Retire Smart Austin | Episode 215

Cynthia de Fazio  00:22

Welcome to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia de Fazio, joined today by Phil Capriotti Sr and Henry Lande, certified financial planner at Empower Wealth & Tax to our viewers at home. You tune in every single week because you’re looking for ways that you can personally empower your wealth, whether that means tax planning actually navigating generational wealth transfer, which is what we talked about on last week’s episode, every week there’s something timely that makes it unique, and I know you love watching so thank you for being with us. We are so thankful for you at home, Phil, how are you today?

 

Philip Capriotti  01:01

Blessed, and it’s so good to be on set with you. And Henry, it’s been a lot of fun the last five or six weeks together. Very nice.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  01:09

It has been. And Henry, how have you been I know you’ve been very busy, so thank you for coming in.

 

Henry Lande  01:13

Yeah, people like what we’re talking about. Phil and I are having fun. We’re getting to talk to more and more people, and it’s probably the best part of our job. So, thanks for having us. Thanks for putting us on this platform.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  01:22

Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. I love being with both of you.

 

Philip Capriotti  01:25

And one of the great things about having Henry up into Georgetown office, and with all the experience that Henry has, especially with his useful youthful age, is we’re interviewing, I would say, six of Lakeway and B caves, finest CFPs to be senior advisor out at our new Lakeway office, which is going to be opening up within the next, probably two to three weeks. Now, one comment I’d like to make. I had several clients express concern that we’re growing too fast. And I told my staff, they were like, there’re not a lot of new faces here. And so, so here’s what I would say to you, all right. Number one, what we do is we listen to our viewing audience and our listening audience. And so, if we have areas in Austin that need our services. It’s very easy for us to find top advisors, top administrators and assistants, bring them into our home office, train them over a 60-to-90-day period, and then open up the satellite office with a with them, with experienced and trained professionals. So, the service does not degrade or devalue, because it’s a new, fresh face. We’re growing as fast as we’re supposed to grow. So please, no worries.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  02:55

Thank you so much for pointing that out, Phil, I love that because you’re always so hands on. I’ve watched you start with one location, growing to where you are today, and your presence is always known. So, thank you so much, Henry. Love being with both of you on the show. And today’s topic is very important, the big box advisor versus the boutique fiduciary. Let me try that again, the boutique fiduciary. Why it’s important to understand the difference when you’re working with someone who is a specialty operation versus the big box firm. What is the difference?

 

Henry Lande  03:28

Henry, yeah, so Phil and I spent a lot of time talking about this and conversing. And just like we’re growing our office presence, we’re growing our ability to service our clients better by hiring more people into our back office. It’s not so we can scale out and say we don’t want to help XYZ client. It’s truly to serve them better moving forward. Versus the big box world tends to be, let’s keep it small, let’s keep it trim and let’s keep it profitable. Not necessarily what’s best for the client at the end of the day, it’s suitable. But a fiduciary, on the other hand, has to do what’s best for the client before I do it in my own account or do it anywhere else. So, we take a lot of pride in that, and we want to make sure clients know that, yes, we’re growing, but it’s to service you and continue being there for you.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  04:10

Because there’s a need. People love that individualized concierge service, if you will.

 

Philip Capriotti  04:16

These big box retailers, with all due respect, there’s nothing wrong with them, but they’re there to serve the stockholder, and they’re there to serve the I’m going to say number, because many folks that they’re working with, even though they have local advisors, they’re still just a number, and they’re still put in these chocolate, vanilla, you know, cake in a box of boilerplate portfolios and how can I say that I’ve done literally 1000s of Morning Star reports over the last 20 years? I see it. I see it. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Austin, if you’re in Philadelphia, if you’re up in Denver, if you’re in Phoenix, if you go to ABC advisory firm. You know, when we already know who they are, they’re local and they have somebody else’s name on it. Okay? You know, they may have an Eddie or whoever, but they’re all selling the same mutual funds. They’re selling the same platform. They’re selling the same nonservice. When I say nonservice, they’re not doing the tax planning. They’re not doing the estate planning they say they do, but they farm it out to someone down the street. And many times, when these individuals retire, again, you lose that relationship. Now, that’s big. That’s the big box model. We are more of a face-to-face boutique, meaning we’re private wealth management. Yes, we deal with high-net-worth individuals, but we also deal with their children, who are who, who may not be high-net worth individuals. But the fact of the matter is, every individual has a different level of service need, and we’re there to provide it for all of them, and- but most of all, we’re there to enter into and engage in a relationship, a lifelong relationship.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  06:07

I think it’s so amazing to hear you speak about that, because obviously you said something about selling. So, I’m assuming, are there sales quotas that certain people have to make if they work for certain companies, and we’re not throwing anyone under the bus? I just want to make sure that we are sharing that but are there quotas that people need to meet? I hate to ask that question, but I feel like I must.

