Welcome to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia De Fazio and I’m joined today by Phil Capriatti Sr of Empower Wealth and Tax to our viewers at home, we have a very special episode for you today. If you’re considering retirement, or let’s say you’ve been forced into retirement early, perhaps there’s a corporate buyout or just whatever circumstances have changed, that have forced you into a different realm of your life. There are some emotions that people deal with. We’re going to do a deep dive; I want to talk to Phil in detail today about what happens when someone has to retire when they didn’t expect to feel how are you today?
I’m wonderful, Cynthia and yourself.
I am doing fantastic. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this show with me today. Because I think it’s a very good one, a very important one. You know, things in the world have been so different for so many of us since, let’s just say COVID Since 2020. And I know with that we have a lot of different things that people have been going through, perhaps someone has been at their job for years and years and years, and they loved it. It was their identity. It was their extended family. And then all of a sudden, something shifted, and they were forced into retirement that can cause emotional upheaval. So, Phil, I want to talk to you a little bit about that today. Some of the emotions that people face, when they’re forced into retirement number one, right out of the gate, we’re getting right into it, folks, anxiety.
You know, we see it a lot. So, I over the last since we started doing our workshop since I started my own company in 2005. I’ve had literally without exaggeration, several 100 situations, encounters with folks that were forced to retire. I weren’t, weren’t expecting to see, for instance, they were their retirement date or expected date was, let’s say 67. We’ll just use that is an arbitrary number. And then all of a sudden, they were forced into retirement at 60. Wow. Well, they’re, they’re expecting to work and have earning gears for the next seven years. And now all of a sudden, the rugs pulled up pulled out from it. I’ll give you a perfect example. I had a client, and her name is Carol. And she worked at one of the local hospitals. And when we went through and she was 61 years old, love their job, been a nurse been an RN for upwards of 30 plus years. And just as you said, her the doctors that she worked with the staff that she worked with, it was it was a lot of interaction. Well, when COVID hit, they demand it I don’t want to use y’all use word demand. They in demand it that every nurse, every doctor, anyone that worked in the hospital must take a COVID shot. And she said she, she told me she said I couldn’t do it. And I asked her, I said Why, Why? Why couldn’t you do it? She said, Well, I’ve been working in the medical industry now for the past 30 plus years. I take care of sick people; I help heal sick people. And now the hospital wants to force me to take a a shot a vaccine that hasn’t been tested for five or 10 years. And I told her, I understand exactly what you mean. I understand. It almost felt. It felt like I don’t want to more like a like a Marxist type of a thing. Absolutely. You must take the shot, or you can’t work. So, she stopped. She said I’m not going to take the shot. And they basically gave her they gave her 90 days then they extended it another 190 days. And then she just said you know what? I’m not taking the shot. And so, the beginning of the following year, I’m going to say 2021 She was forced into retirement. Wow. Now the first thing when she came in, she said Phil, I’m not sure if I can do this. I mean financially right, but it’s going against my morals and my principles. I can’t stay. So, I talked to her, so we had a long conversation. So, she was concerned primary concern is that she would not have enough financial resources to make it through retirement. She has very good family of health history. My mom alive at 90, 94, 95 father lived into his 90s as well takes good care of herself. She’s in the medical field, she’s a medical practitioner. And so, she expects to live into her 9095 Even, you know, she was we had a talk about, I’m going to be one of those Centennials you want to live to 100? Awesome, our concern was that she was going to run out of money in her 80s Because she was forced to stop working seven years prior to her expected retirement date.
And Phil, that’s only one story of so many people that we’ve talked to across the country who even going through a corporate buyout, all of a sudden, they’re forced into retirement and the financial piece, of course, that’s extremely important. Everyone wants peace of mind, they want to know they have a guaranteed income stream, and all of a sudden, you’re responsible for paying yourself, but also just the emotional aspect of it. Anxiety, number one, number two, Phil, this is a big one, people are feeling lonely, forced into retirement, they’re lonely, all of a sudden, they don’t have the extended work family anymore. They weren’t ready for this new phase of life that they’re in. Let’s just say for example, their spouse is still working, but they have nothing to do every day. How do you help coach folks to be ready for what that new phase of life could look like?
