Retirement Secrets

View Details

Full Transcript Below:Greg unpacks what he calls, “one of the most significant social security benefits” – the spousal benefit. He’ll answer questions like “When should you AND your spouse file for social security?” “Should you both file at the same time?” and “What happens when you’re able to harness the power of social security alongside your spouse?” Stick around until the end to hear the subtle tip Greg offers in regards to your spousal benefit.

Demystify Social Security: About the Spousal Benefit – with Greg Kateff, CPAHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

My kids and I love to watch the Summer Olympics and we sort of gravitate towards the track and field events. I mean, it’s always fun to watch the a hundred meter dash and I always like the four by four relays. I’m also partial to the high jump because that’s what I used to do back in the day as well. But one of the lesser followed sports is rowing. And in rowing there’s singles, there’s doubles, there’s quads. There’s at least a half a dozen different events in rowing, and as you can probably guess, the world record for two people rowing is substantially faster than one person rowing. I mean, it makes sense, right? With two people rowing, there’s just more horsepower.

So today we continue our series on Demystifying Social Security with Greg Kateff, who is a certified public accountant and also specializes in senior level tax and financial planning strategies. Greg unpacks what he calls one of the most significant social security benefits, the spousal benefit. He’s gonna help you answer questions like, how do you maximize the spousal benefit? When should you file for social security? When should your spouse file? Should you file at the same time?

And like the two person rowing team, if you can channel the horsepower or the benefits of both spouses, you will end up further ahead if it’s done right. And make sure you listen to the end where Greg mentions a subtle, little known feature of social security that most individuals are completely unaware of. Here’s Greg with Demystifying Social Security.

Well, next we come to what I think is one of the most significant social security benefits, the spousal benefit. Keep in mind that if you are married, each spouse’s social security benefit is based on their own personal work record. Having said that, the spousal benefit often comes into play when one spouse either has a much lower personal earnings benefit as compared to their other spouse, or may not have any earnings record of their own.

So grab another blank sheet of paper and jot down these key spousal benefit features. First, spousal benefits are only available once the other spouse has filed for their own social security benefits. That’s a very important limiting condition. So, a spouse without an earnings record can’t just start a spousal benefit unless the other spouse has already filed for their own social security.

Only one spouse can claim spousal benefits and the person claiming a spousal benefit must be married to the worker for one continuous year, or is the parent of their child. Next, the maximum spousal benefit available when you claim at your full retirement age equals 50% of your spouse’s full retirement benefit. Even if your spouse started benefits prior to their full retirement age benefit and is receiving something less than their full retirement age benefit amount, your spousal benefit again is computed on their full retirement age.

Now you can claim a spousal benefit as early as 62, but if you take your benefit prior to your specified full retirement age, then, similar to the discounting mentioned before, the spousal benefit is also permanently discounted. For example, if you applied for a spousal benefit at age 62 and your full retirement age is 67, you would receive 32.5% of your spouse’s full retirement age amount, not 50%. When a spouse files for a spousal benefit, they are deemed to have also filed for their own work record benefits. So, social security will pay the higher of the spousal benefit or the benefit based on their own work record.

A common strategy often used by a dual income couple is one spouse, upon attaining full retirement age, files for benefits on their earnings record while the other spouse delays receipt of benefits in order to earn the 8% bonus credits. Once the other spouse does file for their benefits, then the first spouse will receive 50% of their spouse’s full retirement age benefit, that is the spousal benefit, if that benefit is higher than the benefit that was being paid on their own personal earnings record.

Finally, here’s a subtlety to note. If you are collecting benefits, once you reach full retirement age, you could choose to suspend future benefits up to as late as age 70 and receive the 8% annual bonus credits. However, if your spouse is receiving a spousal benefit off your earnings record, if you suspend your benefit, the spousal benefit will also be suspended.

Well, we’re getting close to the finish line, so stay tuned because in our next podcast we’ll take a quick look at social security taxation, some options available to you once benefits have started, and the benefit opportunities for surviving spouses and divorced spouses. Until then, thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

The opinions voiced in this program are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision. Securities offered through LPL Financial member, FINRA SIPC.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:Your retirement needs to be fully funded for you to have the life you want (and deserve) – so why aren’t you exploring every option to get you there? After all, alternative investments aren’t just the purview of multi-millionaires anymore. This week, we continue our conversation with Adam Konopolsky of Pomona Capital to talk about a favored alternative investment strategy: secondary private equity. Discover whether it’s right for you, and why it’s difficult to get access to. Tune in to hear more!

Part II: Why are Secondary Private Equity Investments so Exclusive? – with Adam KonopolskyHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

You know, we don’t ask for much. We all want to have a retirement where we’re active and hopefully healthy, maybe travel to beautiful places and maybe chase the grandchildren around if we have them. But we all know that in order to enjoy that type of retirement, you have to plan for it. And we often use alternative investments as a part of that plan. It’s a savvy approach to retirement planning.

Today we have back on the show, Adam Konopolsky with Pomona Capital to talk about an alternative investment strategy favored by multimillionaires. Pomona Capital, as you may recall, is headquartered in New York City, and they also have offices in London and Hong Kong. The best alternative investment managers, especially with private equity, the best tend to stay the best. That’s not the case with mutual fund managers like the ones you’ll find in 401ks or your classic investment accounts.

And if you want the secret sauce on why the best private equity managers stay the best, then this episode’s for you. Here’s my interview with Adam.

Todd: Adam, welcome back to the Retirement Secrets podcast.

Adam: Thanks, Todd. Happy to be here again, and looking forward to picking up on our conversation from last time.

Todd: We’re gonna continue our conversation on secondary private equity investing, and you brought up a really good point last time that I wanted to follow up on. Okay, so Adam, I know that in private equity, not all managers are the same. Right?

My understanding is that, you know, the better private equity managers tend to stay the better private equity managers, which is a little bit different than from the public markets with mutual funds, where the better managers sort of tend to rotate in and out of the top quartile, to use sort of a geeky term. Can you explain that? Why is it that the best private equity managers tend to stay the best, and if they are that good, how do you, how can you get access to ’em?

Adam: Yeah, no, it’s a great question. And you really hit the nail on the head there, Todd,. So one thing that we’ve done some analysis on where we’ve looked at dispersion of returns between the best performing private equity managers and the worst performing private equity managers and compared that to other asset classes. So you know, mutual funds, public equity, funds, hedge funds, energy private credit, et cetera and the difference between the best and the worst in private equity is like thousands of basis points compared to other asset classes where it’s so much smaller. The difference is so much tighter.

