Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Mike Milligan, Founder of 1 Oak Financial Discussing The Paralysis Penalty

Episode Date: July 9, 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-the-paralysis-penalty

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 the paralysis penalty. Mike, welcome back to the program. It is so good to be here, Mike. Hey, I love your perspectives, and it's just really great to talk with you because you just bring up some real clear guidances that people should keep in mind.

And I think the first thing that comes to my mind here is what is the paralysis penalty? Let's define that. Well, the paralysis penalty is the result of doing nothing and the cost of not getting real advice. See, we, so many folks are spoken down to about. their money. They're spoken to like they don't understand what their money can do for them. See, Wall Street and in the big investment houses and even the financial markets will throw out terminology. That means nothing to grandmas and grandpas and moms and dads and dad educate their kids. So what happens is instead of doing something to build real wealth,

protect wealth, grow wealth, preserve wealth, people just become dumb and they don't get the advice they need for their unique one of a kind situation. Yeah, that's huge. So when I hear the word penalty, it makes me think of I should have done something, but I didn't. So what does it really cost? You know, whether it's money, whether it's emotional, financially, what does it really cost to do nothing and really just stick with what I've always been doing. Well, doing nothing or just following the crowd can cost you dearly.

According to a 2024 vanguard study, retirees who delayed making strategic changes during market downturns lost an average of 15% in potential portfolio growth over the next 10 years. And it's not just dollars, by the way, emotionally, the stress of uncertainty can lead to poor decisions. It can increase your risk for running out of money when you need. need it the most. See, this real cost, it's the cost of not, of having or of being financially illiterate is huge when it comes to the goals you have to break curses and build generational wealth and have enough so you can retire early and get to living. See, we have to break

this whole paralysis penalty and get you the money you deserve for the time you need or the time you have on this earth. You know, it reminds me of something I learned in business school opportunity cost. Because if you're sitting there doing nothing and following the crowd and doing what I've always done, it could cost you financially, mostly all of those things you mentioned because you didn't take advantage of something. And you might justify it by saying, well, I'm evaluating. But if you evaluate ad nauseum, you might never take advantage.

So to me, it sounds like there is an actual cost where it's an opportunity cost that you lose out on, right? Right. So opportunity cost is that economic term that means by choosing one thing, you lose the opportunity to do something else. Another thing that made me think of this, Mike, is we've heard the terms analysis paralysis. Yeah. So, you know, we're talking about the paralysis. penalty, but you know, some people just suffer the paralysis penalty by over-analizing a situation and, you know, not having the ability to make a decision because they're afraid of making the

wrong decision. See, that's where, that's where, like we talked about on our last, on our last podcast that you and I did, we talked about this whole idea, does it feel right? Does your stress go down? and is the complexity so simple that you can understand it? If those two things are in play, you have to find a professional that's credentialed enough is on your side of the table

and clearly understand your situation because we need to not be penalized by being passive or being inactive in the growth, protection, and preservation of wealth. Yeah. So can you think of some time, maybe you work with a client that put things off before they came and worked with you and you, you know, enlighten them on, hey, here's some opportunities. But is it possible to quantify what like a maybe a year of delay, you know, both compound growth or, you know, increased stress, you know, would start to compound for someone? What would that look like?

And have you had a client where you, you know, help them work through that? So one of the things is when we meet with people, we walk through projections on the potential growth based off historical numbers of a portfolio they're currently in versus an alternative to where they could be. And when you put and we just, we'll go directly to SEC.gov, the Securities and Exchange Commission website. And right on there in the calculator section, they have a calculator called compound interest calculator. and we'll very clearly walk them through, this is what you currently have, this is what you're saving per month, here's what over the last 10 years

your portfolio has returned based off online information, right? So if we're looking at like a target date fund, for instance, like a 2040 target date fund, the last 10 year return is clearly on the screen. We'll show them. Then we'll say, look, if you would have done this instead, right, if you would have made this action based off the longevity of you needing this money and this, this is the dollar amount that is, that's changed.

Now, there's no promises or guarantees that those actual dollar amounts are going to come to fruition, but history is a pretty good guide when you make sure that money is there when you need it and that the money you don't need in the short term can continue to grow from a long term standpoint. And that's just the key, right? People who have, you know, six figures or seven figures in their retirement account or even eight figures in their retirement account, you're never going to withdraw all of that money at one time. Yeah. It does not have to be all liquid for today. It, you know, you need money today. You need money in the short term, you know, the immediate future, and then you need money for the long term. And so just assigning your money a purpose, right, can break off or break free of having paralysis when you actually can feel free.

You're educated and you understand the purpose of investing and allocating your money for what's important to you. Yeah, huge. So can you kind of, I don't know, quantify a little bit more how indecision Rob's opportunities will. never get back. Like I'm thinking of specific user to lose it windows like Roth conversions or RMD or, you know, gifting charitable, gifting kind of,

um, uh, opportunities. Well, I can give, I can give hundreds of examples of this, but I'm going to do, I'm going to do you one bigger.

Okay. Let's talk about what indecision is. Indecision is opportunity lost. Plain and simple. But our friends over at Fidelity in a 2, 2003 report found that retirees who hesitated to adjust their plans missed out on an average of $250,000, Mike, and lifetime income. Wow.

To delayed Roth conversions, missed tax planning, and by skipping investment rebalancing. See, every year you wait, you're leaving money on the table, and more importantly, you're leaving peace of mind. And so Mike Milligan, a certified financial planner with 26 years of experience, can give you innumerable stories about missed opportunities. But, man, I think Fidelity's got me beat on the accountability. And if you're at least on the credibility, Fidelity put that loss at a quarter of a million dollars. And if your numbers are bigger, so like if you're a multimillionaire or even a deca millionaire, those, numbers are much bigger than what even Fidelity report.

