Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders, MBA - Interview with Michael Clanin, Certified Financial Fiduciary® with Safe Money Solutions Discussing Tax-Free Wealth Creation

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Michael has been in the financial and insurance business for over 20 years. He works with clients in the areas of Tax-Free Wealth Creation, retirement planning, lifetime income solution, legacy planning and business and Estate Planning. He is an advocate for the safety and protection of his client’s hard-earned retirement money.Michael is committed to delivering outstanding professional service to his clients and acting with honesty and integrity. He takes great pride in building long-term relationships with his clients to achieve their financial goals during working years and during enjoyment years.Michael’s mission is to help clients avoid losing money in the market, and instead build wealth safely, securely, and most importantly, provide lifetime income streams that will be there throughout your enjoyment years and then finally transitioning assets onto next generations more tax efficiently and possibly Tax-Free.Michael is a former educator, so naturally, his approach in working with clients is through guidance and education. He enjoys spending time with family, traveling, hiking, biking, and reading.Learn more: https://safemoney123.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-michael-clanin-certified-financial-fiduciary-with-safe-money-solutions-discussing-tax-free-wealth-creation

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 Michael Clannon, who's a certified financial fiduciary with safe money solutions, and we'll be talking about divorcing the IRS. Michael, welcome to the program.

Thank you, Mike. Good to be here. Hey, I'm excited to talk with you mainly because I don't think anybody likes that family member in their business, Uncle Sam. So I'm excited to hear your perspectives. And I'm confident that it's all how to pay as much taxes as we're required to, but not a penny more. But before we dive into that, tell us a little bit of your story and background. And how did you get into the industry? You know, that was, that's a unique way that I got into the industry.

I was a former educator taught elementary school and then for about six years, got my administration degree. And then I just got burnout. So I made the transition actually to work with teachers on financial planning. And teachers don't, they're thinking about today, right? Mike, they're not thinking about 30 years down the road. But eventually, you know, the thing is I like to have be in control of my personal situation and I like my clients to be in control of theirs. And what I couldn't control was the market, right?

We can't control the market. We can't control taxes, inflation, or liabilities to some extent. So basically what I tell clients is I don't have the license to lose your money like a your financial advisor does. Okay. And that's partly fun, but it's also serious, right? Yeah. But what I do, you know, my parents had a bad situation with a financial advisor who put them in something that was not appropriate. Even we had talked to, I had talked to my parents about, this is not what you want, but yet they were put into it. And really, they didn't even know what they were being put into it. So it took me seven years to unwind that contract. And it just happened to be

a variable annuity. And so it costs time. It costs money, lost opportunity. And that so, you know, I'm here as an advocate for my clients, right? When I have a client that comes in my door, or my first goal is to see, can I add value to their situation and put them in a better place than how I initially met them? Yeah. And that's my mission is to do that. You also mentioned certified financial fiduciary. Okay. So that is through the National Association of Certified Financial fiduciaries.

Now, financial advisors, just to kind of explain that, right, all fiduciaries are not the same. So a lot of financial advisors will call them a fiduciary. Now, what does that mean? They're supposed to put their clients' best interest ahead of their own, meaning their own bank account. Okay? This war gets thrown around like crazy. So as a, since I'm not a financial advisor, I can never really call myself a fiduciary, but I did come across this certification, which is a rigorous training, testing, background check, all of that.

And so I can call myself a fiduciary, financial fiduciary, but what that means is I can't actually recommend anything that is securities related, investing in the market. Okay. But basically, I have to follow a code of conduct, this very rigid. Okay. So practicing the duty of loyalty. okay putting always putting my client's best interest first practice the duty of good faith okay treat all clients that means treat all clients fairly okay practice the duty of good care that's exercising the skill of an expert to only advise in those areas that I'm an expert in okay educate so again I'm just a glorified

educator. Yeah. Okay, working with people who actually want to be educated, right? And, and educating them on on things that will benefit them and their pocketbook versus you and your pocketbook. And when that happens, everybody wins. Everybody, it's a win, win, win, solution. Okay. So let's talk about that IRS, divorcing the IRS. When you say someone can do that, that sounds like a bold statement. And it sounds like a little bit of a red flag like, oh, I don't want to mess with them. What does that really mean? It is a very bold statement. Okay.

