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Real World Retirement is a podcast hosted by Alexander Pushman, dedicated to exploring all aspects of retirement planning with the help of expert financial advisors. Each episode dives into crucial topics like Social Security, investing, taxes, legacy planning, and income strategies, offering real-world insights and practical advice. Listeners are encouraged to stay engaged by following the podcast, sharing their questions, and shaping future episodes tailored to their retirement needs.
So death and taxes conversation topics for the upcoming holidays. Take, you know, the the elephant out of the room and have that conversation. You know, when this person passes away, what is the plan?
Alex:Hey, I want to welcome everybody to The Real World Retirement Podcast. This is really exciting. This is going to be a really fun journey. Every single episode, what I'm going to be doing is bringing on a financial expert who has very unique real world stories to bring client situations right there to the public, right here to the podcast, and help you understand the different solutions that we're using to help families in retirement. So my name is Alexander Pushman.
Alex:I am your host. And, in this very first episode, I am fired up. We have one of the best financial advisors that I personally know, absolute professional, Katie Gushin. And she is out of here of the Clarkston office in Michigan. And, you know, Katie's got a really, really unique and really cool story.
Alex:And so kind of before we jump into the case studies and we we start nerding out at all this financial stuff, Katie, do me a favor. You know, tell me a little bit about, you know, what got you into this business, why you love doing it, and kinda kinda just your story about becoming a financial adviser.
Katie:Yeah. So I started off over 10 years ago now, and I worked for, a military wealth management and trust company. At the time I was a military spouse and, spent 10 years doing that. So helping soldiers with transitioning out of retirement, you know, saving for retirement, and then really, you know, getting into, helping, you know, the next generation, you know, plan for the future. For me personally, the main thing that I that really kind of made me realize that I was on the right path in doing something that I knew I wanted to do, I sat down with my grandparents.
Katie:So my grandfather was a, former marine. So World War 2, he actually, bought my grandmother's engagement ring when he was stationed at Pearl Harbor.
Alex:How about that?
Katie:So pretty cute. And, he sat down with me and said, you know, would you mind taking a look at our finances and making sure that our affairs are in order? And I had been waiting forever. I didn't wanna push. He's a very private person.
Katie:So I said, Yeah, let's go over everything. And as we started going through, you know, his information, one, I realized that we hadn't waited entirely too long.
Alex:Okay.
Katie:At that time, I want to say they were 96 and 93 years old. So what were we waiting for? But you know, I said, do you have a copy of your estate plan? Can I review that information? And he goes, well, you know, I have it.
Katie:And he pulls it out of the, you know, shoe box that's in the closet and it references the typewriter it's written on. And I'm like, okay. We have a problem. I said, do you think the attorney could send me, you know, like an updated version? He goes, oh, I don't think that's gonna be possible.
Katie:He's been dead for quite some time. So I said, Okay, this needs to be updated. But as I was working with them, you know, we sat down, we started talking about what comes next. And for them it was, you know, end of life. And that's not an easy conversation to have.
Katie:It's something you and I have this conversation on a daily basis, and we almost forget the magnitude of what we're talking about with people because I'm sitting there with my grandparents and I go into financial adviser mode and I'm like, okay, so, you know, upon your passing, we'll do this. And then upon your passing, this. And I look up from the table and everybody has tears in their eyes. And I'm like, okay. Let's let's dial it back.
Katie:But these are important conversations to have. Yeah. These are conversations I encourage, you know, all my clients to have because you wanna be prepared. You you don't wanna, you know, get caught off guard for something like that. So that for me was like, okay, one of my light bulb moments.
Katie:I had a lot of light bulb moments, but, you know, that was when I truly realized what we do is is making a difference, and, I wanna make sure you know, I I'm a mom. I have 3 kids. I wanna make sure that I've prepared them, and, I've prepared myself so that they're not stuck kind of picking up the pieces following that.
Alex:Yeah. Which is easier said than done, and it's like and I know, you know, my story is very similar, pertaining to, like, my grandpa ran out of money on one side of the family. My my my grandmother runs out of, you know, money on the other side of the family. And so, like, my my whole exposure to the financial industry, wasn't like a, hey, oh, this is this is a great thing, and I want you know, I wanna get into Wall Street. It's like, no.
