Phil Graham and Coach Pete D’Arruda connect retirement income with the broader work of estate and legacy planning. They discuss the shift away from employer pensions, the stress of repeatedly second-guessing investments, and why a written strategy should explain how monthly income supports the rest of a plan. The conversation returns to beneficiary forms, financial blind spots, and reviewing costs before they erode savings. Part three of the Financial Safari interview.

Call 800-661-7383 or text PLAN to 600-700.

Transcript

Automatically transcribed from this episode; timestamps are approximate.

00:00 Welcome back into the Financial Safari. I'm having a great conversation. Thomas Lipscomb here with you alongside bestselling author, Coach Pete D’Arruda. Also in studio with us, veteran of the financial arena, financial strategist, Phil Gramming. Have a great conversation. If you want to catch up on it, just head over to FinancialSafari.com. Again, that's FinancialSafari.com. Not only can you catch up on this episode, you can catch up on past episodes, as well as check out all of the great resources Coach has made available right there, FinancialSafari.com. Yeah, I wrote a book called Plan Once, Plan for Life. Modern Planning. And modern planning, what is that? Well, I mean, our planning now, Phil, is a lot different than what our grandparents were planning because our grandparents had a pension. That's right. Most people listening now don't. And so this modern planning techniques, and if you're going to plan and spend all the time putting a plan together.

00:46 Thanks to the government. Yeah. But if you're going to spend all this time putting a plan together, do it once and don't worry about it anymore. So Plan Once, Plan for Life is our motto here. And let me ask you this question out there in Radio Land. Listen, how many times a year do you catch yourself checking, worrying, and second-guessing your money? And be honest with yourself. Now, if your spouse is right next to you, don't give it away with a look on your face because you might be in trouble. But I really think I worry about money. Thomas, you ever worry about money? Oh, certainly. I mean, who doesn't worry about money? Oh, yes. But the worries need to have some action attached to it. Worrying all the time is not good. That's what they call the – something called an ulcer develops if you do that. So what we need to do is get rid of that. And how do you get rid of it? Well, you don't go see a pharmacist because they'll give you drugs for it, right? And then that covers it up.

01:32 That really doesn't get rid of it. How you get rid of it is you rearrange your money. There you go. We're not talking about a Titanic, Thomas, by the way. You know, rearranging the furniture on the deck, was that a good job? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. So that's what happens a lot of times when people say, well, yeah, I'm just going to move from this brokerage house to this other brokerage gal. Well, that's just rearranging the furniture on the Titanic because the money is still all at risk. Correct? It's true. It is very true. And what was your point? And something else that you've mentioned in the past is paralysis by analysis where people get confronted with this, I think, of a tsunami coming at you and just don't know where to tackle it. And that can be very frustrating when you don't have a professional with you. Yeah. Well, it makes a lot of sense. So here's a question. Remember full service, Phil, at the gas station? Yeah. I think even in New Jersey, they still do that.

02:18 They still do. Yeah, they do. So you drive up, go over that little thing, and then that little bell would ring. I remember back in the day, of course, I was little Pete back in the Ambassador Station Wagon days with the wood panel. It looked like Chevy Chase's station wagon. Dad would buy them from the state auction. They were cheaper, like they were state cars. But we'd pull in, and Mom would be driving, and I think Bob or Jeff would be in front. I like to be in back so I could stay out of trouble. Mom didn't see what I was doing a lot of times. But we'd pull in, and two guys would run out. They would pop our trunk. They'd check the oil. They'd refill the windshield washer stuff, and they would fill the car up. And we didn't have to get out. And so that same kind of theory is what we built the financial fill-up strategy around. And let me ask you this question. What if filling up your retirement income worked like filling up your car?

03:07 You just pull in, and they top it off once a month, and it just keeps running all the way through your life. That's the everlasting gobstopper in the financial world. Remember Willy Wonka? Yeah. Yeah, I could get bored with the same candy, though, wouldn't you? I would. What if it kept putting new flavor, I guess? Remember the everlasting gobstopper? I mean, as a candy connoisseur, Thomas, growing up, I loved to watch Willy Wonka chocolate fag. Oh, me too, me too. And I'll tell you, I can always go back to a butterfinger. Never lay a finger on my butterfinger, as they say. But, Phil, we're talking about the financial fill-up. And a lot of people, again, ask yourself that question. What if you could just every month wake up, and there's a new check in your mailbox? How would that make you feel? That would make me feel fantastic. I would love to have my bank account get refilled every month. Yeah.

