The Retirement Trainer

If you think back to where you were a year ago, you were probably excited for life to get back to some kind of normal. As we have come to find out, this year proved to be full of surprises with ongoing labor shortages, disrupted supply chains, and high inflation.

With that in mind, we know we can’t predict the future–but we can help you create a plan to weather the coming storm and achieve your goals, no matter what happens in the world.

Today’s episode is all about what needs to go on your financial checklist by December 31st, 2021, and what to look out for going into the new year.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• Why simply having some investments or assets is not a financial plan.
• The questions retirees and the soon-to-be-retired should be asking themselves right now.
• How to prepare for the upcoming changes to income taxes.
• The core components of a successful financial plan.
• What to consider to max out your Social Security.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/60

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

We’re all busy this time of year–not just with holiday parties and shopping for gifts, but with a number of major financial deadlines. On top of that, it’s also time to look back at how you did financially in 2021 and create a plan to take you into 2022 and beyond.

Whether you’re giving to charity, making contributions to retirement accounts, or preparing for inflation to best protect your wealth, today’s episode is for you. We’re talking about what your year-end financial checklist should look like and how to craft a retirement strategy suited to your needs.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• Things you can do (or have to do) before December 31 pertaining to your retirement accounts.
• Why this might be the last year for backdoor Roth conversions.
• How to protect yourself against a potential economic downturn in the face of the Omicron COVID variant, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and inflation.
• How the changes to the SECURE Act will impact distributions from an inherited IRA.
• What to do right now if you don’t have a plan.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/59

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

It’s the holidays–and that means we’re gearing up for Black Friday deals, Christmas gifts, and more.

Giving (and receiving) gifts can be a whole lot of fun–but it’s also one of the easiest times of the year to overspend, rack up credit card debt, and make financial decisions that feel better in the moment than they do in the long run.

With that in mind, today’s episode is all about how to set an effective budget. We’re talking about why budgeting gets so contentious, how to eliminate conflict through budgeting, and tools you can use to know where your money’s really going–and start saving lots of it.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• Why it’s more important than ever before to have a solid budget and revisit it regularly.
• The value of budgeting early in life.
• How to create your first real, accurate budget, hold to it, and repeat this process every month.
• How a budget creates financial freedom, makes it easier to identify and solve problems, and address money issues when they arise.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/58

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Nanette Pfister is the VP of Sales for Epcon Communities, a community planning company operating in 29 states across the country. They’re a hugely successful franchise business with over 150 corporate employees, and as a housing provider, they were an essential business over the course of the COVID-19 crisis.

Today, Nanette joins the podcast to talk about how they weathered the shutdowns, tips for how to sell homes virtually, and why they’re poised to hit all-time sales records and achievements for 2021.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• How Epcon Communities rapidly became adept at virtual selling.
• How the business is dealing with the national labor shortage and continuing to find, recruit, and keep great talent for decades.
• What Epcon is doing to address supply chain and materials issues.
• What differentiates Epcon Communities from typical condominiums and HOAs.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/57

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Today, we’re talking to Fred DeBiasi. He’s the CEO of Valley Central Bank, a community bank here in Ohio. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s shifted his business model and worked to deliver a different kind of consumer experience in the face of a wide array of challenges. 

In his words, Valley Central experienced a triple whammy: an intense merger in August 2019, the COVID pandemic, and the PPP lending rush. Throughout all of it, they were able to continue serving their clients and emerged in great shape on the other side. 

In this conversation, we’re talking about why community banks matter in 2021, how Fred shifted operations to keep his employees safe and his customers afloat, and what he’s doing to keep relationships alive in the era of digital banking with less foot traffic in his lobbies than ever before.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• How the pandemic drove Fred to reassess how his bank delivers products and services.
• The biggest challenges Fred’s customers have seen over the course of the pandemic.
• Fred’s philosophy when it comes to investing–and how he talks to customers about keeping their money safe.
• How Valley Central kept their corporate culture intact through a merger.
• The reasons why this is a great time to borrow money.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/56

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

We’re all living with inflation. We’re watching prices climb out of control, whether we’re at the grocery store or doing our holiday shopping. It’s everywhere. It’s hard not to notice that gas is up over $1.25 a gallon when you’re filling up the gas tank.