And the question is well why is that? And I think when it comes to private equity, particularly the buyout space in particular, it’s not only important to have a good investment plan going in, meaning understanding valuation and understanding growth. But if you think about what buyout managers and private equity managers are doing, they’re actually taking control of a business and changing that business, right?

So actually, they need operational expertise in order to implement their plan for growth and be sure to execute on it, right? So you have firms that have been doing this in some instances for 40, 50 years, and quite frankly, and they’ve been doing it over multiple economic cycles, right, given that time horizon, so they have the playbook, right? And they typically tend to stick to what they know. They have a select group of sectors that they typically work on, and they know how to add value and what their plan is going into a business before they actually get the keys.

Todd: Mm-hmm.

Adam: Now does it work perfectly all the time? No, it does not work perfectly all the time. But given that they are actually making fundamental changes to the business themselves and not just betting on the performance of the business, gives them another lever or multiple levers I should say, that they can pull in order to enhance value and grow each of their underlying portfolio companies.

So that’s really, I think why that is, and I think that’s very different than if you’re a typical, you know, mutual fund manager or you’re a hedge fund manager where you’re not taking ownership of a business. Yeah, you’re making bets on individual businesses and how they’re gonna perform. But you can’t sit in the boardroom, right and fire the CEO. You can’t change the course of a business’ strategy. And that’s exactly what private equity managers are doing to their portfolio companies.

Todd: Oh that’s a great point. The fact that private equity managers are going in, taking control, oftentimes taking 51% control or greater.

Adam: Exactly.

Todd: And they’re actually rolling up their sleeves, bringing in their SWAT team.

Adam: Exactly.

Todd: And as you said, they’ve been doing it for decades now.

Adam: Yeah.

Todd: Which is very different than a mutual fund manager because a mutual fund manager, not that investing in mutual funds is not a good idea, it’s just a different way.

Adam: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Todd: Mutual fund managers are buying and selling individual stocks or individual bonds based on what they think a publicly traded company is gonna do.

Adam: Exactly.

Todd: But they don’t have operational control. Right?

Adam: Right. That’s exactly right.

Todd: Which is what you’re just describing. They don’t have control of the business or its future.

Adam: That’s exactly right.

Todd: Okay. So Adam, let me kind of circle back to the idea if the best managers are the best in the private equity space and they tend to stay that way. How can an investor get access to them?

Adam: I mean, it’s a great question. And to be honest, you know, it takes time, right? You need to build relationships. The private equity industry, and the secondary industry even more so, is very relationship intensive. You know, there’s quite significant barriers to entry when you’re talking about being able to get access to the best managers in the space.

I’m gonna talk about it from the secondary side because that’s kind of how it impacts us the most. You know, one of the things that is very important to point out about secondaries is that anytime that there’s a transfer of a limited partnership interest in a private equity fund, t can be well and good that the buyer and seller have agreed on terms and agreed on price but at the end of the day, if the underlying fund sponsor, the underlying manager, doesn’t approve that transfer then I’m not gonna be able, the buyer isn’t gonna be able to access that fund.

So, for example, let’s say Todd and I have agreed or I’ve agreed to buy Todd’s interest in Adam, private equity fund one and we agree on a price. And then I go to Adam private equity fund manager, and they say “that’s great, Todd, that you’ve sold your interest to Adam but I have no idea who Adam is. He’s never invested one of my funds before. I’ve never worked with him. I have no relationship with him. I’m not gonna, you know, approve this transfer, sorry.”

So it’s important as a secondary buyer that we have those relationships with those firms, so we don’t find ourselves in those situations where we agree on a price with someone we agree to transact and we ultimately don’t get approved to buy the underlying asset. Because that’s just not a win for anyone.

So, you know, what we’ve done is over time, given that we’ve been around for 30 years now, we have relationships obviously with a number of different private equity managers out there, hundreds of private equity managers out there that we’ve worked with in the past and that are comfortable with us. And we rarely find ourselves in those situations where we’re not able to buy those funds that tend to be more restrictive.

Todd: Adam, if listeners wanna follow you or learn more, where should they go?

Adam: Yeah, sure Todd. No problem. So, I think the best place for listeners to get some more information about us and secondaries is pomonacapital.com. So that’s www.pomonacapital.com.

Todd: Adam, very informative. Thanks again for being on the podcast.

Adam: No problem at all, Todd. Happy to be here. Happy to do this and I hope to speak to you and some of your listeners at some point soon.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Individual tax and legal matters should be discussed with your tax or legal professional. There is no assurance that the investment techniques and strategies discussed are suitable for all investors or will yield positive outcomes. The purchase of certain securities may be required to affect some of the strategies.

Investing involves risks, including possible loss of principal. Alternative investments may not be suitable for all investors and should be considered as an investment for the risk capital portion of the investor’s portfolio. The strategies employed in the management of alternative investments may accelerate the velocity of potential losses.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:One of the biggest questions we get from our clients is “How do I help the people closest to me?” It’s a beautiful thought, right? As we get older, our families get bigger and grandchildren enter into the picture. So how does that change your retirement plans? Well, we talked to Randy Malloy, a financial planner at Finish Line Financial, who shares a great story about how one grandchild changed everything for one of his clients.

Grandkids change everything – including your retirement with Randy MalloyHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

What we often hear from clients is that they want to not only take care of their own financial needs, But they often want to help the people closest to them. I mean, it really does come from a place of love and just having a generous heart. And what we’ve also found out is, um, grandparents love to spoil their grandchildren. Who knew, right? So that often finds its way into their plans as well.

In today’s episode, Randy Malloy shares a heartwarming story about a beautiful baby boy that came into this world during the early and difficult days of COVID-19. I’m sure you can remember what that was like. Randy is in Finish Line Financial’s planning department where he provides advice and analysis to our clients to help get them across their retirement finish line with confidence. Spoiler alert, grandchildren have a way of changing your plans. Here’s Randy.

My name is Randy Malloy, and for those of you who don’t know me, I work with Todd to provide financial planning. I wanna share a story with you all about a family who just became new grandparents. As I’m sure you’re all well aware, grandparents love to spoil their grandchildren.

