[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to be unbelievable. I'm Doug Wick and today we're talking about the real side of business, leadership and life.
You're watching now media television.
Welcome to be unbelievable. I'm Doug Wick. Unbelievable coach. And this show is about unleashing your potential, seeing farther, thinking bigger, to rise above any challenge or any obstacle to challenge you to change the way we look at what we think, we know to think and act and feel differently. My current work as a certified neuro change solution coach focuses on change, how we can change, and specifically how to make change stick. Change begins with our thoughts. Today, I want to apply that same discipline to money. Because retirement is one of those big ownership dependence traps. People don't realize they're in. My guest today is Michael Clannon, founder of Safe Money Solutions here in Cedar rapids, Iowa. With 20 plus years experience in the financial and insurance strategy business, Michael focuses on retirement planning, tax smart wealth creation, lifetime income and legacy planning with an emphasis on protecting principle and reducing unnecessary risk. Welcome, Michael.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Most people were taught retirement is a performance game. You know, pick investments, hope the market cooperates, and cross your fingers on taxes. In this segment, in this segment, what we're going to do is uncover Michael's see it differently framework, how to help families shift from chasing returns to building certainty using contracts, planning and other transfer risk transfer, really? Strategy. So welcome again, Michael. Before we talk strategy, what I want to know is what was the moment that pushed you into this work? In other words, why did safe money become the hill you. I don't want to say that. Why? Why did you choose as a career? Yeah.
Okay. Go for it.
Yeah.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: You know, really, I never ever expected to be in this business. Right. I was a former teacher.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: But the turning point or the. The one moment, Right. We all have that one moment.
And that's when my parents received bad advice.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: From a trusted advisor.
And they were put into a retirement vehicle that we had actually discussed three months prior.
And this is when I was a financial advisor myself.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Okay. And we had discussed this particular product was not a good fit for them in retirement. And it just happened to be a variable annuity.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: Okay.
And the funny thing is it came around because I had given my. My father a book by Ed Slott.
And unknowns to me.
He actually called the number in that book.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: And it connected them with another advisor.
So it wasn't until two months later that I found out that he had. That he had done something.
The problem was is this advisor was thinking about his paycheck.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
Because annuities, as I understand it. Right. Annuities pay the, the person that's selling it a very high, very, very high commission.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: That's another story.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Yeah. We won't get into that.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: But it was. So, so basically I learned that they have been put in this vehicle and it had not been transparent and explained because when I asked them what it was, my parents, they couldn't tell me because that those words never came up.
And the, the thing is, this was a process because the damage had been done.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Yeah. At that point you couldn't reverse, couldn't.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: I couldn't. We couldn't cancel it without penalties.
So that whole, that one decision took seven years to unwind.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: So the thing is, what I learned was that came to my mind was this happened to my parents.
How many other people, family have been put through the same thing?
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: Right. And the thing is we have this even, you know, people going into retirement or already in retirement and we hear these bad stories about seniors being taken advantage of.
And that's what I believe is what happened.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Right. So it just, it, that was my turning point. And I, I put it, when I do business, right, my, I can sleep at night.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Because I've always put my client's interest before my own because I know if I do something right, I don't have to worry about the income.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: So here's a question. This is kind of the second get to know you question, but were you still a teacher at that time or not?
And the question, because you are a former educator, is how does that show up?
Maybe a little bit.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: So as far as the educator. Yes. I was an educator for six years and I got burned out. And I figured I had told myself when it became a job, I'm done. Because I had seen people, other teachers, educators in that position for almost 25 to 30 years, and they were making those kids miserable because they felt like they couldn't get out.
And I always said, I'm never going to be like that.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Good for you.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: So, yeah, really making the transition from the education world to the financial insurance world.
I, I'm, I tell people I'm just a glorified educator that gets a little, that gets paid a little more than my wife who is a teacher. Okay. So, yeah, So I still educate people, but now we, now I'm educating people who want to be educated and learn things that maybe they haven't.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Yeah. To help their future, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just a little different.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's just A different. Yeah, but yeah. Education is the whole philosophy.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: So here's another. Here's maybe into the real depth of this. When a client says, I just need a higher return, what's the question you, you asked that helps them to change their perspective?
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Well, I would say think about this. When you're, when you're in your working years.
Right.
You're chasing returns.
Right. Think of climbing up that mountain.
Right. We can handle a few slips because we have time on our side right now.
We've all heard these sayings, the younger you are, the more risk you need to take.
Yep. Right. Because you got time on your side.
Right. And. And in my world, that's brainwash.
Okay. Because the professionals out there, these are things that they only know too. So you know, may not be any fault of their own.