And because of that, people raise their hands like, oh, I don't know about that, right? Red flag, like you said, is this a scam? You know, here's a thing. There's been things in place and they're not new. They're just new to my clients because these are strategies at the altruy. wealthy have done for decades and centuries. Yeah. Okay.

So they've been around. But unless you're hanging out with the ultra wealthy people, you're never going to find out about this. Okay. Now, I haven't hung out with a lot of ultra wealthy people, but I've learned from those people who have those clients. Yeah. So here's the thing. You don't have to be ultra wealthy to take advantage of these types of planning. And it probably doesn't have much to do with the cliche offshore accounts, hiding money and all of that.

It's just things that are buried in the tax code, which I've heard, and I've never seen this. I'd love to actually see the tax code book because I've heard rumor you can confirm that it's about 30,000 pages long. That's about right. And myself, I have not read it too. I don't need to read it because I work. with people, you know, most people have heard of CPAs, right? Mike, what's a CPA stand for? Certified public accountant.

Right. My definition is copy paste attach. They are compliant. They are in compliance. They are not tax strategist. So when they hand over the bill, your tax bill to pay the IRS, right? You just pay it. Yeah.

Okay? They're not tax strategist. So my job is a fee money in my clients account by using tax code and business and estate planning structures. Nice. So that means that you have to probably restructure. So when you're working with a business to restructure their tax liability, you can get some pretty big numbers. You say even as much as $80. to 95% what are some of those key structures or shifts that you're focusing on well you've heard of

the concept or the phrase own nothing control everything yeah some people have heard that some people haven't that was coined by john d rockefeller um people know what that is but they don't understand what it means and what john d rockefeller was talking about is you people think they have to own things personally in their name tied to their social security number. Okay. So there's an ego spot or I don't know what ego. Just put an ego, right? Big ego, right?

Yeah, yeah. And so people, when I bring this concept, this strategy, this solution, they have to get out of their own way. Okay, but by transitioning to these types of structures, this is what allows us to help the business owner reduce their tax exposure by 80 to 95 percent. While at the same time strengthening asset protection, increasing cash flow, and putting the right business and estate planning structures in place that will protect their business. business from outside forces like lawsuits, like divorce and other risks outside their control. And this is also on the personal side. So what does that mean, Mike?

Own nothing, control everything. I have implemented this strategy along with every other strategy that I bring to clients. I'm a consumer first. On paper, I am destitute. Technically, I would qualify for Medicaid. I'm that destitute. So if somebody would sue me, okay, or whatever, they're not going to get anything. Because I don't own it.

Plus the structure, when it's inside the structure, it can't be penetrated. To get, even if they would win that lawsuit, they're not going to get up anything because it's up to me to say, okay, I'll give you that money or not. Yeah. You know, that's, I get that overview and that's powerful. And I think that is really something that people that are business owners leave on the table. And I think that that's something that at least someone should say, you know, give me a snapshot. What could this look like for me? And then, you know, when we're talking about taxes and tax reduction, that's huge.

Because I know for me, like debt reduction, that's important. You need to have as low a debt as possible. So you need to have as low of taxes as possible. So now shift over to tax-free wealth. A lot of people think taxes are just a cost of making money, but you teach people how to create wealth inside a tax-free system. What does that look like? Right.

So let's back up a little. So most people, all they're doing it is kicking the can down the road, and they're just deferring taxes. So first, where do most people put their money while they're, working and for a case, right, qualified accounts, right? To get a little tax break today only for that money, oh, and by the way, they're getting a match from the employer, which is not free money. People think that's free money. It's not. Okay. Because guess what? You are creating a big, hairy, ugly monster 20 or 30 years down the road and you're going to pay a godly amount on a large

large taxes on a godly amount. Okay. And if taxes go up, guess what? You're going to get back less. So I show people how to divorce the IRS. Okay. So we only pay taxes on the $1, not the $1 that grows to $100. Right.