Well, the very first thing that you need to do as far as far as and again, I’m not a PhD, I’m not a doctor. But the very first thing that you want to do if you find yourself sinking into a depression is counseling. So, I recommend and what’s the best counseling, social interaction? That’s my, my own personal opinion. So, if you find yourself in one of these situations where you were forced to retire, while you’re, let’s say, you’re married, you one spouse is working, what happens is for the first six months, it’s wonderful. Okay, right, right. Wow, I don’t have to get up in the morning. I don’t have to get ready. And then reality sinks in, okay. Like for this individual, that that we talked about prior. Her friends alienated her, some of her family alienated her. And she really got into that. And I, we, we started talking, I mean, I visited with her five or six times a year, by the way, folks, one of the good things is she got an opportunity to come into the office more frequently because she was retired. But the fact of the matter is, what you really want to do is start to exercise and put yourself in an environment of motion. Great idea. So many folks, what they do is when they’re forced to retire early, even when they retire, they become many times unfortunately couch potatoes. And, and the problem with that, folks, the problem with doing that is number one, your health deteriorates significantly faster. Because you’re inactive. So, what and, and I’ll tell you a story. My father, this happened to my dad, my dad retired early now my dad was a very hard worker. I never saw him this one day of work. In fact, I think the man never got sick, because whether he was sick or not, he was up and he was at work. He retired at 64. He retired early, okay, my mom was still working. He retired early. And he passed away nine months later. So, the end it wasn’t that he was healthy. Yeah, he died in his sleep nine months later. So, I think that this is a very valid point. It’s important to and, and I believe it had to do with the lack of social interaction. I think that had a big that had a big part to play. The other thing is he didn’t keep himself busy. I said, Dad, why don’t you play golf with Uncle Tony and Uncle Danny, Uncle Joe, they had my three uncles play golf, or they play golf all the time the three of them or retire? I said give Uncle Danny a call be the fourth because I can don’t know how to hit a ball. It doesn’t matter get out there they’ll help you. The point is getting out staying active and it’s very, very important when you find yourself being forced into retirement or, or having to or even being forced into retirement because of health or medical conditions. It’s important that you have a game, game plan not just for retirement, but a game plan for, for inactivity from your primary career.
Well Phil, this is the perfect time for us to take our very first commercial break to our viewers at home. As you can see today’s a little bit of a different show on retire smart Austin, we understand that your retirement is not just about finances. It’s also about your emotional wellbeing it’s about different things that you’re going to experience and face as you’re entering those retirement years. Phil has set aside five spots this week for you to claim One per person, please. That number is 888-818-6557. If you’re finding yourself in a situation where you’re being forced into retirement early, or perhaps you are in that retirement red zone and you’re not sure what it’s going to look like for you, when you do retire, Phil is offering you this complimentary consultation Don’t miss the opportunity to claim that spot. 888-818-6557 We’re going to take a very short commercial break here on retire smart, Austin, but don’t go anywhere. We’re talking all about your retirement health, not only financially, but also emotionally, stay tuned.
Most of the folks that we work with are not going to outlive their money. When an individual comes into our firm the very first question they ask, How do I know you’re going to be here five years from now, your financial advisor and your licensed fiduciary this should be a lifelong commitment that shouldn’t be a revolving door exercise generational planning, we have an opportunity to not only work together with retirees, but having my children work with their children, my grandchildren working with their grandchildren. So, we’re establishing a relationship that will literally go through several generations. I have three children that are actively in the business. My youngest son Parker, who’s 22 is a junior trader. He works in our home office in Phoenix with foundations. He’s in a three-year mentoring program. My son Phillip is also a licensed fiduciary. He’s 41 years old, he will take over the business and my daughter Lisa, my oldest daughter, who’s 42 also has her securities and fiduciary license as well. This company will pass to my children and hopefully someday to my grandchildren, but in the interim, teaching them through my example. That’s our firm.