Right.
But I have come to the conclusion that people do not have to risk their money to grow their money where they don't have to slip backwards.
So think I'm going up stair steps. My clients accounts can only go up. They cannot slide backwards.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Okay. It's not as exciting as being in the market.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Right.
You're not gonna get the highs and. But the thing is you're never gonna see any lows.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Yeah. It's. I just recently, just in preparation for this, I read Warren Buffett's book. I can't remember the name of it, but he was pretty. I mean, he never even invested very much or hardly at all in tech stocks. Right. Yeah.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: It's funny because I also teach strategies of what the ultra wealthy have done to accumulate their wealth. The thing is, middle class could do the same thing. It's just going to be on a smaller scale. Yeah. But you just have to know, where do you start?
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: What's the vehicles that you will get you there where you know, and we're just growing that well.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: And it's really all about compounding, which is something I think people don't really understand. If you put it in and it compounds, it's gonna. You're going to have a lot more money if you just stay.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Right. Right.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So in your world, what's the real definition of risk?
[00:09:50] Speaker B: It's my definition of risk.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Anything that you have no control over.
So in my world, what, what are those things?
You don't have control over what the market does.
You don't have control over inflation, you can't control lawsuits, you can't control taxes where they go.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: In the future.
So most. I'm just. This is a blanket statement but it's just because I've dealt with hundreds of clients.
Mike. When. When. Mike. When I am, when a prospective client comes to me before they even walk through my door or we have that zoom conversation, I already know where they're at.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: Why? Because they're doing the same thing as everybody else. They're putting their money in the same vehicles.
Okay. So they're taking on 100% of the risk really personally.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Okay, gotcha.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Right?
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: So. So my job is how do I take the risk off of them personally and transfer that risk to somebody else?
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Interesting. We're gonna. We're gonna explore. Yeah. Because you're known. Right. You're known for helping people protect that principle and still build income. So what are the first numbers you want on the table before you recommend anything?
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a couple of numbers. One, how much are you paying in taxes?
Okay. Whether it's from income, whether it's from taking money out of retirement accounts when you're in retirement.
Investments, you know, capital gains, sale of properties.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: I love businesses.
Right.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: So I want to know what. What's your tax number?
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: So that's the first number you said.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: That's the first one.
The other one. What. Which is what I'm really curious about is how much do you want for cash flow?
So going back to your previous question, the. What's you know about high returns where people want high returns in retirement. It's not about. Or it. Yeah. In your. I don't say retirement because retirement means. Or retire means to put out to pasture.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: So basically, you're just waiting to die.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: And I don't use die. I use graduate.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Your final graduation.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Well, you were going. You. You were talking about what, the final. The second number that you're interested in.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Oh, I know. Okay. So chasing returns. Thanks for getting me back.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: So chasing returns in enjoyment years, it's not about the returns. It's about cash flow.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: And most importantly, cash flow that you can't outlive even after your accounts go to zero.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: So in the other vehicles that people are putting into 401ks, IRAs, it's in the market.
They can run out of that money. And guess what? Game is over.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: So how do we take that risk off of them and put it on third parties, AKA insurance companies?
So a lot of the things I based my planning on are insurance based. Now let's get it out there.
Nobody likes insurance.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: So I don't like insurance, but I love what it does.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: I got you. Yep.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Okay. Because it gives me guarantees, it gives me protection and my clients guarantees. And protection is which.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Which is most vital. So what you're looking to provide. Okay.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Because coming going up at the top of the mountain, Right. People are still playing the game, which is that enjoyment transition from the working to the enjoyment.
They when they go down the mountain, which is on the enjoyment years, they're still playing the same by the same rules of the first half of the game, chasing returns.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: Okay. What's our risk going down the mountain? There's more deaths that happen going down the mountain than up.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: So what are those falls down the mountain?
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Taxes, inflation by lawsuits. Again, number one concern of retirees, you're running out of money.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Now how can you run out of money quickly? Like I said, lawsuits, the nursing home, your health.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: So how can we alleviate that risk?
[00:14:50] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Most financial advisors are good on the accumulation.
I don't, I'm not the accumulation person.
I the distribution. How do we distribute that money so you can outlive it?
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Super.
Coming up next, I'm going to press on the part people avoid until it's too late. Taxes and how a tax smart plan can be the difference between comfortable retirement and an expensive surprise.
All right, welcome back.
To be unbelievable, if you want more conversations like this, business, money, leadership and real strategy, watch Now Media TV live or on demand. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and take your bilingual lineup with you wherever you go. Prefer audio. Catch the podcast versions at NowMedia TV and keep thinking bigger with us.
