Preview:

This ​is ​a ​special ​edition ​of ​the ​Pilots ​Advisor ​podcast ​with ​Ryan ​Fleming. ​He ​had ​a ​recent ​guest ​appearance ​on ​the ​Wealth ​Warehouse ​podcast ​where ​Ryan ​shared ​essential ​insights ​for ​pilots ​nearing ​retirement ​or ​planning ​for ​the ​future. ​

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More About This Episode:

In ​this ​episode, ​he ​breaks ​down ​effective ​strategies ​for ​building ​stability ​through ​tools ​like ​dividend-paying ​whole ​life ​insurance. ​And ​he ​discusses ​the ​critical ​concept ​of ​seeing ​sequence ​of ​returns ​risk, ​a ​factor ​that ​can ​significantly ​impact ​retirement ​savings ​if ​not ​managed ​properly. ​This ​episode ​will ​feature ​highlights ​from ​their ​discussion. ​And ​don’t ​forget, ​you ​can ​check ​out ​the ​full ​episode ​by ​clicking ​the ​link ​in ​the ​description ​of ​this ​episode.

​Sit ​back, ​relax, ​and ​let’s ​enjoy ​some ​of ​the ​conversation ​between ​Ryan ​and ​the ​hosts ​of ​Wealth ​Warehouse.

Here’s what we cover in this episode:

0:00 – Intro

1:17 – Accumulation phase

5:06 – Whole life policies

9:07 – Insurance costs

15:14 – Be your own banker

Watch the full interview on Wealth Warehouse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzGH5wXPDXQ

Resources:

Check out the Wealth Warehouse YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Thewealthwarehousepodcast

Retire Pilots – https://retirepilots.com

Get your FREE Retirement Toolkit – https://bit.ly/3ZmZsaX

Pilot Tax – https://pilot-tax.com/

The Pilot’s Advisor Podcast is also on video. Watch & Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3EIEBW2

Connect with Pilot-Tax: https://pilot-tax.com/

 

Episode Transcription:

(Note, this is an automated transcription. Please forgive any errors.)

Walter Storholt: This is a special edition of the Pilots Advisor podcast with Ryan Fleming. He had a recent guest appearance on the Wealth Warehouse podcast where Ryan shared essential insights for pilots nearing retirement or planning for the future. In the episode, he breaks down effective strategies for building stability through tools like dividend paying whole life insurance. And he discusses the critical concept of seeing sequence of returns risk, a factor that can significantly impact retirement savings if not managed properly. This episode will feature highlights from their discussion. And don’t forget, you can check out the full episode by clicking the link in the description of this episode. Sit back, relax, and let’s enjoy some of the conversation between Ryan and the hosts of Wealth Warehouse.

David: Man. So there’s really two parts that we want to dive into. One being, I mean there’s two parts to retirement planning, accumulation and distribution. So there’s going up the mountain, you know, getting to the top of Mount Everest and then coming back down. And I think, as we all know that analogy, that more people die on their way down the mountain than up the mountain, uh, which is certainly true in retirement because that’s when everybody graduates from this earth anyway, anyway. But, but we say, you know, they, more people die on the way down because they don’t have a plan.

Paul Miller: A lot of pilots don’t have a good plan for retirement

So let’s first talk about like the accumulation strategy, so building up, getting ready for retirement and then we’ll move to what do you do in retirement? Maybe what are those things you should be thinking about now or questions you should be asking now as a 30, 40 year old man, ah, or woman planning for that time, um, that you weren’t thinking about right now. So what’s your, your overall kind of accumulation strategy for the pilots you work with?

Ryan Fleming: Well, I think it’s uh, I think, you know, of course I always talk about pilots because that’s who I work with, but I think that all pilots know that they have to save for retirement. What they don’t know is how the distribution phase of retirement works. They have no real understanding of that. And the details of what you’re doing today really matter for being in a good spot in the distribution phase. And I think it’s an interesting environment now since all the airlines lost their pensions, those companies are putting in B fund contributions that almost max out their 401k for them every year. So then the question is, well, what should I be doing with my money, the income that I’m bringing home? And that’s where I think that a lot of pilots don’t have a good plan to where to put their assets and how to uh, prepare for retirement. And of course what I think they should do is start building, you, uh, know, getting an overfunded whole life policy that’s going to help them in retirement. Filling a lot of those things that we’re going to talk about going down the backside of the mountain.