They flood them with toys, treats, and other fun experiences as well. Well, this story dates back to May of 2020, and as you all remember, times were uncertain. We all had to change the way we live. And for the first time, we sat down with this couple to review their plan virtually using Zoom. We were struggling with the technology, trying to figure out how to share the screen, make sure we weren’t muted, and turns out they were already experts.

They had just gotten off a call with their daughter to be introduced to their grandson for the first time, who was just born earlier that week. We were all so excited. They were talking about the future, uh, the past, what’s to come, and they brought up wanting to help fund their grandson’s education. So we talked about various ways of being able to fund education and specifically the pros and cons of a 529 plan.

So some of the pros: We were talking about how they’re able to give up to the annual gifting limit each year, which for 2022 is $16,000. However, the 529 plan allows you to prorate five years worth of gifting contributions in that first year, meaning you can contribute up to $80,000 in one year and just forego the next four or five years of contributions.

We talked about the tax benefits of it. Their contributions are state tax deductible for up to $5,000 for a single file or $10,000 for a joint file. We talked about how the money within the account would grow tax free and if they used it for qualified education expenses, it comes out tax free as well.

And we also talked about how the plan is portable. So if the grandson doesn’t end up utilizing it or going to college or using the funds for that means, but they have a granddaughter or another grandson in the future who is going to college, they can easily change the beneficiary and still have the plan for its purpose.

We talked about some of the cons, how if the funds do need to be used for non-education purposes, then you have to incur the 10% penalty and pay taxes on it. But the major con that we discussed was in regards to financial aid, specifically FAFSA in a grandparent-owned financial plan or in a grandparent-owned 529 plan, the assets within it do not count towards the child’s for FAFSA purposes.

However, whenever you take a distribution from that plan and you use it to pay tuition or to reimburse the student for their expenses, that distribution is directly counted as student’s income, which for the following year, when a student has to file a FAFSA application, this greatly negatively impacts their eligibility.

Now, there were ways that we can navigate around this issue, and we discussed all of those, but let’s take a second and fast forward to just a month ago, July of 2022. We sat back down with these new grandparents again on Zoom and discussed the 529 plans. Fun side note, they were actually, uh, the grandson was actually visiting the grandparents that day and came in and was waving at the camera.

Well, we were able to provide them good news. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 set to simplify the FAFSA application, beginning in the education year for 2024 and 2025. And this simplification no longer requires students to manually disclose this cash support. This meant the distributions we were worried about before were no longer an issue.

So grandparents, you’re free to start a 529 plan for your grandchildren without needing to jump through the loopholes in order to maintain a FAFSA eligibility.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Prior to investing in a 529 Plan investors should consider whether the investor’s or designated beneficiary’s home state offers any state tax or other state benefits such as financial aid, scholarship funds, and protection from creditors that are only available for investments in such state’s qualified tuition program. Withdrawals used for qualified expenses are federally tax free. Tax treatment at the state level may vary. Please consult with your tax advisor before investing.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:There’s one big question you want answered when it comes to your retirement: Will I be able to retire the way I want, or will I run out of money? Here’s some good AND bad news, multi-millionaires feel the same way. It’s one of the reasons many of them use alternative investments to protect and grow their savings. We interviewed Adam Konopolsky of Pomona Capital to discuss a unique type of alternative investment: secondary private equity investing. Take a listen to this great conversation that will have you thinking!

Exploring Secondary Private Equity Investments with Adam KonopolskyHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

Most people seem to have the same question when it comes to retirement. Will I be able to have the retirement that I want or will I run out of money? And I can tell you that even multimillionaires have the same concern because no matter how much money you have, you’re not quite sure if you’re gonna be okay. It’s one of the reasons why they often use alternative investments as a way to protect their savings and grow it.

And today, Adam Konopolsky with Pomona Capital, a global private equity firm, joins us to talk about why multimillionaires and big institutional investors often invest in private equity through what’s known as secondary investments. It’s a unique and highly sought after approach that is difficult to get access to. Pomona Capital is headquartered in New York City and also has offices in London and Hong Kong. And as you’ll hear, Adam takes a deeper dive to give you an insider’s view to this unique strategy. Here’s my interview with Adam.

Todd: Adam, welcome to the Retirement Secrets podcast. Been looking forward to having you on the show.

Adam: Thanks, Todd. Happy to be here. Looking forward to chatting with you some more and talking about private equity and secondaries.

Todd: Today we’re gonna talk about secondary private equity investing, which is an area that you and Pomona specialize in. For our newer listeners, maybe if you could, Adam, maybe give us a recap on what traditional private equity investing is and how that differs from secondary private equity investing.

Adam: Sure Todd, happy to do that. So, you know, just to give a little bit of background here, you know, the private equity industry now has been around going back to probably the sixties or seventies. And historically it’s really been accessed by institutional investors. So you have endowments, foundations, pension funds, etcetera, and they’ve been accessing the asset class via private equity managers that typically structure funds that are privately placed, that are limited partnerships, and that have pretty much a finite life. So anywhere from, call it 10 years to to 15 years, and in some instances longer.

And the idea is that these managers will call capital from their investors or from their limited partners on an as needed basis as they’re making investments into new underlying portfolio companies. And over time that manager will then look to add value to those companies through a number of different measures, whether that’s expanding the business into a new product line, whether that’s expanding it to new geographies or potentially even implementing some type of M&A activity as well in order to build a business and expand within a particular industry.

So what happens is over time, as those managers do add value to those businesses, they will look to sell those underlying companies and provide the proceeds back to their limited partners from whom they initially called capital from.

Todd: Mm-hmm.

Adam: Right? So that’s really the mechanism through which limited partners in private equity funds historically exit their investments and ultimately receive liquidity for their investments.

Todd: So is another way of saying that?

Adam: Sorry.

Todd: No, no, it’s, it’s a great point. So maybe for our listeners, I’ve heard this before, that with traditional private equity, the exit is, they sort of, they buy it, fix it, and then they sell it. And so the selling of it is the exit out of the underlying company.

Adam: That’s exactly right.

Todd: Is that another way of describing it?

Adam: That’s exactly right. And the distinction I’m trying to make there is that the limited partner or the investor doesn’t typically, or ever really has the right to go to the manager and request liquidity prior to the end of that fund’s life. So for example, if you’re an investor in let’s say X, Y, Z private equity fund one, you can’t go to X, Y, Z private equity manager and say “you know what, thank you so much, I’ve been in your fund for five years, I’ve earned a great return, but I want my money back now.” The manager’s gonna come to you and say, “I’m sorry, you gotta wait till we sell all these companies and we then have the liquidity necessary to pay you down.”

