Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Mike Milligan, Founder of 1 Oak Financial Discussing Results Beyond Money

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Mike Milligan, a Certified Financial Planning Professional, author, podcast and radio show host, and university lecturer, brings 26 years of experience to the financial planning industry. After beginning his career in large banks and insurance companies, he founded his first firm 15 years ago with the belief that “everyone is One of a Kind; and they deserve a One of a Kind Financial Plan.”Challenging the “One Size Fits All” approach to financial advice, which he refers to as “Retirement Déjà Vu™,” Mike developed The One of a Kind Financial Plan™. This comprehensive plan addresses taxes, retirement income, investments, long-term care, and legacy, enabling clients to live a “One of a Kind Life.” Recognizing the need for a clear retirement vision, he then created Retirement CHI™ to supplement the plan. This innovative approach focuses on community, health, and impact, further reducing stress for his clients. Mike leads a team of over 20 professionals across the United States, including Hawaii.Learn more: http://www.1OakFinancial.comThe information provided is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. Information is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Neither Mike Milligan nor his guests are liable for the use of information discussed. Always consult with a qualified investment, tax, or legal professional before taking any action or schedule a meeting with Mike Milligan.Annuity guarantees are based solely on the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing company. Individuals should thoroughly review the contract for specific product features and costs. Income payments and withdrawals from deferred annuities are generally taxable as ordinary income in the year they are taken.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-mike-milligan-founder-of-1-oak-financial-discussing-results-beyond-money

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 Mike Milligan, who's the founder of One Oak Financial, and we'll be talking about how to get results beyond money. Mike, welcome back to the program. I'm excited to be here, Mike. You know, Mike, there was a famous show out there one time called Mike and Mike.

Do you remember that? I don't, but I remember the candy Mike and Ike. Yeah, well, there was a Mike and Mike show on ESPN that ran for like 10 or 12 years. That was their high successful radio show, whatever. We should revamp that. We should revamp that for the financial world. That's right. Awesome.

Cool. Well, let's dive into this. I love the sound of how to get resists. beyond money because it's almost like, yeah, yeah, yeah, money, retirement, returns, you need money. But now let's talk about something beyond that. And that gives me the connotation of someone that goes, okay, I need the numbers. I need the figures.

But let's look so past beyond that and talk about emotional, you know, state and family legacy and building something for the far, for a future to keep your name going way beyond just I have X number of dollars. So what does it look like to live your? retirement with such confidence and not caution? I love the question because living retirement with confidence means having a plan that balance growth, safety, and flexibility. According to a 2024 Schwab survey, 72% of retirees who felt confident about their finances

reported higher life satisfaction and lower stress levels. And so confidence comes from building. a vision, we call that retirement cheat. And then putting a plan in place, we call that the one of a kind financial plan that is stress tested against market

downturns, inflation, the risk of mortality or longevity or taxes going up, or that emergency of needing liquid money in your retirement. And ultimately, that you have the comfort and peace

of mind knowing that there is income coming in monthly that changes with inflation and can adapt to the changing economic conditions that we cannot control. So it's about moving beyond fear and embracing a proactive approach to your money and your life. Yeah, I love it. That's huge. What do you think about, because to me, what you just said goes well beyond just

paper and, you know, here's this checklist. It's, it's a mindset shift. So how do you help your clients shift their mindset so they stop worrying about running out and focus on kind of like that long term 30,000 foot view? Well, remember, this is retirement deja vu. And it's deja vu is simply a sudden and intense sense that your current, that, that a current situation or a place you're in is eerily familiar, even though you know logically you've never been there and experienced it before. And so this sensation of deja vu is a strong feeling of familiarity, a brief and unsettling experience and an awareness of the illusion that you're okay, right, at the end of it. We see, retirement deja vu is what people experience, and ultimately it builds stress and anxiety, and we're trying to break that.

We want to take you to a place that you envision through building a retirement cheat and then put a plan in place with the five pillars that ultimately reduce the taxes you pay over your life. Put your retirement income in a situation where you feel most comfortable because it's always there and growing. beating inflation, an investment plan where worthy fees are paid. And ultimately, the risk is managed and you feel comfortable and you could sleep at night knowing your investments are safe. And then we do your long-term care and your legacy to make sure that your end of life is taking care of. And so the measure to successfully measure this is a feeling. You know, it's not, it's not, you know, you have to put the numbers behind it, Mike, but it's ultimately a feeling, right?

It's a comfort. It's knowing that you and your family are going to be safe no matter, but no matter what out there that's beyond our control happens. It reminds me of the famous book, you know, Start with Why, Simon Seneca. You know, it's like, okay, I want to do this thing. Well, why? You know, here's my purpose in life.

