Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders, MBA - Interview with Bill Wilson President of Wilson Financial Group Discussing How to Get To and Through Retirement

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Wilson Financial Group focuses on helping people keep what they work hard for when it comes to their retirement. It’s about how you get from where you are right now to where you want to be. It is about achieving your personal financial goals and enabling you to enjoy the fruits of your labors without having to worry if tomorrow will be a good or bad day in the markets. It is important to plot your path, have a plan for how to get there, and get the right advice along the way. “We Help Clients Get to Retirement and Through Retirement.”Learn More: https://wilsonfinancialgrp.com/No Rendering of Advice. The information contained is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for obtaining accounting, tax, or financial advice from a professional accountant.Presentation of the information via the Internet is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an accountant-client relationship. Internet subscribers, users and online readers are advised not to act upon this information without seeking the service of a professional accountant. Any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this website is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under U.S. federal tax law.While we use reasonable efforts to furnish accurate and up-to-date information, we do not warrant that any information contained in or made available through this website is accurate, complete, reliable, current or error-free. We assume no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of this website or such other materials or communications.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-bill-wilson-president-of-wilson-financial-group-discussing-how-to-get-to-and-through-retirement

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 Bill Wilson, who's the president, CEO of Wilson Financial Group, and we'll be talking about how to get to and through retirement. Bill, welcome to the program. Well, thank you, Mike, for having me. How are you doing today? Hey, you're welcome, doing great.

I'm looking forward to chatting with you. I love how you phrased the title of this topic, how to get to and through, because I have a feeling that a lot of people think just how to get to retirement. And so I want to hear your perspectives on that. But before we dive in, give us a little bit of your story and your background and how did you get into financial services? Well, I'm from Chicago, Illinois, born and raised. And certainly I didn't pursue the financial service sector when I first got into school. It was more I enjoyed architecture. And so I have my, I certainly go like everybody else to go to different school, but I got my degree in my Bachelor of Science degree. After a couple years of college and junior college, I went in the

military. I was a member of the United States Army Parish Team, the Golden Knights, which still exist today. So if you have gone and seen an air show across the country, would it be the Thunderbroves, Bill Angels, most likely he saw some parachists, black and gold parishes. I was on that team, and it was great. And then as I got out of the service in 77, I used a GI Bill and finished my degree at University of Illinois and started to work. And one of the, I guess, a separate entity of the Chicago Part District where the Chicago Bears play, that's Part District, property. I started to, you know, work in a position there. And a buddy in mine, I've known since first grade. Think about that. How many people you know are you still communicate with

since first grade? And I've gone to school with him and church with him, the service with him and all that. And so he introduced the financial services. And I kind of took it slow. I'd started part-time, but I made more money part-time and full-time. I decided to change careers. And that was in 84. And I've been doing that ever since. And I love it. that's just awesome it's it's neat to have lifelong friends relationships and that tells us that you value that a whole lot meaning there is something to be said for someone that doesn't treat people like another number you treat people like a relationship a friend and not just let's just see what we can get done here so i think that is just spectacular so let's dive into getting

to and through retirement how do you guide your clients to create a plan to get not only to retirement but through retirement. Well, you know, as I do public speaking or if I'm talking to somebody one on one, I always use the analogy of Mount Everest. And I'll share with people. I say, you know, as people have, that's on their bucket list, I ask the audience when it comes to climbing that summit, how many of you think that if someone didn't make it, they died going up to the summit or did they die going down the mountain?

