Business Innovators Radio - Interview w/Cameron Bryant Founder of Found Revenue Solutions & Retirement Specialist at Federal Employee Advocates-Never Running Out of M

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Cameron has over 33 years of experience in working with Business Owners, Seniors, Federal employees, and Franchisees in the planning and development of Tax-Favored Retirement plans, Living Trusts, Buy/Sell Agreements, Executive Bonus Plans Marketing, and Wellness Benefit programs. I was able to work exclusively with the Franchisee of 7-11, Mobil, Shell, Hallmark, and Yamaha to create personal as well as business Retirement Plans. Working now exclusively with Federal Employees and retirees in helping them understand their benefits and helping them to retire with a sound and stable plan.Learn More:https://federalemployeeadvocates.com/Cameron/https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-bryant-48b51014/Please be advised that any information provided in this correspondence shall not be construed by any person as legal, tax, investment, or accounting advice. This message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential, legal, and/or privileged information.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-w-cameron-bryant-founder-of-found-revenue-solutions-retirement-specialist-at-federal-employee-advocates-never-running-out-of-money-in-retirement

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with us Cameron Bryant, who's the founder of Found Revenue Solutions and a retirement specialist at Federal Employee Advocates. Today we're going to be talking about the fear of running out of money in retirement. Cameron, welcome back to the program. Hey, thanks, Mike.

Great to be back. Hey, you know, I think that if you hear the statistic of people like, what are your biggest fears? And, you know, I think that I think this has been quantified. Speaking at public is actually a bigger fear than death for some people. So I think that if you were going to ask a pre-retiree, what is your biggest fear? I think running out of money in retirement would be a big. big fear. Is that something that you have found working in the industry for so long? Yes, I do. In fact, I don't even, it's not usually me bringing it up in our initial conversation as much as it is the person I'm speaking to will bring it up and give me real life examples of either a friend. I had one recently with a mother. He was concerned about his mother running out of money. She's in her early 90s, you know, running maybe run out of money.

So, no, it's a big concern a lot of people do bring up. Yeah. And I think that it's a fear because it's an unknown. And I think if you can clearly calculate, okay, here's what you should need in retirement. Here's what you should have, you know, given the main factors and that you can never plan for inflation or taxes and all of those things. But if you could put it on paper and go, okay, we're dialed in, maybe that fear starts, you know, dissipating. but what are some of the ways that when you bring the people that bring that up to you, what are some of the ways that you then are helping them understand the fear to lessen it

and then to put some strategies in place to help them out to make sure, hey, look, you know, this is the path forward. Well, we take a look at each situation differently, but we have some proprietary software, things that we take a look at to find out how much income are they going to need in retirement? What is that income gap? And everybody will have that income gap of this is what they were making while they were working, what is going to be projected for them to make at retirement,

taking into account either a pension, social security, their 401K, things like that. So we have to take a look at all that and factor all that in to make sure that they are going have enough money during retirement. But it is, it is, it's the number one concern for most people, as we mentioned in the beginning there, that they need to make sure that they have enough money. There's, there's programs out there. Well, there's only one program that will give you a guaranteed lifetime income, the fixed index annuity, and different products like that, but the fixed income annuity is the one that is number one to guarantee that they will have that income.

And we use that to shore up that income gap. They might have an income gap of $1,500 a month. Can we reposition those assets over to get to that number of $1,500? And also taking into account like we talked about before inflation, you know, that has to factor in there as well. You know, I'm confident that you don't just, you know, have your head down on a piece of paper and ask client's questions and fill in the blank and move on, meaning, hey, how much do you think you'll need retirement? Oh, okay, that amount, write it down. Oh, and how much do you think you're going to have? Write it down.

Because that gap, I would suspect, is a fluid number. And you really probably need to drill down with people to help them really articulate it. And where I'm thinking of that might be, you know, oh, I need this much of retirement because we're going to be retired. We're not going to be spending money like we did. But in reality, you've got more time on your hands to spend money. Maybe you're going to pick up that new hobby and spend more money on that hobby, whereas in your work life, you didn't have the time and you weren't doing that. Or maybe now you have all the time in the world because you're retired and you're going to travel the world. So what are you finding when you're working with clients on coming up with that gap and really dialing,

it in, what do you see in some of those unrealistic calculations being? Well, what I see is that you're right. It's different for every person. And that's why, you know, and that is identifying the unnecessary risk and developing a plan to help remove that from your financial future, right? So by diversifying the investment portfolio with the proper asset classes, you're intelligently reducing risk and potentially increasing your. returns. So that's what we use in our software program to find out particularly for them.