Alex:Hey. There's good and bad in every field. And there's so many families that struggle to have those hard conversations. Right. Where again, to your point, part of our job, you know, as financial advisors, like I always say, part of our job is, of course, everybody talks about, hey, the stocks and the growth and the taxes and everything else.
Alex:Part of it is being an accountability partner
Katie:Right.
Alex:To have people complete the things they say they want to complete and thus hold them accountable to those timelines. Right. Absolutely. You know? So I know, you know, the topic of today, just so everybody knows, the topic of today, I'll I'll kinda throw it out there, which I love, is death and taxes.
Alex:So I know you have some really, really, let's just say, unique client scenarios and case studies that that we wanna share with the the podcast here. What would where would you like to start? Because I know you got some good nuggets here, and I'm gonna kinda lead lead it leave it up to you where you'd like to kinda start and go through that story and kinda let's walk through how you helped them out and what's you tell me where you'd like to start.
Katie:So death and taxes, conversation topics for the upcoming holidays. So no. Just kidding. The the main reason I wanted to talk about, you know, death and taxes so, again, kind of going back to my grandparents.
Alex:Yeah.
Katie:Having those uncomfortable conversations, one thing we say a lot, you need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. I had a situation a couple weeks ago. You know, I was sitting down with a client and she realized, you know, how beneficial it had been planning this out. It gave her peace of mind, and she said, I wish I could get my mom to come in here and and talk to you because she needs to make sure all of her affairs are in order. And she said she just doesn't like talking about her demise.
Katie:Nobody does. Right? And my my comment to her was, you got to use the bust scenario. And she's like, bust scenario. So for me, the bus scenario is I don't ever want to sit in that room and, you know, if someone's hand is visibly shaking or they tell me, you know, they have Parkinson's or they have whatever it is.
Katie:I don't wanna address that in that meeting.
Alex:Yeah.
Katie:I I wanna take, you know, some of that stress away. I I don't wanna identify that. So I always use the same scenario. What if you walk out of here and get hit by a bus? You know, that that can happen to anybody.
Katie:Right?
Alex:Absolutely.
Katie:So same thing with husband and wife. You know, if we're talking about one going and then, you know, if the other one were to pass away. No. Both of you walk out of here and get hit by a bus. Yeah.
Katie:And she kinda laughed. You can say when grandma wrecks her bike at, you know, her Harley at bike week, I don't care what it is. Keep it light. Keep it fun. Take, you know, the elephant out of the room and have that conversation.
Katie:You know, when this person passes away, what is the plan? And and stress test that financial plan.
Alex:Okay.
Katie:Because what you don't want is to be, you know, again, caught off guard, and realize that you don't have enough in terms of assets. So you mentioned case studies. I I could tell you several, but the one that comes to mind for me
Alex:k.
Katie:When I was working with military members, colonel and missus colonel, they come into the office. We're doing their financial plan, and he makes the joke because, you know, I I'm always stress testing. So I said, okay. You know, you get hit by the bus. And he says to me, he goes, miss Katie, he goes, you are the princess of darkness.
Katie:And I First
Alex:time you heard that?
Katie:Yeah. Right? I was like, this is a new term of endearment. What do you mean? And he goes, every time I come in here, you're killing me off.
Katie:And I laughed because I am. I am always killing them off. But
Alex:And you're referring to the income plan. Hey, what if you die here? What if you die here? Right. Right.
Katie:And I said to him, I go, the thing is, when the higher income earner, you know, not husband, not wife, the higher income earner passes away, that's what's going to what puts the most stress on your plan.
Alex:Right.
Katie:And so I said, I want to test this out because if you get hit by the bus tomorrow, I want to make sure Mrs. Colonel is okay. And so he understood that. And when we did that, we realized that there were some shortfalls within their plan.
Alex:Okay.
Katie:So, you know, he wanted to get rid of his life insurance. I don't need to pay for this anymore. I don't need life insurance. And I said, well, mister Colonel, if we get rid of that life insurance, it's not successful for your wife. This plan is not successful.
Katie:So let's keep it in play for another 5 years, and we'll revisit that conversation. He had a survivor benefit on his pension. He said, well, I I want to keep a 100% to myself because it gives me a bigger benefit. I said, but in the event that you get hit by the bus, she's not going to have enough in terms of assets to live off of. So we ended up keeping that in play.
