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My guess is that if he took the Strengthsfinder profiles, he would test with an extremely strong BELIEF. That is a great trait, but on occasion it causes those of us with it to zero in on an idea that we won't let go of easily
First, thank you. (I purposefully ignored this thread for a few days.) I did take StrengthsFinders before I entered into this industry (back at my Wells Fargo days), so it's been 18 years or so now.
My Top 5 (I believe were in this order):
- Maximizer
- Responsibility
- Relator
- Focus
- Individualization
(I wonder if my top 5 would change at this point in my life?)
I don't have the original report, but belief wasn't there for the top 5. It took me a long time to build and develop my belief system. Writing my blog was certainly a part of that process (over 150 articles now).
Once I saw the tax system in retirement through the eyes of a CPA who could then show the equivalent values using life insurance... it was 'game over' for me. I knew exactly how I could help the more affluent middle-class retire with dignity. (Generally the top 10% of income earners earning over $100k a year - which is rather common for California.)
I created my own spreadsheet 2-pager to outline not just the math, but the source links of everything I'm trying to represent in the math - including safe withdrawal rates and investment management fees, etc. (No, I won't share that.)
When I can show people how to spend $460,000 as though it was over $1.7 million... and I did it for my own parents, yeah... I have a strong belief system about it.
My parent's are not wealthy people. My family does not come from wealth. But when I saw how we could stretch these funds to increase the efficiency of retirement income, with only dividends being the varying factor... I was sold.
It can help just about anybody - assuming they can qualify for it. Even if not (and we can't 'borrow a life'), NQ SPIAs with lifetime pays can be bought instead of the life policy. Got one case where that's the direction we'll be going.
I won't go back to doing business or retirement planning any other way. Either they also believe as I do and just want to see how it can work for them... or they don't. It's the client's journey of discovery - just as I had to take a journey to learn it myself. But in the meantime, my job is to show what's possible and help my clients to understand the decisions they've previously made and what they can do along with the consequences of those decisions.
We let them decide.
Anyway, my latest article is the cognitive dissonance believing that you can just take out RMD's and your retirement would be okay using traditional planning methods. The math... doesn't add up.
https://www.dynamicadvancedwealth.c...ng-to-be-in-a-lower-tax-bracket-when-i-retire
And I wrote that two days before this article from ThinkAdvisor and Dr. Michael Finke published their recommendations for retirees:
The 4% Rule Is Dead. What's an Advisor to Do? | ThinkAdvisor
Key recommendations from that article when using AUM portfolios:
What You Need to Know
There's a better way.
- Fixed withdrawal rates aren't really that realistic.
- The retiree has to be willing and able to cut back.
- Clients must be prepared to spend less if they invest in risky assets and get unlucky.