I'm back with Michael Clannon from Safe Money Solutions.
In this segment, I want to get brutally practical. Retirement isn't just about what you make, it's about what you keep.
And taxes can be quietly becoming the biggest health leak in a plan. Right. So I'm going to steer us into the tax timing, distribution, planning, and how Michael thinks about building wealth in ways that don't create bigger tax problems.
And later, we'll keep it educational and clear on immediately making that money available. So let's get started with the first question. When you say tax smart plan, what does that mean in plain English? What's the biggest tax blind spot you see people that, you know, head into retirement face?
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Well, one thing is when people are making that transition, right. From the working years to the enjoyment years.
Right.
They all think they're going to be in a lower tax environment.
Okay.
And that's just not the case.
In essence, does somebody want to make less in retirement than what they were making. Do they want to change their lifestyle?
Not typically. No, not typically.
You know, so the biggest. The biggest problem is what they're. What they're doing or have done over the last 30 years with the types of plans that they have, whether it's IRAs, 401ks, all they've done is kick the can down the road to a future thing, future time.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: That's.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: That's the big hairy, scary monster in the room.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: It could be a good problem because they were full. You know, in essence, people are forced to put money away that they probably would not have otherwise. But the thing is, what they're doing is they're gonna.
It's gonna come to light when they start taking that money out, that they are on the IRS's payroll.
The. That those retirees are an annuity to the irs.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: Okay.
So my job is to uncover and. And show ways to divorce the IRS as much as possible, legally, ethically, and morally.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: Which they have never had this discussion ever before.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Because I imagine most of the time they're just worried about what's going on now, and they're not so much focused. One of the questions I have is, so a lot of families, what you were talking about, and again, I hope I'm not jumping ahead too fast, but a lot of families accidentally build something that you talked about in your previous.
Basically a tax bomb, and they're not realizing it. So what are the three common moves that would trigger that kind of. Text bomb?
[00:19:28] Speaker B: Yeah, right, the text bomb.
There is a book out there too.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Is there?
[00:19:32] Speaker B: By Ed Slott. It's called.
Actually, Time magazine did an article years ago on the tax bomb that people are creating. Okay, Right. It's gonna explode on them.
Okay. Because the thing is deferring taxes right there. By deferring the taxes, like I said, kicking the can down the road.
So here's the thing. Let me use an analogy I use with clients. If you needed a mortgage and you went to your bank, right. And they know you. They know you're honest, you're credit worthy and everything. And you need 300,000 for a house, and the banker says, yes, we'll give you the 300,000.
Doug, what's the only question you need answer before you sign on the dotted line for that mortgage?
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Well, with the interest rate, what am I gonna have to pay?
[00:20:25] Speaker B: What's interest rate? What's the terms conditions?
Right.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: What's my monthly payment?
[00:20:30] Speaker B: And he's like, you know what, Doug, don't worry.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: About it.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: I will tell you what the interest rate is in 30 years.
Are you going to take that mortgage?
[00:20:39] Speaker A: No, thanks.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: Yeah, but Doug, that's exactly what people are doing with retirement accounts.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. They don't know.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Right. We're. We have $39 trillion in debt as a country.
There's only two ways to really reduce those. Well, now, now, three right now, tariffs. Right. Can drive down that.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: But before there were only two. And one is government stop spending.
I'm not going to count on that. Okay.
The other is to increase taxes.
Believe it or not, we are in the lowest tax environment since the 80s.
Taxes are actually on sale.
People don't know it because we've been in this environment for so long.
Right. Back in World War I believe is World War II, the highest marginal tax rate was 94%. That means those individuals were only keeping 6 cents out of every dollar. Out of every dollar.
So the thing is learning how to divorce the irs. Start paying the taxes today and transition it from taxable environment to tax free. Okay, so that's one. Right. The other is at a certain point, all These qualified accounts, IRAs, 401ks, 403bs, whatever, you are forced to take money out at a certain age.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: Right.
So again, how do we alleviate which can in retirement put you into Medicare where you actually pay more premiums because you have to take more income. Okay, that's Aunt Irma. Right. We have Uncle Sam. That's the taxes. Aunt Irma is a. Is an indexed increase on what you pay for Medicare, Part B and drug plan. Okay.
And then of course, we have all these taxes we pay. Right. We have income tax, we have sales tax, we have property tax. Well, guess what, there's a death tax even when you die.
We are taxed until the very day we graduate.
And then not only does it go there, but any monies you have in qualified accounts that go to beneficiaries, they're going to pay taxes on that at their income tax bracket at that time.
So it continues even after you're here if you'd leave money in a tax environment.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: We just love the government, don't we?