Welcome back to Retire Smart Austin. My name is Cynthia De Fazio joined today by Phil Capriatti Sr of Empower Wealth and Tax and we’re talking all about your retirement health, not just your income that you need to have coming in, but also your emotional wellbeing. Phil, one of the things that people are feeling when they’re forced into retirement, or perhaps they’ve planned this, but they weren’t sure what that first day was going to feel like the loss of structure in one’s life. Wow, how often do you hear that when people come in? And they’re like, Phil, I retired. Thank you. You did the portfolio review. I’m in great shape. But wow, that next day, I didn’t know what to do.
Many folks think that, oh, this is great. I don’t have to get up anymore. I don’t have to worry about you know, I can, I can lounge around. Many folks take and I really think it’s psychological. It truly is. Many folks start taking more vacations. So, I’ll have folks that are. They’ll come in and I’m like, what do you do? How do you How are you enjoying retirement? And they’re like, Well, you know, the first three or four months. I was I was great. I didn’t have to get up. I didn’t have to fight that Austin traffic. I didn’t have to. I didn’t have to. I didn’t have to fight getting it on time and leaving and wasting 10, 11 hours of my day. Doing my, my, my job. So, I said, Well, how do you like it? She goes, I’m bored. Okay, I’m bored. I said, Well, what are you doing with yourself? If she goes, Well, there’s only so much TV and I don’t like watching TV. I find myself watching movies. Now. I never watched movies in my life. I said, What about taking up pickleball? Let’s play a little golf. How about tennis? I’m not really athletically inclined. I said, Well, you know, here’s the thing, you don’t really have to be athletically inclined to get involved in many of these sports or activities. Many times, folks, and if you find yourself in this position, they have all different levels of competition. Okay, like I’ll give you a, for instance, over the club, you know, my wife and I joined Horseshoe Bay Country Club with members. That was one of the best things we ever did. She retired about nine years ago, and I had, because one of the things is I’m going to work every day I’d come home, and it’s like, you know, he’s here I can talk with him. So, I said, Look, I said what I said, let’s get started because I like to play golf. I’m not very good at it. But I like to play golf. I said, let’s, let’s get you signed up for some golf lessons. So, she took a cup of Golf was because I just don’t fit in there. I can’t picture myself playing 18 holes. I said, Honey, they have this. They have this thing called the Fab Four. She says What’s that? She says I said you pay a plate for holes with a bunch of other gals that are in the same position that you are They haven’t done anything. You play four halls with an instructor. And at the end, you sit down and drink some wine together and you have no social. So she goes, yeah, so she was like, Oh, I can do that. So, the point that I’m making is, it’s extremely important that when you retire, or if you’re forced into retirement, especially if you, your, your financial wellbeing is set, make yourself busy. Find things that you like, find hobbies that you like, even many times, something you never thought you would like in your entire life, you find, after doing it for six months, nine months, it now becomes your new habit, it now becomes something that motivates you in retirement and actually makes you thankful.
Absolutely, absolutely, so important. One of the things I think that tie back into the number one topic that we spoke of is anxiety. Obviously, Phil, you and I both know that a lot of that anxiety comes from creating a solid written income plan for retirement. Now, if someone on that same vein, forced into retirement, they’re offered their pension, they have the option of taking the lump sum, or they can stagger it, how do you help someone determine what they should do?