 

Henry Lande  06:26

Yeah, at the end of the day, some of these businesses that are for profit obviously want to generate a profit, and their employees need to generate profit, as opposed to Phil is my boss. He’s a great boss, but I have 1000 other bosses I answer to, and that’s my clients. I answer them. First and foremost, I am not required to sell them X, Y or Z product because I’m a fiduciary. I want to see the entire landscape of investments, annuities, estate plans, you name it, and then customize a created portfolio and solution for you that’s best for you, and it’ll be different from John and Jane Doe down the street and Mr. And Mrs. Smith here. That’s where the boutique model really helps individual creativity, if you will.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  07:09

Absolutely.

 

Philip Capriotti  07:10

And by the way, this is a mandatory mandate of all advisors that work in our company. I want them to keep the client number one and foremost, because that’s what I do, and so we need to follow that model, and that’s what makes us that’s one of the many variables that makes us so different.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  07:30

Most definitely, and again, there’s such a need for such specialized service talk about, obviously, being client centered and transparent. Transparent is a big one, because so often people say, I have no idea what- I have no idea what I’m paying in fees, but you’re transparent. Why is that a gift and a benefit?

 

Henry Lande  07:48

Oh, it’s great. Because day one, when we do our Morning Star Report analysis with you, we are showing you how we operate versus what’s being operated on. Currently, I always use the analogy: If you’re going to your doctor’s office and your leg hurts. Do you want them to operate right away, or do you want to really get a screening and a second opinion and figure out what’s actually happening exactly, so you don’t go to the extreme of cutting it off at the leg. We do that detailed analysis for you in our Morningstar report review, and tell you, here’s what you have, here’s what it would look like with us, and give you a detailed explanation of fees you may or may not be paying in a mutual fund front end loads, all of it. We’ve seen, gosh, hundreds of 1000s of these over the years.

 

Philip Capriotti  08:27

Certain investments will charge a fee to manage certain investments that are insurance investments. We will not charge a fee. So, we’re very transparent. You know exactly what you’re paying, and you know exactly what you’re paying, that fee for the service that you’re receiving.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  08:45

Thank you. Thank you so much. Phil. Well, we have to take a very short commercial break, but I know that you have a message at home. I’m so sorry. I know it just flies, doesn’t it?

 

Philip Capriotti  08:56

Folks, you know, I love coming on here, and especially with Cynthia. She and I have a work, wife Relationship for the last six years. At the end, you know that because you’ve been watching every week, dial 888, if you’re an old timer like me, 818-6557, call up. Set up an appointment for a complimentary consultation. We want to provide you with a written, tax efficient retirement income report, which will include Social Security Maximization, how to get we’ll explain how to get your Social Security tax free, if possible, also your morning star analysis of your current portfolios. Many folks will come in and either working with, you know, a Morgan. They might have three different companies they’re working with. We’ll bring all the statements together and make sure everything coordinates. So, call up, and if you’re more modern, click the QR code and it’ll take you right to our landing page. You can go to empowertaxbill.com or empowerlegacyquiz.com and. And empowerrothquiz.com. Just give us a call. Whatever your concern, whether it’s taxes or tax efficient retirement, come on in that’s complimentary. It’s and when I say complimentary, it’s free to thee, but not to me, okay, but give us a call and let’s meet and let’s have this conversation regardless of what office you’re coming to and by the way, we’re opening Dripping Springs in another four months.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  10:26

Yay. Oh my gosh, you just keep growing. Phil, thank you so much. Yes, Henry, thank you to the viewers at home, once again, it’s time for you to empower your wealth. How do you do that? You call in, 888-818-6557, or to get on the fast track, we recommend you pick up the smartphone, open the camera app, and click on the QR code at the bottom corner of your screen. We’re going to take a very short commercial break. When we come back, we’re going to talk about the difference. Still about working with a big box firm versus a boutique fiduciary firm. There is a difference. What about keeping everything under one roof? Stay tuned. That’s what’s coming up next.

