Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Len R Martinez, Founder of LRM Retirement Discussing The Fear of Going Broke

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Len R Martinez is an Investment Advisor and a Fiduciary in Texas. Len is a fee-based planner and works primarily with clients planning for or in retirement. His goal for his clients is to replace “hopefully, we will” retirement with “we know we will” retirement. With 25 years of client relationships and success, Len focuses on educating his clients on how to plan for and pay for retirement.Learn more: https://lrmretirement.com/Disclaimer: Investment advisory and financial planning services are offered through Simplicity Wealth, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm, nor does it indicate that the adviser has attained a particular level of skill or ability. Insurance, Consulting and Education services offered through LRM Retirement. LRM Retirement is a separate and unaffiliated entity from Simplicity Wealth.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-len-r-martinez-founder-of-lrm-retirement-discussing-the-fear-of-going-brokehttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/

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 Len Martinez, who's the founder of LRM retirement, and we'll be talking about the fear of going broke. Len, welcome back to the program. Thank you, Mike. I appreciate it.

Good to see you again. Yeah, you too. And I loved our last conversation. You've just got a fresh perspective on things. And I know that when you hear certain topics like the fear of, we as humans tend to be driven by specific things like the fear of losing something or the hope of gaining something. So I think that the phrase going broke, that is a big fear. and I think you can speak to statistically the number of retirees that are going, okay, do I have enough money to continue through retirement?

So what are the main financial concerns for people planning their retirement goals? Yeah, thank you. That's very important to us, and I refine it down to the concept of the fear of going broke, even though it's kind of rudimentary language. But the fact is that we as investment advisors, we spend a lot of time looking, looking at statistics, looking at polls. We spend a lot of time being taught by industry leaders. What's going on in the industry and what are people thinking? Well, most of the terms that we see have to do with, you know, health care when they ask about, you know, what are you worried about? We see

polls talking about health care. We see the death of a spouse. We see outliving my money. You see that a lot. Not becoming a burden to the kids. Those are very common terms. really, when it comes down to the heart of things, studies ranging all the way from AARP to the business program network CNBC show that at the heart of all of these poles is one thing, fear of going broke. And we try to address that fact by addressing it directly. Let's talk about it. What does it mean to you? How can you go broke? What does that mean? What does a plan need to have in it to ensure you don't. Yeah.

You know, you bring up a good point, and it makes me think about something, which is, you know, we don't need to get into the weeds or examples of, okay, typically people are retiring at this age and they need their money to last of that age. But we do know this statistically, people are living longer. We're taking better care of ourselves. We're eating better. We're exercising. We have better health care.

So longevity is a factor. And I think back in the 50s and 60s, the tables would show that people would retire this age and need the money to last until that age. But today, that's very different. So talk a little bit about how that lifespan factors into this and then how you're helping people to really put a pen to paper and make sure that it's not an emotional fear, but that you've got some real numbers to work with

so that they have that confidence. Right, absolutely. So that's a perfect example. We do educational workshops. We teach about different topics, principles of retirement planning, the truth about annuities, social security timing. One of the things that we like to talk about when people are looking at what does retirement mean from a financial perspective, I actually make the point, hey, the average life expectancy,

you know, this, you're only talking 40 years ago in the 80s with 65, 66, depending on whether you're male or female. Now it's over 88. So we have to make plans for 23 extra years of good news living on average. Okay? Yeah. That's a very different situation than someone that say, worked for a company for 30 years, got a pension, and then retired, maybe had Social Security or not, and only had to count on that money for a few years.

The good news is we're living longer. The bad news is we need to make plans that can accommodate that fact, right? So what we do is we like to approach this from a top down. In other words, simplicity has a process for looking at all the risks, for looking at what you're dealing with financially, for understanding your personal values, that's something quite often overlooked by advisors. And what we want to do is we want to create a financial plan for your retirement that essentially says, hey, I'm not going to rent out of money. We're going to revisit this plan on a regular basis. We're not just going to hand it to you and let you go. But the goal is to put a plan in place that withstands the risks and the pitfalls that we're going to face in our retirement, like a market crash, like health issues, the death of a spouse.

