Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Bill McDowell, President of The McDowell Agency Discussing Guaranteed Income

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Bill has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years. His goal has been and remains to help his clients achieve their retirement goals, and protect and grow their assets. Whether it is to leave a TAX FREE legacy TO THEIR LOVED ONE’S or to provide an income for life FOR THEMSELF AND THEIR SPOUSE. They take pride in helping achieve your specific outcome.He is licensed in approximately 20 states and has protected over 250 Million Dollars in Assets. Unlike the bigger agencies, they can provide a more personal level of attention and care. He looks forward to seeing you.Learn More: https://www.mcdowell-agency.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-bill-mcdowell-president-of-the-mcdowell-agency-discussing-guaranteed-income

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 with us Bill McDowell, who's the president of the McDowell agency and we'll be talking about guaranteed income. Bill, welcome to the program. Great. How you doing, Mike? Hey, you're doing really good. I love talking about topics where there's powerful words like income.

People want to hear about income and then even more powerful. Tell me about guaranteed income. People love guarantees. So I'm excited to learn your perspectives on this. But before we dive in, give us a little bit of your story and background. And how did you get into the financial services industry? I've been in the financial industry for a while. I started off in the mortgage industry back in 2000. And if you were still, if you were around back then, I mean, you probably remember the 2008 crash like everybody else did. And that pretty much, I was in the business from 2000 to 2008. 2008 basically forced me out of the mortgage industry.

And my parents have always been in the, into fix-staffirms. index annuities, those type of things. So that's the direction I went into. I followed the end of their footsteps. Yeah. And back in those days of all of that economic crisis and all of that mess, I live through it as well. So I remember it vividly because it was a painful time people in that industry like you and I were. And so you probably were like, you know, let me kind of get a reset. And then when you were talking with your parents, now they're telling you about something that kind of made them feel comfortable and peaceful and confident. And so that's really neat that you dove into that.

Let's just kind of first define what is guaranteed income. Guaranteed income is a tool that we use for when you're retiring, you know, you've got to replace some income. I mean, they used to use pensions as that basic as far as replacing your income, but pensions have been outdated, okay? Yeah. They've gone away, basically, in the past, I'd say 10 to 20 years now. You do find one every once in a while, you know, a person's got a pension, but they,

401Ks have basically taken over pensions. So, and 401Ks can be used in many different ways. And one of the ways we use them is guaranteed income, okay? You set these up, and is what that does, it basically gives you a guaranteed income for the life of you and your spouse. Okay. So, you know, if one of you passes away, the income goes to the to the other. Okay. So that's a tool that we, that is very, very popular and it takes to the place of pensions, basically. So, so as an example, if you've had a chunk of money and you put it into some other kind of financial product, you don't necessarily get, you know, cash flow or income. It'll grow and you might get dividends, but then you have to initiate, give me X amount of dollars. this month or this quarter or this year.

Whereas in this kind of a product, when you put it in, it's kind of like a contract to go. When I give you this, you are going to give me this per month. Correct. Correct. Of course, the more money you put in, the more income you'll get. And, you know, there's different variables that go into it. And that's what you've got someone like me to advise you on. You know, someone comes to me and they say, look, Bill, you know, I've got this amount of money and I need to

have access to it in such and such years and I need it for me and my life. So, you know, that's that's where I come into play. Okay. So, you know, I do a lot of back in work for you. And, and, you know, interestingly enough, when you say, oh, I need this much money per month, there might have been a whole lot of back end work to come up with that much money because it's almost like, okay, in retirement, what do you plan on doing? How much do you need? And oh, you're going to travel. you're going to need this. So we have a dollar figure that you're going to need in retirement, but it looks like you're only going to have this much of a monthly income based on whatever. So security or your other investments. So here's a gap. So then when you say, I'm going to need this much money,

then these are the kind of products that you would use to close that gap. Correct. You know, everybody's got it. Everybody's situation's different. Okay. So, you know, you know, people come to me all time and say, well, my neighbor told me this. My, my, you know, ex or best friend told me this. You can't really listen to those people because everybody's situation is different. Like, I mean, you know, one person needs such and such income because, you know, they live a different lifestyle. And, you know, your best friend does.

So everybody's situation is different. And, you know, and not everybody's financial goals are the same. So, and like you said, you know, when you retire, you're taking away, you know, you're, you're a paycheck and social security is not going to be there to basically you're not going to be able to live off social security for the rest of your life. It just, you know, it's not going to be enough. Yep. Yeah, you know, that's a really good point. And again, there is never ever one solution, one cookie cutter template that works for everybody because then you just be a robot. You'd be an AI bot going, And okay, next.

