Business Innovators Radio - Mark Turner (AIF) on Retirement Income Planning

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Mark has been helping individuals retire with confidence for over two decades. He is a passionate professional with a rich history of providing safe growth and advanced income strategies to help make sure his clients have an income they can’t outlive. Working with top estate planning attorneys, Mark assists his clients with life insurance and long-term care planning alternatives to ensure legacy preservation for loved ones.Mark has been in the insurance business since 2000 and has held a Series 65 securities license since 1999. In 2018, Mark founded Wealth Management Strategies Financial Services LLC, an investment advisory and retirement solutions firm. Mark is also an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF), which he earned by demonstrating knowledge of ethical behaviors that follow a fiduciary duty to his clients.Mark attended California State University at Northridge with a major in business management and a minor in marketing.Learn more: https://www.wmsretirementsolutions.com/Investments offered through WMS Financial Services LLC, a California registered investment adviser. AKA “WMSFS”. CRD 291291 8820 E. Foxhollow Drive Anaheim, CA 92808. Insurance products and services are offered through Wealth Management Strategies, an affiliated company. Mark D. Turner, Insurance License #0759815 Wealth Management Strategies, 751 S. Weir Canyon Rd. Ste 157-610 Anaheim, CA 92808 [phone].IRS CIRCULAR 230 DISCLOSURETo ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any US federal tax advice contained in this communication is not intended or written to be used and cannot be used for the purpose of (a) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (b) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-mark-turner-president-of-wealth-management-strategies-discussing-retirement-income-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 with us, Mark Turner, who's the president of wealth management strategies, and we'll be talking about why income planning is so important. to focus on before and once you retire. Mark, welcome to the program. Thank you for having me,

Mike. Hey, you know, I think this is interesting because it's like a lot of times people think I want to retire at a certain age and I need X amount of dollars sitting into some kind of accounts. But now we're going to talk about income planning. And it seems counterintuitive because when I retire, I don't have income, but really you do. So let's get started with what kind of predict. sources of income, do you teach and educate and guide your clients about so that they can begin that plan to have income planning before as well as once they retire? Mike, that's a great question. And I tell you, I hear it all the time. One of the main things people say is, I want to make sure that I have my paycheck that I can count on for the rest of

my life. But the first thing that I do when I sit down with any individual, individual is I find out all about them, not just about their money. I want to know who is important to them. How do they have early deaths in their family or do they think that they're going to live a long, a successful life? And so knowing these things up front is so important before I even begin doing income planning. But I will tell you that this is not your grandma. planning. There are some new vehicles out there that can help you create an environment where you can sleep a night knowing that you'll have all the income you'll need before and after you retire. But it's important to work with a professional that's going to deal with all of these questions

up front so you don't make mistakes down the road. You know, what you said there reminds me of measure twice cut once. You know, like, If you have a plan going in and you need to readdress that plan because some things happen, that's fine, but have that plan. So how important is it to have that plan in place for retirement income so that when you get together with the clients and you maybe every six months or annually, you look at that plan and you can just see what outside forces maybe would cause to have a slight change, but not reworking it. But talk a little bit about having that actual plan in place. You know what? My staying is plan often, plan and review often. And because life changes. There are things that have happened.

That is why when I do planning for someone, I want to make sure that my plan isn't so fixed that life's changes won't be able to change with them. And so that's the crux of income planning and financial planning for retirement is that life changes and that there are things that are going to happen. So I try to plan for all these things. Yeah, I think that's really, really super important is to make sure that it's not skipped. You know, like, hey, let's review that plan. Well, you need to make sure that you actually do it because there are many outside forces. that might weigh in on that. Now, that point about having the plan in place and what predictable sources of income

should be planned on before you begin withdrawing. And I know we can probably do a two or three hour segment just on that one phrase alone. But talk a little bit about how the withdrawing from the plan factors into, you know, the planning aspect. because I know a lot of people here on, you know, online or the news, oh, you should withdraw this percent per year and then you'll be in peace with inflation. But we don't really know what those numbers are, right? That's exactly correct. In fact, you know, your planning is going to be like a stool. And if one of the pieces are missing, that is when things fall apart.

And you should have your predictable. things like Social Security. If you have a pension, what are you going to do with that? If you have outside assets that you save for retirement, which ones are we going to take first? Are they in qualified assets, which are things that you got a deduction for when you were working? Are they in non-qualified things? And that is after-tax money that you put in and grew it. So all of these things are critically important. In fact, I want to tell you a story about Social Security, which I look at every client, clients, like I said, predictable, guaranteed sources. But I have clients that come to me and say, when should I take Social Security? Well, one of my clients, his accountant said, hey, just take it at 62.

That's what I did. And, you know, what if Social Security runs out? And for me, that's an awful way to think. He actually took his Social Security at 62 years old at $1,800. He did not retire until 71, which Social Security would have been $3,900 a month. And there are regulations and rules that if you take your money too early and you're making over a certain amount, you will actually, they will actually take away a portion of that, which happened to him. And so that was an irreversible mistake. And so these things with your Social Security and with your pension planning have to be looked at in detail before you make

these decisions. You know, again, I like to say that I'm confident that there are topics like Social Security that would take like a three-day seminar and still be scratching the surface. but let's talk a little bit more about the Social Security aspect, taking it as early as possible or waiting as long as possible. Because I know that from, you know, those two perspectives, if you don't have two nickels to rub together and you've retired and you don't have the income, you need to take your Social Security. But on the other hand, in the example you gave, if you do have some income coming in, you can delay it. And then that helps expand out the amount that you get, right? That's exactly right. But taking it early just because you're worried that it's going to run out is not the right thing to do.