David: Yeah. So if you don’t have a plan for the money that’s coming in, what’s going to happen to that money? You know, this is where some of that, you know, there from everybody, you hear every financial entertainer, you can take the good, discard the rest. And you know, we, we bag on some of them quite a bit. But you know, one of them says oftentimes have a plan for that money. Have that money, have a, it’s earmarked before you even receive it. So if you don’t have a plan, I mean, you’re either gonna do something stupid with it or consume.

Ryan Fleming: Well, you’re trying to be nice too because obviously paying yourself first is a big thing. But if you’re just going to have it sit in your checking or savings account, not only are you going to go broke very safely, but your spouse is going to spend it. So a good strategy is get that money working for you right away. And Paul’s laughing. Come on, Paul, I know you got something to say.

David: Well, there’s usually one. One of the couple that likes to spend more than the other. Right. One, one’s a, hey, let’s, let’s keep this. And one says, you know, yolo.

Paul: It’s uh, yeah, it’s, it’s true. You know, we have that conversation when I’m, when I’m doing intake with a new client and, and by the way.

David: Look at her in his family. The guy’s got seven cars. Yeah, but he’s not had a good.

Ryan Fleming: Point until you said that. But Paul.

Paul: No, it’s, it’s okay. Uh, no, he’s right. Uh, but you look at an income level and I tell them, hey, I’ve got clients that make half of what you make. And this is what they’re paying in dividend paying Whole Life Premium and their face drops because, yeah, a lot of that money is just spent and they can’t account for it. They have no idea. It’s probably Netflix Chick Fil A and Papa John’s and, and going out to eat and stuff. So, um, so you’re right. It’s, you gotta, you have to, there’s multiple layers of protection here that we need to do. You have to protect the money from probably, you’re probably from somebody else not Only the government. But you have to protect it from yourself. Like, I’ll spend it. That’s why I pay a high premium. I’ll spend it.

David: Yeah, well, I mean, you have more discipline than that. But you’ll uh, you won’t spend it on stupid stuff. But uh, but most people will. I mean, hey, I got extra cash. Companies funding my 401k retirements

00:05:00

David: taken care of is kind of the mindset. My retirement’s plan, it’s already set. I don’t need to worry about it.

Ryan Fleming: Well, and I think it’s called, what I think of it is it’s called forced discipline. Set it up. So you already have that money earmarked. It’s already got, uh, somewhere that it’s going to go. And you got to force that discipline because we’re emotional creatures and we don’t stay disciplined. If we turn an automatic investment off, we probably won’t turn it back on. I mean, that’s just the reality of it. And uh, you know, and, and a lot of people in our society are in massive credit card debt. I mean that’s something that we haven’t even talked about. That’s money mismanagement. And I look at airline pilots no differently than like in the military. You know, what somebody makes, it’s not, it’s not a secret. Right. And, and to come across those that are savers and are so well, um, prepared for retirement and that exact same person that makes that exact same income doesn’t have a pot to pee in. And you go, well, what happened here? And it’s a lack of planning.

When’s the best time to start an overfunded whole life policy

And, and one thing that we talk about with, uh, overfunded whole life is the time factor and how much more efficient a policy will get. Well, the time factor is the biggest factor in any of this. So when’s the time to start an overfunded whole life policy or when’s the time to start saving? Well, the answer is now.

David: Yeah.

Ryan Fleming: Or 20 years ago.

Paul: But you know, 20 years ago would have been great.

Ryan Fleming: Yeah.

David: There’s a fact life insurance will never be cheaper than it is today because you’ll never be younger than you are today. And it’s all, you know, it’s, it’s heavily dependent on age and of course health. Are you going to be healthier tomorrow than you are today? Maybe, maybe not. Most people know. So you’re, you’re right. The best time to do this is 20 years ago, man. I, uh, the, the young 20 year old kids that, that I work with, and I call them kids, but I mean they’re, they’re grown adults. They’re, they’re, they’re going to be way ahead of their peers when they’re our age. Right. Just because they’ve done this.