One of the things that I like to tell people when I'm doing these educational seminars, and it's a little bit of a shock to some people, they look at me funny. But I tell them, look, the truth is, there are no trophies given for being the richest person in the graveyard. our goal should not be to save all the money that we retired with and die with it. In most cases, it's IRAs. That means you're saving money for the IRS. What we want to do is make sure that the money that you're spending to maintain a lifestyle that you want and deserve, make sure the money you're spending to maintain that lifestyle does not stop until you stop. Yeah, huge. You know, you mentioned an IRS and IRA, I've heard that a statement in the past that an IRA is really an IOU to the IRS. Exactly.

You haven't paid taxes on it, but one day you need to. So let's talk a little bit about strategies you recommend to protect against market volatility and economic downturn. And the frustrating thing with that concept is you and I or people can't control any of that. We can't control market volatility. We can't control economic downturns. We can just control what we do. ahead of and during that. Right. Absolutely. We know with 100% uncertainty that the market downturns, the market volatility, it's going to occur. When we do financial planning, I bring something from my 20

plus years of experience and combine it with the simplicity process, which is also proven. And it's a principle that I believe works in most situations in life that are challenging. And that principle is the principle of keep it simple. The simpler the plan, the better you understand it, the more likely you are to stay on the path and the better relationship you're going to have with your advisor. I'm an advisor for life. If I'm working for you on your retirement plan, I'm either going to hand you off to one of my partners because I left the scene or I'm going to be there when one of you does. This is the lifetime relationship and the plan needs to be able to be monitored and managed. However, when we're setting it up, it can't be highly complex, where when the market turns down, you're worried that it's going to fall apart.

You need to know what's going on, and you need to know what the safeguards are that are built into your plan. Yeah, I think that's a huge point, and it makes me think of this question as well with the fear of going broke. It's like, well, one of the things you need to do well ahead of time is to shift from growing money and growth and all, of that to more of safety and preserving and all of that. So talk a little bit about how you are helping people shift that mindset and shift that approach because when you're in your 20s and 30s, you can take on a lot more risk and volatility versus in your 50s and 60s. So when you have the proper balance, then that does help alleviate that fear because it's like, okay, we put some things into place to take advantage of and prevent that impact from market volatility and

downturn. Right, absolutely. The keep it simple principle, I combine that with an idea that a lot of folks in my business use called a two-bucket strategy. It doesn't literally mean two buckets or two investments, but conceptually, as I get older and I'm no longer going to be able to go back to work and make a million dollars, okay, I now have to live on the pensions that I receive, the Social Security that I receive, the annuities that I have set up for myself, and the savings that I've put away. With the two-bucket strategy, the idea is, hey, let's shift to the idea of never running out of money. How can we do that? Well, two buckets, conceptually, I want some money that's going to grow, and that typically means a stock market portfolio.

And I want some money safe, or I want a guaranteed income that's safe, which is going to be essentially the foundation for my retirement. When the market's down, I don't want to be selling stocks. That's called selling low. That's a way you lose money. I want to be able to maintain during those periods. I want to take money from there when the market is up, obviously. But I need to have that other safe income. I've got to have something that's going to prop us up during those, I want to call them unpredictable times. Predictable times. We're going to have crashes. But we know the stock market over time will grow. It has to. The U.S. E.C. economy has to grow to survive. The market has to grow. So we know over time it's going to grow. As long as my hands aren't tied by my investments where I have to sell when the market's down, my plan is going to last. Yeah. That's huge. And I love the two becket. In your mind, you kind of think of simple and keeping it simple. I love that. Talk a little bit about how diversification fits into your two bucket strategy because I feel like diversification is more than just, oh, two buckets because there's a lot of bullet points up underneath bucket one,

up underneath bucket two. But how broad do you recommend diversifying and what does that look like? Yeah, Mike, we like to talk about diversification with folks. A lot of folks that I meet for the first time have a certain understanding of what diversification means. And in general, for a successful plan, we don't think that that understanding is correct. It's something that comes out of the past. And a lot of the messaging that you hear in the financial services industry comes from people that have something to sell you. That means those messages are geared towards selling their products. That doesn't mean that they're geared towards solving your problems. And this is one of those areas. So, for example, most advisors treat diversification as this. We need a good mix of funds.

For example, large market capitalization stocks, we call them large caps, small capitalization stocks, gross stocks, value stocks, bonds, bond funds. But all of those statements are diversification within a stock portfolio. In 2008 and 2009, when none of us could sleep because our 401ks were 201Ks, everyone was diversified. The truth is, bonds crashed right along with stocks. True diversification means taking that into account and having other types of investments or income that are not even part of that stock portfolio. Of course we need stocks. That's where the big growth is going to happen.