Todd: Right.

Adam: The only alternative that those investors have really, in order to generate liquidity themselves is to access the secondary market and sell their limited partnership interest to an investor like Pomona, who will then buy it from them and provide them with capital in order to leave that investment. So that’s really, structurally the difference between a traditional private equity investor and a secondary investor: someone who’s coming into a fund in the middle of its life and serving as a liquidity provider to a primary investor in a traditional private equity fund.

Todd: So let me ask you this then. If you’re an investor and you can’t outright get liquidity under the normal channels, why would the sponsor or the fund manager allow a secondary fund to come in and purchase it when they wouldn’t let the individual investor exit themselves?

Adam: So it’s a great question. And I think what has happened over time is that in the initial formation, call it, of the private equity industry, these transfers, the exchanging of partnership interests was not something that was happening very often, if at all. However, over time, as certain private equity investors, initial private equity investors, gain scale and we’re making larger investments into particular managers they were able to negotiate these points to the point now where pretty much in every private equity partnership organizational docs, there is a transfer provision that exists in those documents that says “you can transfer, however, you need the GP’s consent, the manager’s consent before we approve that transfer to ultimately happen.”

Todd: So it’s more commonplace today than once upon a time.

Adam: Much more commonplace. In fact, we find people, secondary investors, sorry, people selling their investments mainly for reasons that have very little to do with the underlying assets themselves and more to do with their own personal situation. So you could be in a situation where you have a high net worth private equity investor who’s in a bit of a liquidity crunch. And they may own these great assets, these great private equity assets that have been performing well, but they don’t have the liquidity necessary to meet other liquidity needs or to fund future unfunded commitments that they have within their private equity portfolio. So what they’re forced to do then is then sell their private equity holdings to someone like Pomona on the secondary market.

Todd: Okay, Adam. So one of the things that we talk with our clients about is that investing alternatives is really for what might be called patient capital. Meaning capital that when you invest it, you need to have sort of a patient investment strategy. Because alternative investments typically will be a longer term investment versus investing in the public markets, like the stock market, for example. So, but there’s this thing that we’ve heard called the J curve and the J curve. I know somewhat what it means, but it means one thing for traditional private equity and something different for secondary. You wanna explain that to our listeners?

Adam: Yeah, sure. Happy to do that. And also happy to hear you’re, you know, guiding your clients that way when it comes to patient capital, because we certainly are long-term investors and particularly as it pertains to private equity and even secondaries is, you know, it’s a long-term investment and it’s something that we expect to materialize over the long term. So it’s good to hear you’re educating your clients that way as well.

But as far as the J curve is concerned, yeah, so certainly a private equity term that I think we’ve all heard and all discussed, and I’m happy to kind of elaborate on it. So effectively what the J curve is trying to communicate to people or really trying to display is really the relationship between a typical private equity fund’s return throughout its life. So the return profile of a single private equity fund throughout its life from day one to all the way out till it liquidates in years, as I said earlier, you know, 10, 15 or so years down the line.

And the concept is that early on in a private equity fund’s life, the private equity manager is out there looking for new deals, investing in new businesses, and going through the process of really trying to add value to those businesses and that generates costs. And there’s not a lot of initial value creation at the beginning point of a private equity fund’s life to the point where that fund can actually incur losses in the earlier years as a result of that.

Now what happens over time, as you get beyond the first initial years of a fund’s life, those underlying companies start to generate more value. Those managers have added value to those businesses, and you start to see that in the form of returns and growth in those underlying companies from a performance perspective, but also from a valuation perspective as time goes on.

So what you end up with is, and the later years of a point of a fund’s life is when you really start to see the manager, once those underlying companies have grown to scale, and they’re at the point that they can be sold, those managers are looking to liquidate those companies by selling them, and thus generating, hopefully at increased valuations, and thus generating liquidity for limited partners, and then also increasing returns over time.

So what you ultimately end up with from a J curve perspective, the reason why it’s called the J curve is if you were to plot the returns on a chart, with the x axis being time and the y axis being returns, you would see over time that line and that plot would look like a J where it would dip down in the early years and then increase into the latter years of a fund’s life.

Todd: So, in other words, the reason it’s dipping down in the early years, as you said just a few minutes ago, is on day one, the private equity fund is buying a new company, but they need to invest in it, make some changes, and that takes capital. So there’s expenditures in the first few years.

Adam: Exactly.

Todd: Before their value starts to be created and profits start to turn around. So that J in those early years is part of the negative return essentially, whereas in the outer years it could be very different.

Adam: That’s right, Todd. And then the one thing I’d add here is that as a secondary investor, what we try to do is kind of mitigate some of that loss that occurs in their early years, right? So if we’re coming in into a fund’s life, typically anywhere from years three to year seven, we try to come in past the point where or come in at a point where the underlying fund has already deployed a very significant portion of the capital that they’ve raised. So we can look through to the portfolio and understand the assets that we’re buying, and then therefore, we’re coming into a fund closer to the point of liquidity.

So what we try to do, what we hope to do by doing that, is kind of shorten the duration a bit of the private equity investment and therefore accelerate IRR a little bit. That’s kind of our goal, what we strive to do. Again, can’t make any promissory statements here, but certainly that’s what we’re trying to do by buying into funds later on in their life kind of past that initial trough in the J curve, so to speak.

Todd: So secondary investors in theory are coming in a little bit later.

Adam: Mm-hmm.

Todd: Some of those early upfront investments have been made to perhaps turn the company around and you’re coming in once those have been made, and perhaps revenues have started to increase, valuations have begun to increase, but yet there’s still potentially a number of years left. I think you used a term called duration, which I think is measuring remaining years that they might hold the investment on average.

Adam: That’s exactly right Todd.

Todd: That’s right?

Adam: Yep.

Todd: And so you’re coming in essentially after the J curve and then exit would be sooner then? Is that, I think you said it might be a little bit sooner than a traditional investing.

Adam: Yeah. Traditionally. Right. Because if you think about it, if a private equity manager typically will hold a company for four to five years, call it, I’m making this up a little bit, but roughly four to five years.

Todd: Yeah.

