some people pivot.

I see people in banking that pivot into something else.

Just again, it's a matter of trying something new and still getting paid for it.

And I think even if you don't necessarily need the money, it's something good where you can add value to someone else's business, where you have a lot of expertise, where you can try to help, especially if you have younger people.

I see that a lot as well.

Where if you can pass on what you've learned over 30 or 40 years of work to someone that's new in the workforce, that can go a long way in making both satisfaction on both sides.

Great insights, great advice.

Jeffrey, the book is called the Future is now an introductory guide to managing your finances, available on Amazon or you get your books and you got the audiobook coming out in April called the future is now your blueprint for solving your retirement puzzle.

So if you have kids, grandkids, good read, simple laid out process, you wrote these books to kind of demystify money and give everyday people a plan that they can work with.

So it's unbiased.

So whether you're just getting started or nearing retirement, they're good guides to help you walk you right through the entire process.

So Jeffrey, any final comments or advice to our listeners?

I would say it's never too late to start a conversation and start the process.

And the worst thing that can happen is you just get overwhelmed and stop because it's that therein lies the procrastination.

And so really it's small steps, but you have to take the first step.

And that's what I always tell people and just work through.

And you just have to do that over time.

It doesn't happen overnight.

So if you need just clear, proven strategies to help build a future that you can count on, these are the books and audiobooks to get.

Hey, congratulations on that and for building something amazing that's helpful and insightful for your audience.

So Jeffrey, thanks for being our guest today.

Thanks so much, Michael.

I really appreciate the opportunity to be on your show.

As you are listening to this episode, what is one idea that you've heard that's caught your attention and why does it matter so much to you?

And who is one person who you can share that with, either sharing this episode or just sharing that insight that occurred to you while you were listening?

Perhaps it is how to treat your household and personal finances with the same operational discipline as your business to avoid financial fog and ensure long term stability or to prioritize a clear succession and estate plan now to protect your legacy and prevent family friction in the event of an unexpected health change or disability.

Thank you for listening, for learning and for investing in yourself so that you can become the best version of you.

If you found value in this episode, please write a review on Apple Podcasts.

If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so so you can get a new episode and start your week off right every Monday.

Until next time.

As you are listening to this episode, what is one idea that you've heard that's caught your attention and why does it matter so much to you and who is one person who you can share that with, either sharing this episode or just sharing that insight that occurred to you while you were listening?

Perhaps it is how to treat your household and personal finances with the same operational discipline as your business to avoid financial fog and ensure long term stability or to prioritize a clear succession in estate plan now to protect your legacy and prevent family friction in the event of an unexpected health change or disability.

Thank you for listening, for learning and for investing in yourself so that you can become the best version of you.

If you found value in this episode, please write a review on Apple Podcasts.

If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so so you can get a new episode and start your week off right every Monday.

Until next time.

This podcast is created and associated with Summit Media.

My Executive Producer is Beth Smith and Director of Research Tori Smith.

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