Katie:I kid you not, not even 6 months later, I get a phone call from the wife.
Alex:Oh, no.
Katie:He's just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and he passed away within 18 months of that meeting.
Alex:Goodness.
Katie:Now as heartbroken as I was Right. Because we become very invested Absolutely. And get to know these people quite well. We become very close with them.
Alex:It's a it's a business relationship with a very, very personal piece to it.
Katie:They are sharing information with us. They're not sharing with anybody else. Amen. As heartbroken as I was over all of that, I had peace of mind knowing she was going to be okay Right. Because we had stress tested this every way we possibly could
Alex:Right. Right.
Katie:And every time it was successful only because we had implemented those changes.
Alex:Amen. And So and and so let me ask you a couple questions because, like, you know, 2 couple things that I'm hearing is, like, number 1, and I I I'm a broken record with this stuff, you know, is plan for the worst. Yep. Right? Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Alex:But then also when you say stress testing, what do you mean by that? What does that mean to you?
Katie:So any anything that could possibly go wrong. For me, it's, you know, an early death scenario, long term care event, you know, that can often people often overlook that one. Mhmm. Because if if you're not able to work, you know, the average long term care event, so needing long term care, whether it's, you know, a nursing home or a private nurse coming to the house, the average event is 1 to 3 years. And and most everyone is gonna have 1.
Katie:Yeah. So we don't we don't know how long that's gonna be Right. And if your plan is going to survive that financially. So I I stress test. I am the princess of darkness.
Katie:It is true.
Alex:Well, hey, you know, for but
Katie:you My intentions are good.
Alex:Your intentions are good. And and so, you know, kinda just thinking about this one and just to kinda dive dive a little bit deeper on it. So, okay, we're gonna extend the life insurance 5 more years, you know, and and make sure we get to kind of like x to where now we are what we would call self insured. Right? And they weren't there yet.
Katie:Right.
Alex:And and that's a big one that I'm always talking about with families because that that one can go two ways. Right? You know, what I always look at is like the first way it can go is to your point, hey, somebody just doesn't wanna pay their premium.
Katie:Right. None of us do.
Alex:None of us do. Amen. But, you know, hey, I don't wanna pay this $300. You know, I'm making good money. I'm okay.
Alex:But they're not at the liquid investment point Right. To where now, hey, you're self insured, and you don't need those type of insurances. Right? And so how out of curiosity, how are you figuring that out? You know, how do you how do you kinda draw a line saying, hey, it's 5 years from now?
Alex:Like, how can how can you project into the future, you know, being obviously a, you know, high level expert in financial planning, but, like, what do you what tools do you use? What's kind of a good recommendation you use for families to understand where that is, and how are you projecting?
Katie:So we're doing comprehensive financial planning. Okay. So we are going into the weeds. I I ask lots of personal questions. You know, I wanna know your expenses.
Katie:I'm gonna inflate those. I'm Every bill that you're going to have to pay and then, you know, where your expenses are going to be in retirement and factoring everything in. And I got to a point in their plan where I saw, you know, the assets that they were drawing out and what they were going to be drawing out 5 years from now. And if his income went away, where she would be, and the numbers didn't match up. Amen.
Katie:So at the end of that line, there's a red negative number, and I wasn't okay with that.
Alex:And you're really talking about, and again, you know, obviously, you know, this financial planning is very, very it can be scary for people, right? It can be overwhelming. It's confusing. But really what you're talking about is like a, a distribution plan or an income plan, right? Where you're looking out 20, 30 years, hey, you're, you're factoring all these different things of, hey, what if this happens?
Alex:What if that happens? Are you, are you not okay? Which then gives you the ability to kind of set these barriers for families. Is that fair?
Katie:Absolutely. Okay. And one thing, you know, people always bring up net worth. Net worth is, you know, the total of everything you own. So you have multiple homes or or whatever it may be, cars.
Katie:You don't wanna necessarily have to sell those assets Right. To maintain your income plan. So so a lot of times people think, well, I have assets. Well, if husband passes away or the higher income earner passes away and you have to meet this number, but you don't wanna sell the vacation house
Alex:Right. What
Katie:are you gonna do? You know, that the only way to liquidate that asset is to sell it, and you may not be willing to do that. So you need to make sure you have those liquid assets available.
