Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Dave Barr Founder of Barr Asset Management Discussing Fears About Retirement Planning

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

Born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Dave Barr moved to Washington State in his late 20s and is the Founder/CEO of Barr Asset Management. Dave started his career in the financial industry at age 24 working in an agency and then transitioned as an independent practitioner in his 30s. His entry into the field began with a desire to do proper planning & financial management for himself. This led to the thought that perhaps others could use some help as well.Dave has served clients, their families and their businesses since 1980. His professional acumen has led clients to describe him with words such as: “integrity”, “kind & caring”, “sound & timely advice” and “a man that I’d trust daily with my personal checking account”. Although a solo practitioner, Dave believes that Barr Asset Management must be bigger than, more than just himself. As a result, his professional development has been enhanced by a collaboration with other advisors across the United States:Dave is a Registered Investment Advisor representative holding a Series 65 license which allows him to manage investments and provide one-stop financial services to his clients across the Pacific Northwest and several other regions in the U.S. Early in his career, Dave received the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation conferred by The American College and is currently enrolled in studies for the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation.Dave and his wife, Sarah have been married for 30 years, they have 10 children and, presently, 14 grandchildren. Much of their life revolves around spending time with and enjoying their family. They attend New Heights Church in Richland, WA where Dave also serves as an elder. Additionally, Dave enjoys trekking to the outdoors to backpack, camp, fish & hunt.Learn more: http://www.retirewithbam.com/Investment advisory services offered through Tucker Asset Management LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Barr Asset Management and Tucker Asset Management are unaffiliated entities.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-dave-barr-founder-of-barr-asset-management-discussing-fears-about-retirement-planning

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 this Dave Barr, who's the founder of Barr Asset Management, and we'll be talking about overcoming the fears and misconceptions about retirement. planning. Dave, welcome back to the program. Well, hi, Mike. Thanks for having me again.

Hey, you're welcome. You know, I think that I think I've said this before, you know, to a lot of people, but like retirement is like something way, way far off in the future, but it just creeps up on you like nobody's business. So I think that sometimes people procrastinate or have that fear of planning for retirement because it's like, I don't know where to start. I don't know what it looks like. where do you start helping someone that you're working with, a client of yours, kind of push through that fear and misconception because you've got to start somewhere, right? Sure, you do. Well, so most people start pretty much on their own by saving through their employer-provided

retirement plan, 401K or what have you. But when they come to us, typically they've got some assets in hand and they need to do something. but you're right. There are folks who are a little hesitant. They don't know who to speak to. They'm not sure who they can trust. And that's a fair fear, quite frankly, because if you don't know, you don't know.

But I can tell you this much, for those who are hesitating, you can't afford to make all your own mistakes. I had someone tell me that in my business years ago. You can't afford to make all your own mistakes. And that is also true in retirement. You cannot afford that because you don't have the time for course corrections. So, and that's, I'm not trying to get after anybody of why I'm being adamant is,

because I don't like to see people make mistakes that are irreversible. And that's, you know, I'd like to protect against that if I can help people use it. What would be some examples of those mistakes that would be really kind of devastating? So you go singular in your mindset, you use one type of investment asset that you're sure is a winner, or regardless of the spectrum on the risk scale, whether it's all guaranteed or it's very risky and promises a lot of growth, or at least you hope there's a lot of growth, that would be a, a, certainly a mistake there. Or to, that would be, you need a little bit more input than that. Don't just read the sizzly headlines and go,

that sounds good. Right. Yep. So when we talk about fears about retirement planning, what do you think is the fear behind the fear? Like, is it really about money or is it something deeper like a loss of purpose or identity or control because it's, in reality, you know, retirement planning should be exciting. Like, hey, here's when I want to retire and I want to do this in retirement.

But what are some of those kind of misconceptions that are behind the mask? Yeah, you mentioned control. That's a big thing for most everyone. No one wants to feel like they're out of control in their life. And, you know, money is such a part of our everyday living. If we don't have, if we feel like we've given the control of that to someone else, we're just not quite sure how to live with that sometimes. So control is a big thing there.

The way you get over that, I guess you do, I think you can find somebody that you can trust. Find someone who has credibility, who has been around. Look, everyone in this profession that I'm in was new at one point in time and knew nothing or knew very little. But you do, so you can deal with people who are quality, people who are that are new. or you can find most people want to find someone who has some time and in distance under their belt and they have some credibility in terms of the results that they've provided for other clients. Yeah, I know that every, like you have been in the business for many, many, many moons.