 

Philip Capriotti  11:09

One of the secondary reasons I got into the tax business is my very first job. It was an usher at a movie theater. So back in my day, since my baby boomer, people would come, we would tear their ticket, and we would walk them down, seat them, and then come back. So up until that point, I was getting $5 a week for allowance. And I’m telling you, I was like an indentured servant. My brother was allergic to grass and pollen, so I had to do all the lawn work. I had to do all of the work, as a matter of fact. So, I get my first check. I have 37 and a half hours, I’m making $2.10 an hour.

This check’s gonna be close to $80 I look at the check and I sticker shock. $41.78. I’m good at math. That’s not adding up. I go over to the manager. He says, oh, Phil. He says, flip the check around. Federal income tax, state income tax, FICA tax, all of these different taxes. So that was my first lesson at 15 about how important paying taxes are. And by the way, I think that anyone that has paid taxes every year for 50 years, by the time they’re 75 they should be tax free. I don’t care where they put their money. That’s my belief. I believe we’ve done our fair share.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  12:30

Welcome back to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia de Fazio, joined today by Phil Capriotti senior and Henry Landay of Empower Wealth & Tax. And we’re talking all about the importance of knowing the difference between working with a big box firm or a boutique firm that is a fiduciary so thank you for being with us today, gentlemen. The importance of keeping everything under one roof. Tax Planning is such a huge piece, and it’s something that you’re both so passionate about. Again, why is that a benefit to the viewers at home?

 

Philip Capriotti  13:01

I’m going to start by saying retirement. We want simplicity. We want convenience. We’ve worked hard for it. We’ve earned it. We do not want to run around town to see different types of professionals. I don’t want to see my attorney over here, my tax guy or gal over here, my investment advisor here, my insurance person here. I really want to make it convenient. And most of the folks that come to us tell us, we love the fact that you’re professionally and licensed and a fiduciary and offer 360 degree service to every client. And that was a business model I had 20 years ago. It’s a business model that we’re realizing. It’s coming to fruition. And I got to tell you, once you work with a firm like ours, actually, once you work with our firm, you never want to change and work with any other firm, because we make it convenient. And what do we want as baby boomers when we retire? Convenience. We want convenience, accuracy, and we want to make sure that our best interests remain in the front and foremost priority of the advisor we’re speaking to.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  14:11

Absolutely.

 

Henry Lande  14:14

And the big thing there too is it’s our own bus driver insurance policy. If I get hit by a bus, I want my clients still taken care of. He knows what they’re up to. He knows their tax plan. He knows all of it. So, we use that team approach and the group approach to say, how can we get five to six individuals seeing every angle of your plan, your lifestyle, your estate, your taxes, put it together and you can sleep well at night?

 

Cynthia de Fazio  14:36

Absolutely so important. One of the other pieces that are so important, and I know you’re both so passionate about would be Medicare and health care planning for your clients. Big Box firms, they don’t offer that. So, let’s talk about why this is a benefit. When you’re talking about people that are getting up in years, you want to have health care and Medicare guidance.

 

Philip Capriotti  14:55

When you turn 65, excuse me, or become disabled, permanently disabled. You need to know the difference between Original Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan. Now I’m going to say, with all due respect, we see from October 15 through December 8, these Medicare Advantage companies come out of the woodwork. They’re selling. All you need is one plan. We’re all and it’s known as Medicare C, by the way, but it’s basically privatized insurance. Medicare. It might be offered by Blue Cross or Blue Shield United Healthcare, a number Humana, a number of different companies. The government pays the highest commission for these things. Okay, normally it ranges about 600 to $700 per person, and they pay that commission yearly to the advisor, and I won’t even call them advisor, insurance agent or Medicare Advantage certified agent. Now the difference is, and I like to look always good, bad, ugly. Show me all of it. I want to see three sides to the coin. I want to see the heads, the tails, and I want to see the coin standing straight up. Okay, makes sense. So, with that being said, I want to know what’s the difference like, for instance, I’ll give you an example, Medicare, Original Medicare, Medicare, A and B, all right, along with that, you have to buy your plan D, your prescription drug coverage. But with a Medicare Supplement, a Plan G, you can go to any doctor, any hospital, anywhere you’re traveling across the United States. You don’t need to call for a referral. You don’t need to call for an approval if you have an accident or get hurt on the weekend or something happens that’s unexpected, especially as you retire, you need to be able to get easy access. I’ll give you a quick story, and I’ll go to defer to Henry, my wife is retired teacher. Okay, she kept her teacher’s insurance, aside from my tutelage to her, but she had good reason. She wanted to keep our young son, Parker, on her plan until he reached 26 okay, even though he has insurance through his work. But we won’t get into all that.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  17:10

I understand.