And we take a look at, okay, what is your retirement? I call it, what is your retirement income number, right? It's different for everybody. Then based on that, we can make recommendations. Part of that is social security timing. When is the best time to take that, especially for a married couple, and then adjusting your portfolio along the way, and then get the best number that's going to be there for them along the way. But also, as we're going through on your income plan, we take a look at it throughout the years. Does that retirement income, does that increase,

or does it have the chance to increase? That's what we're really trying to provide here is we need a way to make sure that that can increase because we talked about it before. Inflation is going to be there. It's always there. It's always around the corner. So we want to make sure that that income plan And, you know, I tell people, what is the sequence of withdrawals?

We talk so much about the sequence of returns, right, when we're trying to accumulate our money. But what is the sequence of withdrawals? How are we retiring that money in retirement? And where are we withdrawing that money from? And making sure that you're withdrawing it from the right place and the right time, because it reminds me of a conversation I had with someone recently where they were talking about. when you hit a certain age, you're mandated by government to withdraw money. And you might go, no, I'm good this year. I don't need to withdraw money out of my whatever account, but you're required to.

And if you don't, here comes a big penalty. And then that hits your retirement account, which then impacts running out of money of retirement, right? Correct. Yep. And the government keeps bumping that up. But yeah, that's a big factor, too. You know, I think it was at 70.5 and they went to 72.

now currently it's at 73 where you are required to take out a required minimum distribution. Yeah. So there's just things that people need to know about and it's not something that's common knowledge. So you need to work with someone that can work with you. That's a big, big piece. But you mentioned briefly, too, about long-term care or longevity. And that's another hole in the bucket, so to speak. Because if someone finds out one day, oh, I need to access long-term.

care. That's a pretty expensive proposition that if you're not prepared for comes right out of that retirement bucket, right? It really does. And as you know, I mean, the statistics are showing that well over 70% of us are going to have some type of a long-term care situation once we're over 60. So that's a pretty high number. So yeah, you do want to safeguard your retirement money. In other words, you want to transfer that risk from you over to another company and their financial institution to pick that up. So there's different ways to go about that. And so when you're talking longevity and long-term care, for example, on some of the guaranteed

retirement income programs, they'll have a multiplier benefit built into it. What that means is let's say you're getting $2,000 a month on your. guaranteed income plan, but you do have a long-term care situation, either at your own home, right? So home health care or a long-term care facility, the multiplier doubles that income. So now you're going to go from $2,000 per month to $4,000 per month because you had a long-term care situation. So that money goes directly to you. So if you have a family member or somebody that's helping to take care of you and you want to, you know, pay for their time, you know, maybe you need someone four hours a day or five hours a day, you have that extra money to do so.

Or for the people that want, hey, I want a straight long-term care type program, there are long-term care annuities out there. For example, you roll in $100,000 into it, and now your long-term care benefit is three times that amount. So $300,000 is now your long-term care benefit. I mean, so they've gotten very creative and great, great ways. to use money for long-term care situations because that's going to be one of the biggest, biggest situations going forward.

It seems to me like in years past, I remember hearing people go, you know, annuities used to have such a black eye because, but in decades past, the annuity providers out there have just made them so much better, so much better. But it sounds to me like the long-term care industry has done the same thing because didn't used to be like long-term care policies were expensive, and if you didn't use it, then the money is just gone, whereas now what you're describing is it's kind of like a double benefit in some of these properly structured annuities. Oh, very much so. Yeah, your money's in there growing, but it has a long-term care benefit. So the benefit is either you're going to use it for long-term

care needs or if you want to do some withdrawals, although I wouldn't recommend it, you have access to the funds. And then if you pass away, when you do pass away, whatever's left in that account, if you never used it for long-term care, for example, even if you did, whatever's left in that account is going to pass on to the beneficiary that you've designated. So the money is going to stay in the family, no matter what. It's going to be used for your long-term care or it's going to pass on to the next generation. That's pretty strong. And I would venture to say that once, kind of like what we were saying in a previous conversation like, boy, that peace of mind, right, that sleep insurance, so to speak.

But when when people can realize that that fear of running out of money is starting to get lesser and lesser because of these things you're putting into place, that has a huge emotional benefit. And I would even say that the impact on their family is huge because who deals with the long-term care aspect of a parent? It's the kids. and the kids are in their 50s, let's say, and they're having to deal with these decisions, and mom and dad are running out of money because they didn't plan for it.

So talk a little bit about some of those emotional benefits and the impact on the family, how putting some of these financial strategies in place really is a holistic approach. No, it really is. The emotional part of it in doing this for close to 33 years now, I've seen the emotional toll it takes on the family. on the son, on the daughter. Sometimes you only have that one son or one daughter that's doing everything, trying to be Superman. And sometimes, you know, you're fortunate enough to see, hey, all the kids are involved, you know, that the two sons and the daughter are all helping out.