Well, what's the why behind that purpose? So it's more than just those numbers and account balances. I get that. And I love how you said you measure success beyond just account balances with the feeling. You know, you want to go and the feeling is, well, why do I need that amount of money? Oh, so I can retirement cheat. So I can contribute. I give back all of those things.

What are kind of questions, what kinds of questions should people be thinking about to help them uncover what's most important to them? So that feeling is starting to build and grow beyond just those account balances. In the book, The One of a Kind Financial Plan, I list out over 100 questions that people should be focused on. All questions don't apply to all situations. But questions you should be asking yourself is what do I want to experience with the sudden amount of free time I have in retirement. How does owning this investment impact or solve the problems that I face when I go into retirement?

How does the fee that I'm paying, right, impact, how does it impact the long-term performance of my portfolio? See, some of these questions that we list out in the one-of-a-kind financial book you can answer. But many need analysis that go far beyond what you're capable. of doing individually. And so that's where bringing a partner who's going to negotiate with Wall Street and insurance companies, negotiate with what you've had on your statements, right?

And then we're going to reconcile them into a vision and a plan where you feel comfortable so that you can live a one-of-a-kind life. Yeah. You know, it all gets back to that plan and the pillars and it all kind of circularly build back upon each other, you know? And it's like if you start getting a shiny object syndrome, as they say, like, oh, I'm going to try that. I'm going to try that. And you never give enough time for something to actually work.

All of a sudden, now you're feeling discontent. So I love that peace of mind that you're describing that comes when your vision is set. Your plan is in place. What are some of the stories and real life examples from clients that you have worked with, that you've had them come back and tell you that they kind of broke free from like what you call the sea of sameness to create their own path, their own personal vision and created that that emotional feeling. Well, when I first came into this business after college in 1999, we had just experienced one of the most aggressive bull markets we have ever seen.

It was the dot-com age. We had not labeled at the dot-com bubble yet because we were in the middle of it. So I get my first job out of college and I'm working at Wachovia wealth management. I'm, you know, a couple years into that job where during that job, we had a team-based environment where we had an investment professional, a credit specialist, an insurance specialist. And then we had a relationship manager, but then we had a manager. And so we had a client at that point in time that I'll call Don, who retired at the beginning of my career in 1999. He was 59 years old. He had a million dollars in his retirement account that he was told he could take 4% safely from for $40,000 a year and never run out of money.

But he also strategically put aside some money in CDs at the. time that were, Mike, if you could believe this, were earning over 7% because interest rates were high back at the end of 19. Yeah. So, so Don had laddered some CDs to be able to take out 40,000 per year from the CDs. He had 40,000 coming from his investment portfolio because he needed 80,000 to live. And then when he turned 65, he was going to start taking social security to replace that income from the CDs. So here we are set in 2000. And, and Don and I shared some things in common. We loved baseball.

We loved Philly cheese steaks and we loved barbecue. And so he just comes in my office like he had done several other times. It just said, hey, can I close the door? He had just met with my boss and other members of the team. And he said, I got a question for you. You know, if I take 4% of my portfolio $40,000. and I'm projected never to run out of money in my life. Why is it two years later my portfolio is valued $675,000, especially when the market always returns 8 to 10% per year.

Because see, what he had been told or what he had been led to believe in his financial plan is that he could take 4% per year. He would get 8 to 10% return and he would be able to live the rest of his life okay. He said, Mike, if you were in my situation where a million dollars had become $675, where I have not gotten to 10% return, and I feel the stress of running out of money, he said, what would you do? And I said, Don, I think I would tell you to go get a part-time job. Because I was genuinely concerned when he was telling me where he was, he was now, was 60, almost turned in 62, 62,

Social Security was still three years away. And if the market had continued its downward performance, which it did for a little bit of time there, if it continued his downward performance, he would have been a threat of either having to sell his home and downsize or run out of money. Well, this story has somewhat of a happy ending because Don did stop taking the $40,000 of his account.

He did go get a job. at a national retailer part-time to supplement his income making $40,000 per year. And then in 2008, after he had rebuilt over a million dollars and he was ready to take his Social Security, he then retired with over a million dollars. But he retired in 2008, but this time with a better strategy on how to make his retirement income really last for retirement, because we know that in 2008-2009, the financial crisis, hit. But he did not worry. He did not stress and he never had to go back to work again because this time, instead of playing by the rules of the big wealth management firms that were created

by Wall Street, he had a financial plan in place. And really, his story and other stories like him in my early career is what led me to create the one-of-a-kind financial plan. because these rules, 4% safe withdrawal, 8 to 10% return per year, right? You know, three times your expenses, you know, over a loan, in assets, over a period of time, and liquidity, right? These rules, they absolutely mean nothing when when economic markets start going down in value. These rules mean nothing when crisis happens in your family. They mean absolutely nothing.