And at some point you were inexperienced and had one week on the job, one year on the job. So I know you got to start somewhere, but unfortunately, if you and I want to get advice from someone, we want someone that's well healed and, you know, got some experience and got some battle scars and learned some lessons. So I think that's a huge piece is getting that advice from someone you can trust and knowing that they've got your best interest in mind, right? Well, yeah, you know, you have to certainly you want someone who cares about you before themselves. and all of us deal with self-interest. And it's a little bit difficult for a person like me to talk about this, because when you're propounding how great a professional is, it's a little self-serving and can come across that way.

But frankly, most of the people that I know that are professionals in this world, I have a great deal of respect for. And they are people who do care about their clientele and about others, and they do their very best to serve to the client's best interest. In my situation, I'm a registered investment advisor representative. So we are held to a fiduciary standard, which requires that we must put and be able to prove that we put the client's best interest before anything else.

And what happens if it's deemed that you did not do that? well if the regulators if you have a complaint you've got to explain yourself and hopefully hopefully you can't explain yourself but well where i was getting at is if you are are kind of skirting the issue or in the gray area and kind of doing something that benefits you versus the client the regulators if if they deem it that way you're kind of penalized and it's not just a slap on the wrist it could so in other words when you say fiduciary, it really means something. You have to do what's right for that client. You do. That is, you are held to that standard and that's that. Yeah. You know, no one,

no one has to become a registered investment advisor. But if you choose to, you just submitted yourself to a level of scrutiny that you wouldn't otherwise have. So, yeah, for, for the purposes of serving your clients as well. But if someone is looking for some investment, retirement, kind of planning, it would be wise to look for someone that is a fiduciary because they realize then that that advisor is held to that standard. I agree with that. I agree.

There are those, I will say this, there are those who are not legally fiduciaries who behave as such, however. Even though they're not held to that standard professionally, they behave that way anyway. And I know several of those folks. Yeah. But nevertheless, a fiduciary is, I think, an important feature, if you will. You know, you were mentioning purpose, and it reminded me of something that I heard a statistic. And I don't know whether you know numbers or just generalities. But isn't it true that statistically, if someone retires, they could die.

sooner because their purpose, their goals, their, you know, meaning for, you know, moving on, all of a sudden things change so much. So it would be incumbent on someone to go, hey, I'm retiring, but I've got, I'm going to start doing this woodworking project. Like, I'm going to start this nonprofit. I'm going to start volunteering. So that purpose really does tie in so much into our retirement planning. And I think that that could be one of those, you know, like fears behind the fear, kind of

the mask thing because it's like, what do I do? I'm, you know, when someone goes, what do you do for living and you say, I'm a whatever, boy, that's your identity. Right. Everyone wants to feel significant. Everyone needs to be needed. And it is true. You do hear the stories of a person that retires in a year and a half, they're gone.

Now, is that the rule? No. It's not the rule. Yeah. And yet. And yet. people do need to have purpose beyond their work. And for many people, they don't even realize it themselves. Their purpose was their job position, the professional position that they occupied during

30, 40 years of their life. And that gave them fulfillment. It gave them meaning, that sort of thing. Even if they said, I didn't even like my job that well. Still, they were needed. And everyone needs that. So, yeah, having a plan going into retirement that goes beyond the money, the money allows you, however, to pursue purpose. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, because your purpose might be like, oh, man, I want to go start an orphanage down in wherever. You need a buck or two for that. So they play together.

So what do you think we're talking about, you know, the misconceptions about retirement planning? How do you address the myth that retirement planning is only for the wealthy? Well, regardless of the amount of money that you have, whether you are wealthy or you have a very moderate means, you still have to manage that well because you still have a life to live. And there are expenses there. So sure, it's retirement planning is for everyone. I would say except for perhaps the very poor who are subsidized for just about everything they do. but that's not the audience that we're speaking to today. So, yeah, it's not just for the wealthy, so at all.

And a lot of times people think, yeah, but it might not be for the wealthy, but it still is going to have some high fees or high cost. What do you explain in that scenario? So you can pay fees for plans. I would tell you this, that in my profession, in my career, that while I can charge fees, for plans and I have in the past. It's been rare because candidly, when people come to us for advice on what to do with my money in retirement, that means we set up strategies for them, due placements for them.

And we are compensated by the institutions that we deal with. I mean, the money's got to go somewhere, of course. It has to go somewhere. So when we place that money in a certain position, we're compensated by the institution. The money doesn't come out of, or in many cases, I should say, the money does not come out as a commission to us from the individual's deposit. Now, in some cases, there may be a fee attached to it, but people are, they're advised of that and know full well, what costs are before we ever consummate that sort of a placement. Yeah, that's a good point.

Because I think a lot of times... So the fees are not large is what I'm trying to say. Yeah. If there are, it's not confiscatory. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, again, let's keep going down the path of, you know, hey, if there's a fear, let's address it, identify it, and blast through it. How about if someone has a fear of just not liking the potential answers they get during a financial plan?