[00:23:14] Speaker B: We love it. Here's the thing, the government says you have to pay taxes. It's if.
Okay, now there's different thoughts on that. Okay, but what the government says is you can do everything as long as you take advantage of the tax code to avoid taxes.
And that's what those other professionals, the CPAs and accountants aren't doing. They don't know tax code.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: I Got you. I got you. So let's talk about your work with insurance strategy specifically. Right.
Designed to protect wealth. Right.
Where do those strategies fit specifically into this tax planning and income plan?
[00:24:00] Speaker B: So one of the strategies that I use, which, there's a lot of professionals that do this too, but there are a few specific products out there. Vehicles. I like to use vehicles where a person can transition from a taxable environment to a tax free.
Okay, so let me, let me ask you a question.
Do you want to pay taxes on your large retirement accounts or would you rather have somebody else pay those taxes, please?
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Somebody else.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:24:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Wow.
How's that even possible? Right.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Again, a lot of things that I do are too good to be true.
It's just because people have not learned these strategies because even their professionals don't even know these strategies. So I'm doing things that the ultra wealthy are doing.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: Okay.
So there are vehicles out here. And yes, they are annuity. So let's get that word out. Can we get, can we, can we talk about that word?
[00:25:04] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: We have a lot of negative words out here. Back in the 80s, it was the HMOs, health maintenance organizations. Those are the health insurance plans. You had to go to a doctor and network. You had to get a referral to a specialist.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:20] Speaker B: You had to get prior authorizations. Okay, well, we still have HMOs.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: And they were small networks. We still have those types of plans, but they're huge. And they're open access, meaning as long as those doctors are in, whether specialists or primary doctors, whatever, you can go to them, you don't need referrals. Right, but we still have that same negative connotation. Same thing with annuities. Okay. There's good annuities and bad annuities.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: I explained my parents were put in a variable annuity.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: High fees at risk.
Can't get to their money if they wanted to. Right. Okay. Those are bad annuities. They're safe annuities. So Safe Money Solutions being safe, my clients cannot lose one penny because they're in contracts that says that they cannot lose anything.
Their accounts can only grow.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: For viewers who want to get in touch with you, how would they go?
Where can you give them your email address, your website? How would they get in? What's the best way to get in contact with you?
[00:26:24] Speaker B: I mean, Google Safe Money Solutions, safemoney123.com.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Phone or email is info at safe. That's safe. Like safe, right?
[00:26:37] Speaker A: Yep, yep.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: Money12.3.com or contact us at 319-249-5556.
[00:26:45] Speaker A: Okay, so I'm going to give, I want to go one more time. Safe. Your website is Safe Money Solutions.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Safe money123.com.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: Okay. Safe money. One, two, three.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: And make it easy.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: Yeah, super. All right, so next we're building the income engine, how to create retirement paychecks that don't depend on perfect markets and how that connects to your legacy. That's up next.
Welcome back. I'm here with Michael Klannon, and we've talked perspective and taxes. Some of these things are truly unbelievable. Now I want to talk about the thing retirees actually feel every month. Income, not account value, not average returns. I mean, paychecks. So let's discuss that. This segment is about building predictable income, avoiding sequence of return landmines, and aligning income choices with the life the client actually wants while still preserving legacy. What's the biggest mistake people make when they assume a big nest egg automatically means they're going to have a real reliable retirement income? Michael?
[00:28:17] Speaker B: Yeah. So of course, these are the people that have done a very well job of accumulation. Right, Right.
And you know what the, what they've been told by financial people?
When I say financial, I mean investing their money in the market.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:38] Speaker B: Okay. Let me make it clear. I'm not saying that a person should not invest in the market.
Okay.
But, but here's, here's the thing. People, people, some of the plans that I do, a person cannot put all their money in it. Okay.
But yet somebody can take their full retirement account and go gamble it away.
Okay.
So what I, how I approach it is how much do you want to take off the table?
How much do you want to protect of your million dollars? And you know what?
They always say I want to protect it all.
But then I, but my response is, but you have it all at risk now. It's not their fault. Like I said before, they just don't know what they don't know.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Because if they've got it in the
[00:29:29] Speaker B: market, can a person in retirement afford for their 401k to go to a 201k overnight and have 10 years? I'm thinking back 2008 or. Yeah, 10 years to get it back. No, they don't have that luxury. Right, Right.
So I think that.
[00:29:50] Speaker A: So it's really at risk is what you're saying.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: It's at risk.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Right. They're not in control.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So walk me through the process. When you're building a lifetime income, what do you evaluate first, that means Social Security timing, pensions, spending, taxes, health care, legacy goals. What, what. How do you go about this?
