Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Paul Castner President of C & K Healthcare Advisors Discussing Retirement Planning

Episode Date: September 5, 2024

Paul Castner started out his path in the insurance industry by working at one of the Nation’s Top Medicare carriers. He began in the broker services department, under strong leadership who encouraged him to always pursue learning and trusting his skill set. From there he joined their sales team and had some of the best in class mentors along the way who not only strengthened his knowledge of the insurance products but also the importance it was to the population it served. C & K Healthcare Advisors was developed by Paul Castner and Mike Killmeyer based out of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, with the concept of giving back to the generations that have came before them. What started out as an agency that only serviced Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia rapidly grew to now servicing the entire United States. Our agents live and work in your communities and we strive to be the face of comfort and trust. Our pledge to you is that we will always do our best to inform you of the options that fit your needs, lifestyle, and budget, while working ethically and doing what is morally right.Discover the peace of mind that comes with Paul Castner and his team of licensed consultants expert guidance—because you’ve earned a retirement that’s as fulfilling as it is secure. Call them today or visit their website at https://www.ckhealthcareadvisors.com/C & K Healthcare Advisors, LLC and their agents are licensed and certified representatives of a Medicare Advantage (HMO, PPO and PFFS) organization and a stand-alone prescription drug plan with a Medicare contract.C & K Healthcare Advisors and their agents are not affiliated with the United States Government or the Federal Medicare Program. Enrollment in any plan depends on contract renewal. Medicare is available to some individuals under the age of 65 in limited circumstances. Plans and products may not be available in all areas. Certain exclusions and limitations may apply. We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1–800 MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-paul-castner-president-of-c-k-healthcare-advisors-discussing-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 us, Paul Kastner, who's the president of C&K Healthcare Advisors and we'll be talking about retirement planning. Paul, welcome back to the program. Thanks, Mike. It's always a pleasure to be on your show. Yeah, and I know that retirement planning should be like a whole weekend seminar,

eight hour a day for two and a half a day. So we're going to just hit the highlights, of course. But I know that one of the aspects is we want to make sure you've got plenty of runway in advance of retirement so that a plan that's put into place has plenty of time to develop. So, you know, it's kind of like these universal, you know, truths out there. Make sure you work with the trustworthy person. make sure you have plenty of time ahead of retirement, make sure, you know, all of these things.

But with that thought in mind, talk a little bit about where you start working with your clients when you're talking about retirement planning. Okay, so the right age to really start retirement planning and funding, I'm going to break it down in a couple different progresses here, right? So when you're in your 20s all the way up to your late 30s, right, you've got the best chance to be aggressive. When you're young just out of college, that first real career job, be aggressive.

Going into your late 30s, be aggressive. Maximize your growth potential by investing heavily in the market with a higher risk tolerance. Okay. You have a long time on that horizon. The earlier you start, the more time for your investments to grow and recover from market fluctuations, right? But by the time we get into our late 30s, early 50s, we have to start shifting our strategy. We have to begin reducing exposure to market volatility while we maintain a strong growth in our oriented approach. Use insurance vessels.

Incorporate index universal life or universal life policies to build cash value and make sure that they're linked with market growth with a lot of downside protection. Then finally, Mike, when we get into our 50s, that's where we really got to start to change the track. You saw in our late 30s, early 50s, we started to pull a little bit out of that risk portion of things and start to go into something a little more stable. Well, by the time we're in our late 50s, because we're starting to now think, okay, how many more years until I'm going to retire? What do I want to do? What is my goals? We really need to take all the risk away. We need to start transitioning our growth into growth-focused annuity products.

It protects your assets from the market downturn. while it's still, it's going to get some pretty moderate gains there. But utilizing risk mitigations, we can prior preserving all the accumulated wealth that we have with lower risk investments. And then finally, that retirement data set. That brings on a whole other slu of strategies, Mike. You know, I keep hearing risk and volatility and in your 20s and 30s, and I agree with you with, I'm not an advisor and don't play 10TV. But I do know that you can take. take it on the chin a whole lot more in your 20s and 30s because you got time to recover from those hiccups.