03:52 Well, it's possible. It's not one of those improbable things. The problem is a lot of people have their money at too much risk. And when you put your money at risk, what I've seen over my lifetime is if there's risk attached, there's commissions attached. And the commissions are called fees instead of commissions. But it hurts just as much when the money comes out. That's when they can say, well, we don't charge commissions. Well, what is this thing coming out of my account every quarter then if you don't charge commissions? Well, that's a fee. Oh, okay. Well, that makes sense. No, it doesn't. In perpetuity. Phil, does that make sense to you? If it's coming out of your money, who cares what they call it? It's the same thing. I call it a financial termite. That's good. Whether you make money or lose money. I've never seen somebody say that if they manage your money and they lose money, in that quarter, they won't take a fee out of you. Was it like stockbrokers and weathermen are the only people that get paid whether they are right?

04:41 Oh. Yeah. And, you know, the weather, you know, just canceling the cookout is a lot better than losing a lot of money in the market. There you go. Truly. Now that we have microwaves, always cook that hot dog in the microwave. Ballpark Franks, Phil. Remember those? They're still around. They're still around. What do you mean remember? Well, because they're different. What was their saying back in the day? Didn't they fill up the whole bun? They plump. When do you cook them? Ah, there we go. And they used to plump. I used to love that stuff. I'd take it out of the microwave. It'd be double the size. Sure. Not happening anymore. So I'm just wondering what kind of chemical was in there that shouldn't have been. Good stuff. Remember those balloons you'd grow and you'd blow yourself? You'd put the red tube. You'd put that chemical stuff that had a smell to it and you'd blow in the tube and it would make a big ball? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Remember the smell, Thomas? Oh, yeah. Did it remind you of model glue a little bit? I mean, you know. Thomas, don't admit stuff. But, you know, it's funny.

05:27 They don't make that anymore either. And I did some research on it. It was some chemical that has like 30 letters in it. Oh, Lord. Dialed methyl. You know, one of those things. Something that the Breaking Bad guy would probably use. Yes. So let's make sure that our plan is doing what it's supposed to do. And I want you guys, Thomas, do you have a trivia question? Because I want to give a couple of these new books out. Always, always. All right. You got it handy? Let's do it. Let me put the trivia music. All right, folks. So you're going to be able to text your response to the number 600-700. Yes or no? Can a beneficiary designation on certain accounts override what your will says? Yes or no to 600-700. What do you think?

06:13 Good trivia question there. Can a beneficiary designation on certain accounts override what your will says? Text yes or no to 600-700. That is either yes or no to 600-700. And again, you can also call and let us know your response there as well. 800-661-7383. 800-661-7383. And the book is brand new, hot off the press, Modern Planning, Plan Once, Plan for Life. Phil, I've got to get you a copy of this book. It's over 250 pages, and it is a instruction manual for a successful retirement, not just trusting what you hear, but verifying and writing. How important is that? So not hope and pray? No. That's not a strategy? No. And we're going to send this out to you, folks.

06:59 We're not going to charge you anything. I've already bought the books, and I'm going to buy the postage. All you have to do is buy the time, that minute, to text us your address. Truly. And if you have any questions, we can answer those, too. You're also going to get a golden ticket in this book, which will give you the ability to get your very own total retirement plan done for you. You can give it as a gift to somebody else if you want. If you come in and have the plan done, we'll give you another one to give to one of your closest friends or relatives. I just think it's important that we get educated, folks, and make sure our plan is doing what it's supposed to do, what we understand it to do, what we've been told it's going to do. Phil, let's return back to the six places you can put your money to bypass probate. Now, earlier we've talked about 401Ks, 403Bs, TSPs. They bypass any will or trust and probate. We have bank accounts with the POD, brokerage accounts with the TOD form.