Okay. And the key, the question, the answer that is most of them die going down the mountain. So, you know, getting to retirement is going up to the summit. You know, you work. You've got a job of 401k, a 403B, a 457, whatever. You put money away. You raise a family. You do all that. And you finally get to that summit. But now the paycheck stops. You're now going to take this nest egg. And I always tell people that income equals lifestyle. but now you're going now you've got to go through retirement you know hopefully you've done a good enough job where you got a good 30 you know life expectancy I think somebody at one time won a Nobel Prize that stayed hey 6% in stocks and 4% in bonds should produce a 4% you know withdrawal at least a 30 year window for you know life expectancy to have income come in well as we all know those rules are the window because of the volatility of the market. So I share with people your biggest challenge is going through retirement because we're going to have situations of inflation. We're going to have

situations of different administrations, taxes. We're going to also talk about health because that's certainly an enemy. So you put that all together, getting to retirement is important, but getting through retirement is everything so you get to the finish line. You know, we could probably talk for three and a half hours just on that opening point right there because it's so critical. And I want to unpack a couple things that brought to my mind. I love your analogy of the mountain climbing because I think a lot of people think, oh, I got to the summit, yay, and then now getting down, that's the, nope, that's the hard part. In relation to retirement, I think a lot of times people would think, well, what's the difference

between getting two and through? well, there's a big dotted line there that's of many, many years. You get to retirement at whatever age you're going to choose, and that's a whole decision process there. But how long are you in retirement to get through it? Is it 10 years, 20, 30, 40? And I think that becomes the really calculated, you know, guesstimate or calculated number there that you're going to need to sit down with clients and say, listen,

let's talk about this because lifespan and longevity and we're taking better care of herself and the health care system is better, how do you help your clients realize that, yes, we need to accumulate some money to get to retirement and retire at the right age. But how long will that last? Yeah, when I sit down with people, I'll ask, well, tell me about your parents. How long do they live? You know, in my case, unfortunately, my father died at 66. He was a smoker. But my mother 12 days short of 91, and my dad's brother and sister lived in their 90s. So, you know, there's certainly, hopefully longevity in the family. So I'll ask the couple about that. And,

of course, you know, what's important for them as far as the income goes? What exactly do they want for income? You know, you know, if we had the magic wand, if you're making some good money, let's say you're making $160,000 a year. I give one example a little bit later of a couple that, you know, as the husband sat down with me, he kind of was kind of embarrassed. He was, you know, I wish I'd started that 401k a lot sooner. I make good money, but I know when I finally retire, I'm not going to have enough income that's going to match what I was doing. I was working because we live on our net, right?

So, you know, he realizes that he's a little behind the eight ball. And so his wife is putting all her money into the retirement plan she has to kind of, you know, catch up. So, you know, I always share with people, you know, take that rule of 100. It's just sort of a rule of thumb. Take the number 100 minus your age. And, you know, that's how much you should have really in risk. And basically with your age are, that's the percentage you should have with safety in mind. Because the older you get,

the more it's important to have safety in mind to make sure that money is going to be there for longevity, you know, making sure that, you know, those income streams are continually to come in, no matter what kind of hiccup we have in the economy. You know, and I'm sure you would agree with this too. It's like, okay, here's the numbers. We put them in with pencil. Then we kind of. reevaluated and put them in with pen, but we're still going to verify and verify and check annually, that kind of thing. And we probably want to have a little buffer in there. So if we need X number of dollars to last X number of years, we want to have a little bit of buffer. And I think

that's super important. How do you diversify what you're giving recommendations for? Because I feel like a lot of people hear that word diversify. And they go, oh, I'm diversified because I've got money in 20 different stocks. Yeah, but they're in stocks. And they're in the same sector. And So where do you guide that conversation on making sure you've got to spread out for safety? Well, obviously, there's a, you know, as I asked some questions, there's an obvious answer. How important is it to protect your money? And so I always use what called the ABCs, you know, as we learn as a children, we learn our ABCs. And I don't want to keep it simple for people.