Ryan Fleming: So if you guys don’t mind, just me thinking back to this storm, um, I think the number right now is it’s pushing over 250 people that lost their lives that they know of right now. And I’m, you know, sadly, when my father passed away, I had to write a check. Okay. And I learned a lot from that, you know, and I, I think about overfunded whole life a lot with just retirement planning and how it gives you options and everything else, but not even touching on the legacy planning aspect of this. How many of those individuals had, you know, protection and what, what’s, what does it look like for their family going forward? And I think about that stuff because it’s, it’s scary and it hurts and it’s real. It’s real life. And I know, you know, with what you guys do with your money, that if something happens to you tomorrow, your family’s very well protected. And there’s something about sleeping well at night knowing that, yeah, you nailed it.

Paul: I don’t sleep well at night. But, uh, that’s for other reasons, I guess. But you’re right. Odds are, Ryan, almost none of them.

David: Yeah, that’s, that’s extremely.

Paul: Statistically speaking, almost none of them. Um, you know, if they were older, they had, they probably had bought term and invested the difference if they had done anything at all. And that is that term has since, uh, expired.

David: Um, or where was most of their wealth? Perhaps inside the walls of their home.

Paul: In, in the wall no longer exists, which doesn’t exist. Same thing that happened in Katrina in 2005.

David: 5.

Paul: Yeah.

David: So how many people who lose their homes to a natural disaster like this say, thank God I had my home completely paid off.

Paul: Right?

David: None. Zero would say that because now they’ve got no capital available. Now they got to wait for insurance to pay out. You know, does everybody have flood insurance? And then in East Tennessee, I don’t know. You know, that’s a man. So having access to capital is tax, uh, free. Access to capital is huge.

Paul: Dave Ramsey says whole life insurance is cheaper than term insurance

Ryan Fleming: Paul, you said something that, uh, that caught my, my ears when I was listening. And you said, um, you know, the whole adage of buy term and invested difference. And that immediately made me think of Dave Ramsey. You know, Dave Ramsey’s has helped people, helped a lot of people that are in massive credit card debt. But that’s not the average person that we talk to, I think his ideal clients makes 50, 60 thousand dollars a year and is in massive credit card debt. And I was even guilty of that as a younger kid saying, oh, yeah, buy term. Why would you have permanent life insurance? It’s so much more expensive without really understanding how much that can leverage and protect your assets or your wealth.

Paul: Yeah. Dave and I recently did an episode titled, um, what was it, Dave? Um, you know, whole life insurance is actually cheaper than

00:10:00

Paul: term insurance or something like that.

David: I don’t know. Yeah, we could, we could prove by the numbers that whole life insurance over time is cheaper than term insurance.

Paul: But you bring up a good point. Like, I’ve owned whole, uh, life insurance since 2003. So I was 23 years old and everyone was poo pooing me like, hey, that’s a stupid place to put money and whatever. Um, and then here we all are, you know, 20, 21, 22 years later, uh, and we’re all paying a crapload of whole life insurance premium. And so I, even though I did it by accident.

David: Right.

Paul: Just because someone.

Ryan Fleming: Well, and structure is the first thing I think of. How was it structured exactly like that?

Paul: It wasn’t the right. It wasn’t participating Whole life, but it still had cash value and I was able to move that cash value over to my new IBC style dividend paying whole life policies that Dave sold to me was his first client.

David: Yeah, well, you. I didn’t really have to sell anything to you. I, um, well, that’s, I gave you a different way to think and you grabbed onto it and went with it, which is really what it is. We’re not selling a product. It’s. It’s a new way of thinking, which a lot of listeners, maybe not especially on, you know, this being replayed on Ryan’s podcast. A lot of listeners not familiar with Whole Life, and they only think there’s one way for whole life insurance to be designed, which is you pay a lot of money, you got zero cash value for many years. It takes decades to catch up. That’s the traditional way of designing it, and that’s what most people think of. But if you work with somebody who’s a, uh, professional and an expert in the infinite banking concept and properly designing these things, that cash value accumulates very quickly and you have access to it almost immediately. And, um, and if you had had a properly structured one in 2003 or 22, 21 years ago, Paul, that thing would be a money machine today.

Ryan Fleming: I’d be.