That's why building a one-of-a-kind financial plan and breaking free from retirement deja vu is so important to everyone who wants to live a stress-free and enjoyable retirement. For people who want to make an impact in retirement, breaking out a deja vu and going in and creating a vision and a plan for your life is really where the statistics prove you're going to have a better retirement, but you're going to fill it when you actually flip the switch and crossover to retirement. Because most people have not had that one-of-a-kind retirement plan put in place with the correct pillars.

And they feel the difference because it's like, hey, the first 10 years of me working with this other traditional type of approach, boy, it left me feeling this. but now I feel, you know, what you're describing, you know, fresh and relevant. So let's wrap up, Mike, with this point or idea. How do you keep that plain fresh and relevant? Because things change. The external world changes with taxes and inflation and whatever the case is. But how do you keep that plan flexible so that it evolves through the seasons of your

personal life or new goals and things like that? Like, I don't leave here without telling us. story of something I experienced at the beginning of 2025. But I do want to answer your question to start because keeping your plan fresh means regular reviews and adjustments. A 2024 Fidelity study found that retirees who conduct quarterly financial reviews and update their plans as life changes, or, you know, as life changes, there are 25% more likely to meet their retirement goals.

using tools like financial simulations and stress testing and rebalancing and coming back to see has the performance matched what the plan demands. Those are things that help that help the plan evolve with you and evolve as market conditions change. But here's the story that I wanted to tell. On January 1st of 2025, my wife and I were down in South America. And we had decided to hike Rainbow Mountain, which is at the peak of Rainbow Mountain,

about the same as the summit of Mount Everest in terms of height. It's the base camp of Mount Everest. So we're talking about serious elevation. So we drive on a van down from Cusco, Peru, down to where this mountain is and it's a very scary, treacherous route and we get to where we start

our hike on the mountain and I can see the summit and it's less than a mile walk. And to get to that point, Mike, I had traveled 99.9% of the way there because I had left my home

in Norfolk. I had traveled by plane down to Peru. I traveled by bus up to this base and I was 0.01% to the top. But that two-hour hike, which takes most people an hour to an hour and 15 minutes for me to summit there, I wanted to quit no more than a dozen times. But we had a guide that was with us.

And he said to me, Mike, take 10 more steps. Mike, take five steps. My wife at one point said, babe, if you want to, walk back down, you can walk back down. But this guide said, no, no, I want you to keep coming. Take five steps. Take 10 steps. And we get about 10 steps from the top of the mountain. And he said to me, look me dead in the eye and said, Mike, why don't you go ahead and quit now? And I did. And I took the steps because he knew at the top of that mountain what I was getting ready to see. And it was one of the most beautiful breathtaking things I've ever seen in my life. See, when we put

somebody beside of us who has been where we're trying to go, they can take you farther than you've ever been. And that guy took me to a place by myself, I would have never gone. I would have quit multiple times because the air was thin. I was exhausted. I did not think I could make it, but he took me there. And I saw one of the most beautiful things. I have never been to retirement by myself, but I've been to retirement with thousands of people. And I'm living. live in retirement with people. I advise people, people that want to make an impact, people that focus on their health, people that have a community.

And so how we keep things relevant, how you can keep things relevant on track is to work with somebody who has been there before. And I've been there. I've built vision statements. I have built one-of-a-kind financial plans. And I'll tell you, quite honestly and upfront, 20 years from now, I'll be wiser. than I am today. But that's because instead of a couple thousand people in retirement,

I'll have five or 10,000 people that I've led in their retirement. But I've seen where you want to go. I've seen where clients want to go. And when you work with me, it's not deja vu. When you work with the one oak financial team, it's not retirement deja vu. It's fresh. It's new.

And it's about you. And so if you want to keep it fresh, work with somebody that's been, where you want to go, doesn't create rules that every client follows, but instead creates, but plays within the system to negotiate for you with Wall Street, with insurance companies, and with the financial markets so that you have a stress-free and peaceful retirement so you can live a one-of-a-kind life. I love it. Well, Mike, it's been such a pleasure talking with you in this series. And if someone is interested in connecting with you and learning more about

creating their one of a kind of retirement, what is the best way that they can reach out and connect with you? So the easiest and best way is go to one oak financial.com. That's the number one oak financial.com. And if you want to connect with me personally in other ways, there's the website, Mike Billigan.com. You can go to. But I would tell you to find me on socials because I'm all out there. I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram and Facebook. But I look forward if you're listened to this and you followed along with what Mike and I have talked about, I want you to know beyond anything that you are one of a kind. You are unique. And if anybody tells you anything different from them, you need to disconnect because your life has purpose and to truly get there

work with people who believe not only that you are one of a kind, but a one of a one of a kind plan that is designed just for you will prevent you from ever having retirement deja vu. Awesome. Mike, thank you so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you again. 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. Influential Entrepreneurs Radio.