If you decide to kick the tires of Paul Kiker’s wealth management services, you will be scheduled for three calls and/or video conferences (unless you are local; then in-person is always on offer). The three calls:
The get-to-know-you introductory call. If a reasonable fit is detected by all parties, then a request for your financial information will be made to proceed to the second call.
This is the planning call where you will see how your personal financial situation and retirement plans stack up against historical financial risks and conditions, providing a percentage chance of success of achieving a full and financial-drama-free retirement.
A recommendation call.
That third call, the recommendation call, is the topic of today’s podcast.
It’s also the least descriptive because the way Paul and his team go about providing recommendations is specifically and purposely suited to each client’s specific circumstances.
But that alone is worth mentioning because most passive-oriented financial advisers have a one-size-fits-all approach. Everybody goes into some version of a 60/40 stock and bond portfolio where the only changes might be the percentage allocation to bonds vs. stocks based on an individual’s age and/or risk tolerance.
There’s a lot to unpack in here, and so I’ll let Paul and the podcast do the talking.
The short version is that there are pros and cons to every strategy, as well as different risks.
Passive investing is easy and low-cost with very few decision points along the way. Paul’s risk-managed approach is designed to minimize losses, the flip side of which tends to be blunting the gains during up cycles.
What makes one approach better for one person will be worse for another. It all depends, again, on your specific wishes, needs, resources, and desires.
Me? I like to sleep well at night, which places me squarely in the risk-managed camp.
Tune in for the whole story.
Timestamps
00:26 Why This Is A Dangerous Time To Invest
03:17 Building A Personalized Retirement Strategy
05:19 The Long-Term Cost Of Playing It Safe
08:19 Balancing Growth, Risk And Inflation
10:27 Why Physical Gold And Silver Enter The Picture
16:36 The Problem With Passive Bond Investing
19:01 Why Bond Investing Can Become A Loan To Anyone
27:56 Goals Are For Losers, Strategies Are For Winners
34:24 Building A Portfolio You Can Actually Stick With
38:05 The Retirement Risk Hidden In Market History
41:20 What Buffett Teaches About Staying The Course
49:15 Why Gold Can Serve As Insurance
53:22 Estate Planning, Taxes And Long-Term Resilience
FINANCIAL DISCLAIMER:
The information contained in this video and the resources available for download through our affiliated website are not intended as and shall not be understood or construed as financial advice, nor should be interpreted as a solicitation to sell or offer to sell investment advisory services. No person who currently works for or contracts with Peak Prosperity or Peak Financial Investing is an attorney or accountant, nor are we holding ourselves out to be, and the information contained in the video and on the website is not a substitute for legal or tax advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. While Peak Financial Investing is a registered investment advisor, please note that this podcast is not intended to be investment advice.
All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such. We have done our best to ensure that the information provided is accurate and provides what we feel is valuable information. The views expressed are subject to change based on market and other conditions.<
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All investing involves risks including the possible loss of capital. Asset allocation and diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss. Please note that out- performance does not necessarily represent positive total returns for a period. There is no assurance that any investment strategy will be successful. All investments carry a certain degree of risk. Dividends are not guaranteed, and a company’s future ability to pay dividends may be limited.
Today’s signage is a desperate, single, middle-aged white woman blindfolded, fully-clothed and wandering in the desert with No Man, no water and no Number 75 Sunscreen lotion.
Does that AI-generated image make sense?
Are Women generally poorly-funded, unpredictable “Complex Systems” likely to go awry exponentially?
In a very short period of time, we have gone from needing $1-million to retire comfortably, to $2-million. “Yeah, $2-million! That’s the ticket!” Then, just this year, somebody came out with “the fact” that you will need $5-million to even hope of retiring. Living in an age of open and wanton criminality and pilferage, my take on all this is this: You will never retire. No amount of money will ever be enough. What’s the point? It’s all part of the plan.
I have been purchasing LTC insurance for us for about 40 years. (long term care). It has been, and continues to be expensive. It did provide some level of catastrophic insurance protection as we aged. But thankfully, we did not need it.
Now in retirement, the max sum benefits for each of us has already been set by the policies. Real life is that the purchasing power of those max sum benefits is decreasing thru the outright theft of inflation.
“Real life is that the purchasing power of those max sum benefits is decreasing thru the outright theft of inflation.”
Outright theft works just fine. Inflation is just some people talking.
You are being squeezed on all sides. With Social Security the COLA is always too low, so you are going backwards. The Medicare premiums are increasing, last year by more than 10-percent, factor that into actual income and you are going to go broke. Much sooner than you think.
Assisted living for my grandmother who lived to be 100-years-old was $4,000 per month. How long does a bank account survive on that math?
And who do you see about all this? No one. The federal government has a $40-trillion dollar deficit. Unsecured liabilities – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid – brings that to $150-trillion dollars.