Adam: If we come in after they’ve already purchased that business, you know, two to three years after they’ve purchased that business, then our duration instead of being four to five years is only one to two years, right? To the point of exit. And those are obviously, you know, very hypothetical numbers, but that’s typically what we’re trying to do. We come into a fund, not in the beginning, when there’s no assets in the ground, as a typical primary private equity investor will do, but rather after that portfolio has already been constructed. We know the underlying companies. We can look through to the businesses and make a determination as to how we think they should be valued in the future and then more fully and more completely understand the assets that we’re buying.

Todd: Okay. So Adam, I got a follow up question here then. If private equity investing is known as, kinda has a reputation of being perhaps a good place to put some of your money from an investment standpoint. If that’s true, then why are investors in primary private equity wanting to get out and sell into the secondary market? If it’s a good place to invest, why get out?

Adam: No, it’s a great question and this is something we get all the time. And you know, what we find is that when investors are selling their interests in private equity funds, they’re typically selling for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the underlying assets and all about their personal situation. And a couple of examples of that are, one, it could be a liquidity need, right? So you could have an investor who has set up their private equity portfolio to be what I like to call self-financing. And what that means is you have a situation where, or you have a portfolio where, your older, more mature funds are generating distribution activity, and then you utilize that distribution, those distributions to fund capital commitments that you have to newer funds that are still going through their investment process.

And if you’ve set your portfolio up that way, it typically works just fine. Right? In a normal, benign macroeconomic environment, when there’s a lot of IPO activity, there’s a lot of M&A activity, distributions are constantly coming off that portfolio and that should work. However, when you run into situations where there is a greater amount of macroeconomic volatility and thus the M&A markets are not as fruitful, the IPO markets are not as active, and that liquidity from your more mature private equity portfolio slows down and slows down significantly and you don’t have enough capital to meet those capital calls coming from those newer vintage funds, you could find yourself in a bit of a pickle, right?

So you can find yourself in a situation where you need to manufacture your own liquidity all about because of your personal situation. And in those instances, you may need to go to the secondary market to sell. The other thing that we’ve seen, and this has become more common, lately, couple of things. From an institutional perspective, so we’re talking about pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance companies. There could be very specific asset allocation targets that they have in their governing documents that only allow them to have so much exposure to private equity.

So when you find yourself in a situation where let’s say private equity has outperformed public markets by so much, and therefore the allocation of your portfolio is out of whack, you may be in a situation where you’re forced to sell some of your private equity exposure in order to bring it down in line with your documents and make your board happy and make sure that your portfolio was allocated in a manner that is consistent with how it’s intended. So that is another complete externality. And that’s actually those investors are selling because the private equity portfolio, to your point, Todd has performed so well, has been so good to them.

And then lastly, the other thing we’ve seen on the institutional side, because those are typically the folks that we’re buying from are these institutions, is sometimes they have new, CIOs or new portfolio management teams come in and they just have relationships with different private equity managers and they wanna make sure that they’re committing and investing with those managers and not necessarily committing and investing with the managers that the previous regime had been working with.

So they’ll come in and say, “Hey, we wanna sell these group of funds that are managed by these managers that we don’t have a relationship with and we don’t plan to continue investing with. So we wanna sell that part of our portfolio and redeploy it to the folks and the managers that we wanna focus on.”

Todd: So it’s interesting because to your earlier comment about why institutional investors. So as you said, institutional investors are sort of the big boys. It’s the pension funds, it’s the endowment, it’s the Yale University or Harvard Endowments, it’s Notre Dames endowments, University of Michigan. All of those big institutions tend to like the alternative space and private equity seems to be one of their favorite allocation investments.

But if it is a product of their success and they have an investment policy statement that says you can only have X percentage of your portfolio in private equity. Then by default, they may not necessarily want to decrease their private equity exposure, but for discipline purposes and maintaining investment policy statements, they have to.

Adam: Exactly right.

Todd: They have to sell just to trim it and then re-allocate those funds somewhere else in their overall investment strategy.

Adam: That’s exactly right.

Todd: Adam, if listeners wanna follow you or learn more, where should they go?

Adam: Yeah, sure Todd. No problem. So, I think the best place for listeners to get some more information about us and secondaries is www.pomonacapital.com. So that’s www.pomonacapital.com.

Todd: Adam, this has been fantastic. Thanks again for being on the Retirement Secrets podcast. Looking forward to our next conversation.

Adam: Of course, Todd, it was a pleasure being here, and I also look forward to chatting with you again at some point soon.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:We don’t like to dwell on it, but end-of-life planning is a hugely important part of retirement planning. It’s easy to do, but unfortunately it’s often overlooked. Failing to do so can leave your family, well, in chaos. We talked to Christine Savage, a lawyer at Lowe Law Firm, who tells us a story about what happens when you fail to plan – and what you can do to set YOUR family up for success. You’re going to be surprised at how this one turns out.

Don’t leave your family in chaos with Christine SavageHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

In the Retirement Secrets Podcast, we talk not only about setting yourself up for success, but also setting your family up for success, which is actually pretty easy to do. But unfortunately, we find it’s often overlooked and can leave a family in chaos. In today’s episode, Christine Savage with the Lowe Law Firm tells a story of a family on the cusp of division.

Mom and dad had lived a good life, raised four children, built a nice family-run business, and even had two of the children working in the business. But when mom and dad passed away, they had not planned ahead, and unfortunately, they left the family in chaos, with tension threatening to come between the children.

If you wanna set your family up for success, then you’ll wanna listen to today’s episode. Chris Savage, as you’ll find out, has substantial experience in various aspects of estate planning, probate and trust administration, income, gift, and generation skipping transfer taxation, as well as corporate business matters. And Chris is also listed in the best lawyers in America in the trust and estates area.

In addition to all that, she is well published, having authored and edited many articles on these various topics. Here’s Chris with her client’s story, and unfortunately I think you’re gonna be surprised how it turns out.

Thank you Todd for asking me to join your podcast today. I’m Chris Savage, an attorney with Lowe Law Firm. Todd asked me to talk with you about how to avoid leaving your family in a chaotic situation after your passing when a family member passes, um, it’s a difficult time for everyone. People are in vulnerable situations and often overwhelmed. So the more that we can do to ensure that the administration of our estate is in order and goes smoothly for our beneficiaries, everyone benefits.