[00:30:09] Speaker B: Well, my approach is holistic.
Okay. Again, I pick on financial advisors because I was one of those people. Right.
Here's what I tell my clients or prospective clients.
I don't have the license to lose your money like your financial advisor does.
I used to have that. I, I don't. Okay, so, sorry, what was the question? I did.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Well, the question was a lot of. Well, yeah, walk me through the process.
What, when, when you're building a lifetime income strategy. Right. What do you evaluate first?
[00:30:50] Speaker B: So going back to the holistic.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: I, I need to uncover and learn about their, their whole situation. So I'm not just focused on their investments.
[00:31:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: Focused on, you know, their taxes. Right. I'm looking at the whole picture. Right.
So I know where they've been.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:31:14] Speaker B: Where they're, where they are now and where do they want to go.
Right. So a lot of that does come into play. When do you take Social Security?
Right. Do you have a pension?
Is that pension in the last.
Right. Because pensions can dry up with Social Security.
Are you going to get a decrease in your income? Because if things don't change before 2023, there's going to be a decrease in what people are receiving. Right.
So all of those are important and even health. So again, if we don't have a risk uncovered. Right. It's not the potholes that you see when you're, that you can see when you're driving because you can move around those. It's the ones that you don't see that are going to cost the most. So my job is to uncover the risk, bring solutions.
But ultimately it's up to you if you want to fill in that hole or not.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: Because it's always going to come back. Whatever risk you don't have covered, it's always going to come back to your money.
You know, growing up, listening to grandparents and that we.
I always heard their insurance poor. You've probably heard that before, right? That means that they have a lot of insurance and a lot of money is going out for insurance.
[00:32:37] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: But I can tell you the other side of the coin is if you don't have insurance, you will be poor because you're going to go through that money quicker than what you thought.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:49] Speaker B: So creating, you know, where's the balance?
[00:32:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: Right. So, so my job is to, okay, here's your income. How much do you want in retirement and what's the gap? And that's where we can take annuities or other types of planning to fill in that gap.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: I got you. Okay. Okay. Something it sounds like most other financial planners are not.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: No.
And by taking money from one pocket and put it in another, we've just created our own private pension.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: That will not decrease and eliminated the risk as well.
Because here's the thing, when that account goes to zero, who's, who's on the hook for the risk?
The insurance company.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: Because they, their risk is that you're gonna live longer or between you and your spouse, one of you are going to live longer. So they have to keep paying out that money, that guaranteed paycheck for as long as one of your life. They're married.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, cool.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: And if there's money left over, it goes to the beneficiary still. So you're guaranteed to get all the money back plus the growth or somebody else's.
[00:34:02] Speaker A: Okay. Right.
So you're an authorized practitioner connected to infinite banking concept community.
For you know, someone hearing that for the first time, what's the practical role it can play in retirement plan and who is it not for?
[00:34:21] Speaker B: Yeah, so this, these are strategies that the Rockefellers, the Rothchilds, the Bor.
Good company politicians today, ultra wealthy people, even banks do this. Okay, so infinite banking, what that, what that is?
So R. Nelson Nash was a forester and he, he thought long term. So this is not a forest.
[00:34:56] Speaker A: I'm not familiar.
[00:34:57] Speaker B: Like a forester, like somebody who plants trees.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: Okay. Oh, gotcha.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: Right. Naturalist or whatever. Right. So he always thought long term. So these are long term strategies that can continue for generations where wealth can start small but continue to grow.
And these are using certain life insurance policies.
Okay, so tell me. Most, most middle class, when they have no kids, they have no debt. Da da da da da da. Right. They don't need life insurance. So the question is the number one owners of cash value life insurance are actually banks.
The second group are ultra wealthy. So why do ultra wealthy and banks put a lot of their money into the these types of policies?
What do they know that we don't know? Yeah, right.
Because life insurance for most people it's an, it's, it's an expense.
This is, becomes an investment. It's a, I'm sorry, not investment, an asset.
[00:36:02] Speaker A: Yeah, right. I can remember being young and buying whole life and every time I needed money, I would cancel the policy and I would grab the money.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Well you shouldn't have canceled. You should have taken a loan. Because a loan is not taxable well, but you know what I'm saying.
[00:36:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: So again, it's also educating how to use these vehicles to the best of your ability.
Right?
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Yep. So.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: But as an IBC practitioner, that just means that I follow the true way of unlocking the infinite banking concept.
[00:36:40] Speaker A: Well, in this fits in a little bit with what I've, what we talk about in this show, which is, you know, be unbelievable. These are some unbelievable tactics or strategies that most people aren't aware of.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Correct?