So you've got to look at everyone's needs differently. And, you know, there might be people that go, oh, I'm going to only travel twice a year. Well, that could turn into twice a quarter because now you have a lot more time on your hands because you're not working at all or as much. So I think that part of your job almost becomes like a life coach to go, ooh, now let's really articulate this out and figure out, you know, being able to have more time on your hands. Don't you think you're going to whatever. Oh, you're going to take up this hobby. You always wanted to learn how to fly. Well, that's going to take some money.

So I think that's really powerful to make sure that your clients are making the right decisions based on their circumstances. Correct. Correct. You know, like you said, you know, everybody wants to take a vacation. You say one person might want to travel twice a year that might turn into, you know, depending on what happens. And there are things that come up. I mean, we have emergencies that come up. and nobody has a crystal ball.

I mean, they can tell you they do, but they don't. So, you know, things come up in everybody's life and you've got to adjust. But my job is to make sure that, you know, they got a guaranteed income that's going to stay there for them and their spouse's rest of their life. Because, I mean, the last thing people want to do is to retire. And all of a sudden, you know, 10 or 15 years into their retirement, they say, oh, we're going to run out. money before we, you know, pass on, they don't want to go back to work. I mean, I mean, nobody wants to go back to work once they retire. And that's what I tell folks, I say, look, I said, you know, you need to have this money. It needs to last you until, you know, your days on this earth are gone.

Well, that's a really good point, too, because, you know, you read the headlines. And I know that I've talked to other financial professionals that have said back in the whatever, 60s or 70s, you know, they would do the tables to calculate your retirement income to whatever the age is. Well, nowadays, we're taking better care of herself, health care is better, eating better, exercising better, and maybe your age now you have to calculate for is 10 or 15 years longer than it used to be. So, you know, that whole longevity is a good thing because you're living longer, but then it's something to be taking into consideration to make sure you've got enough money to

last to that age. Correct. I mean, they're making 100 year old birthday cards for a reason. Right. If they're selling them, then there's people living to 100. And I mean, I've got quite a few clients of mine that are actually over 100. You know, I mean, I had just, just off the top of my head, I had two sisters. They were twins and they lived together for the past 40 years and they were 104. Wow.

You know, one of them passed away. I believe it was in, you know, early spring. and then like a couple months later to the other one it passed away. You know, it was kind of like the love bird type thing. Yeah. But they lived together for the past 40 years of their life and they were 104. Yeah. So you better make sure you've got that money dialed in.

You know, you mentioned fixed index annuities. And I don't want to get into the weeds of how all of that works, but I want to focus in on the word fixed. Because when we hear the word guaranteed and income, I also like to hear fixed. because people don't like to open up their mail and see their portfolio, like taking a big hit because the stock market plunged. So talk a little bit about kind of that fixed aspect. And then what are some other sources of guaranteed income that you advise your clients to consider? Well, there's a couple different kinds of annuities.

You got fixed annuities, fixed index annuities, and you have variable annuities. Everybody in the world knows what difference between variable and fixed is. Okay. Variable is not what I specialize in. I don't want to put anybody's money at risk and have them in a product that is variable when they're retiring. I mean, you don't want to, you know, like you said, you don't want to open your statement one day and see that the stock market took a dive and your money is gone down 20%. Okay. So with the fixed and fixed index annuities with the guaranteed income on them, now the good thing about the guaranteed income, on them is that even if the just say you've got you know just just for ball just for round numbers just say you've got 500,000 that is set up on an income for you okay and just say you live to a hundred years old okay and you started taking that income at age c5 more than likely that account's going to be zeroed out it's going to be there's not going to be anything left in that account okay yeah good thing about the guaranteed income is that as long as you or your spouse are

living, that product is going to keep paying an income to you or your spouse. Now, when you both pass away, that ends. Okay. But as long as one of you are still alive, and it doesn't matter if that account has any money in it or not, it's still going to pay out. Yeah. Because isn't it because that annuity is a contract? It's like an insurance contract. Correct. It's a contract. And of course, you know, I mean, if something happens prematurely and you pass away before the money's gone out of that contract, the money doesn't go to, you know, go to the insurance company. The money goes on to your beneficiaries. So, you know, it's not you're going to use the money is going to get used one way or the other. You're either going to use it for income or you're going to

pass it on to your beneficiaries. And most people, they want to have a guaranteed income. And if you don't have one of these guaranteed income products in place and you just, you're not going to have that guarantee coming in. So, you know, you're going to be kind of, if you try to do it yourself, you're going to kind of be guessing, you know, on what the market's doing, that kind of, you know, it's something that if you're not, if you're not educated and prepared to do, it's not going to work in your favor. And, and again, another key, key word you just said, prepared. And, you know, volatility, we know what that is. If you don't have, you know, if you have your money in the market and the market goes up down or all around, then that

volatility is taking a chunk out of your retirement portfolio. And you can weather that storm if you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s. But when you start getting into the later years when you need that money for retirement in a very short time or you're in retirement, you can't take, in my opinion, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, you can't take any volatility at all. You just need to have it in safe, secure, guaranteed, like what you're talking about. Correct, correct. And here's what I find with most people that I work with. Most people, everybody I work with are retired or getting ready to retire. Okay. Everybody wants to make money. You know, of course, everybody wants to make money on their investments. But when it boils down to it, you know, when I'm talking to my folks or clients or, you know, people that are, you know, that are, you know, wanting to get educated, it comes down to it, they really, they really, tell me that their most important thing is to make sure that they don't lose anything of what they've worked so hard for their whole life to save.