Like, as an example, when I'm thinking of that, it's like, well, I don't have X number of dollars saved up. So that's going to make me feel bad. Well, you've got to start somewhere. You've got to have some sort of a plan. You know, I don't think there's a, there's not a minimum in that regard. There's not a minimum amount of money that you need to have in fairness. Most people come to us with a certain amount. It's typically something north of $150,000.

But that's just what most people come to you. You come to us with any money. our money, we're happy to speak with you. And so I don't know if I'm answering your question, Mike, but at least I hope I am. Yeah, I think that a lot of times people see the Facebook ads and it's like what you can do with a trillion gazillion dollars. And it's like, yeah, I'd never get there. But whatever you do have, that's what you have.

And put a good plan into place. And, you know, he who is faithful with little will be given much. So be faithful with that little, whatever that is. but have a good plan and be wise with it. Can you think of a story of a client that kind of maybe had some fears or misconceptions about retirement, and then you kind of help shape some of their ideas, and that really helped clarify and have some breakthroughs for them? Well, I'll tell you something that comes to mind,

and this is a story that I heard from another professional early in my career. So this gentleman that told this story to me was probably about my age now. but he said the office in which he worked where he was working and doing financial plans for clients an elderly man came into the office with just a few thousand dollars i don't remember the amount it wasn't a lot of money and he came in and he bought a he wanted the money placed into what he called a life annuity and a life annuity is something that produces income for the individual that they cannot outlive. And it was just a few thousand dollars, maybe ten or something like that.

It was years ago. And it produced a very moderate monthly sum to him for the rest of his life. And after they got done putting that together, my colleague, my older colleague at the time, I said, you know, I asked him, I said, you know, this is not very much money. And it doesn't produce a lot of income for you. why are you bothering with this at all? And he said, let me tell you something, young man. At my age, it's the assurance, not the amount of income that matters,

but it's the assurance of it. The assurance, yeah, peace of mind. Right. So that gave him peace of mind. He didn't have very much, but apparently he was educated enough, this gentleman, this elderly gentleman was, to know that there was something that he could, where he could place his money that he could never run out of income

no matter how long he lived. Yeah, that's great. Have you ever had someone that kind of had a fear, maybe even a little bit of a hiccup in their plan and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise? You know, like maybe it prompted them to do something smarter or more intentional in their plan or whatnot. Well, that's a good question.

I don't know if I can think of someone like that just offhand. But it probably comes up like in your annual reviews where you're, it might not, you might be hearing in a conversation in an annual review. Someone just brings something up. And then you're listening through the lens of, oh, you said you've got a new granddaughter that was just born.

Hey, well, let's go ahead and think about whatever the case is. So maybe it wouldn't be like a, a big issue or a blow up, but sometimes I think that when you are working with a client, you're listening for things that could have some impact on them positively or negatively. And just in a conversation in the review, they're bringing things up and you're making some recommendations that way.

Well, in actuality, in thinking about it, the things, the type of things that come up are every now and again is that someone will come in for review and they'll say, you know what, our mother passed away and we actually have a little bit of inheritance. So they have a little bit of money that they weren't expecting, or maybe it's a good sum of money that they were expecting. But that's something new that arises. Those are things that are helpful if you have a course correction you need to overcome, but of course, can't count of those things.

Yeah, and that's a great point because just in conversation, you know, hey, how's things been going with you? And they bring that up, you're thinking immediately, okay, I'm sorry for your loss, but also, let's talk about that inheritance. Let's make sure that you're not going to be impacted negatively tax-wise. Let's put it in the best possible place for you. Do you need to, you know, handle it this way? So I think that those are the kind of things that, you know, you from that outside perspective, you're listening for some good education that you're able to help them with. And so I think that when clients are

educated and understand things, it really helps them to overcome those. fears about and misconceptions about retirement? Yeah, we try to educate folks so that they'll be able to do some of their own planning for themselves. You know, for Frank, you know, people are smart when they come to us. They're not like they know nothing. They're smart and they know how to discern certain things, what, how they define their needs and so forth.

So they don't rely completely on. on us, but we're there with the ideas that will make sense for them. Yes. Awesome, Dave. Well, listen, it's been really great chatting with you again. And if someone is listening to this thinking, help me to help clarify some of these things that I'm trying to make goals and process for retirement, what's the best way that they can learn more and then also reach out and connect with you?

Well, we would welcome them to visit our website at Retire with BAM, B-A-M. for bar asset management. Retirewithbam.com. We have a contact page there. You can read our story and see the various services that we provide, but that would be the best way

for them to contact us and our phone number is there as well. Excellent. Well, thank you, Dave. It's really been a pleasure chatting with you again. Mike, thanks for having me. Enjoyed it. You've been listening

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