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's talk about protection without paralysis. How do you help someone balance? I never want to lose money with. I still need growth to fight inflation.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Yeah, well, there's an income play and there's a growth play and sometimes you can have both.
[00:37:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Okay. So, you know, again, you may still keep doing stuff with your financial advisor on the growth side. Okay. And I'm not saying that we don't grow money.
Right.
But some people may still want to have more upside potential.
But with that, just realize there's downside. Downside, risk. Right. There are no guarantees. Okay. So there, there's two ways. So growth, so we can do growth inside the vehicles, whether it's like I've said, the life insurance or annuities or other types of plans. Okay.
And then we can provide the whole thing going back to how do we transition from taxable to tax free.
Well, both of these allow us to do this. Okay. Like on the, on, on retirement accounts, letting somebody else pay the taxes instead of you pulling it out of your other assets.
Right.
Where now when you pull that money, that money is tax free. You're never going to be taxed on that. You've already paid the taxes. Utilizing life insurance is tax free. You have access to a tax free.
It grows tax free and ultimately it passes on tax free.
Right.
So it's just different concepts.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: So I'm going to break with some of the questions. Who is the person that is the, I'd call it the ideal person that you, that should be speaking to you? That's what I'm, you know, is it somebody young, is it somebody older?
Who, who ideally is the person that needs this? Maybe everybody needs it, but yeah, everybody
[00:39:01] Speaker B: needs it, but I don't need everybody.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Yeah. So who.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: Right. I want the right. I have, I have my, you know, my ideal client.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:10] Speaker B: My ideal client has monies in retirement accounts and they need guidance.
Right. How to protect that money, how to make it, how to leverage that money, how to grow it, how to create income, guaranteed lifetime income.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:31] Speaker B: Okay. So that, that's more on the, the life or the annuity side. On the, on the life side. Again, these are the same, same clients. Right.
Because we can use, for example, those annuities, for example. They don't need income. We can still take it.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: But leverage that money to make larger piles of money.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: I got you.
[00:39:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:55] Speaker B: And again, a lot of these strategies have multiple things that are tied to it. Meaning like life insurance, for example.
Typically, life insurance is for somebody else.
The things that I do, everything that I do has living benefits. Mean you can access these policies while you're alive.
Like if your health changes.
[00:40:16] Speaker A: I gotcha.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Versus having to pull it out of your other assets. We are able to dip into, you know, life insurance, the death benefit to use while you're alive. Okay, Good stuff.
You know, the thing is, the younger you are, the more time you have, too.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: Right. I mean, my kids are in a better place because of what I know. If I knew what I. If I knew at my kids's age
[00:40:41] Speaker A: what I know now, you'd be in a much better.
[00:40:44] Speaker B: We might not be talking because I'd be on the beach, you know, in my vacation homes or whatever. Right. Traveling the world. Yeah, Right.
But it has to start somewhere. And it started with me. Actually. It started with my parents because I was able to go back one generation. Yeah, right. My family will benefit and future families.
[00:41:03] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: Right. But a lot of times it's with that family things start.
Nothing happens without a step. Taking a step.
[00:41:11] Speaker A: Great. All right. So in our final segment, I'm going to hit the pressure points. The promises that sound great, but break later. The questions every family must ask and the one that shift viewers, that viewers can shift can make this week to rise above financial uncertainty.
Welcome back. To be unbelievable. If you're getting value from this conversation, keep NOW Media TV close streaming live and on demand.
Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS for instant access and visit NowMedia TV for podcasts and more shows that help you see things differently and think bigger. I'm back with Michael Klannon. We've covered perspective, taxes and income. Now it's time to talk legacy. Not just what you leave behind, but how stable and protected your plan really is when life happens. So let's go there with some questions, starting with, I want to push for clarity, misleading assumptions, particularly overlooked planning gaps, and the disciplinary moves that make a plan resilient.
This will land as empowering, not fear, based on how. How do we go about doing that? Okay, that sounds like something you're an expert on.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: Yeah. So fear. I mean, I asked my clients what keeps you up at night?
[00:43:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:05] Speaker B: You know, of course they have their, their, their normal things.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: But when it comes to retirement, what keeps you up at night?
Right. And I've heard a lot of different things.
It could be anything from, you know, their health, if something happens to them. Yeah, right.
Do they have the planning? Do they. They have those legal documents in place.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: And I do those things with clients.
Do you know, they're 1. 1. How do I sweat? They're one thing away for their life to be changing on a die.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Right.
Whether it's a nursing home. Right.
And things like that.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: So
[00:43:57] Speaker B: I forgot the question again. Sorry.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: Well, there wasn't a question. It was my fault.