Paul: It’d be incredible. It’d be incredible. And it was, you know, riding on those late 70s, early 80s interest rates that were, you know, beyond double digits. It would, it would look awesome. But the ones I have now look awesome too. But, you know, this whole thing that we’re, this whole theme guys just reminds me of, uh, one of our friends who says, you know, the future is unknown. And then I like to kind of make a joke. Like it’s almost like the future is unknown. Uh, and very few people think beyond tomorrow. You know, they can’t think past the next five minutes. And I understand everybody’s busy, but the future is unknown. You have to plan. You have to plan for it and you have to put those tools in place that are going to be there when, when disaster strikes, whether that’s natural disaster or just political disaster. How many as we, as we age, right, we, uh, we, we have all known people who have, who have graduated earlier than expected, right? We all have known multiple people. Whether it was in an air aircraft mishap or whether it was just due to other, you know, maybe m, they had cancer or whatever. I met a young guy the other day, he’s like 40. He had a heart attack when he was 30 years old.

David: Wow.

Paul: Uh, and so, so anyway, all that being said, you know, got to.

Most people don’t have any problem sending off that monthly mortgage check

David: So Ryan, go ahead.

Ryan Fleming: I was just going to ask the question and how you guys talk to your clients. Most people don’t have any problem at all, you know, sending off that monthly mortgage check. And they go, okay, you know, and I get that that’s your home and you live in it, but they know, oh, I’m, um, building equity. I know this is a good long term plan, but yet writing a check for overfunded whole life is like they’re giving it away. Like it’s going into never Neverland. And I just don’t, I don’t understand how you know, what the thinking behind that is and, and just wanted you guys to kind of talk about how, how you would explain that to them or give them the concept of what they’re really, uh, doing here. Because one of the things I bring up, I go, well, yeah, you don’t have access to all that money right away, but if something happens to you, you just got a 14,000% return on your money.

Ryan’s retirement toolkit is tailor made for pilots like you

Walter Storholt: Attention aviators. When you’ve spent years in the cockpit managing the complexities of flight, isn’t it time you navigated your retirement with the same Precision? Introducing Retire Pilots.com right at your touchdown zone. Um, on our homepage, there’s a beacon flashing. Get my free toolkit. Click that and you’ll be cleared for a direct route to Ryan’s retirement toolkit tailor made for pilots like you. Inside you’ll find two of his important works, the pilot’s advisor and pilots retire early. Between these two books, you can decipher the nine critical decisions when retiring before 65 and discover the seven lessons to help pilots land safely in retirement. But that’s not all. This toolkit is packed with altitude high value, including extras to get your retirement plans off the Runway

00:15:00

Walter Storholt: and light the afterburners on your 401k.

Most people’s understanding of whole life insurance is based on somebody else’s misunderstanding

Vector on over to retirepilots.com to grab your toolkit and let’s embark on this journey together.

David: Yep.

Paul: Nope. No question. I think Ryan for like you know a uh, tangible, tangible actions that someone could take listening to this right now that isn’t, you know, isn’t maybe one of your clients yet or isn’t one of our clients yet or whatever is that they could, you know, listen to your content, read becoming your own banker, listen to our content and they will begin to understand that’s always, I mean that’s, that’s always going to be my. What I tell people to do is go listen to this, read this book and then let’s come back and have a session and talk about it. Um, but you’re right, there’s a, there’s a lot of misconceptions out there and the way we structure, you know, ibc, uh, quote quotations, IBC style policies is with a paid up additions rider which that premium goes, almost buys death benefit but it goes to early cash value access. Right. So you pay a PUA rider, you can you know, two weeks later, 30 days later take that money right back out. Most of it like beyond 90% of it if you needed to in an emergency. So, so you’re right. If someone is willing to blindly hand money over to these other things, whether it’s you know, paying extra on their credit card or paying extra on their student loans or whatever, which is money that’s gone forever extra uh, on their car payment, they should be more than comfortable. Once the understanding is there of ah, paying high dividend paying whole life premium.

Ryan Fleming: Um, or, but again sequencing it through a life insurance plan, you know, even if you have an earmarked, you know, sequence it through an insurance plan. And one of the big ones I run into right now is these, uh, oh, I have all my money sitting in a high yield savings account and.

David: I’m going okay right now.

Ryan Fleming: Well even then they think it’s great because of what it’s paying right now. But the funny part is that’s just because that’s the cost of capital. That’s where inflation is right now. You’re still treading water, you know.

Paul: Right.

Ryan Fleming: And to feel so comfortable to have a lot of money sitting on a high yield savings account versus what could be doing for them for, in a tax free manner and liquidity in a uh, insurance plan.