So, you know, A is the bank. You know, we certainly have bills to pay and that, but you wouldn't put all your retirement money in there. And why? Because you might have safety with the bank, but you literally are going to have a challenge when it comes to growth. And then B is an account that I'll talk a bit later, but that's an account that, like the bank, never lose money, but the returns are better and guaranteed in some cases. And the income streams from that are consistent. And then C is securities. You can make all you can make, but you can also lose. So it has to be a mix. That's why I use that rule of 100, how much of this portfolio you have, which most likely, when I sit down with people,

they've got their money in A and they got their money in C. They're clueless what B is. And so it's really a combination of the two. I tell people I do two things very well, the growth of money and protection of money. And so, you know, when I sit down with people, you know, you can't have, you can't have it all. You want gains. You want liquidity. You want protection. As I'm sitting with people who are about to retire, they want to protect that nest day because they can't go back, their job is done. Whatever they've done now as far as getting to the summit, that has to last. And now we're going down that mountain. We're going through retirement and there's many different factors that can affect that nest egg as they get older. Yeah, 100%. You know,

and I think the whole thing to keep in mind as much as possible is safety and safety and security and all of that. And, you know, there's an age where people would go, oh, look, I can have a little bit more volatility and weather the storm in my 20s, 30s, maybe 40s, but at a certain age, we need to start circling the wagons and getting a little bit more conservative, right? So what are some of the things that you need to make sure of age-wise when you start moving money into more of those conservative accounts? Well, you know, if we're going to focus on making sure we have income that we can definitely kind of always share with people that I always tell people this, you know, it's not the assets you've accumulated that's going to give you the lifestyle. You might have

stocks. You might have bonds. You might have this. You might have that. But that isn't the answer. The answer is what is the income that those assets are produced on a regular, reliable, consistent basis? Because income is lifestyle. And so if I took a circle and it was everything they had and I asked the question, well, how much do you want to protect? Of course, the answer was I want to predict that all. But we also have to consider inflation. We also have to consider some growth on that money. And so it's kind of a combination. I'd sort of do a pie. I'll have money for emergencies. That's important. You know, I always tell people, there's three things that comes to money. You need money for income. You need money for emergencies. You need money for

growth. And so through those three, I put a plan together, a customized plan that they can certainly, you know, see clearly where they are. And I put their financial life right in front of them on the computer. A big screen. I take all the information. And I'm going to, I'm going to consider a couple things. You know, what about inflation? What about taxes? You know, how far can your accounts, which you have currently before I'm making the adjustments? How far will that go based on good times in the market, bad times in the market? And so I try to open their minds up and kind of get the blinders to kind of get opened up more about what can't take place. And certainly health. You know, the reason why people were in nursing homes is because, you know, they're having issues with

activities of daily living. You know, Mike, you and I this morning, we woke up, we went to the toilet, then we took a shower, then we ate, then we ate, then we dressed, and we went from one room to another. And, of course, we're not having accidents at the moment. We're in type or whatever, but those are activities of daily living. If you can't do those, then you need care all the time. So what about the health element? What have you done to plan for that?

Because sure is shooting, something's going to happen health-wise. That's why I asked about their parents. And, you know, in my family tree, and my mother's side, it's heart disease. On my father's side, it's Parkinson's. So when you put all that together, you know, what can happen? Yes, we're living along our lives. We're taking care of ourselves. We're working out.

But again, health is an element that if you don't have a plan for that, that is going to eat into what you've worked hard for. Yeah, 100%. Having the plan and then following the plan and then checking the plan because when you need to make updates, it doesn't mean the plan initially was wrong. It just means there might have been some external circumstances that have impacted it. Oh, look, inflation went up or, oh, look, taxes went up. So having that plan checking it. You know, you mentioned health and things.

And I know that we all say, oh, it won't happen to me until it does. But sometimes those challenges come up. Long-term care is a big thing. And I've heard some statistics that are pretty staggering, like over 70% of everyone will need some type of long-term care. And there's many levels and all that. But suffice it to say, how do you guide your clients to be prepared for that? Because six, eight, 10,000 a month potentially could really punch some big holes in that retirement bucket. Well, you know, if I was in front of an audience and they came down to health issues and I asked people, well, where would you want your care to be at?