 

Philip Capriotti  17:14

I get it too, so they only have Medicare Advantage. So, I said, Honey, you’re going to- we’re going to have an issue. We do a lot of traveling. If something happens, God forbid, you’re going to have to call to get approval. So, what happens? She throws her knee out. This happened, and again, I didn’t want to give her, you know, the kiss, the kiss of death, so to speak. But we’re in Phoenix. She throws her knee out on a Friday, so she’s calling, and this is a Friday at like, one o’clock in the afternoon. And so, she at the end of the day, she talks to a an orthopedic and said, Yes, we can get you in. What kind of insurance do you have? And she told them, I have Teachers insurance and so forth and so on. And they said they’re not listed on our Medicare Advantage accepted group. You need to call your administrator at TRS in Austin to get approval. Oh my gosh. And I just looked; I didn’t say a word. I wouldn’t- no way I was opening up my mouth under that, All I said was, honey, if you had Medicare and the Plan G Guess what? We’d be in that office right now. So that’s one small example that all the glitters is not gold, especially when it comes to these Medicare plans. It’s true. So, we have our own Medicare specialist. Yes, we offer Medicare Advantage, but we also offer Medicare, the Original Medicare and Medicare Supplements, because one plan, especially if you do a lot of traveling, you need to have that advice. Doesn’t matter to us which plan you have. We want you to know the pros and cons.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  18:51

That’s what’s so important, making sure that you are in the right situation for your needs. Phil, on that note, we’re going to take a commercial break. I know Jimmy right now is going, I can’t believe he told that story. That’s exactly what she’s thinking to the viewers at home, there’s a number to call on your screen, 888-818-6557, 888-818-6557, what you’re calling in for today is the opportunity to actually empower your wealth. You’ve worked your entire life to get to the retirement years, and you deserve to have a boutique firm that keeps everything under one roof. Well, how do you do that? Call in today to 888-818-6557, and schedule your time accordingly with the team of Empower Wealth & Tax to get on the fast track, we highly recommend clicking on the QR code at the bottom corner of your screen, takes you right to the landing page of Empower Wealth & Tax. You can schedule your time accordingly. We’re going to take a very short commercial break. Don’t go anywhere. We have so much more on Retire Smart Austin about the difference between working with a big box firm versus a boutique fiduciary firm? Stay tuned.

 

Philip Capriotti  20:03

You know, folks, as individuals, we strive for better from a better house to a better career to a better life for our kids, but when it comes to retirement, What Does better mean to you? More income, a flexible lifestyle, better solutions, a better retirement begins with a customized plan for you and your family that highlights your goals and objectives in retirement. So, to get your complimentary written financial plan, call us at the number you see here. You only retire once, so this is your opportunity to plan for better. Thank you very much. And have a blessed day.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  20:48

Welcome back to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia de Fazio, joined today by Phil Capriotti senior and Henry Lande, certified financial planner at Empower Wealth & Tax we are talking all about the difference between working with a big box firm versus a boutique fiduciary. Thank you for being with us today. Little bit of tongue twisting going on in that moment. And then I add, like a cool little land a. I mean, that was pretty cool, I must admit, land a, but anyway, so let me just start with you. I just want to ask you one quick question, Henry, if I could, yeah, when you are actually working with a team that collaborates internally, once again, reiterate, how is that a benefit to the clients at home?

 

Henry Lande  21:30

Yeah, so it’s a great question. Let’s use the Jimmy scenario and keep going down that rabbit hole. We would have all talked and figured out what was happening first and two, how can we alleviate it? Because you’re not a number or a checklist item for us, you’re our boss for our boutique firm. We care about you as an individual. The first call would be, one is Jimmy, okay? And two, Phil, what do you need me to do? Are we flying out there? Are we flying her back? But more importantly, those things are going to affect your investments. They’re going to affect your taxes; they’re going to affect estate plan items. So, in whole, we want to provide that individualized approach to you with a collaborative team effort, and you do not see that everywhere.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  22:12

No, you definitely do not. Phil.