And we all know that when money's in the market, air quotes, that you're going to wake up one day and the ruler of Egypt scratched his nose the wrong way and the markets crash. And so that's going to impact your retirement funds. So I think that when many people think about retirement and they've got their job, the most common way is, oh, let me let me get that 401k. and they just blindly go sign up and they have no idea what it does. So talk a little bit about some of the advice you give your clients regarding a 401K. Okay. So before I can give any advice to people on the 401K, I like to educate about what was the true history of 401K. So for those of you that might know or don't know, the 401K was introduced in 1978.

It was originally designed as a tax advantage supplement to true. traditional pension plans, it was not intended as a standalone retirement plan. The actual intended purpose was to provide tax-deferred ways for executives to shelter their income from bonuses, not as a primary retirement savings vessel. Okay. And then that unintended shift over time, the 401k then evolved into a primary retirement savings tool for many Americans. And that was the actual purpose. It was not designed to honestly be our retirement vessel. When looking at this and knowing those facts, us, we should make a little bit better calls and judgments. I'm going to give some very bold advice here. Some of the bold advice I'm going to give you, if you're contributing more than your

company's match to your 401k, you are wasting money. Anything beyond the company match, your contributions could be better utilized in private retirement plans like a universal life, an index universal life, or some annuities. There are better strategies diverting the percentage over the company's match into a privatized plan like an IUL or a universal life or an annuity. It can provide greater flexibility and growth potential and there's tax advantages. So when you're looking at what you've been putting in your 401k. And if you're over that match, I would suggest going down to the match, realizing how much more is in your check? At that point in time, my recommendation is speak with a licensed advisor. Let them help you determine the best strategy tailored to your needs

in your situation. It is very crucial to make informed decisions about your retirement planning and working with a professional will do just that. Yeah, I think that's such a great advice because I had mentioned to you before we started our conversation that my daughter got her first job and asked me about a 401k. And I had the same conversation. I said, you know, what's the match? And it was actually not a great match. It was like half of her contribution. And I said, wow, you know, let's just keep putting the money in that Roth that you set up over the summer. So I think a lot of times people don't really get the full picture of what a 401K does because as the money grows, it's, you know, you've never been taxed. So when you take it out,

out, wow, you're going to get a big old tax bill. So you have to plan for that. So again, with the topic of what we're talking about today, retirement planning, keyword planning. You better plan. And planning means more than just 10 minutes before you retire. So throughout all the conversations you have with your clients, I'm sure that you sound like a broken record to say, let's have enough time to plan so that some of these ideas can take fruition. So talk a little bit about, you know, I know you mentioned annuities and. and then the life insurance, what are some of the benefits that annuities would have versus a 401k plan?

Because you've made the bold statement. If you are contributing more than what your company is matching, then that's wasted money or not a good decision. You should put it into an annuity. Well, what's the benefit of doing that? Well, so on a previous podcast that we did with you, Mike, we talked about the life insurance side of that, right? The universal lives and the index universal lives. And if you didn't catch that podcast, we highly encourage you to go back and listen to that one. But I'll do a brief overview.

And then we're going to talk about annuities. So universal life insurance, it offers flexible premiums, you know, lifetime coverage. It grows a cash value. But it's the universal life is built off of an interest percentage where an index universal life, same potential for higher earn cash value. It's linked to market indexes. And it has that floor where when your money goes up to a certain. level that floor is put and it won't go below that level until the market goes back up again

and it comes with protection against market downturns now you've got the annuity side of the market and you're going to hear a lot of fancy terms like miga and fia and each one of those are just acronyms for certain things but let's talk in general what is an annuity an annuity is a plan that it's a guaranteed steady income stream for retirement it's offering financial security peace of mind. So things like a fixed indexed annuity, an FIA, it again, just like the index universal life, it is built off of an index. So these companies have tons of financial professionals that are researching different indexes, creating new indexes, meaning the percentage that you get in interest is based off of the performance of that index. Okay. So that's a great way that maybe

when you're trying to lower some of your risk, maybe in that time period that we talked about, you know, the late 30s to early 50s, where you want to be a little aggressive, but maybe not so aggressive, a fixed indexed annuity would be great. You know, you're getting that percentage based on how that annuity performs. But as we go later and later on into life, you know, we want to switch with something with a lot less market volatility. So we'll put it into an into an annuity instead of a fixed index, we'll put it into a growth accumulated annuity where we know what the percentages. When that professional runs a illustration for you, you're going to be able to see what the year-over-year percentages. Yeah, is it going to grow?

