Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders, MBA - Interview with Clark Smith President of Golden Years Financial Discussing His Book: When the Paycheck Stops

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Clark Smith boasts an impressive career spanning over three decades in the financial advisory realm. He embarked on his journey in 1990 as a financial advisor with Dean Witter Reynolds, quickly rising to prominence as the firm’s youngest Retirement Planning Specialist by 1993. Specializing in Retirement Financial Planning, Clark has dedicated his career to helping clients achieve their long-term financial goals.His career trajectory continued upward, becoming Vice President of Investments at Prudential Securities in 1995. From 2000 to 2006, Clark served as Vice President of Investments at UBS, further honing his expertise in investment strategies. In 2006, he took a significant leap by becoming a founding partner and portfolio manager at Woodridge Capital Portfolio Management, where his leadership extended to managing a hedge fund at Woodridge Partners from 2008 to 2016.After a brief retirement from 2017 to 2020, Clark re-entered the financial sector as a Senior Financial Advisor and Director of Retail Operations. His commitment to nurturing talent led him to become the Head of Training for Advisormax financial advisors from 2021 to 2024, where he played a pivotal role in shaping the next generation of financial advisors.Clark Smith’s career reflects a steadfast dedication to financial excellence and leadership, marked by his strategic vision and commitment to education and mentorship within the industry. His specialization in Retirement Financial Planning underscores his passion for guiding clients towards secure and fulfilling retirements.Learn more: https://goldenyearsria.com/Insurance products are offered through the insurance business Golden Years Financial. Golden Years Financial is also an Investment Advisory practice that offers products and services through AE Wealth Management, LLC (AEWM), a Registered Investment Adviser. AEWM does not offer insurance products. The insurance products offered by Golden Years Financial are not subject to Investment Adviser requirements. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. Any references to protection, safety or lifetime income, generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investments. Insurance guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying abilities of the issuing carrier. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual’s situation. Golden Years Financial is not permitted to offer and no statement made during this show shall constitute tax or legal advice. Our firm is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Government or any governmental agency. The information and opinions contained herein provided by third parties have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed by Golden Years Financial.Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-clark-smith-president-of-golden-years-financial-discussing-his-book-when-the-paycheck-stops

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 Clark Smith, who's the president of Golden Years Financial, and we'll be talking about his book, When the Paycheck, Starrows. stops. Clark, welcome to the program. Thank you, Mike. It's great to be here. Hey, you know, I really want to

touch on some of the topics that you're talking about in your brand new book. And I think it's a really interesting mindset shift that many times people don't think about. So when you've decided to write this book, why did you feel that it needed to be written now, especially with so much retirement information that's already out there? Mike, that's a great question. And I think you hit the point exactly when you said there's a mind-ship change that goes on. There's so much information out there that's good information, but it's really built for the wrong season of life. The majority information that I see out there is really built more for the accumulation phase and it is the distribution phase. In other words, while we're working,

we have a paycheck, we're saving money, we're accumulating money. And then once retirement hits, the paycheck's gone and now we have to live on our nest egg. And retirement is not really an extension of work. It's a handoff to an entirely different season of our lives. And we have completely different risks that we have to manage. And more importantly, our emotions shift. Retirement is about people. Retirement is about living life.

It's not the finish line. And so much stuff that I see out there, tends to treat retirement as the finish line. It's not. It's a brand new beginning. You know, I think there was a song a while back that said every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end. Our working years end, but a brand new chapter opens, and it's a chapter that we should

live and we should live thoroughly. And so much of the retirement work that I see out there is more about, okay, how I make my nest egg last as opposed to how. How do I go into these years with the attitude of my body's only going to be young enough and healthy enough to really enjoy the world and enjoy what I'm doing for a set amount of time? How do I fund the rest of my life should really be the mindset? You know, when you were describing that, it made me think of an example. You probably heard of this in the past. It's one of those fictitious stories that makes a big point.

you know, the blind old men from India that have their hands on an elephant. And they asked the first one, what is this? And he's touching the side. And he says, oh, this is a wall. And the next Indian person says, oh, no, this is a tree because he's got, he's touching the legs. And the other one says, no, this is a vine because he's touching the tail. And they're all right, but their perspective is limited. And your point is so huge because if someone says, oh, give me a retirement.

plan. Well, someone could write up a spectacular retirement plan for a 25-year-old, and that would not apply to someone that's 65. No, it wouldn't. And that's what I was talking about when I said, most people think retirement's the finish line. It's not. It's a new beginning. And it's a time when the safety net changes. You know, when we're working, we've got a paycheck, and that paycheck quietly absorbs the risk that we're facing. If markets go down, we still get the paycheck. We're still contributing to our retirement accounts. We're dollar cost averaging.