I thought the best way to go over this subject was by way of example. I met with children that had lost their father a couple years ago and had recently lost their mother. There were four children and they all came to my office for the initial meeting to discuss the administration of their mother’s estate.

The parents had no estate planning documents, so they had no will in place, no trust in place. They hadn’t done any pre-death planning. In addition, the children did not have much supporting documentation, such as financial statements, deeds, or, you know, corporate documentation relating to their parents’ business.

So when someone dies without a will, the distribution of their assets is controlled by intestate succession. Intestate succession is the process in Michigan that determines how assets will be distributed when there is no will. Essentially what intestate succession is, is there’s a statute in Michigan that Michigan says, well if someone dies without a will this is what we think they would’ve done with their assets, and that’s what the statute details.

In this case, the assets would be distributed equally between the four children consistent with that intestate succession statute in Michigan. I started discussing with the children, their parents’ assets. Like I had mentioned, they did not have a lot of supporting documentation, which we would hope would be copies of deeds, bank statements, investment company statements, any other assets that they have, and any identifying information with respect to those assets. They were able to generally identify the parents’ assets, so we went over a list of what those were.

Their parents had owned and operated a small manufacturing company. Two of the children were actively involved in the business, and the other two children were not. There were not any succession planning documents in place, so, at death, the parents each owned a 50% membership in the business. At the death of the father, the mother became the sole owner at her death. The parents also owned a residence in Michigan and a vacation home in Florida. They had some retirement accounts, which named their children as direct beneficiaries, and they also had some investment assets. The amount of investment assets were relatively modest because they had largely used their money to invest or to reinvest in the operation of the business.

It became clear early in my meeting with the children that there were several issues that would likely or may present problems as we proceeded through the estate administration. The first one is that all four children wanted to be the personal representative. The personal representative, which used to be called the Executor but in Michigan they call it the personal representative, that’s the person that handles the administration of someone’s estate. Because there was no will, the parents had not appointed who they wanted to serve as the personal representative.

Michigan Law, again, has a statute that addresses this issue and that statute provides a priority. But in this case, the children all had equal priority as children. So we weren’t, you know, because they all had equal priority, none of them were willing to renounce their interests. And for that reason, it became necessary for the court to appoint the personal representative. With respect to probate, the children understood that it would be necessary to probate their mother’s estate in probate court.

In Michigan, probate is a process under which the personal representative opens an estate, which essentially lets the personal representative step into the shoes of the decedent and transfer the assets to the beneficiaries. But what they didn’t realize is that because there is no, because there is property owned outside of Michigan that’s not held in a trust, it was also going to be necessary to open an ancillary probate in Florida to probate the vacation home. This resulted in them having to probate both in Michigan and in Florida.

The children also took issue with the fact that the family business was going to be equally divided between them all. The two children that were actively involved in the business and had been running it for years for their parents, they didn’t want the business to suddenly be owned 50% by the other siblings that had not been involved in the business at all. In some cases, we’re able to allocate specific assets to specific children while still making the distribution equal, but in this case, there were not sufficient investment assets to be allocated to the children that were not involved in the business to make up for the value of the business that would be transferred to the two children that were involved.

For that reason, we were not able to allocate the business assets to the two children that operated the business because we didn’t have sufficient assets to give to the others to make up the difference. And also, the last issue that these people faced in respect to the retirement assets is because the children were designated beneficiaries, those assets were not part of the estate for that reason. For that reason, those assets could not be used to help equalize amounts to the beneficiaries that did not receive part of the business. This would’ve been a complicated approach because retirement assets are subject to income tax. So beneficiaries would prefer to receive the assets that are not subject to income tax or the distribution would have to be grossed up to cover the taxes.

So, in all, we were able to resolve all of these issues. However, the resolution required court involvement, which was expensive and time consuming. Also, I’m not sure the beneficiaries were all happy with the result. Because the parents had not prepared estate planning documents, I’m also not sure that the resolution was consistent with their intent.

Unfortunately, we had no way of knowing how the parents wanted their assets to be distributed between the children because they didn’t put their thoughts and their intent into writing. So we had to rely on the Michigan statutes. So to avoid chaos after death, to ensure that your assets are distributed consistent with your intent, the best approach is to have estate planning documents prepared prior to death.

That planning may include a will and a trust, or maybe just a will. In addition to estate planning, it’s very helpful to your beneficiaries if you have well organized financial information, such as a financial statement that identifies your assets that your beneficiaries can use as a reference after your death. It might also be helpful if you give them a list of contacts, including your investment advisor, your accountant, and your attorney, so that your beneficiaries know who to contact and how to get ahold of those individuals if something should happen to you.

In my example, if this husband and wife had prepared estate planning documents and had organized their financial information, this litigation and the strain on the family harmony may have been avoided.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for individualized legal advice. Please consult your legal advisor regarding your specific situation.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:For regular listeners, you’ll remember Greg Kateff is a CPA who asked in a recent episode, “Can you LOSE social security benefits? And if so, can you regain them?” That was a question that resonated with a lot of us – most folks never think about losing social security. Greg walks us through what could possibly make you lose your SS benefits, and if it’s possible to regain them later.

Demystify Social Security: Can You Lose Benefits? – with Greg Kateff, CPAHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

I was told this story about a commercial fisherman in Austria who dropped his wallet in a lake while he was fishing. And then 20 years later, he actually ended up scooping up the old wallet in one of his fish nets. It’s hard to believe, but it’s actually true. There’s actually pictures on the internet of his old crusty, kind of dried out wallet, and there’s some of the plastic cards and coins that were still in the wallet when he recovered it. But what this fisherman thought was forever lost, was found again.

Well, today we’re going to continue our series on Demystifying Social Security with Greg Kateff, who is a certified public accountant. And you may recall in Greg’s last episode, he dropped a bomb on all of us by asking can you actually lose Social security benefits? And like the fisherman who lost his wallet, if you do lose benefits, can you ever get them?

Here’s Greg to tell you more.

Welcome back to our podcast series where we continue in our quest to Demystify Social Security. Picking up from where we left off last time. Recall I left you with a little teaser. I mentioned that if you start Social Security anytime before your full retirement age and continue to work, then Social Security withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn over an earnings limit, which is currently about $19,000. As a footnote to that, the earnings limit increases to about $50,000 for the year you attain your full retirement age.

Now, here’s the teaser question. Is this a permanent loss of benefit?