Alex:So what goes into just really quick on the income plan concept. What what goes into an income plan? Like, what are kind of the the major, you know, variables, or data data pieces you need to really have a good sound income plan?
Katie:The one thing I always emphasize, the accuracy of your expenses.
Alex:Okay. So How much you're spending a
Katie:month? Exactly. Okay. And a lot of times, people will add up all their bills. That is not an accurate number.
Alex:Right.
Katie:And I always joke and say your wife is lying about how much she spends on Amazon because that is I buy everything there. I'm not running out to the stores. Right. But, you know, adding in all those miscellaneous, You know, for me, they added a new coffee shop near my house. When I went through my monthly debit card bill, I was like, oh, my gosh.
Katie:I am spending so much money there. Every time I get in the car, you know, hey. You want a coffee? Kids want a sandwich? You know, I'm stopping there every time I go up and down the road.
Katie:I don't stop there as much now because I'm aware of what I'm spending.
Alex:Right.
Katie:But, you know, just taking that accountability, factoring all that in, if that number is accurate, then I feel confident in delivering that report to you and saying, hey. You're gonna be okay. Right. If you lowball me on a number, you're only hurting yourself.
Alex:Absolutely.
Katie:And I'm probably gonna figure it out anyway. So just be honest upfront. But, no, it's it's not going to be accurate. You're only hurting yourself.
Alex:And so it starts the most important thing, and I completely agree is, hey, how what are we spending a month? Not only on your bills, you know, not only on these ancillary entertainment, travel, like, whatever falls into that bucket for that person or that family.
Katie:I say there's no right or wrong answer. Right. We just need the accurate answer. Right.
Alex:Right. And and and I know, you know, we've talked about this before, but like, hey, they come in at $3 a month. You might be like, I'm gonna jump this up to $3,500 or $4 because now you are accounting for taxes and they didn't even consider
Katie:it. Right.
Alex:You know, so so that that that can be a wormhole. What other elements do you make sure you're baking into an income plan?
Katie:So the one thing I like too, let's just say you come in and say, okay, my expenses are $3,000 a month. Okay. Then at the end of the year, based on what you have coming in in terms of income and what you're telling me your expenses are, you should have this much leftover. So
Alex:Alex money market.
Katie:Yes. Alex, at the end of the year, you have a $50,000 check that you're going to give me to reinvest, and you're either gonna say yes or no. And if you're saying no, those expenses are not accurate. Right.
Alex:So you're sitting here tallying up the numbers. You say, oh, great. So so this is how much we're gonna invest in the year and holding it accountable to the reality of
Katie:that number. Okay.
Alex:Okay. You know, I obviously I know you have a wealth of knowledge and, and, and one of the things that I really appreciate about your approach to financial planning is your experience with veterans and that military background, which obviously is not only close to just your heart with, you know, your grandparents. And, you know, I know you spent a lot of time in that working with a lot of, you know, high level military folks. And, you know, what what would be some things, let's say, you know, that we have a listener or a viewer who's a military person. You know, are there any things that you think would be important for these folks to know, that maybe is unique to the military or a veteran or whatnot?
Alex:You know, some things that maybe would be a nice nugget for them to say, hey, didn't know about that.
Katie:Yes. So another case study, had a situation where military spouse, they came in to me and said, hey, look, we're we're looking to retire. And husband was super excited because he had just bought, you know, a brand new motor motorcycle. It was his retirement gift to himself. And he he goes out, and he doesn't come back.
Alex:Oh, baby.
Katie:So he had just, they they had just bought their forever home, and, you know, wife is devastated, understandably. And we started, you know, looking at, okay. We gotta make the best of this. Right? So we we wanted to help her as as much as possible and came across something called the HEART Act.
Alex:Okay. H a r t?
Katie:E a r t.
Alex:Okay. So just like the HEART. Okay. Yep. Okay.
Katie:Heroes Earning Assistance Relief Tax, Act of 2,008.
Alex:Okay.
Katie:So I've never heard of this record. Yeah. So, military members get something called SGLI. It's the Service Member Group Life Insurance.
Alex:Okay.
Katie:Normally, a life insurance policy so if you were to get hit by a bus Right.
Alex:Knock on wood.