07:45 They bypass probate and, again, the courts. And then life insurance, as long as it has a beneficiary form filled out correctly, it'll bypass probate. There's two more. Two more? That's right. You want me to tell you what they are? Do you consider annuities the same as life insurance? Life insurance, well, slash annuities, yes, because annuities have a beneficiary form that bypass probate. Good point. We also have traditional and Roth IRAs, individual retirement accounts. If you put a beneficiary on there, don't put beneficiary my will because it'll go right to will and it'll go right through probate. So you can bypass the will. And, again, we're talking about forms that, Thomas, I don't think people even remember what they filled out many times. No, it's true. You know, I was just going over my life insurance a few days ago and realized, oh, my gosh, I haven't updated my beneficiary designation.

08:31 Yeah, and you do the show every week, so that's no excuse. It's true, exactly. You know who has the worst yard in the neighborhood? The landscape. Yeah, because he's too busy doing stuff for everybody else. Exactly. So, Phil, that's five of the six. And number six, and Thomas, we used to have a drum roll. I don't have it anymore. But number six is joint accounts with survivorship. Phil, you want to talk about that? Yeah, and I'm always careful with the joint conversation on bank accounts because you could have joint signer, which confuses people, or joint owner with rights of survivorship. People hear joint, and they automatically think that it's set up properly, and a lot of times that's not the case because what did you ask the bank teller to actually do? And so, yes, joint bank accounts, if they're set up properly, can avoid probate, but it can't be a joint signer.

09:25 That rights of survivorship is a key element to that. Again, folks, that is Phil Graham, our financial strategist from the Charlotte, North Carolina area, friend of the show, and friend of Coach Pete for over 30 years. Phil is an expert whenever I want some information like this, and thanks, Phil, for that answer. Sure. Thomas, very important that people make sure that they have these forms reviewed. Yes. And, you know, you've got to ask yourself, when's the last time you really thought about this? And most people, it's been a while. You're thinking about paying your mortgage and everything else. You're not thinking about something more important, which is this. It's true. And once you die, it's too late. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. You can't change it after you die is the problem. If you can figure out a way to do that, you should patent it. Right. Casper, the friendly ghost. Yeah, well, there you go. And so, yeah, it's just very important that we make sure that we're doing the right thing.

10:13 And a lot of times, we don't know right for wrong. And that's why we talk about it in this book, Modern Planning, making sure that you get those six bypass ways, ways to bypass the probate process in your mind. But not only in your mind, in your wallet. Because your money's in your wallet, your money's on your mind, on your money, on your mind, on your wallet, whatever that song was, Thomas. You know what we're talking about? I know exactly what you're talking about. Phil, you know what we're talking about, too. You've got a son. I know that song. Money on my mind and mind on my money. Got my mind on my money. That was Dr. Dre. Oh, yeah. Was he a real doctor? What was he doctorate? Music. Usually when I say something like that, I see Thomas typing away. He wasn't even typing. No, I wasn't even going to try. Phil, the financial fill-up strategy. How important is it? We've got about 40 seconds now.

10:59 How important is it for everybody out there to make sure they have their very own financial fill-up strategy that gives them that monthly check for the rest of their life? The key word you said, Coach, is strategy. It's not just a plan. It's not something you do after the fact. It is a true financial fill-up strategy. That lifetime income or that guaranteed paycheck coming in every month, and we can talk about this on a different episode, but it's been proven that people actually live longer in retirement when they have that money hitting their account every month guaranteed versus the hoping and wishing of just pulling it from their market accounts and praying it doesn't go down. And so I think it's one of the most important pieces of a retirement plan, and it's the foundation that the rest of your retirement, the rest of your estate plan is built around that financial fill-up strategy.

11:49 Yeah, very important. And financial termite's another culprit. Matter of fact, we have an e-book here on financial termites. If you want a copy of this financial termite e-book to help you identify unnecessary risk, fees, or commissions in your portfolio, we will send it right out to you if you call right now. And that number is 800-661-7383, 800-661-7383, or just text that keyword plan to the number 600-700. That is keyword plan to the short code 600-700. When we come back, we're going to talk about five quiet drains on your retirement portfolio, folks. Very important.