[00:44:01] Speaker B: The fear. The fear, yeah.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: Yeah. What's the quiet danger that you see most often? The. The things they don't know that they're exposed to.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: So I think a lot of times they may or may not have fear when they come in. Yeah, right.
[00:44:16] Speaker A: But you stirred up. Right? No, I'm just kidding.
[00:44:19] Speaker B: But things that I uncover are going to make them uncomfortable.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:44:24] Speaker B: That may put a little fear of their current situation that they didn't even think about or know.
[00:44:32] Speaker A: Yeah. They were just simply unaware because it's not something they've thought about.
Right, right. Which pretty critical that they do think about it because those things invariably can and do happen.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: They do.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: So that's, that's what life is.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So what, how do you do that?
What. What do you find? Are those.
Guess as a term, quiet danger. What are some of those?
[00:44:59] Speaker B: Well, the quiet danger. Right. Is things. Some things we're in control of, some are so of course, health.
Right.
Some things people can do to better their health.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: But in other situations there is no improvement.
Right.
Putting them in a more.
I wanna, when I. My whole philosophy is keeping can I put this person or this family in a better position than how I found them?
Because if I can't, I'm going to let them know now. That doesn't happen very often.
Okay.
But you know, the taxes, I mean, the taxes are the number that. The number one concern in retirement are taxes, but then the one ultimately is running out of money.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Right.
So those are the, those are the fears, the unknowns, the uncontrolled.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: Yeah. And then if I can, what should every household ask?
Right. Their advisor that would immediately reveal whether that plan is strategy based or sales based, which had, if I'm learning from you correctly, from our discussion, that's what the sales based was what your parents got into. Right. With you? Yeah.
[00:46:22] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:46:22] Speaker A: So how. What's the question?
[00:46:25] Speaker B: So the question. So how. How I'd respond to that is the things that your advisor is talking to you about, are they a consumer of that themselves?
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Are they? Yeah.
[00:46:41] Speaker B: Have they bought and do they believe wholeheartedly in the. Those products and services?
[00:46:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:47] Speaker B: Right. So I'm a consumer.
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: Or my parents are a consumer first, before it even gets to a client. Because I need to know how something works, how it benefits my family before I take it to a client. Right.
I mean, I bring out my annuity policies, I bring out my life insurance, because they can see I'm all in.
[00:47:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:09] Speaker B: Right. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend something.
And the thing is, if. If an advisor, if they're meeting with the advisor for the first time and that advisor is recommending something.
Right. Then without even knowing. So it's like going to the doctor.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: We gotta take your pancreas out. Right?
[00:47:27] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. Is. Is the doctor going to prescribe you something? Even if you tell them that your friend has the same symptoms and taking this medication, is that doctor gonna prescribe them that medicine? No.
They are going to run tests, they're going to diagnose, come up with a treatment plan.
Right.
Why? Because that doctor is at risk for malpractice.
It's no different in my world.
How can I recommend something if I don't know your situation? That is malpractice.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: Right.
[00:48:02] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: So I never.
There is nothing to be bought or purchased on our initial. Initial conversation. I'm a certified financial fiduciary. That means that I put my clients first.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
So you've said. Many con clients come to you carrying 100% of the risk, right?
Maybe all of them. What are the most practical ways you can help shift that risk off their shoulders?
[00:48:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:48:33] Speaker A: So
[00:48:36] Speaker B: one is protect what they want to protect other assets.
Okay.
[00:48:41] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:48:42] Speaker B: So take the chips off the table. Right.
The risk of running out of money. Okay, well, my clients can never run out of cash flow in the vehicles that I use.
Okay.
[00:48:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:48:58] Speaker B: Again, using strategies to divorce the irs or taking the taxes out of the equation for the long term.
[00:49:06] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:49:07] Speaker B: Right. Pay taxes on the $1 and not on the hundred dollars that generates over 30 years.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: That sounds unbelievable.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: It is. Right. But would a farmer want to pay taxes on the bag of seed or the entire harvest?
What's your answer? Bag of seed or the entire harvest?
[00:49:26] Speaker A: Well, I bag a seed bag of
[00:49:28] Speaker B: seed, and that's what everybody says. But yet they're not doing that.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: They're paying on the harvest.
[00:49:32] Speaker B: They're paying on the harvest.
[00:49:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:34] Speaker B: Right.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:35] Speaker B: And unfortunately, that harvest could be moldy, but they still got to pay the taxes.
[00:49:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
So that's what you help.
[00:49:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, that's exactly.
[00:49:46] Speaker A: So here's a question, because I'm a business owner for business owners, specifically, how do you connect retirement planning with business continuity and succession so the exit doesn't become a mess?