There are individuals that are, just like you said, they don't have any money to outside of Social Security. So those, it's critical to look at that, that you might have, I might tell them, hey, you have to work. a few more years. I'm going to be real honest. Those aren't my clients. Most of my clients have around $500,000 to $2 million already invested for retirement. And so looking at the social security aspect of it will come into their situation because maybe we can do something different and take money out of a different area so we can defer Social Security for a certain amount of especially if they're earning over $44,000 as a couple, because the last thing I want to do is to cause a taxable situation

that you don't need to because I put you in a higher income because we took too much on our social security earlier. Also, I want to make sure that you are getting the most Social Security possible because that is a guaranteed source that will last for the rest of yours and your spouse's life. Yeah, I think that's a really, really big point. And sometimes people do what you mentioned with, oh, my CPA said, and that's dangerous. And I only say the word dangerous because CPAs are trustworthy.

But are they Social Security experts? And just because your tax preparer did it one way or just because you Googled something be careful because Mark, isn't it true that if you make your Social Security claiming decision, you really can't do anything, you can't change it. It's like it's a done deal. Years ago, you could revoke your decision, pay back what you took and within a year, but now once you make that decision, it's irrevocable. And so, again, with Social Security, you need a planner to look at everything, all of your sources. So that way, we can determine where,

to take money from where it's going to be the least taxable. And we definitely don't want to have a portion of our income taken away because we didn't know all the rules. And that's an avoidable thing. That's the really big thing. It's like, you know, the only thing constant in life or certain in life is death and taxes. Well, okay, but we don't want to pay more taxes than we should. So that's a really great point. I know a lot of times people, one of the biggest concerns in people's minds about retirement is running out of money.

Talk a little bit about why running out of money is such a big concern that retirees have. That is the number one issue. I don't care if you're a thousand error or a millionaire, not a multi-million error. Believe it or not, people used to think a million dollars makes you rich, not in Southern California, not in many areas of the United States now. And so even if you have a million dollars save for retirement and you have Social Security coming in, you know, it all depends on your lifestyle. And so a lot of times I sit down with individuals who I know are going to have more money than they'll ever be able to outspend. They are still concerned about running out of money. And so that is why having a planner, meeting with that planner on a regular basis, having predictable growth.

both predictable income and for a lot of people, they want to leave what's left over to their loved ones. And so this is critical in the minds of individuals when they begin retirement planning is, will I have to go back to work? I've seen at my grocery store, 75-year-old individuals pushing carts working at Walmart. Some of them do it because it's fun. and they just want socialization. But for many people, they ran out of money and they had to go back to work. The one thing that I don't ever want to happen

with a client that I choose to work with and chooses to work with me is for them ever to have to go back to work because they ran out of money. You know, you mentioned something that made my mind go to a place as well, which is it's not just getting to retirement. It's getting through retirement

and having enough money left over for that family legacy. So yes, we do not know what day we're going to die and what inflation is going to do and what taxes are going to do, but we can put that plan into place and go, okay, the best choice to retire is at age whatever. I need to have X number of dollars. And then here is the big aha that I feel like is you need to set your gaze way further down the road than most people do because it's more than just getting to retirement or having enough money in retirement. It's that legacy, right? That's a perfect statement.

One of the things that I ask each individual, when we first get started, I say, are you individual or couple A? Are you individual or couple B? What I mean by that is, first of all, tell me about the kids that you really still like. I'm joking, but the thing is, there are some people that say, look, I can take a little bit less because I want to make sure that I create a legacy for those that I love. And that is so important. But there's also couple B who says, you know what? I did my job. I raised my kids. They're doing fine. Or they don't have any children. And they say, I just want to take care of me. And so knowing that up front will help me do my planning because there are mathematical ways to figure out,

hey, I may be able to go into principle if I'm not leaving a legacy. But if I am leaving a legacy, I want to start now. I want to start when you're healthier. I want to put it into the plan. I want to make sure that we have an estate plan put together for you. I want to have a tax plan put together for you. And all of that is important once I know if you're couple A or couple B. Yeah, I love it. You know, you mentioned pension. And these days, not many people have pensions, but for those that do, should someone take their pension as a lump sum or take it as that buyout?

That's probably one of the biggest questions that I get from city, government, and federal employees, teachers. A lot of them have this choice to make. I work with a lot of nurses from local, hospitals and a lot of them have quite a bit of money and they they uh in their um pension and so first of all i will look at the options of the pension usually it's 100% for yourself and then nothing for anybody else and if you die your company keeps the money or it's 75% and then maybe 50% for your spouse or a little bit less so i want to look at those numbers first and see if they want to leave something to their family after they die. The other thing is, by rolling over the lump sum, I'm going to look at, there are vehicles out there now where I can get a guaranteed income just like a pension, but the difference

is if both people die, I can still leave that pot of gold to my, so my goal is for you to have your cake and leave it too. Yep. That's awesome. Well, I'll tell you, it's been really interesting getting your perspectives on this income planning mark. If someone is interested in learning a little bit more, what's the best way they can learn more and reach out and connect with you? Well, our website is WMS Retirement Solutions.com. Or you can reach out to us at 714-912-4906.

or you can reach us online at our website and set up a time for us to discuss your situation. Excellent. Well, Mark, thank you so much for coming on. It was a real pleasure chatting today. Thank you. 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.com