New York State (where I live) is running a growing structural budget deficit of about $34.3 billion over a three‑year period – as forecast by the Division of the Budget, with the gap up $7 billion since the FY 2026 Executive Budget plan. New York State admits to this.
I have been debt free since the GFC and Crash of 2008-09. I live within my means, I pay all debts monthly. You know what that makes me? A target. State, local, and federal governments are desperate for money. They are coming for mine, for yours, for all of ours.
This is how deadbeats work in a system that is broke, busted, and bankrupt.
Some say we are at the end stage of a full-on systemic collapse. Forget about saving anything, including yourself.
There are different paths to retirement.
Some involve savings, and investments, others involve retirement programs.
My parents had little in savings compared to many who retired less well than they did.
They paid a home off, my dad had a military retirement, he drew that retirement while knocking out a second career teaching school. He was vested at 10 years when he started with the state so he retired with a 30 year retirement level. He also paid into social security all that time. He had three retirements and my mother 2, and no mortgage.
My Brother did similar and he and his wife also have 5 incomes. He also has some 401k money. They have paid for homes also.
For these individuals, they made great financial decisions in respect to their career choices. But the common thread is a government job.
Private sector workers haven’t had pensions, for the most part, in my lifetime. Or the ability to retire from a job at an age where a second career is possible. So saving for retirement has been shifted onto the individual. On a societal level, not everyone can have a job in the government.
Once I “grew up” I realized the idea that you can work until you stop producing useful work is a scammy idea. The idea that you should strive to live in retirement for 30+ years while everyone else takes care of you comfortably and you don’t have to do any work, but are able is distasteful. I don’t begrudge someone who is there, but more asking why we’re making it a societal goal that people want.
I think people forget that not long ago, we didn’t even have refrigerators to keep food cold (just over 100 years). We are living in untested waters and ideals. I work and study about 16+ hours a day, sometimes getting to bed 3a, waking at 7a or if I get to bed by 1:30a, wake by 6a to start again. I don’t say this to humble brag, but to point out that if there’s something you really want, I encourage you to figure out what you’re willing to give up to get it.
If you want someone else’s hands out of your pockets, stop letting them tell you how to play their game that they change the rules on every time they think they can get away with it. Play your own game and win it. A big part of that is limiting your consumerism to just the stuff that actually matters to you (general advice, not targeted at a person).
I know folks who have done similar with working for Insurance companies, Banks, UPS, FedEx, or such. You are correct that it is a lot harder in the private sector.
Even if you work for a large corporation with a decent program, I might get bought out by another one every few years and value gets lost in the shuffle.
Ever since 401k programs most companies don’t have old school retirement programs anymore.
Problem is most Americans did not make the switch well. The bought into the idea of investing while at the same time borrowing at a much higher rate and used their home equity to his the credit reset button every few years instead of buying down a home.
Where I live, in Appalachia, it’s amazing how many nice homes the old folks lived in while well employed at the mills and factories. Those went away, and now you see multiple generations on the same homestead living in auxiliary housing u ite or mobile homes that have been added over the last couple of decades.
In the worst case scenarios, once mamaw and papaw are gone the home gets sold the spoils divided and three groups of people scatter to even worse situations.
I have been retired for 12 years, a feat many of my colleagues in the tax slave world have not achieved. A partially unexpected result. Yet not due to my wage earning, ‘well paying’ job; which was systematically cornered by the tax and regulatory machinations of governments. I built things, boats, houses, furniture, family. Some were financially beneficial, some not, but the benefitial ones funded my ‘retirement’, and a housing starts for the kids (not my ‘well paying’ job). My ‘investments’ mostly benefited by luck rather than knowledge, and marginally effective. The exits from the financial traps are as narrow as the government can make them, yes planning is important, mostly just to keep the sharks at bay. For me, in my 10-15 year horizon (now 78), and in retrospect, keeping a focus outside the tax slave trap is the trick. I used to say ‘the only way to understand government is as organized crime’, sadly it still seems true.
I use the example of our “public service” gerontocracy as a good example of why people should retire. I’m still capable of working and contributing at a company, but if I take a hard look at myself, late 60s me is definitely not 40s me. And compared to many people in positions of power, I’m a spring chicken.
A couple of generations ago, people my age and ability helped with child rearing, grew the garden, cooked, preserved food, and took the burden of household chores off their working children living in multigenerational households. I think that’s a better plan and more sustainable plan for retirement than working past your prime. But that’s a societal shift which may happen from necessity.
I think our current model of retirement is no longer sustainable for most.
There are no enough people paying into programs to support people for their mid 60’s until death.
Instead of an all or nothing, they should allow people to have Medicare at no cost per month if they delay social security.
Them they could shift to a half and half scenario for a couple or few years. Draw only half social security and pay half the Medicare bill.
During these transitions there would be no tax on the social security and they could earn as much as they want without it affecting their Medicare or half pay.
This way older folks could transition into less taxing jobs and have the security of health care.
It would be easier for folks to stay in the work force, longer and it would reduce how much people draw out.