Actually it is not rather, it is more of a timing difference that gets chewed up at your full retirement age. Let me explain. If social security benefits have been withheld because of the earnings limit rule at your full retirement age, social security converts the total amount withheld to the number of months of benefits that total withholding represents. And your benefit is increased as if you had started social security at a later age, by the number of months the withholdings converted to.

For example, if you started benefits at 62, continued working and due to the earnings limit withholding, the benefits withheld computed to 24 months of benefits, at your full retirement age Social Security would recalculate and increase your benefit as if you had started benefits at age 64 rather than age 62. Now, even with this true, I generally recommend that if you simply delay Social Security, if you’re pretty sure you’ll continue to work and earn significantly more than the $19,000 earnings limit.

By the way, after your full retirement age, if you’re still working, there are no benefits withholding regardless of how much your earned income is. So you can have a million dollars of earned income and nothing would be withheld from your Social Security.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:Part II in our discussion with entrepreneur Ila Allen will expand on how to stay active during your retirement years. We discuss how one specific race led Ila to change her life – and what it meant for the rest of her life. Finding community, using social media to make friends, transforming your life with routine, focus, and a can-do attitude are the focus of this episode. Ila’s an inspiration, bringing new meaning to reaching your Finish Line!

Part II: Accelerating towards retirement with Ila AllenHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

Many people think retirement means aging and slowing down. Not Ila Allen. She thinks about retirement differently and she is not slowing down. In our previous episode, we learned from Ila that by age 54, her health deteriorated to the point that her doctor was prepared to check her into a healthcare facility. Because, by then, she had been diagnosed with type two diabetes, her blood pressure was dangerously high, neuropathy had started to set in with her feet, and like many of us weight gain was now a problem.

But we also heard how Ila’s brother helped her get off the couch to start a new journey in life. A journey that found herself at the starting line of a 5K race alongside her concerned brother. And come to find out, that was just the beginning.

Today we hear how Ila Allen, the 65 year old superwoman, is redefining what retirement can look like, where her dreams are not slowing down, but actually speeding up and getting bigger. And I wanna say on a personal note, I was particularly touched when you hear Ila talk about a story of when she was running an ultramarathon.

And that’s right. I did say she was running an ultramarathon. And her brain was just screaming for her to stop because her body just ate. And she said she had to override her brain. There are moments in life where your head is telling you, you can’t do that. Ila discovered that you can, but you just don’t know it yet.

In those moments, she says, you have to override your brain. I thought that was a powerful concept. And speaking of not slowing down, make sure you listen to the end where you won’t believe what this amazing superwoman has set as her next goal on this journey of life as she accelerates towards retirement. Here is part two of my interview with Ila Allen.

Todd: Let me ask you this. So here’s something that I’m curious about, which is, oftentimes people will set a goal. And whether it be a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or to start exercising or, or just any goal. And once they accomplish the goal, then they sort of lose their motivation. They lose their mojo, right? They’ve done it. And here you are, your doctor sort of has given you an ultimatum. She’s sort of been implying that you’re at a point of almost no return, right? If you go too much further down this path that you’re going, it might not be reversible.

Your brother, you know, inspires you to run this race.And then you run it with one of your BFFs and with your brother and they’re there at the finish line. You do finish the race to your, to your surprise, perhaps. What is it that has kept you going right? How did you not just settle and say hey, I did my 5k. I looked up doing a zero to 5k and I did it. And I’m gonna go back to doing what I was doing before. What continues to motivate you?

Ila:So I’m thinking, hmm. What else can I do? What’s this running thing? So I’m a researcher, right? And this is my nature. That’s what I do. So I started researching running groups, how to run, where to go, what you do. And this is when I joined an organization called Black Girls Run.

Todd: Black Girls Run, huh?

Ila: Mm-hmm . And I found that group. And they say we don’t leave anybody behind, even if you are a turtle. And I consider myself a snail. I think a snail goes a little bit slower than a turtle And so this is when I started getting introduced to Facebook. Okay. And I’m like, oh, what is, what is Facebook? I’m like, okay. And I’m like, well, I guess I’ll sign up for this. I found the group. And there was a chapter in the city. I said, well, I’m not gonna be commuting back and forth from Evanston to Chicago to run in this group. And finally, there was a group here in Evanston that I found out about.

And I started running with this group of ladies and to empower black women to run there’s so many things that come up in that space. My hair, my this, my that. You don’t see us out there. Okay. I know I didn’t see any black women running out here where I lived. Okay and so it was just a nice group to be able to associate with, but I think I probably took it a step further because I, when I’m in, when I decide to do something, I’m all in. I don’t say, Ooh, I think I like this pen, I might get it. I get the pen and I start using it. Okay. So I’m all in. I find out what it takes to do to get to where I need to be. Again, like I said, I’m a researcher, I’m an organizer. I’m a strategist. So therefore I plan out everything probably to a fault. Okay. And don’t forget, I’m still educating myself on running.

So I said, what else comes after a 5k? And then all this stuff comes up. So it’s a 5k, 10K, the half marathon, and marathon. I’m like oh, marathon, that’s the Olympics. Oh no, we are not going that far. Yeah. Okay. Let’s look at a 10K. So I started looking at a 10K. I didn’t know how to train for it so I found another app. Zero to 10K but I’m like, okay, I’m not at zero no more. So I fast forwarded it to where I thought I was, you know, like from the 5k section to the 10K section. Don’t forget. I’m training myself and I’m like, okay, I can do this, but this is when I got a taste of outdoors.

Todd: Not a treadmill. Not an indoor treadmill. You’re outdoors.

Ila: I’m outdoors. So I just started running up and down the street. It was like clockwork. Everybody knew me. I was like, how far is this?

Todd: Are you doing this with the women in, in Black Girls Run? Are you also training with them? Are you walking with them or what’s your interaction with your friends in Black Girls Run?

Ila: We would, I think every Tuesday we would meet at five o’clock or 5:30. So I had to hustle cause I work in the city. I had to get home, change clothes and meet them at this designated spot here. And we have what you call a group leader. So once we all got there at 5:30, we would run and she would tell us where to turn around and you know, we’d run back to the point where we started. Well, through this entire course, I was the consistent one.

Todd: Okay. You’re always there.

Ila: I’m always there, always there. Even I get there and the group leader even wasn’t there so I ended up turning into the group leader because I was the consistent one. Cause I took it serious. I didn’t see it as a social thing. I wanted to learn how to run. So that’s the approach. I took for it.

