Jude Wilson  00:26

Man, I’m doing awesome. It’s a, it’s my birthday month, and I celebrate the whole month, so.. oh, this is good times for me.

 

Marc Killian  00:34

So you’re the one that got my daughter on that, because she does the same thing. She’s like, it’s my whole birthday month, and I’m like, wait a minute, wait a minute. It used to be like a day, then it became a week for her, then it turned into a month, so I’m gonna blame you on that. There you go. Well, let’s talk about the experience a little bit. And by the way, happy birthday, you look great for 29 so

 

Jude Wilson  00:56

hey, you know, little gray hair here and there.

 

Marc Killian  00:59

Well, let’s talk about what makes your guys’ approach a little bit different in the from the typical advisory experience, as I mentioned, like GPS, you know, that’s your guys’s planning, you know, kind of profile, if you will. So just kind of walk us through a few things.

 

Jude Wilson  01:14

Yeah, well, one of the things that we’ve done here, and I’ve been in this industry now, I can’t believe I’m about to say it 27 years, so you started

 

Marc Killian  01:23

when you were two, if you’re 29

 

Jude Wilson  01:25

Yeah, I was a prodigy.

 

Marc Killian  01:27

Yeah,

 

Jude Wilson  01:28

you know, over that time period, we’ve been able to see many different situations, some clients that have very similar situations, some clients that have different, and we decided, you know, it’s time to put together a proprietary financial planning process that we can best serve our clients, and we call it GPS guidance planning and solutions, and it breaks down into five basic pillars: you’ve got risk management, you’ve got investments, you’ve got income planning, taxation, and legacy planning. Each one of those pillars holds up the holistic financial plan, and they’re kind of like a gear shift. They fit together and they need to work together.

 

Marc Killian  02:16

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, right? You got to have a cohesive strategy where everything is kind of, you know, bouncing and working off each other, and we talk about that all the time, like in the DIY space, a lot of times people don’t realize how many things affect other things, because it’s easier to accumulate, right, than it is to do the preservation and the distribution. So, are we talking about you guys being more planning first than as a firm versus investment first?

 

Jude Wilson  02:39

It’s absolutely planning first. Everybody wants to talk about investments. Investments are sexy, you know? Right? Yeah, when you see the return on your, on your money, you can’t help but, but get excited. But realistically, when you’re looking at a holistic financial plan, a comprehensive plan, you’ve got to look at your risk that you do see, and the risk that you don’t see.

 

Marc Killian  03:02

Okay,

 

Jude Wilson  03:03

and come when you combine those two things, you’re not necessarily Superman, but you make yourself as bulletproof as possible, because you’re not missing areas of your finances that could be crucial to your success.

 

Marc Killian  03:15

Yeah, and you know, I think that people often do put the investment cart before the horse, right, because again it is sexy, and you’re thinking, well, this is how I’m going to outpace inflation, or this is how I’m, you know, whatever, but it’s like you got to have the planning down first, you don’t want to lead that the opposite way, and so also it’s a man, it’s a not management, but it’s a relationship, you know, really more than it is like a sales thing, right? So, I think the other difference with a lot of times is you can go get a broker and they’re going to help you with sales and they’re going to help you do this, that, and the other, but really you’re talking about long-term relationships as well.

 

Jude Wilson  03:53

100% because what I found through my career, and I’ve worked at major financial institutions before opening up our own firm was that we typically focused on one specific area, and it usually broke down into two things: either you were investment focused, working for some of the major brokerage firm, and no shade to them, it’s just that their focus was on the investments, and how could we put together an investment plan that got you the type of return that you’re looking for, and or you were insurance focused, and it was mainly about risk. It was what happens if I pre-decease my spouse. How do I create a legacy for my kids, but then they miss all the other important areas. For instance, you know, in risk management, after you’ve reached a certain level of net worth, I hate to say it, but in our society, you almost become a target, you know. People look at that net worth and say, you know, how could I get a p. Of that,

 

Marc Killian  05:00

sure, and so

 

Jude Wilson  05:01

risk management isn’t just about life insurance, it’s making sure you’re protecting your assets from potential legal threats, estate planning, you know, making sure that all your documentation is in place, God forbid something happens to you that what your wishes get fulfilled exactly how you would have wanted it if you were still here. Financial planning, I love it so much because it’s like a jigsaw puzzle, and you’re putting all of the pieces together to create this beautiful picture of your financial life, and how that matches the life you want to live most successfully?

 

Marc Killian  05:44

Yeah, you know, and I think that that’s, you know, when you’re looking at the whole big picture, that’s hopefully what people are looking for, or realize that they need. So, let’s back up a bit, and let’s just talk about, you know, first conversations, right? So, somebody comes in, you know, they’ve, they’ve, you know, heard about you, they’ve checked out a podcast, or a video, or whatever, right? They come in for that initial client conversation, and that’s the thing. It’s a conversation you just said a minute ago, Jude. You’ve been doing this over 25 years. I would imagine that if somebody comes in, sits down, gives you their collection of stuff, and says, ‘Here’s what I got, you probably could make a recommendation pretty quickly, because you’ve just seen enough things to know, but I’m guessing that that’s not what you’re going to do, because you know you got to get to know things, you’ve got to get to know them. It’s not just the stuff in the basket, if you will, right? It’s who they are.