But it can all be in one bucket. That's what two buckets means. So, for example, a second bucket could be a real estate situation where you own a few homes or maybe even a multifamily apartment and you have income coming from that. It could be a safe set of investments that you have, we have some unique investments that people can buy into that are fairly safe that have a long-term kind of a consistent return. And for the safest, if you will, and the most predictable for income, that's a place that we actually consider something like an income annuity. Not to say you want one, just to say that that's one of the products that we can look at

for guaranteed income. That's diversification. I've got real estate income. That's not tied to the stock market. I have some guaranteed income coming from a pension, Social Security and annuity. Those incomes are going to come until I die. They're guaranteed until I die or my spouse dies or both. Yeah. That's huge. That's great, really, really great point. So diversification is different for everybody. I want to even make this point that I was thinking of. There is not one plan for every single person that works every single time. Everyone's different. You're going to sit down and, and learn and ask questions and find out from them what they are needing and then what the diversification feels best for them based on your recommendation. So I think that's a really, really big piece to keep in mind is that customized approach and it's not the same thing for every single person. Right. Absolutely. In 2008, 2009, something we learned is that very, very well diversified portfolios failed right along the ones that weren't. You've got to be more comprehensive.

you've got to take into account all of the potential risks, not just the market, not just inflation. We've got to look at everything. Yep, exactly. So let's wrap up with this thought. What are some actual practical actions that people can take to make sure they're not going to run out of money during retirement and they've got everything dialed in the right way? Yeah, absolutely. So with simplicity, we have a structured process for helping us get to where we need to go with your specific situation, your family situation, your goals, your personal values in mind. As we build that plan out, what we want to do is create a plan that is going to allow you to maintain the lifestyle that you want and that you deserve. One way to get there is select an advisor

that understands all of these complexities and all of these risks, not an advisor that's going to sell off a shelf, so to speak. We actually like to think that as independent advisors, we're actually superior to the typical advisor that has a big name on his building, because as an independent advisor, I can go and find solutions for you that I know are proven and solid from anywhere. We're not limited to the things that we're allowed to sell. So you want to hire an advisor that understands the complexities, my personal bias and independent advisor. You want to have an advisor that has a structured process to get you from point A to point B and then all the way to end of life. You want to have a flexible plan. It's going to stay with you your whole life as the

advisor will. It needs to be flexible to make changes in the future. It needs to be able to adapt to things that are going to happen, guaranteed. Taxes are going to go up. Inflation is going to go up. At times, markets are going to crash. You're going to need money at times. You're not going to need extra money at other times. Taxes are one that we do spend a lot of time focusing on. you want an independent advisor that behaves as a fiduciary, not just says he's one. Am I looking out for you? Are we talking about you 90% of the time? Taxes is a great example.

Consider this. If we look at people talk about the government deficit the debt, what does that mean? Well, when people talk about trillions and trillions of dollars, it gets really, it kind of just makes your head spin. What we like to do is put it into terms of a household. What would the federal government budget, the U.S. situation, look like in a normal house? Well, take this. I have a house where the annual income is $50,000. The spending of the household, this family, is $88,000. So there's your revenue and your spending. That means your annual deficit is $38,000. Every year, I am borrowing $38,000 just to maintain my lifestyle.

And my credit card? Well, I owe $320,000. on that. That's what you call the accumulated federal debt. Wow. All of those numbers, but suffice it to say, I can't pay off $320,000 if I'm spending more than I make. Taxes are going to go up. Let's make plans for that. Let's build that into your plan. Yes. I love it. I think these are all points that people don't even fully take into consideration because most of the people are just reacting and not responding and not thinking ahead. So these have been some really, really powerful points, Len. I really appreciate you coming back on. And if someone is interested in learning a little bit more, what's the best way that they can do that? Yeah, absolutely. I'll give you

all the facts. Phone number 214-549-3473. My name is spelled Len L-E-N-Martin. I do answer my own phone, although I do have employees that are there for you if you need help. You can email us at Len L-E-N at L-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-M-R-N-U-N-U-N-U-NU-NU-NU-NU-NU-S-E-E-H-E-H, and you can contact one of my assistants who does work with clients directly. Her name is Leanne. Unusual spelling, it's L-E-I-G-H-A-N-N at L-R-M-R-M Retirement.com. Excellent. Well, Lynn, thank you so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you today. Thank you very much, Mike. I appreciate it. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources is mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes.

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