Katie:You get hit by a bus, your life insurance the only thing you're gonna be able to do with that or your spouse would be able to do with that is put it into, like, a nonqualified
Alex:account. Right.
Katie:So they inherit it tax free. Right. And then it goes into a non qualified account.
Alex:Or the bank, which unfortunately people just don't invest it, whatever. But it's non qualified, not a retirement dollar, not an IRA dollar, not a Roth dollar. Non qualified after tax capital gains stock.
Katie:Yes.
Alex:Okay.
Katie:So you put a dollar in that non qualified account or you put a dollar in that checking account, all the growth, the interest you're going to pay taxes.
Alex:Right. Okay.
Katie:So, the Heart Act allows you to take that life insurance settlement and put it into a Roth IRA.
Alex:Really?
Katie:All of it.
Alex:Wow. I I have not heard of that.
Katie:Yes. That is $400,000 is what SGLI awards you.
Alex:Okay. Is that life insurance policy?
Katie:Yep. That's the service member group life insurance. $400,000 that you can put into a Roth account.
Alex:Okay.
Katie:And then the beauty of the Roth IRA, for those that may not know, Roths grow tax free, and they are inherited tax free. So now because of this, everything, every dollar that money, you know, that 400,000 grows, it will all be tax free to
Alex:her No kidding.
Katie:And her children.
Alex:That is massive. Yeah. Because historically, outside of what I'm hearing right now, there's really only 2 ways into a Roth. Right? A, if you're doing contributions, which is coming from earned income.
Alex:Right? And you're limited.
Katie:Right.
Alex:Right? If you're, you know, if you're over 50, and let's just say we're kind of talking to a retirement population, if you're over 50, you're going to be limited, you know, obviously when we're recording this podcast, to $8,000 a year. Right. However, the only other way outside of earning money, being limited, and contributing out of that paycheck or out of your bank account would be a Roth conversion, which I know is a hot topic button, where you're taking IRA dollar 401k403b, paying the tax and moving it into a Roth.
Katie:Right.
Alex:Right? And so now your point is, and again, just to make sure everybody out there is aware, you know, a Roth IRA, A, you put the money in, it's already been taxed. So it grows tax free. And then if you decide to use it, it's tax free on the distribution. And then to your point, if you don't use it, and it goes to the family, the beneficiaries, tax free.
Alex:So the big question I would ask, you know, people out there is, you know, do you prefer to have a tax free dollar or a dollar that can be taxed infinitely? Right. AKA non qualified. Yep. Right?
Alex:Wow. That is massive.
Katie:Yeah. Huge savings. And when you talk about doing Roth conversions, let's just say, you know, that 400,000, if you were converting it, you would have to pay taxes on that entire 400,000.
Alex:Right.
Katie:That's getting added to your income. You're going to the highest tax bracket real quick with adding 400,000 to your income. So she was able to move all of it into a Roth IRA and will forever get that tax free.
Alex:That is massive. Wow. That's really incredible. So, like, the first thing I would say, if you're a listener right now or you're watching, and you are somebody or you know somebody who's gone through this, I had not known about that rule. That is that is a big, big deal.
Alex:Please feel free to reach out to us, through our social social channels, our social media. You can you can actually reach out to us just to do a little quick plug. FOGUS Financial Group, you can find us on Facebook. You can find us on on on the web. Foguthfinancial.com is our website, and you can go to Foguth Financial Group.
Alex:But, you know, type us into a doctor Google will pop up for you there. But that that's a big one. And I, and again, I'm I'm even like, my mind's kind of running with clients that I work with. And I'm thinking, wait a minute, did I maybe miss an opportunity? So I'm going to be, I'm going to be calling my old right hand man associate over there and start doing some digging because, hey, that's a big one.
Alex:Yeah. So that, that's an amazing nugget. And thank you for sharing that. And, what an impact for that family going through a terrible scenario, right? You lose your husband right when he retires, basically.
Alex:Works his whole life, gets there. But it's those little things to your point and kind of both of your examples and case studies we've discussed today. It was a female, right? Yep. And the male was the higher earner, leaving their wife in kind of a tough jam and little things that we can do to make sure they're okay.
Katie:Right. I have one more for you.
Alex:Yeah. All right. Let's hear it.