 

Jude Wilson  06:33

We kind of break it down into two categories: there’s the quantitative data and the qualitative data, and the quantitative data, that’s the numbers, you know, and you have to understand the numbers, so that you can put together a specific plan of action. But the qualitative is more about your life and your values. One of the things that we say here at the firm is, we want to build a plan around your why. We want to put the why at the center of your wealth, and so you can only do that by getting to know the individual or the couple in what’s been their life journey. What are the things that are important to them? What are the things that they’re concerned about in their lives? Yeah, and if a plan doesn’t reflect that, it’s really just a bunch of numbers, and you’re more than just a bunch of numbers.

 

Marc Killian  07:23

Yeah, I mean, it’s like, okay, yeah, I’ve seen this scenario 4700 times already, and I could put you in, you know, product A, B, X, and Y, and it’s going to work. But before I do that, let me understand who you are to make sure that these things are going to work right. And I think that any industry has that right. People that have done it for so long, we all can relate. You go to a doctor and the doctor, you know, says you’ve got this, and they’ve probably prescribed that thing 1000 times, right? But maybe they should dig a little deeper. So I think that’s what we’re talking about here, is that, you know, walking from that first conversation and then kind of moving through the process. So usually it’s what, like a two, like a two visit process to kind of get an evaluation going.

 

Jude Wilson  08:03

Absolutely, so the first visit is is basically a get to know you meeting, understanding you know what are your goals, your dreams, your concerns, and then talking a little bit about the numbers, where are you at financially, and where do you want to be at, and from from there we go away for a couple of weeks once we’ve gotten the data and start to build a rough draft plan for the client. We want to make sure that we’re on the same page, so we built something that they could kind of look at, like a road map, GPS, if you will. And so the second meeting, we sit down with the client and go over these things and say this is the things that we’ve noticed, and here are some potential solutions. Now, are we on the right track or the wrong track? Is this a basis where we can work together to solve some of these issues for you, and the client has the opportunity to kind of see our work before we roll out the full financial plan to make a decision, you know, is this the type of firm that I want to work with? Is are these the things that are important to me, and the solutions that make sense. So that’s typically how we work. It’s usually one or two meet two meetings before someone decides, yeah, this is the place that I want to be.

 

Marc Killian  09:23

Okay, so then you roll out into the full onboarding, then right, and that’s where you start getting down into the real nitty gritty of things, you know, fine tuning and setting up the, I guess, the expectations, dude, because I think that’s where a lot of places fall flat too, because you’ll hear people say all the time, well, I never hear from my person, you know. After I’ve, after I’ve come on board, I don’t hear from them very often, right? So, I think communication clearly is very important in this, and setting those expectations. Yeah, I mean, you and I try to have fun with this, and we try to be, you know, try to, you know, highlight your personality and all those kinds of things, but what you guys do, obviously, is very serious business. This, you’re talking about people’s forever money, so you want to set those clear expectations with folks, so they, you know, so they don’t feel like, hey, what’s going on over there,

 

Jude Wilson  10:07

100% And I’ve heard that complaint from many clients that we’ve brought on from other institutions, that you know, in the beginning, yeah, I heard from my guy, or heard from my girl, and then afterwards I never heard from them again, or you know, when there was a hot stock or hot mutual fund, then all of a sudden I get a phone call, and really that’s not true financial planning. There needs to be an ongoing relationship, and at our firm that first year is pretty intense, because Rome wasn’t built in a day, so we’re working with a client in the first year to create all the infrastructure that’s needed, and then from there we’re meeting either on a biannual or annual basis to make sure, just like the GPS in your car, when you veer off the wrong way, it says what, recalculating, and so we have to get you back on the path, or if we’re on the right path, celebrate that we are really making incredible progress. But either way, it’s just so important to keep the communication and to be proactive instead of reactive.

 

Marc Killian  11:14

Yeah, we were talking about this being a relationship thing, anyway. So, right, let’s just say, you know, hypothetically, you know, a lot of us, when we get to 50 plus, we start getting a little bit more in tuned or awakened to the fact that, okay, I got to get my retirement stuff in gear, right? So you start putting this together, and how you feel, or how things are going at 50 or 55 or 60 are probably not going to be the same at 70 or 75 or 80. So over time, again, this relationship, you guys are adapting and pivoting and changing life goals, because life’s gonna life, right? It’s gonna do its thing,

 

Jude Wilson  11:45

100% And oftentimes, and we’ve talked about this before, most people’s lives break down into into two phases of their, of their life, of their financial journey, the accumulation phase, where I like to explain, you’re going up the mountain, and every dollar you save gets you closer and closer to the top of the mountain, and then, and then you’ve created such a net worth that you can now use your net worth and trade your dollars to buy back your time every day. Before then, you were trading your time to earn dollars, now you’re using your dollars to buy back your time, and that’s when you enter the distribution phase, and you’re so right. The concerns shift in the beginning, it’s saving and getting the best possible return with the lowest amount of risk, but in the distribution phase it could be more about how do I make this money last forever, how do I make sure that when I’m not as independent as I used to be, that I have the care where I want it and can afford to pay for it. Or how do I leave a legacy behind? Those are questions that continually need to be adjusted as time passes, as laws change, as investments change. It’s an lifelong interactive relationship.