Most people say, well, I'm at home. I don't want to go to a nursing home. I want to be at home. But there's still some costs. On my website, people go to Wilson Financial, gRP. on my homepage and scroll down, there is a picture of the United States that nationwide supports this, and you can literally take the cursor and go to any state you live in, you will know what the costs are today for home care. You'll know what it is for private, you know,

semi-private room, private room. You would know all that. You would know also if you were assisted living. You know, those are things that eventually, those are decisions that are going to have be made in most in most cases um and when that does happen well do you have the dollars to do that so i i'm a i'm not i'm not a believer in a standalone long-term care policy because it's the old saying use it or lose it i do asset based long-term care meaning if you do need it it's there and if you don't your money still is passed down to the estate and how important is that because if you're married you know maybe one spouse is going to be sick the other one's going to be healthy what about the surviving house because in most cases, when death occurs or health guilt is bad, somebody's going to suffer,

okay? And especially at death, there's an income loss. So it's all about those things for planning properly so that no matter what takes place, you've got plan B. You know, I like your reference there to like the old school standalone long-term care policies. I've heard a little bit about them where they're either outdated and not many are available, but even if they are, look twice because it's similar to your car insurance. You know, at the end of the year, if you didn't have any wrecks, do you call up your car insurance agent and go give me my premiums back? Of course not.

And with those types of long-term care, if you didn't need it this year, good, you're in good health. But those premiums are gone, whereas these other kind of hybrid policies with the kind of of writer kind of a setup, if you need it, it's there. If not, then the money's still cranking away doing what it was meant to do. Yeah. Well, there's people too, though, so, you know, Bill, my health's not the best in the world. I wouldn't qualify for that. But I share with them, what if you could put a plan together

your income would double and you don't have to prove insurability? There are plans that'll do that for you, okay? But it's just a matter of understanding that health is an issue. If I could give good health and guarantee good health, the line would go around the block a few times over, right? But that's a challenge that we have, and that's again going down the mountain. It's going through retirement.

That is going to be an element, whether you like it or not, it's going to happen. You know, I've done some hiking with my family and you kind of hike up one way, not, you know, big mountains. I'm in Colorado and we haven't done any 14ers, but, you know, you end the hike and you come back down and it's kind of a little bit of a downgrade and you're kind of clipping along a little faster and you got down there quicker and it was a fun walk, fast walk. In your case, with the Everest example and in the example of money, boy, any little bit of momentum and bad weather and some of these things that can catch you by surprise. prize really are devastating. So it makes me think of this question. What are some of the biggest financial risks people make and that might catch them by surprise when they're now in retirement and trying to get through retirement, but they didn't plan for? Well, you got inflationary risk,

because things cost more as we get older. You certainly have, you know, portfolio risk. You know, a lot of times people always like making money, but nobody likes to lose money. money. And so you might have a trend. You have a good run in the market and it's doing well. But again, your broker's not going to say, you know, Mike, he's done a great job. Let's take some of this profit and let's put it over here. No, they're going to continue to encourage you to stay the course. I mean, I often share with people, remember, this is your money, not the broker's money. You're going to have to determine what's important for you. Lifestyle is everything. And like anything else, you know, when two people are together and they've got income,

stream is coming from both sides. All of a sudden, health is an issue, whatever. All of a sudden, lifestyle starts to change a little bit. You know, things you weren't anticipating, all of a sudden start to come into play. And these are things you just got to really, you know, zone in on. And sometimes I find people are, you know, you've got to kind of give them a wake-up call on that. They're in denial thinking, hey, it's great. The market's doing fine.

Whether they're a fan of the administration currently or not, doesn't matter. You know, it's doing it. I have to kind of wake them up a little bit. that, hey, there's something around the corner that you might not have considered. And again, we've got to go through that to get to the finish line. And what about some of the things I'm talking about? How important is that to you? Yeah, 100%.

Well, I tell you, Bill, this has been some real eye-opening of thought processes. If someone is interested in learning a little bit more in reaching out and connecting with you, what's the best way they can do that? Well, two ways. They go to my website, which is Wilson Financial, gRP.com. They can also call me at my office at 480-220-3449. Bill, thank you so much for coming on. It was a real pleasure chatting with you.

Well, Mike, thank you for your time. And considering what we did today, I appreciate being to reach out to people. 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.

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