You know, it's huge that you bring that up because I'm always one where I want to quantify and back up. And if you say something, it's because of this research. And that's huge. I think that is spectacular. And you mentioned analysis of paralysis. And I think that some people just are waiting for that certainty. You know, they're just waiting for all the boxes to be checked.

And then they had two more boxes. And that's where kind of that analysis paralysis comes in. But why is waiting for certainty in getting those retirement planning decisions maybe a recipe for disaster and regret? Well, waiting for certainty is a trap. It also means that you have to be right twice. You have to be right that now is not the time and that you can perfectly predict in the future the right time. And so you have to be right and you have to be perfect. twice.

A 2025 morning star analysis shows that retirees who waited for perfect marking conditions before acting ended up with a 20% lower portfolio value after five years. Compared to those who just took proactive steps,

there's never a perfect time, but there's always a cost to waiting. Yeah. That's huge. So I think that there's a lot of times people go, yeah, but, you know, look at all that, you know, market volatility or noise or the news or, you know,

they, people need to at some point just go, you know what, I need to block off this, you know, source and that source and really just watch for specific things. But how do you replace that kind of those noise and those confusing things, which give maybe an illusion of certainty? And how do you put in probability-based guardrails using some of the stats that you had just mentioned, but what are some of those guardrails that you can put into place to make sure that you're headed in that right direction? Well, it is all about having a financial plan in place.

You know, when you go on vacation, nobody really packs their suitcase without checking the weather forecast, checking, you know, check where you're going, without checking, you know, the currency, if you're going to a foreign, you know, a foreign country with the currency exchange, rates are. And most people don't leave without cash in their pocket or a way to pay for everything they're going to do. See, most people will plan deeper for a trip or a vacation than they will spend time planning for their retirement or another financial goal. And so one of the most interesting things about how you can break this paralysis or this indecision cycle that it takes to be able to put you on the right path is creating a plan with somebody who can help you

execute it. And so the plan turning vapor into paper is something that actually gives people more and more confidence and can break this paralysis analysis or this indecision of a cycle so that you can actually put your retirement. hopes, dreams, and aspirations in play so that you can actually go live a one-of-a-kind life. So breaking free from that analysis, paralysis, and moving forward in confidence, all of that sounds trite and everything, but the next step is put the plan into place. Well, the temptation is, okay, let me go to my good old friend Google or, you know, AI.

I think that too many people rely on technology and they don't rely on someone like yourself with decades of experience that can ask the right questions at the right time to help formulate that right plan. So would you recommend or what would you recommend when someone is thinking about putting that plan into place so that that paralysis penalty is broken? Well, your question to be answered a lot of that. So if you're going to do it yourself and go to Google or one of the AI bots that's out there, you have to know the right questions to ask. Because the tax code and investment options

and the retirement income data, the long-term care costs, and even the legacy options out there, if you don't know how to combine all those together and formulate the questions specific for you, you're going to get, as we talked about before, retirement deja vu. And so in order to break the paralysis of that, it starts with small, confident steps.

A financial plan isn't something that takes six months or 12 months to build. It can be done in a short two or three meeting, meeting cycle over, you know, three to five weeks. where proper time is given to what you are about and what's important to you. It can begin with, it can then go on to the next step, which is an education meeting. It's a mutually shared experience where you and I, someone like me, who's qualified, can sit down with you and walk through all of the options that are available, not to confuse, but just to kind of eliminate things that are not wrong for you. And then the last piece is the implementation and follow through.

So once you implement a plan, it's not put up on the shelf, right? It's meant to be acted on. So, you know, most people don't create a vacation plan. you know, check the weather forecast, check the currency difference between where you're going and budget out for them, and then put that vacation up on the shelf and never execute it. They actually go and they live in those one-dental lifetime experiences around the world and enjoy it. And see, that's what you do when you build a plan like this. You go enjoy it. You enjoy your life, but then you come back and revisit the plan.

by doing quarterly financial check-ins, creating flexible plans. And when you do that, a Schwab study survey in 2024 show that people who have quarterly financial check-ins and they work with an advisor with flexible plans where 30% more likely to feel confident and less stressed about their financial finances, the key is don't try to solve everything at once. you have to build momentum with regular reviews and a plan that adapts as your life changes. You know, I'm glad you said adapts as your life changes because I know that sometimes people might feel tempted to go, wait a minute, Mike, we met last quarter and everything was good and now you're making recommendations for changes.

Does that mean that what you recommended last quarter was wrong? No, it just means that things changed. The markets changed. inflation rearedess ugly head. Taxes changed, whatever the case is, but the point is having that guidance and accountability there means we got to make sure that what we put into place is still the right decision for you. So I think that was a great point that you made there.

Well, thanks. You know, sticking with the herd and waiting for like perfect conditions or doing nothing at all can cost you real money and real piece of butt. but taking small intangional steps back by data and a plan that's truly yours can help you break free and build the retirement

you deserve. And that's why we want to help people avoid the paralysis penalty. Well, Mike, if someone wants to avoid that penalty and learn more what's the best way they can reach out and connect with you. You can find

this on the World Wide Web at One Oak Oak Financial.com. That's the number one, oak financial.com. You also can connect on Instagram, Facebook, or our YouTube channel at the same. Or find me on LinkedIn, Mike Milligan, CFP. And I look forward to talking to you very soon. Mike, thank you again for coming back on.

It's been a real pleasure chatting 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 entrepreneursradio.com.