 

Marc Killian  13:07

Jude, we talk often. I kind of reference my mom on the podcast because we’re in that interesting demographic. So, I’m 55 she’s 85 We’re in this window where you know, working with financial professionals, and it’s like you’ve got the early part of the spectrum and you’ve got the later part of the spectrum and the needs are different, right. Certainly, and it’s very evident, right, and the things that stress her now are not the same things that I stress about, you know, they bothered her 30 years ago. So it kind of gives you like, and those of us who are fortunate enough to still have, you know, a parent or two around, we see them going through these things, and we can hopefully learn from that, but then also we’re also trying to figure out how to help them as well, so that adds to the whole equation, and you know that’s something else you guys have to deal with too, is working with folks that maybe you’re caught in, a lot of us are caught in that sandwich, you know, generation helping that elderly person as well as helping, you know, maybe our adult children, and that’s part of the planning building process too, because you got to take all that stuff into account,

 

Jude Wilson  14:04

for sure, because when I, when I talk to clients and those that are retired, we are looking holistically at everything, and sometimes the questions that I ask, they’ve never been approached with these type of questions before, like for instance, you know, we talk about their adult kids, like in your situation, you know you’ve got adult kids, but have they done everything necessary to protect themselves? Because what if something happens to them, and now you’re responsible for your grandkids? Have they put the things in place so that if something happens, your life doesn’t dramatically change or another question that I ask sometimes that startles people in most couples, and tell me if it’s this way in your house. It’s definitely the way in my house. There’s one person that is really into the finances and one person that just really wants to know that everything is going to be okay. It’s kind. Like I want to know how the clock is made versus I want to know what time it is, right? And that person who normally is the person who is in charge of the finance, what happens if that person pre-deceases the other person? And you know that’s going

 

Marc Killian  15:16

to be the case, dude, right? I mean, you know Murphy Law is going to be like, yep, boom, right. So,

 

Jude Wilson  15:22

yep, and the last thing you want is when you’re grieving for for your spouse to try to find someone trustworthy that you would feel comfortable with if you were here placing that trust in, and so the financial planning, I tell you, it is my passion. It is my joy, because there’s so many pieces of the puzzle that you have to bring together, and when you bring it together, some of the things the clients have told me just warm my heart.

 

Marc Killian  15:53

Yeah, no, that’s awesome. And no, at the end of the day, Jude, right, every firm you know has a lot of access to the same kind of information and the same software is out there. I mean, even nowadays, a lot of us as DIY ers have access to these things, but at the end of the day, it’s the experience, it’s the relationship, it’s the, you know, knowing that someone’s got your back. It’s the sounding board. The behavioral management is a huge piece of working with a financial professional, so that you’ve got somebody there to talk you off the ledge, or to, you know, to support you when you know whatever an idea might be. If it’s a good idea, if it works well for the plan. So, at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. And that’s why so many financial advisors like yourself, you’d offer these complimentary consultations and reviews. Find the right one for you, right? Find the one that resonates and works well for you, and that their system makes sense to you, and you know you guys have got your GPS, your guidance planning, and solutions. So, if you guys need help, if that sounds good to you, or if you’re curious and you want to learn more, reach out to the team. We’ve got links in the show descriptions down below, and that way you can get yourself some time onto the calendar and try it out for yourself, see if it’s a good fit for your financial car, if you will, and have a have a chat with the team. So, Jude, my friend, thanks for hanging out and talking about your passion.

 

Jude Wilson  17:07

We love it.

 

Marc Killian  17:09

Have yourself a great day, and we will see you next time here on The Roth Guy with Jude Wilson. Again, don’t forget to subscribe to us on Apple Spotify, and right here on YouTube, and click those links down below. We’ll see you next time, you

 

Walter Storholt  17:24

Financial planning and advisory services are offered through Prosperity Capital Advisors, PCA, an SEC registered investment advisor with its principal place of business in the state of Ohio. Centrist Financial Strategies and PCA are separate, non-affiliated entities. PCA does not provide tax or legal advice. Insurance and tax services offered through Centrist Financial Strategies are not affiliated with PCA. Information received from this podcast should not be viewed as individual investment advice. Product discussions and illustrations are hypothetical in nature and will vary based on many factors, including but not limited to age, health, product, insurance carrier and product design. You should consult the insurance carrier website and policy for detailed information. For information pertaining to the registration status of PCA, please contact the firm or refer to the investment advisor public disclosure website, www.advisorinfo.sec.gov For additional information about PCA, including fees and services, send for our disclosure statement as set forth on Form ADV from PCA, using the contact information herein. Please read the disclosure statement carefully before you invest or send money,

 

18:34

you