Yes. Is it going to grow rapidly? No. But if we did a good job in the earlier parts of our life, you know, that 20 and 30 era, that 40 up to 50 era, that slower growth, is still great potential, okay, because you had all that time to do it very, very aggressively, grow it very rapid. Now we want to pull it back so that way the market, if it collapses, you know, we're not facing that brunt hit, you know, right before we retire. And then finally, there's a strategy that, hey, our retirement day is here. Now what do I do? I have a nice, healthy nest egg. And what do we do from here? Yeah, that's a huge point.

You know what? It makes me think about something super, super important, which is this. When you have a plan ahead of time, you don't feel rushed or frantic. It's kind of like don't go grocery shopping when you're starving and haven't eaten in hours and hours because you're just going to grab anything on the shelf. So when you have that plan in place, man, you're making these wise calculated decisions rather than making decisions that are off the cuff because it's like, I better catch up. I didn't do my work ahead of time. So I think that's a huge point that you're bringing up. So, Mike, I have an old boss and it just pops into my head all the time. And this gentleman gave me a lot of very good advice over the years.

And what we're talking about right now, he had a saying for it, okay? And when I say this, you're going to understand and how it all fits. Prior planning prevents poor performance. Oh, yeah. I love it. stated, right? Yeah. Yeah, I think that's, yeah, prior planning. That's where it's at. So let's think about something. When you have that prior plan, like I want to retire at this date, what are you advising your clients to make sure that they have, A, enough money to make it to and through retirement,

but at the lifestyle that they want because they don't want to get to retirement and go, I need to eat beans and rice because I don't have enough money. So what are some of the things that you're putting into place to make sure they're continuing that lifestyle that they've lived up until the day they retire? All right. So that's a great question. So our retirement date, we're getting ready to set it. First off, you need to go look into the charts of what percentage are you going to be

at as far as social security comes. That should help you when picking that date, right? So now you're looking at two things. How much have I grown my retirement nest egg? and do I retire at 62 or do I retire at 70? Because you'll know how much of a percentage of that Social Security entitlement that you'll have coming your way. You mix those two together. So I'm sitting down to do an annuity with anybody.

I mean anybody, family, friends, client that I just got in front of. I ask a couple questions. I actually ask three questions. The first question I ask them is, how much money do you have in your retirement? plan. Now, I also let them know, I am not coming for your full retirement plan. I do not want 100% of that because everybody thinks when they talk to an advisor, great, he wants to tell me where to put 100% of this money into. That's not me. Okay, my first question is to know how much are we working with? My second question is geared towards them and I'll say, out of what you have in

that nesting, what are you comfortable with putting into, you know, a lifetime income annuity, which is going to do exactly what it just says, pay you for the lifetime. We're going to break that down here in a second of what that means. And my last question is probably the most important question. And my final question would have been, after your Social Security, how much per month do you need in monthly payments on top of that to live the lifestyle you're accustomed to? By knowing those three targets, how much total do they have, how much are they willing, and how much they need on top of Social Security, I can run illustrations in a couple manners.

I can let them know, okay, if we put in the exact amount that you say that you're willing to put into the investment for lifetime income, here's where we're going to be. Finally, I'll do a reverse engineer. Here's how much money they need to have per month on top of Social Security. Here's where we need to be. hopefully that number is somewhere around what they were comfortable to put in. Now, if we're not there, I know how much they totally have. I'll run a third illustration and give them examples. Well, if we put this much in, here's where we get compared to your goal.

If we put all of it in, here's where we get compared to your goal. And you really educate that consumer to make the right determination, right? because what we're talking about here is lifetime income newities, okay? It's a guaranteed income. It converts their retirement savings into a steady, predictable income stream for the rest of their life, ensuring that financial stability they're looking for. It is risk-free. It protects against that market volatility, right?