We're getting more shares at a cheaper price. But when the paycheck stops, it's a completely different situation. So life gets expensive and we have to adjust to it. Volatility feels different when the paycheck goes away. I can show people, I can show people. I can show people how, you know, based on math and whatever, you know, this plan can stand this kind of volatility. But it doesn't ask the question of what is somebody going to do emotionally when it happens? Because when markets go down, people see large losses in their account.

Their emotions take over their rational brain. They don't realize that until it happens. So it's vitally important to keep them out of situations like that. And it's also vitally important that people have enough income that's guaranteed to fund not only the expenses that they have, but to fund things they want to do in life. You know, maybe people have a bucket list. Somebody retires at 65. They may have 15 years to get that bucket list done. And I see so many plans built that gives maybe the same amount of income as opposed to some people may want some of that income front loaded so that they've got more income in the first 15 years.

can do what they want. While they're healthy and able. Yeah, that's a, you know, and it kind of reminds me of this. You know, the best advice is wonderful when given at the right time. So you need to have a plan. So it reminds me of the phrase, you need to make it to and through retirement. So not only getting to retirement if 65 was the age that someone had in their mind, but at age 65, you retired, the paycheck stops.

Now what? Are you going to need your money to last until 90? or 95 or 110. We don't know, but we need to be prepared for that. So what are some of the things that you're doing to make sure that you sit down with the client and say, okay, when the paycheck stops at this age when we've decided you're going to retire, how many years are you going to want to plan to have a certain lifestyle that you're attaining? How do you help them frame that up in their mind?

Well, retirement financial planning is not really about hitting a number. It's about, first of all, knowing that your life continues when the rules change. And that's highly important because most people don't need more information. They need more clarity. A real plan connects their life and their priorities and the things that, you know, if they get to the end and they don't do, these become the biggest regrets ever. people rarely regret things that they did when they're at the end of the life. They regret things that they did not do.

And from my perspective, a big part of it is, you know, we've got a window when our bodies are young enough, we're healthy enough to do those things that we're going to regret not doing. And a good plan gives people permission to spend. It gives people permission to enjoy life as opposed to just hunkering down. and living their last years in a bunker and not doing anything. Retirement's about life and retirement's about enjoying life and retirement's about enjoying the things that you've always meant one day we will do this. Retirement's the time to get out there and do it. And that's the goal of the book is to get people the confidence to live retirement.

I love it. You know, you said that retirement isn't just a financial shift. It's an emotional one. what do you feel like is one of the most common emotional mistakes people make? And as I'm asking that and thinking that one thing that comes to my mind would be like, oh, I need to make sure all my money last for this long period of time. So I'm going to eat beans and rice and not go out there and do anything at all. Well, that's a mistake and that's an emotional mistake because you're living in fear.

What are some of the other common ones that you see that you help guide your clients through? not understanding the emotions that are going to come around when volatility hits in the marketplace. We commonly have, I say commonly, if we look at long time periods, there are long time periods where markets go down and stay down for a long time. People that tie their income to the markets are not able to give themselves permission to spend nearly as much as they could if they didn't do that. Yeah. Because those emotions take over life and those emotions start making decisions. Anxiety comes from not having the pieces fit together properly. When things are written out, they're connected, they're aligned.

People feel a major shift that goes on within them. And that's really the goal of the book. This book is not meant to impress people. This book is meant to allow people to breathe. Yeah. Yeah. give yourself permission to live, to spend a little bit. Be wise.