Katie:This time, we'll do the opposite. So a gentleman, again, death and taxes. He was in the process. They were in the process of doing Roth conversions. So realizing that they were in this high tax situation and not wanting his kids to inherit his tax situation.
Katie:So he said, I'm going to start doing Roth conversions or we're going to start doing Roth conversions so that our kids do not have to pay so much in taxes. Great idea. His wife passes away unexpectedly in November. Now, as you and I know, you have until December of that tax year. He calls me and says it probably doesn't make sense to do these Roth conversions now.
Katie:The one thing he was not thinking about, he is in a married filing jointly tax bracket currently in November. The following year, he will be in a single tax bracket as a widow. Now, do I think it's right? No. I hate seeing that, but it is what it is.
Alex:It is what it is.
Katie:So I said, you know, with all due respect, I'm very sorry for your loss. Right. It makes even more sense to do these Roth conversions now. Right. And I actually think we should do more and accelerate it because this is the last year we're gonna get this tax break.
Alex:Yeah.
Katie:So we we did a larger Roth contribution or conversion because, he was not gonna be in that tax bracket.
Alex:No kidding. Yeah. And and and, like, you know, I know we always talk about it. It's like those single filers, they get killed on taxes.
Katie:Yeah. And the thing to keep in mind too, you're inheriting your spouse's IRA. Right. So you're adding to the pot.
Alex:Mhmm. And then taxes are getting worse.
Katie:And taxes
Alex:Your Social Security gets smaller.
Katie:Yeah. You you probably just went from, you know, if you're in the 22% bracket, you could have just gone to or for the 12%, you could have gone to 22.
Alex:And 10%, that's a real number. That's a huge number. Absolutely. It is. So that that's a great example.
Alex:So really quick, just to kind of dive in it because, you know, obviously, you know, our topic today is death and taxes. And, you know, what was it? The princess of darkness?
Katie:Princess of darkness.
Alex:Princess of darkness. The, so so when we talk about, like, the death and tax piece, a, it's the 2 things, and I think kind of the running joke is, is death and taxes are the 2 things that are guaranteed in life. Right. Right? You know, when, you know, without going down a rabbit hole, like we could talk about 50 types of life insurance.
Alex:We could talk about 50 different types of tax planning strategies on IRA dollars, non qualified dollars, you know, employee stock option plans, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Those are 3 phenomenal case studies. Is there any other, you know, kind of what I would say best practices that you use to educate clients, when it comes to, you know, maybe some softball. Roth conversions is a great one. I know that's a that's a really hot topic, and maybe we add a little bit of flavor to that.
Alex:But is there any other, you know, kind of tax strategies that you think are softballs that would be good for somebody to know, whether they're in the military or not?
Katie:Yeah. Really just being aware of your current tax bracket. And in doing the planning, just like I said, you know, planning for death. We we know it's going to occur.
Alex:Right.
Katie:You don't wanna be, you know, caught, with your pants down. You want to make sure the same with taxes. You want to make sure if you can do that, that pre planning ahead of time, do that. You're going to be in a higher tax bracket upon the passing of the spouse. So so doing that there.
Alex:Yeah. And that's a great point because the harsh reality is there's never a good time to do it. No. Right? And like the game of life, right, we know never turns off, and there's never a perfect time, you know.
Alex:Oh, hey. So and so birthday. Hey. We're going on vacation. I'm sick.
Alex:Hey. It's the holidays. Like, there's never a good time to have these tough conversations. And to your point, I think that's a phenomenal point of draw a line in the sand. And what I would also encourage if if you have a financial planner and you're listening or watching, like I said earlier, your financial planner should be your accountability partner.
Alex:Right? It's not my job to be a yes man, and it's it's not our job to just say yes. Our job is to help educate people, make sure they know the the rules to play by. Because if you don't know the rules to the game, how are you going to play it? Right?
Alex:But but then also help educate people on all those different options to make an informed choice. And then again, to my my my kind of first point is then hold them accountable to a timeline.
Katie:Right.
Alex:Right? It's it's never our job to say, hey, you're doing this with your life savings. That's that's not our role. But I think that's a phenomenal point of just saying, hey. Listen.
Alex:There's never a good time to do it. And the harsh reality is we never know when when that box is getting checked, and there's no better day than today.