Yeah, we find this a lot. I work with a lot of the Austin Police Department when it’s kind of funny, we started working with a couple firefighters that were retired. And they had this plan called a drop plan. I’ll explain it in a second. And now Austin police, we were asked to come in and do workshops. And I’m looking forward to doing that. By the way, guys, you folks really work extremely hard, we want to talk about the definition of public service, you put your life in danger every single day protecting us. And many folks, unfortunately, nowadays don’t seem to appreciate it. But what happens is they don’t know what to do with the money. So, one of the things with this drop program, or a buyout, okay, or a severance package, you may have the opportunity to roll it into an IRA, and then take that IRA now that you’re retired and you’re not making that extra income, we can slowly, and I know I held on this converted to a tax-free retirement plan. So, this can actually be a goal. Once you retire, you’re forced to retire. Yes, you may experience anxiety. Yes, you feel as though you’re socially disconnected. Let’s look at what we can do inside of your retirement plan. To help you accomplish a worthy objective, which would be since you work the last 4050 years and pay taxes during those years. How about if we work on a plan to make you tax free in retirement? So, with many of these drop plans that we were just talking about, we’re taking them we’re moving them out of the drop plane because they you have to take the money. One of the I’ve seen this happen a couple times is they take this drop money, and instead of putting it into an IRA, or they take the retirement set or putting it into a qualified plan, they move it into their checking or savings account. And the entire plan becomes taxable in the year. So if you find yourself in a situation where you’re getting ready to offer you have severance, if you’re an officer or any, any police department or fire department, you’re getting close, we are not only experienced, but let us help show you what to do with this money to make sure that you don’t create inadvertently a major tax hazard in your retirement because that’ll surely get you to depression.
Absolutely it well, we’ll fill this is time for our second commercial break. And I know you have five spots open this week,
we do you know, give us a call dial 888-818-6557. And you know what I’m finding Cynthia, a lot of folks are clicking on the QR code, and we’re not getting the phone calls. But then again, what we’re saying is when four or five people click on a QR code, yes, come in. Let’s talk about a written retirement income plan that’s tax efficient. And let’s talk about how to look at your portfolio. It’s extremely important when you retire, and you stop receiving that income that you change your portfolio’s dynamics. We want to make sure that this portfolio is not full of risk. And we do that by running a Morningstar report and a portfolio analysis. These are done by certified financial planners that we work with to help our clients so call 888-818-6557 Come in visit with our staff were friendly, there’s no obligation to work with us, or click that QR code and come on in and visit with us and let’s have a conversation.
Phil, thank you so much to our viewers at home. That number to call is 888-818-6557 We know that you have a lot of questions for Phil about how to plan your perfect retirement especially if you’ve been forced into retirement Early like we’re talking about on today’s show, Phil is able to help you guide those navigate, navigate those waters is what I’m trying to say so that you are not feeling uncertain you’re not feeling anxious, and that you have peace of mind in retirement. And again, we’re gonna take a very short commercial break here and retire smart. Awesome, but we’re not talking only about your financial health. We’re also talking about your emotional health this week in retirement. Stay tuned.
You know, going back to work after retiring is not ideal. I’m Philip Capriatti, CEO of Empower Wealth and Tax if you have amassed a nest egg, it’s time for a financial advisor to help you reach your retirement goals. This is one of the greatest tax windows in history. Now is the time to take advantage of this tax discount while we can we specialize in retirement income planning, tax mitigation, estate planning, and so much more. So, plan your retirement right Call now for your own complimentary portfolio review and tax analysis.
Welcome back to retire smart Austin. My name is Cynthia De Fazio and I’m joined today by Phil Capriati, senior of Empower to wealth and tax and we’re talking all about your retirement not only your financial security, but also your emotional wellbeing in today’s episode. And Phil, I know that in the Austin viewing area, you have a lot of high-net-worth clients, a lot of power clients, a lot of power couples. And what we have found in the study that we’re referencing from Forbes today is a lot of people that are in these high-income producing roles. Once they step into retirement, they start to feel irrelevant because so many people are seeking out their guidance, their wisdom, their advice on a daily basis. And then all of a sudden, they feel like they’re irrelevant. How do you help people cope? Because I know you have a lot of people in that position right now that are that power couple that high income earner?