We're taking all the risk out, and it takes out that risk of outliving their savings as well. So basically by buying that, you know, there's a percentage that's being earned and their insurance carriers guaranteeing that income for life. And finally, what does it do? Well, it provides the funds that they need to maintain that lifestyle that they're so accustomed to. It lets them enjoy that retirement without the financial worries. The last thing that we want to see, honestly, Mike, is somebody who, you know, they did what society asked them, right? They went went to school. They got a good job. They raised their family. And now it's their time, their golden years to do the things that they love because they put into society for the years

that we said that were determined, but they didn't plan right. So now what's the most they can do? They're stuck in front of a television set. You know, maybe they do a couple small activities. They're wondering how they're going to eat. Things like that. By planning properly, we can do that. So I'm going to give you a quick little story. Okay. And we're just going to call. Sarah. All right. Sarah in her 20s, she was smart. She starts setting aside a portion of her income for retirement all the time. She was investing aggressively in the market and taking advantage of some compound growth. As she moved in her late 30s, Sarah shifted her strategy, balancing risk with stability by incorporating more insurance-based products like index universal life into her plan. Now, Sarah 65,

she's ready to retire. Because she planned early, she has the financial. freedom to move her nest egg into a lifetime income annuity. That decision for Sarah means that she can continue living the life that she loves traveling, enjoying fine dining and spending time with her grandkids without worrying about outliving her savings or being forced to cut back on our activities. What are we talking about here? By starting early and planning wisely, right? Sarah is ensured that her retirement time is full of enjoyment and fulfillment, not financial stress.

Sarah's able to fully embrace the lifestyle she works so hard to build, knowing her income is secure for the rest of her life. Isn't that the picture of the American dream? It is, but I would say that anyone hearing that would go high in the sky, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think it, and I don't know your system, but I would venture to say that it is, is very doable when you have the right plan in place and enough time to implement it, let it happen. So I think that is spectacular. And I keep hearing words you use like guaranteed, guaranteed. At the age when you start going, I need this much for retirement and I don't want to have a gap where I don't have enough to do what I want to do.

You don't have the stomach to have volatility and risk. So you need to have that guaranteed income like some of the recommendations you were mentioning. Correct. So again, going back to what we've been talking about the whole time, Mike, retirement planning should start early. And I get it. None of us in our 20s or our 30s were thinking about retirement, right? We were going out having fun with our friends. We were vacationing. We were just living life to its fullest, right? But if we took a small percentage of that early, right, invested it properly and followed the steps I talked about, the different timeframes. Where do we go aggressive in the market? Where do we start cutting back and, you know, mitigating some of that risk, then where do we go into no risk, finally leading into today's retirement day, and I want guaranteed lifetime income by taking those steps in the journey of life as we get in adulthood, right, as we age, if we're taking those proper steps, when we get into that, okay, this is what I've got. I need guaranteed income. We have the money to be able to do so

to properly fund a lifetime income annuity guaranteeing that we live out on the rest of our days the way we intended to. Yep. I think that is spectacular. And the thing that that also does is when you have that plan in place, it just gives you a huge relief off your shoulders, peace of mind, all of that, because you're like, okay, I now see the path forward. And I think that a lot of times people, if you were to stop 20, you know, couples on this on the street and go, do you have a retirement plan put it in a place that you're happy with? Probably it would be like no and no, you know.

Right. Right. And the funny thing is that story about Sarah, I was changing the names, but that's actually a true story, right? Yeah. I had met her years ago. And she did well when she was younger, you know, she had some things properly put into place. I met her in about that late 50s era. where we're starting to shift, right?

She knows that retirement's leering around the corner. And I had to do a lot of explaining, you know, you did a great job, you know, mitigating risk when you're younger, but you were aggressive. You got a nice little nest egg here. Let's put into something a little softer. Now she'll be retiring coming up in the next year or two. We've already had the talks about lifetime income. But she's giving me the other goals, you know.

She did very well with her investments. So therefore she's looking forward to, you know, the future. not only enjoying her retirement, but leaving money behind to her family in some kind of, like, legacy, right? Yeah, that's a whole other issue, isn't it? But like, when you can go, okay, I'm striving to earn the money, now I'm thriving to good use to preserve it. But then the third stage is like, okay, I want to create that legacy, that estate, that

passing it along to the next generation in the right way and all of that. But what a huge piece of mind you're able to provide your clients and that is just spectacular. So Paul, if someone is hearing this saying, you know what, maybe I need to have that plan starting to put into place for me to clarify where I need to head for retirement, what's the best way they can learn more and then also reach out and connect with you? Sure, not a problem. So again, you can look at us up at www.c-healthcareadvisors.com. We also have another website, getretirement options.com. That is out. there with tons of information and we look forward to working with you.

Excellent, Paul. Thanks so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Thanks, Mike. I enjoy 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.

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