But I'll tell you what, it's an emotional toll. A lot of the times it's financial. The family's coming out of pocket with their own money to help mom and dad. And thank God the mom and dad. you know, they have a family that cares about them. But the emotional part of it and financial part of it is so huge. And it just takes a little bit of planning up front to mitigate that risk. So you don't have that stress on yourself, you know, the family.

And mom and dad, I'd see it too. Mom and dad, you know, they're sitting there going through their long-term care situation. But they're not, you know, they're not dumb. They see what's going on in the background. They see what's happening with their family. And it can tell everybody is stressed and concerned and worried. And it's just it's not a good situation. So just plan ahead, doing a little bit of planning to transfer that risk to someone else.

It's just a huge, huge relief for everybody involved. Well, I would even say that it's a relief, but it's also a gift that the parents are giving to their legacy, their family. Because when they put these plans in place to make sure they don't run out of money in retirement, that's for their own benefit, of course. But then when you prevent those emotional stressors and the impact on the family, like what you're describing, it's almost like a huge, like as an example, from a personal example, before my parents passed away, they sat me down and said, listen, we planned for our death. We've got our plot. We've got our headstone. We've got this and that.

And it was in a small way, it was like, they thought ahead. and they told me and I didn't need to worry about it. And so that was really a powerful gift. And so I think that even transcends past just good fiscal financial planning, which you need to do. But it then gets into maybe even a family meeting that you're able to say to your family, look, we've put some plans together and we're going to be taken care of. And I think that's a huge gift that they're given to their family. Oh, that's, that's, you're 100% spot on there.

It is a gift. You know, that's, that's one of the, you know, one of the final gifts that you're giving to your family right there. Because, yeah, I mean, you think about it. You know, you get these people maybe in their 50s or 60s trying to take care of mom and dad. They're working full time. They have kids. I mean, it's a juggling act and nobody is good at it. So, yeah, it's a huge gift to provide that for your family that you're thinking about them.

And that's important. And just to kind of wrap up the thought about the fear of running out of money of retirement, I'm sure that we could go to any of the people we see on TV and pose that question and they'll go, oh, well, we've got this fund and this and this and this. But if your money is in the market, air quotes, there is no guarantee. And that market volatility and risk and all of that, no matter what people can say, oh, it's low risk and all that, there still is that fear there. But that's why you specialize in putting together that safe, protected.

bucket and go, look, the reason we can mitigate or lessen that fear of running out of money is because this money is guaranteed. It's protected. I think that's a huge piece that when people can check that off in their mind, that really gives them so much. So talk a little bit here as we wrap up the aspect of guaranteed and protected and how that relates to never running out of money in retirement. it. Well, yeah, having a protected an account,

affected that account where you have that guaranteed income stream coming in, it doesn't run out, right? It doesn't run out of money. And I'm going to defer to some third parties. This isn't from me. This first one, this is from U.S. News. You buy an annuity because it does what no other investment can do, provide guarantee lifetime income for the rest of your life, no matter how long you live. U.S. News.

This is from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Annuities by pulling longevity risk and generating mortality credits allow a higher level of income and insurance against premature exhaustion of assets than other drawn-down strategies. So those are some of the, there's one more I want to, I had here. on oh this is the same same center for retirement research Boston called lifetime income products are a cornerstone of retirement planning the Center for Retirement Research so um lots of third parties out there earnest and young had one um I remember they said permanent life insurance and deferred income annuities with increasing income potential outperform investment only approaches in our analysis that's earnest and young so all these people that have nothing to do with the annuity or life insurance, but understanding what they can do for people and how they work. So, yeah, it's just important to have, as part of your portfolio, it's important to have in there, right, to have a balance, as I always say, balance. This is, this is your guaranteed protected money that you're going to lean on and use for retirement.

If you still want to have, quote, play money or market money, money in the market, you know, you're 15, 20, 25%. That's fine. You know, just have a balance. Yep. I love it. Well, Cameron, it's been a real pleasure chatting with you here about this. This is such a relevant topics for so many people. What's the best way that someone can learn a little bit more and then also reach out and connect with you?

So they can reach me directly at the 9494.9.4.1. one, two, three, five, three, four. They can also reach me via LinkedIn. If you go to LinkedIn, it has my different web page. I have an actual web page, which is Federal Employee Advocates, forward slash Cameron. So Federal Employee Advocates forward slash Cameron. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure hearing your perspectives on how you serve your clients.

Thanks, Mike. I appreciate your time. It's been a great talking with you. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.