Don't go out and buy eight new cars. But that permission, I feel like, is something that people almost give this big exhale. Like, that just feels right, Clark. That, you know, that, and again, we've said it a couple different times, that mindset shift. So I think that there's a lot of times people that save diligently their whole life and they're striving and climbing. And while they're in the career, they put together, you know, that retribes. retirement portfolio. And what do you feel like is the hardest mindset shift that people need to

really overcome so that they enjoy retirement and allow themselves that freedom? That's what a good plan does, Mike. And I give you a real good example. I met with the lady today. And when she, when I first met with her, she said she needed something like $6,000 a month to live. So we provided that. That wasn't a problem. But in talking to her, the things that are really important to her or her family,

her plan now has every other year an extra $30,000 for her to take her family and extended family on vacation to build the memories that would not have been built so that after she's gone, extended generations are going to have memories of doing these things. And it was real easy to build the plan to do it. If she did not have the plan, and she told me this today, without the plan in place that gets her the money to actually take those big family vacations, as well as to pay for college for her two granddaughters, she wouldn't be doing those things. But she's doing things now because it's important to her, and it builds memories that will last way past her lifetime. Good plans.

You know, it builds those memories too, but doesn't it give her? her something to look forward to today and doesn't that then spike that emotion and peace of mind and excitement and that actually gives a higher quality of life, right? It gives a higher quality of life while she's still here. It gives her high, it gives a high quality of life or a higher quality of life to her family as well. Yeah. You know, and I think that probably if we put pen to paper and talk to experts, when that mindset is

there and that peace of mind. in excitement, you're going to live a little bit longer. No guarantees, of course. But, you know, as opposed to someone that's miserly clutching every dime they have and not spend anything, you know, there's a contrast there. And I think that that's a gift that you're able to unveil for people when you're walking them through that process. You know, that brings up something else. I met with someone a few weeks ago. And she said that her mother is a tight lot. She said her mother's going to die with a lot of money. She's going to leave her and her brother a lot of money. And we walked through one. And her mother retired in 1999. And then the markets crashed.

This lady has relied on the markets for her retirement income her whole life. Because she went through that emotional time period of the markets going down in 2000 and 2000 from 2000 to and then again in 2008, she has not let herself spend money because she's so afraid of it happening again. And it's cost her the enjoyment of her retirement years. And a good written retirement financial plan takes that off the table for people and gives people the ability to really enjoy life in retirement. And that's really what retirement's about. It's about life. It's not about the end. Yeah.

And I think that so many times people are just thinking, they're just in such a mindset of accumulation, growing, but then they have that trouble shifting into the decumulation or the, let's allow myself to breathe a little bit. And I think that that just takes someone to go, hey, it's okay. It's a, come on, take this one step. And, you know, it's kind of like the guide, the jungle guide. You know, it's okay. I'm right here with you.

I've got the machete. You know, this step is okay. I'm right here with you. And I think that so many times people have that accumulation mindset that they're just shifted into overdrive all the time. And that just actually, probably you've seen this, it becomes a big relief and a gift that you're able to, you know, unveil that to your clients. It starts with the, and you hit the nail on the head. It starts with the understanding that our lives have different phases. Our lives have different seasons.

But so does the way we act financially. We accumulate money for a time period of our lives, and then we have the distribution phase. When we treat the distribution phase is something totally different than the accumulation phase. It brings clarity, it brings relief, it brings freedom, and it gives people the ability to do things that they wouldn't be able to do if they kept that accumulation phase mindset. Yeah.

You know, Clark, let's wrap up with this. If someone is reading the book and you were to say, here's the one thing that I want them to take away from the book, what do you hope that is? Retirement's the next chapter of your life. Retirement's meant to be lived. Drop the mic. That's awesome.

Retirement is the next chapter. It's the beginning of the end of the previous chapter. It's meant to be lived. Give yourself permission. Have the right guide walking you through. the process. And Clark, if this is something that is interested for someone to pick up a copy of your book and reach out and connect with you, what's the best way that they can do that? So, Mike, the best way is to go to our website, which is golden years rIA.com.

And you mentioned the upcoming project. My next book is actually called The Seven Decisions Every Retiree Must Make. And none of them involve Netflix. We, We've hit on the seven decisions, some of the seven decisions, a little bit today. And the first one is to begin. And for a lot of people, this is the hardest one. But the final chapter is called Leave a Legacy, not Regrets. And I'm in the middle of writing the book. I can't wait for it to come out.

I think people are going to love that one just as much as they're going to love the one we're talking about today. Excellent. Well, that sounds really excellent. and we will make sure to have the link in the show notes. And thank you for coming back on. This is some exciting content. Okay. Thank you, Mike.

I've enjoyed it. Good talk to 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.w.com.