Yeah, I've heard it said pay tax on the seed, not the harvest. Correct. That's exactly where I was going to go, farmers, right? They want to pay taxes on the bag of seed, not what the harvest accumular, or, you know, produces. Produces, yeah. Now, here's the other thing, divorcing the IRS with those types of plans. So really, stop feeding those plans. Take those and redirect those into tax-free wealth strategies and solutions.

Okay. and there is a way to divorce the IRS. Mike, what if I told you there was a way to get money out of qualified accounts without you physically having to pay the taxes out of your money and other accounts? We let other people or entity pay the taxes for you.

That would be wonderful. My tax bill this past year, I would like to have someone else have paid that for me. Right. Right. But again, these are, these are solutions that most financial people, traditional insurance agents,

CPAs, they don't know about. These are strategies and solutions I had to go out. Pick one or two of like these tax-free vehicles that people don't know about. What are the typical overlooked tax-free vehicles? So one of the vehicles. Okay, so let's talk about how to divorce IRS on current monies that you're deferring taxes on. Okay.

So what if there's monies, if you can take money from one pocket out of those qualified accounts, put them in another pocket. Okay. Another plan. So basically taking it from a 401K or even a traditional IRA or any other accounts that you're deferring taxes. Okay. And put that into an IRA. Okay.

And these IRAs that I work with, I work with companies that give a bonus that is added day one on top of your deposit. Okay. And that bonus can be anywhere from 11 to 20 percent. Could be more. Okay. Based on your state. Okay.

So we use that bonus. money and the growth of the account to say over three to five years. And we use that excess money that you did not have to start with. And we let the insurance company pay the taxes for you in a roundabout way. So by the time you're done converting, guess what? You still have your principal intact and there's still going to be growth there that did not have to go to pay the taxes. But each year when we convert, that money is now growing tax-free forever. And when you need an income stream, that income is going to be tax-free forever. Nice.

Now, when would you, before retirement, how far ahead of retirement would you need to do that type of strategy? Because it can't be one year before because you got to have time to do it. So do you recommend five years, 10 years before retirement to be thinking about that particular type of strategy? as soon as possible. You should start it. Okay. Now, why do most people don't start Roth conversions? Because they don't want to pay the taxes.

They keep delaying it until they're required to at age 73 now. Okay? So the sooner. So now, here's the thing. With people that have IRAs, they can move an IRA to an IRA, no tax event happened and start converting. If they are an old 401 case, okay, like they're gone from that employer, you can do the same thing. With current employees, Mike, did you know with current employees, employer plans, 401ks, any others, you can actually move that money to your own

IRA while you're still working and you can actually still convert, or sorry, contribute to that IRA. I'm going to tell you not to, but you could. Okay. And you have to be over 59.5 to do that. It's called it in-service withdrawal. So you'll have to check with your plan to see if it allows you in-service withdrawals. Most of them do. Okay.

So what is that doing? Not only are we converting the taxes, but we're taking the risk off of you personally because most of those accounts are invested in the market. Right? And the sooner, the closer you get to retirement, the more reliable you're going to need that money. So the thing is, can you handle a 401k going to a 201K, like we saw in 2000? Right. Yep.

Right. Where portfolios dropped by 40 to 50 percent and it took 10 years to get back to par. When you're close to retirement, you don't have time, the luxury of time on your side. So putting monies where you, again, my company's safe money solutions, where it's safe. If you cannot lose one penny in any of the things that I do, contractually guaranteed. Okay. So your accounts can only go up. Your income can only grow up and that.

It never participates in a negative market because your money is not directly tied to the, not directly invest in the market. Yeah, that's awesome. Let's kind of wrap up with this one, Michael. talk a little bit about guaranteed income because I think that a lot of times people think, you know, the market is volatile and you can't ever, you know, have guaranteed income in the market. It does things crazy all the time.