 

Philip Capriotti  22:15

It’s taken 20 years to build it, and I can’t wait to see what the next 20 years unfolds with our company, especially having young professionals like Henry working with us and so forth. What I’ve noticed is our clients, I would say, are the persistency on our client base is around 98% and that’s unheard of in the industry. To have a client to keep 98 out of every 100 clients you put on is literally that lends directly to service, coordination and experience with your team of professionals. My clients know that they can call our office, even on a Friday at five o’clock and they’ll have someone to talk to, and if there’s an issue going on, it’ll be resolved. They also know if they have an emergency on the weekend, they have my personal cell phone, so they have access to us, really, seven days a week, almost 24 hours a day. That’s not the type of service you get from your financial so-called financial advisor. So, with our family, I call it now, you’re part of our work family, and I mean that as Italians, we value the family unit, and for our clients, we value that responsibility to care for their assets and include them into our family. So absolutely, I don’t know why anybody would want to work with a big box retailer, to be quite honest with you, not when you have us as a second option.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  23:52

Most definitely, because it is so specialized. Henry and I know you’re hearing this a lot from clients that are coming in when they’re realizing that there is a difference. What does it feel like when the light goes off in someone’s eyes and they’re like, Wow, why didn’t we make this call sooner? Why didn’t we click that QR code sooner? How does that feel for you when you see that enlightenment, if you will.

 

Henry Lande  24:12

It’s the most rewarding feeling in the world. Being in this career. We get to help people every day, and it’s an interesting career. We get to talk about money, religion and politics, which is great in a big box firm or any corporate structure, I’d be fired. They’d have me out the door day one if I were to talk about this. This is true. It’s a very intimate relationship, because we are talking about the tough subjects. So, I encourage you, if you want to learn a little bit more, please call us or please come in for a free consultation. We’re real people. My office is in Georgetown, right next to Honey Baked Ham. Get a sandwich. Swing by. We’ll start talking through these things and figure out how it’s going to impact you individually and start crafting that family plan together.

 

Philip Capriotti  24:53

Most definitely, most of these big box retailers operate under what they refer to as a broker deal or. Model, you’re dealing with a broker dealer. Years ago, I- there was an all, there’s your broker making a new broker, okay? And that was because of Fees Commission. Seems like that. Our boutique RIA, registered investment advisory firm, works under a fiduciary standard, always being faithful to a client, not a suitability standard. Is it suitable for the client? I look at it this way, if I won’t own it, I won’t offer it, if it’s not good enough for my family and I Why would I offer it to my work family? And I won’t. So that’s the difference between broker dealer and fiduciary RIA. Are you operating under a suitability standard? Just Is it suitable for the client, but it’s not the best they can have, or a fiduciary standard? Is this the absolute best you can do? Is this one of the top three options that this client has? So, we do the research, we do the homework. It’s a big difference, especially when you’re going year in and year out. If you’re paying a fee to have your assets managed, you want to make sure that your advisory firm, number one is offering all services under one roof, and in all of those services always acting in your- you and your family’s best interest.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  26:19

Such an important component, as you know, Henry, because you’re so passionate about this. But I want to go back again before we close to the importance of tax planning taking place in one location. What a benefit that is for your clients, especially those that are coming in that are maybe getting the generational wealth that’s coming that way.

 

Henry Lande  26:37

You know, it’s a huge thing, not only for our clients, but for me, I trust our team. I can pick up the phone at any time and figure out where we’re at with any client. We’re getting close to the year end. You bet we’re working our butts off right now, because it’s almost December 31 it’s Christmas time. It’s the holidays. Everyone enjoy. Do what you want to do. We’re going to keep working and doing what’s best for our clients and getting those year-end tax planning ideas put to work. So come April 15, there’s a big smile on their face when they come in and see me.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  27:05

Henry, thank you so much. And Phil, final words to the viewers at home. We have about 49 seconds

 

Philip Capriotti  27:10

For a few, select few, stop waiting for the third week in December to do- ask us to do your Roth conversions. We like to do these throughout the year. So no, I’m just kidding. Dial 888, give us a call. Come on in and meet the team. Meet your new work family, 888-818-6557, or click the QR code. Set up your complimentary consultation and portfolio review. Let’s get a second opinion on not only your tax plan, if you have one, your retirement income plan and your portfolio, how it’s being managed.

 

Cynthia de Fazio  27:42

Phil and Henry, thank you so much to our viewers at home. Thank you for spending time with us today. On Retire Smart Austin, empower your wealth. Be safe, be happy, be blessed. We’ll see you next week.