Katie:And a good financial adviser is going to push you out of your comfort zone. You know? Yeah. For me, I I laugh because when I, you know, walk to the lobby with my clients, we're usually laughing. Right.
Katie:Maybe exchanging hugs, whatever it is. You have no idea the conversations that are taking place behind the door. Those are the difficult conversations. You know, we're telling people if they can afford to retire or not. You know, someone that's working till 70 may not be ideal.
Katie:Yeah. But I I gotta be honest, and, I wanna make sure that the plan is successful. So those are hard conversations to have.
Alex:Yeah.
Katie:The death conversation is a hard one to have. Yeah. But a good financial adviser is gonna be someone that's that's willing to do that. Yeah. And exchange hugs at the door.
Alex:Amen to that. Amen to that. And, you know, I love the you know, this this podcast, you know, Real World Retirement. Right? And, like, I there our whole objective here is to bring these real stories and real solutions that have obviously really positively impacted so many different families, and bring them to you, the community, to not only get you thinking, but also, you know, educate you, but also to be a resource to you if you have questions.
Alex:You know, Katie is amazing as an advisor. She's got a phenomenal moral compass and heart. But I think one of the the most, you know, again, unique things that I've found out, you know, just working with you and and and kinda, you know, just watching from aside is you're not afraid to dive into the hard conversations, but also that military piece, you know, like that is if you don't know it, you don't Yeah. Know it. Yeah.
Alex:And it's complicated. Right. And there's all sorts of crazy I didn't hear I didn't I've been doing this a long time, and I was not aware of either of those things. Right. And I'm sure there's a wealth of knowledge we're not even getting into right now.
Alex:You know, we don't want to bore people. That. But, you know, is is there, you know, anything else kind of in closing that you think is important that, you know, you would just throw out there, whether it's about a case study or maybe something that we didn't we didn't hit a topic that you think is a good point?
Katie:If you are a military member, you know, one thing I would say is share that with your financial advisor. Oftentimes, I have people come in and they don't disclose that. And the funny thing is I've been around the military community for a long time. I can recognize them when they walk through the door, whether they're sporting a high and tight hair cut or, you know, a necklace, a ring, something they're wearing, I can usually pick it out. Right.
Katie:Share that with your adviser because there are a lot of, you know, tax breaks, property tax in Michigan. If you are a disabled veteran, if you are a 100% disabled, you do not have to pay property tax in the state of Michigan.
Alex:How about that?
Katie:So that, you know, it varies by state to state. Right. But it is something that, you know, if you're sitting at a 90%, your adviser should be tracking because it doesn't take much to get you to that 100%, and then there's additional tax savings when you do that.
Alex:Sam, thank you.
Katie:Yeah.
Alex:Absolutely. And and, hey, to to my point, a wealth of knowledge over here in Katy. But, you know, that we're I'm gonna wrap up. And and and all I would say, if if you've enjoyed this, please make sure you you follow our channel. We're gonna have YouTube content.
Alex:We're gonna continue to put these podcasts out. Again, my name is Alexander Pushman. I'm gonna be your host. I'm gonna be bringing on phenomenal advisors just like Katie here, every single episode, and we're gonna be bringing real world scenarios to you, to hopefully help again, educate you, give you ideas. And and I can't stress this enough from the bottom of my heart.
Alex:If you don't have a financial advisor, if you don't have a a team, behind you, dealing with your life savings, again, death and taxes, right? Investments, income, Medicare, veteran benefits, whatever it may look like, do not hesitate to reach out, how we operate as advisors. And again, why we're doing this, is we believe education is the absolute core to helping families. It's not my job to just tell you what to do and do it blindly. Right?
Alex:And I know we agree on that.
Katie:Right.
Alex:It's more about educating you and again, helping you make an informed choice. If you don't have that in your life or you're looking for a second opinion or you just have a simple question, we will never be bothered with a simple question. So again, I just encourage you, follow us on social media, Foguth Financial Group, Foguth. I get Foguth a lot, you know. Foguth Financial Group.
Alex:And again, thank you so much for tuning in here. This is our first episode. We got a lot of good stuff coming down the pike for you. Again, my name is Alexander Pushman. Katie, thank you
Katie:Thank you.
Alex:So much for for jumping this off and, helping me helping me launch this this first episode. And again, we'll see you next time, Real World Retirement Podcast. Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.