So, as you watch your costs balloon, what can you do to protect your finances and best take care of yourself and your family? Today, we’re talking about all the factors at play: what’s causing rampant inflation, how inflation has affected us in the past, and the things you can do to best survive this economically trying time.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• The root causes of the inflation we’re experiencing every day.
• The safest ways to keep up with inflation as you approach retirement or build your retirement portfolio.
• Why the sky isn’t falling–and how a good financial planner can help you navigate this and other economic challenges.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/55

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

In the last few years, we’ve all heard about preppers–people who have outfitted their basements with emergency supplies, like food and water. The fact that it’s suddenly become hard to find products like paper towels, toilet paper, and even bottled water has prompted this topic to rear its head all over again.

But what if we told you that financial prepping was also hugely important, especially as we enter into our next phase in life and into retirement? 

In today’s episode, and in the wake of a truly strange time in our economy, we’re talking about how to maintain control of your finances in unprecedented times, how to create a retirement plan that takes that uncertainty into account, and what you can do right now to stop worrying and enjoy your life.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• Why our supply chains are completely disrupted across almost every industry.
• How rampant inflation and rising interest rates affect our cash flow.
• How to build a safety net into your retirement plan–and why you simply need to have time if you want to stay heavily invested in the markets.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/54

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Once again, the tax bill is coming–and the biggest asset for so many Americans, with the exception of their real estate, is a pre-tax retirement plan. This could be a 401(k), a 403(b), a thrift savings plan, an IRA, or something else. 

And no matter what people say, their biggest expense is not healthcare–it’s taxes. Taxes go up as retirees withdraw retirement income, they affect Medicare B, C, and D premiums, and they’re all but inevitably going up.

In today’s episode, we discuss a number of issues: how Congress has failed to steward our money, why inflation is all but inevitable (and why it’s so hard to find products right now), and what you can do to protect yourself in the years (and decades) to come.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• Why so few people are aware of their tax situation until they enter into retirement.
• How healthcare and taxes go hand in hand to increase retirees’ expenses.
• Why every American citizen now owes over $470,000 in taxes to address the national debt.
• Why inflation is out of control right now.
• Ways to prepare for the coming tax debt, no matter what your retirement plan looks like.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/53

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Here at The Retirement Trainer, we’ve spent the last few months focused on giving back to small businesses. Along the way, you’ve been asking us two questions more than any other: “What’s most important as a business owner,” and “how can I start a new business of my own?”

If you’re a small business owner (or want to launch one), today’s episode is especially for you. We start from the very beginning, walk you through a five-step process, discuss the importance of creating a plan for succession (even if you plan to stay a part of the business for years to come), and how to find the help you need as you get started at any age.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• The things business owners need to start–or restart–to best position themselves for success.
• Why there’s no magic bullet when it comes to building a thriving business–and why that’s okay.
• The importance and power of mentorship.
• Why you need a written plan to turn your dream into a living, breathing business.
• How to find balance between your work life and your family life–and why this needs to be part of your initial plan to maintain your sanity.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/52

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Scholl’s Landscaping and Design, located in Columbus, Ohio, was shut down for only a few weeks in March of 2020, but their journey back to any sort of “normal” has been a fascinating one. Despite significant success, they’re now facing issues including labor shortages, supply chain issues, and skyrocketing costs for materials.

In today’s episode, we ask business owner Jordan Scholl an important question: with every job taking a little longer and being a little more expensive to complete, what should you do? Jordan walks us through how his business is navigating the post-COVID world–and explains what business owners and consumers can expect as we continue working towards being fully reopened.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn: 

• How Scholl’s Landscaping survived the pandemic as a business that was in massive demand from April 2020 onward.
• Why the cost of basic supplies, like lumber, are higher than ever before.
• How Jordan differentiates his business from other landscapers–and how a rebrand for the company in 2013 proved hugely valuable.
• What Jordan does to handle work-life balance as a father of three children–and why he doesn’t work weekends.
• Why it’s so hard to hire right now–and what roles in particular have proven all but impossible to find the right talent for.

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/49

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan? 

We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com