Yeah, we do. You’re right, Cynthia, and you know, once you get over the, you know, once you get over the giddiness of now you’re retired, okay, reality starts to set in, and where you would be teaching people directing people helping other folks in your organization focus. Here you are, and you yourself are not really completely focused. Okay, so what I normally talk with people about when they come in, and we have this conversation, and we do frequently, I’ll ask them, Do you have any children? Do you have any grandchildren? And what I like to recommend is fortunately, you know, the good Lord has blessed me with five children, eight grandchildren. Amazing. All right now, this is retirement for me. So, this is okay. But I’m in a different situation, owning and running the company. But what I’ll tell them is, why don’t you focus some of that knowledge on maybe working with your grandchildren, spending more time with your grandchildren? Excellent, making them an important priority. So, and they’re like, Well, you know, my kids work. That’s okay. You moved here to be with your children. Okay. Your children have children. Spend more time pick them up, forget the daycare, pick them up for the day, take them out, swing a club with them. Okay, play cars with a new Annie thanking memories. Yeah. So many times, we don’t focus on what staring us right in the face common sense. Strategies of getting us out of that making us feel not only relevant, but important. And helping us to give back to not only our family, but to the community charities. I really like being, being a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and doing things for charitable and it doesn’t really matter what a Toys for Tots, anything but get involved and give back to the community what you’ll find is that the more you give back, the more you’ll receive in and just personal blessings and, and just that feeling of not only relevance, but importance you move into a whole nother phase, okay, of your development, your career, your retirement career.
And what we know Phil more than anything is that when we give to others, we receive so many blessings back so that is an amazing thing. What about the role of a consultant? Do you have any clients that say, Gosh, I want to do something Phil, can I still do the consultant a lot.
So, I’ll tell clients look, you may context during your career, you’ve worked with the ABC Corp or, or whatever or a different with depending on the field of study, whether you are an attorney or whether you are an accountant, whether you were CEO, do consulting. So, one of the nice things many companies do not want to hire those of us who are baby boomers, because they can replace us easier, easier, with younger kids who they can pay less. So many of these companies now, however, want to take us on as consultants, they want us to because, number one, they don’t have to pay Social Security tax, they’re looking at it. Again, they’re looking at as a bean counter. I like that. But they’re looking at it. And not only that, we can give our knowledge to multiple different companies. Now we have the freedom to be a consultant and you get to pick and choose who you want to work with. As many times it’s not really about the money. It’s about being active, and it’s about being socially active, okay and mentally engaged.
Sure, sure that what it comes down to is honestly, like you said, Phil, you don’t want to sit on the front porch with your retirement. This is not the end of your story. This is just another chapter in your life. Right? That’s so important.
Yeah, that’s right. So many folks just don’t see it that way. So, by the way, if you’re retired, and you feel like you’ve fallen into this hole, this pit, come on in, give us a call dial 888-818-6557. Let’s have a conversation. And let’s see what other options you have in retirement. I just had I just had a client retire; he just sold his company. And he did that. And I won’t name the company, but he just sold the company and all of a sudden now he feels like he’s ended up nowhere. I said, Well, you sold the company and what they did was they did they did they replaced underground pipes without digging holes. What he designed a heat this he designed a process of basically feathering a new pipe through the old pipe. So, they would pull new pipe straight, like under golf courses in the city street. Isn’t that brilliant? Oh, my Yeah. So, he and he they’ve been doing this for like 25 years and he’s like, fell, he goes, I, you know, I want to buy it. I want to get a big SUV and I just want to drive the country. I said, what are you going to do after that? He says, Well, I’m not really sure. I said maybe you might want to be a consultant.
Phil, thank you. To our viewers at home. Thank you for joining us for this very special episode this week about not only your financial health but also your emotional wellbeing in retirement. That number is 888-818-6557. We look forward to seeing you back one week from today on retire smart Austin. Be safe, be happy and be blessed. Take care.
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