But at some age, you need to go, I'm done with all of that, you know, volatility. Let's put some money into something that's never going to go down. What does that look like? Yeah, what I find is, you know, during working years, people are, that's accumulation stage. Think of going up the mountain. You can handle a few slips. That's the market loss because you have supposedly time on your side. When you get to the peak, that's when you're transitioning from the from the working years to the enjoyment years. Okay. And this is what the enjoyment years is where there's more death. Me coming down the mountain, more deaths happening coming down the mountain.

what are the deaths in the financial world? It's taxes. Number one. Inflation. Number one concern for retirees. You want to guess what it is? Not having enough money to do what they need to do. Right.

Running out of money is a number one risk that keep retirees up at night. Lawsuits go into the nursing home or need. needed extended health care. These are things that will deplete your assets. And my job is to make your assets or cash flow continue as long as you're alive. We don't want your money to outlive you. We want you to outlive your. We do want the money to outlive you.

You don't want to outlive the money. Oh, sorry. I got that backwards. Okay. Yes. Yeah. You want plenty of money to. do what you want when you want no matter of what age.

Yeah, yeah. Right. We want your money to outlive you. Okay. So as far as creating guaranteed income streams. So it, you know, the biggest thing is the first thing is to cover your monthly needs. Okay. Yeah.

Everyday expenses, right? That's the basic. And that's all that is is transitioning things from, again, one pocket, it to another, okay? And we use, you know, things that, everything that I do has a negative connotation because of what people have heard about these things. And the things that they think to be true are not true at all or only partially true. Okay.

So let me give you an example. We use annuities. Okay. Now, there's lots of different kinds of annuities. Annuities are not all created equal. We have the annuities in the market. I already explained. That was what my parents were put in.

They can lose money. High fees. Then on the other extreme, okay, we have safe money alternatives. Fixed annuities, which is the equivalent insurance equivalent to the bank CD. You put money in, you know the interest rate, you know what your amount's going to be at the end of that term. Then we have fixed indexed annuities. And these are things that grow your money without risk, create guaranteed income. So if you're pulling money out of your current types of retirement plans that are invested in the market, you can run out of money.

Okay. When you need it, if the market goes down and you're taking out, you're going to, you're going to, deplete that money even quicker. When you go through your money, guess what? Game is over. Versus a fixed index annuity, for example, when your account goes zero, that income continues to come for the rest of your life. And if you're married, it's for your spouse also. So as long as one of your life, that income continues regardless. So basically, clients are taking on 100% of the risk. So my job is to take as much risk off of them personally and put it on others, insurance companies. Now, people, you don't have to like insurance. I don't like insurance,

but I love what it does. What it does, right? I was thinking that's the same thing. That's where it's going. Now, Mike, annuities. I already said this is a negative connotation, right? what people think. So I have to educate people on the facts. Okay. When people start taking social security, if they have a pension, those are an annuity. They are guaranteed to receive some type of income. Okay. You don't think of it like that. Right. Because pensions can dry up. If social security does not make changes, people are going to see a reduction in their social security benefits. I think the last thing I saw was like 20 some percent. That's not going to happen.

So they're going to have to change, you know, when people, you know, extend when people can actually start social security or put more in or whatever, okay? Or you can't start social security at 62. It might be 65, right? But those are annuities. So I tell people, if you don't like annuities, you use. need to send that money back. Now, I know they won't because they like it. But that's what we're doing. We're creating a private pension, another social security check that is guaranteed that will not

reduce any payments for their lifetime. Okay. And that. So again, it's just educating people. I love it. Well, Michael, this has been really good to kind of take that 30,000 foot view of opportunities that typically people don't know about because it's like they say, you don't know what you don't know. Well, now you know that there's possibilities. And if someone is interested in having you kind of give a second opinion or look at their retirement situation and see what possibilities might be options for them, what would you say is the best way that they can learn a little bit more and reach out and connect with you? Yeah, the easiest way is on internet.

go to info at safe money one, two, three.com. There you can learn some more and educate yourself. You can schedule an appointment. But that is the best way to make contact. My contact number is on there also. So if you want a short discussion, we can do. Yeah, I'll have the direct link also on the show notes below so they can just click right there and go right to your website. That's awesome.

Michael, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure chatting with you. Thanks, Mike. I've enjoyed it and look forward to more. 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. Influential Entrepreneurs Radio.com.