[00:50:01] Speaker B: So this is.
This is a specialty of mine. And what I mean by that is I am able to offer a business and estate planning, estate plan that. That includes a special copyrighted and proprietary trust structure. Okay.
So one with business owners, this can alleviate 80 to 95% of what they're paying in taxes.
[00:50:36] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:50:37] Speaker B: Year over year.
Okay.
[00:50:39] Speaker A: Is this. It's something that's a good thing to start at any time, or it's, you
[00:50:45] Speaker B: know, you need to be paying so much in tax.
[00:50:47] Speaker A: Okay. Or.
[00:50:49] Speaker B: So there's a tax side, but then there's the asset side. So have you heard the phrase, and this was coined by John D. Rockefeller, own nothing, control everything?
[00:50:58] Speaker A: I have, yes.
[00:50:59] Speaker B: Okay. So everybody's heard it, but really nobody understands thinking. Okay.
What. What he's saying is people think. Think they have to own things personally in their Social Security number.
Here's the thing. When you own anything tied to your Social Security number, including a business, that the EIN number is tied to your social because you use your Social Security number to apply for that EIN number.
Can. Can somebody sue people individually? Of course.
Can people sue a business? Of course.
So I put it. Put them in a situation where if they are sued, they own nothing personally.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: I got you.
But control, we need to talk. Okay.
[00:51:52] Speaker B: But the thing is, it creates the protection that their business cannot be taken away.
[00:52:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:02] Speaker B: Okay. It creates. So their assets can't be taken away because, number one, they don't own the assets anymore, but yet they control it. So there's the tax side. And when a business owner goes to sell that business, if it's owned by this specific trust, there's no capital gains.
And say with individuals that hold properties, rental properties or whatever, there's no capital gain when they go to sell that business or those properties. But also rental income that's not considered income under irs.
[00:52:34] Speaker A: I'm going to assume there's. From what you've just talked about, because there's a lot of boomers that are.
They should know this.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: Definitely.
[00:52:43] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely.
[00:52:44] Speaker B: Is that right?
[00:52:45] Speaker A: For if you're a boomer and you're going to sell your business. This is definitely. Yeah, prison talks. So if I want to be the giraffe with my money, what's the one weekly habit you want me to adopt starting today?
[00:53:00] Speaker B: Wow. That's a loaded question.
I think the biggest thing is you. You need to know where you are at all times.
Right.
Where. Where's your risk? Uncover those, stay on top of those.
Right.
[00:53:21] Speaker A: And you're saying a lot of people don't know where their risks are, which is one reason to talk to you.
[00:53:27] Speaker B: There's all those hidden risks that people haven't even thought of.
[00:53:29] Speaker A: Right.
[00:53:30] Speaker B: Right. So I want to uncover the risk, but then put the planning in. So when the what is happen, we already know how it's going to play out because we've already done that planning.
We're proactive, not reactive. Reactive always costs more than being proactive.
[00:53:48] Speaker A: Yeah, always.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: Right?
[00:53:49] Speaker A: Always.
[00:53:51] Speaker B: So I think the thing is where do you want your money to go?
[00:53:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:53:58] Speaker B: And how do you want it to get to transfer that and use it and then. And eventually transfer that for future generations that legacy play.
[00:54:07] Speaker A: Awesome. So Michael, I want to repeat where can people connect with you and Safe Money solutions and what's the best first step if they want to attack Smart Income Focus review. How do they get in touch with you?
[00:54:22] Speaker B: The easiest way. We have multiple ways, of course.
Safe money123.com they can go on there. They can schedule an appointment consultation. There's no charge for that.
They can email us at
[email protected] they can contact us at 319-249-5556 or just Google and find me on Facebook.
You know all those places.
[00:54:51] Speaker A: Michael, thank you. It's been awesome. Unbelievable.
Thank you for bringing clarity to a topic that's usually filled with an exceptional amount of noise. Today I'm walking away with a higher level view.
And on retirement, it isn't a guessing game. It's a strategy. And taxes are part of the risk. So income has to be engineered. And legacy is built by decisions we make while we're still strong enough to choose. To everyone watching, don't wait for uncertainty to force a decision.
Choose your discipline. Ask better questions.
Build a plan that can take a hit and still stand. And this is the man to talk to, Michael Clanan. I'm Doug Wick and this is Be Unbelievable. Change begins with your thoughts and new thoughts. See things differently. Think bigger. Rise above. I hope this episode has helped you begin to think differently.
Thanks for watching Be unbelievable. Join me next time as we continue the conversation every business owner needs but rarely hears.
Sam.