David: Right. So to kind of piggyback on what Paul said, I mean most, and Paul says this all the time, most people’s understanding of life insurance, of whole life insurance is based on somebody else’s misunderstanding. Because where do most people get their financial information? Well the millennials listening, most of them get their info from Tick Tock Tick tock and other, you know, and a lot of us pull our financial acumen or recommendations, um, from people close to us who are not financially successful. Uh, the hell would you ask your father for financial advice if he’s dead broke at the age of 65? Why maybe ask him, hey dad, what did, what would you do differently? Not what did you do, give me some advice. Because of that, all their advice guaranteed it’s going to be whole life is a stupid investment. And the fact that they compare whole life with an investment in the first place means they don’t understand it because it’s not an investment. And that’s very important to understand. Investing involves risk, savings doesn’t. Whole life insurance does not involve risk whatsoever other than transferring risk to some, somebody else.

Ryan Fleming: Which is even more interesting though because every once in a while, you know, most pilots are type A and they’re, they’re, they, they’ll mind taking risk and, but you’ll find one that’s very risk adverse and yet they still can’t see how safe a policy is. And I know I actually passed along a client to you that was like that and it took him a little while and then all of a sudden the light came on. And I think it’s tough with pilots because they’re always talking in the cockpit and the ones that are, think they’re the smartest. You know, that type a guy that thinks he’s the smartest. The arrival tends to not be set up, uh, you know, as successful as others.

David: Well, you, that makes me laugh because I remember having lunch with a captain I was flying with back when I was flying and I was telling him about whole life insurance and where I put my money and he’s like, uh, you know, I’m, I’m pretty conservative. So that doesn’t sound like it’s for me. So he just puts his money because he’s more conservative. I’m like, okay, you obviously don’t have any understanding whatsoever because you can’t find something more conservative or safe or guaranteed to do with your money.

Ryan Fleming: Truly the other thing that I started figuring out over time and I think this is when we get, you know, in our 40s. We’re all in our 40s. Right. And you did all the things you were supposed to do. Okay, I, I maxed out my Roth IRA, I maxed out my 401k and two things. Uh, what’s the next step? What am I, you know, what am I going to do with my money to build that liquid security, know, and there’s all these different vehicles or, you know, an investment account, a savings account, an overfunded whole life

00:20:00

Ryan Fleming: policy. Right. Um, of, uh, what’s next? And you know, I think it’s this. But the thing that really opened my eyes to this was I started seeing what very wealthy people are doing. I mean, very, very wealthy people, high income earners, business owners that are making some serious money. Guess what they’re doing. They are putting a ton of money into overfunded whole life. The person, especially as they get into retirement or getting close to retirement, they start thinking about sequence of returns, risk. Okay. And how to prevent that. Okay. Overfunded whole life can help you prevent that. They start thinking about having permanent protection for their family. But it’s, if they don’t have it in place, it’s too late or it’s too expensive. Um, and it’s funny how pilots, as they get closer to retirement, all these concerns and questions come up that they never thought about. And I always say it’s pretty hard to clean up the mess at that point versus planning. And if you planned ahead, not only is it much cheaper, it’s much more efficient and you don’t have those concerns in retirement.

Ryan, what should people do as a first step to start thinking about retirement

David: All right. Love it, man. Thanks for, for joining us again, Ryan. And how can people, what should people do as a first step to say, contacting you and learning more about what you can offer?

Ryan Fleming: Um, I think the best first step is just go to retire pilots dot com. Uh, you could go there and order my free retirement toolkit. It’s a couple books, it’s got a bunch of flyers in there about different things that you probably want in your retirement toolkit to start thinking about. Um, and then you can, there’s ways that you can reach out to me. I’ll do a free portfolio analysis. We’ll get on a zoom call and actually go through things together. Talk about your concerns, compare returns, and then talk about all the different things that you might not be thinking about in retirement.

David: Awesome. Thanks. I ordered the toolkit. It was great. I read your books. Great, um, info in there. So awesome, man. Well, hey, thanks for joining us, and, uh, well, we look forward to having you on again pretty soon.

Ryan Fleming: Thanks for having me on, guys. I appreciate it.

Paul: Information is for illustrative purposes only and.

Ryan Fleming: Does not constitute tax, investment, or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified investment legal or tax professional before taking any action.

00:22:13