Yeah. Okay. You know, of course, they want to make some money, but when it boils down to it, you know, that we get through all the, you know, get through everything. The bottom line is they would just want to make sure they don't lose anything that they, that they work so hard for. So. You know, that you gave that observation from personal experience.

with the clients, but I'll tell you, I've heard research that has said the same exact thing, that people are motivated way more not to lose $100 versus the prospect of winning or getting $100. So that's all fine and good. I might be able to earn $100, but don't you dare take my $100. So I think you're right on the money there. You know, when you think about guaranteed income and planning for retirement, what percentage of your client's portfolio are you recommending them? into a guaranteed income type vehicles?

Well, I mean, everybody's got a different perspective, but I mean, most 60 to 70 percent is what I suggest that most people put into some type of a, what you know, something that they can't lose any money yet. Yeah. Okay. You know, I mean, you can't, you don't want to put it all, all your eggs in one basket. But my suggestion is to put, you know, somewhere with. between 60 and 70% of their money into a safe place to where, you know, they can go to sleep at night and not worry about, you know, if the market, if they wake up tomorrow morning and, you know, another 08 crash hit and their money's gone down 40%. You know, that's the last thing you want to be worrying about when you're, when you need that, when you need that money to live on to retire. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point. And again, everybody's different. And 60 to 70% for one might be.

70 or another and might so but the point is make sure that your money is protected that's that's the big thing and and it makes me kind of think this too and we'll kind of wrap up with this thought Bill can you share any examples of when you've worked with clients without giving details or names but you know when you can't when you had a client that maybe came to you and was like dealing with volatility and then you put them into these kind of programs and then what was their you know results and their response to feeling now a whole lot of more protected with having that guaranteed income. Yeah, yeah, of course. I've got a client of mine. I mean, he's fairly recent. He's not retired yet. He's wanting to retire in a year. And he never

thought he was going to be able to retire because he was always, you know, he knows how much he makes now. And he was always under the impression he needs to have 75% of what he makes now to live on in retirement, which is, you know, that's fairly accurate. it everybody like I said, everybody's different. But this gentleman had inherited some money. And is what I did for him. I said, okay, let's take a chunk of your retirement, your 401K, put it into a, you know, an income, income annuity for you. And, you know, the longer you wait on obtaining that income, the more income you get.

Okay. So, you know, if you access that income on year one, it's not going to be as much as if you access the money on year five. So it's growing. The rate of return is growing every year. So if you can put it off using it, then let that interest compound. Correct. Correct. So it's what I did for him.

I said, look, you know, you've got money you've inherited. You've got to use that money with the new walls that have just come out. You've got to use that money you inherited in the next 10. years. So, you know, if you want to retire, just say in a year from now, which that's what we were playing it off for him. He said, okay, if I retire in a year, I've got such and such money, I can live off of the money that I inherited for five years, maybe even six, and that'll give me enough money that will be in that income annuity that will kick in on that fifth or six year when I need to activate that income, and that'll take me and my wife through the rest of our life.

Perfect. Yeah. So I mean, and it worked out exactly. I mean, and he was, he was one of the ones that he said he never thought he could retire. He thought he was going to have to work the rest of his life because he didn't know that these guaranteed income products were out there. And he just, you know, he just, he didn't have anybody to advise them. And he just, he didn't, he didn't know is what it boils down to. What a, what a gift of that is to be able to unveil that to a client and have that relief in their mind to go.

wait a minute, you mean, I don't need to be 87 years old working at Walmart, greeting people to put food on the table. You can show me how I can actually retire. So that's a huge, huge opportunity. I think that's so great, Bill. Well, you know, talking about guaranteed income and fixed rate of return and all of these things is just so critical. If someone is interested in learning a little bit more and reaching out and connecting with you and maybe seeing your perspectives on what they can do, what's the best way that they can reach out and connect with you. My website is a www. McDowell-agency.com, or they can call me at 336-987-2933, or email me at McDowell manage at g-mail.com.

And that's spelled, M-C-D-O-W-E-L-L, is how you spell my last name. Okay. Excellent. Phil, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Great, Mike. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. 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. www.Influentialentrepreneursradio.com.