Todd: Because you’re trying to change your life around. Right?

Ila: Exactly.

Todd: Just because you ran a 5k doesn’t mean that all of a sudden you’re in perfect health. There’s a lot of work to be done.

Ila: And so I’m like, if I can keep this running up, you know, the numbers will come down and you know, my eating will get better and, you know, I’m keeping a food journal over here, so I know, you had this, you can’t have this, this and this. I had to learn how to drink water because I wasn’t drinking water. Cause I thought a cup of tea took the place of water, right?

Todd: Yeah. Okay.

Ila: And then I remember my brother saying, you need a goal. So I start cleaning up my eating. When I started cleaning up my eating, the weight started slowly trickling down. The blood pressure started to come down. Not a huge number. I’ll take one tick as opposed to having zero ticks.

Todd: Right. Or going up like it was.

Ila: So my doctor, you know, her eyebrow raises like, oh, so what are we doing? And I told her and she was like, I’m impressed, cuz you know, you were one step away. She said, I had that card. I had your brother’s number in my cell phone cause he was gonna get a call if I didn’t see any changes. But she knew I was trying, you know, she just wanted me to try.

Todd: Yeah, most people don’t. I mean, most of us know that we’re supposed to, right? Most of us know we’re supposed to eat better. We know we’re supposed to control health. We know we’re supposed to be active. We know we’re supposed to walk around the block. It’s just hard because we’re in this grind of life would be our professions like you, right. You’re working full time, got a part-time gig teaching, then you’re throwing different degrees in there. You know, if you’re raising kids or the kids are going off to college and then you’re sort of this sandwich generation where you’ve got kids in college and then you’ve got older parents and it’s just hard to take action. We know we’re supposed to, but it’s just hard to do it. And yet here you are not doing it all at once. You’re kind of taking little steps along the way, and they’re starting to add up. That’s where you’re at in this story. You’ve got a whole lot of little steps that are starting to add up.

Ila: Exactly. And I said, well, if I can come from zero, not doing anything, did a 5k, like I’ve done a few five Ks. So the next step was the 10K. So, I had never been to Georgia before, so Black Girls Run had their inaugural conference and they had a 5k race and a 10 K race. I said, Hm. Oh, you gotta go.

Todd: Yeah. You’re leading the local chapter, the local group.

Ila: I said, I gotta go. I said, well, I said, I need to up my game too. So I signed up for the 10K. That was my first 10K

Todd: You go girl. Yeah.

Ila: And if you know anything about Georgia, they got hills. Oh my Lord.

Todd: It’s not flat like downtown Chicago.

Ila: I didn’t know what a hill was. Okay. Had no idea. But I found out on the race day real fast.

Todd: Real fast. Now remind our listeners, how far a 10K is.

Ila: A 10K is 6.2.

Todd: 6.2 miles.

Ila: First time ever!

Todd: From the girl who was at zero and now she’s running 6.2 miles in the hills of Georgia.

Ila: So yeah, so that was the next phase of my journey.

Todd: Oh yeah. So you have another leap in your mindset of what are Ila’s limits?

Ila: Cause my brother ran the marathon, the Chicago marathon.

Todd: In 2012.

Ila: And I told him, I said, I’m volunteering at the marathon this year. He says, funny, I’m running it. I’m like, oh my God. That’s great. So I was so excited to know that he was running it. And I said, I don’t know where I’m gonna be on the course, but you better look for me. He’s like, sure. Cause he knew I had no idea what this scene looked like.

Todd: Yeah, people everywhere.

Ila: You can be anywhere. Exactly. But we did find each other. And I kept looking, I kept looking and I kept looking well, when he crested on the top of the hill, I was like right here. Cause I kept looking. I gotta see him come off this hill. I gotta see him. I said, you know what I have on? Cause we have on special jackets that we got that say Chicago marathon and everything for the crew and everything. So yeah. And I told him, I said, I got on this. I think I wore this obnoxious colored hat. So I said, just look for me, I’ll be the one bobbing up and down on the sidelines.

And uh, when he came over that hill, that was just, I was almost in tears. This is my baby brother. Okay. And I was just so ecstatic and a good friend of the family was also running it, but she was behind him and he told me she’s back there too. I’m like, okay, so I’m gonna stand right here so I get to see her. And I saw her as well, and they went on and I said, but don’t wait. I said, don’t wait. I said, because I gotta stay here and clean up the aid station when we’re done. Okay. So I’ll see you later. But being in that atmosphere, I’m like, Ooh, I wonder if I can do a marathon.

Todd: Oh, the seed is planted.

Ila: No, I had nobody to plant that seed. Okay.

Todd: Okay. That was just on your own, but it sounds like you said no. Yes, but no.

Ila: I’m like, I don’t even know what it takes. I said this is double the half. This is like double the everything.

Todd: Yeah the half is crazy even to think about in the first place.

Ila: And the half started becoming my jam.Half marathon. I was running them all the time. That was my jam.Okay. You say half marathon Ila was there. Oh yeah. I signed up for that last week. Okay but that was becoming my jam. Yeah. Okay. But never in a thousand years. And this is the Chicago marathon, cuz I watch it on TV every year, all the people and stuff. And I said, but my brother ran it and he don’t even work out. He trained for it, but if he can train for it, why can’t you train for it? Oh, this is Ila talking to Ila. Okay. So I went back to Hal Higdon and saw oh, he has a free training plan.

Todd: So tell our listeners, you mentioned him twice now, Hal Higdon, tell our listeners who he is and the websites and the training plans.

Ila: Halhigdon.com. If I’m correct. I think it is. He is the guru of marathon training and he has since expanded it. I think he may go to a 5k, but at least he starts you out at a 10 K all the way up to the marathon on different iterations of it for beginners, intermediate and advanced. So of course, you know, I always picked the beginner stuff. AndI couldn’t believe it was still free even at that level being the next race up.

Todd: So if our listeners wanna start running and do a kind of a do-it-yourself Hal’s plans might be a good place to start.

Ila:I would definitely start there.

Todd: You keep going back to it because now you’re thinking I’m doing the Chicago marathon. And you’re using the Hal Higdon plan to train and get ready for that. Right.

Ila: Exactly. Exactly. And he has a couple of books out, so I grab those and like I said, I’m a researcher, so I’m a knowledge junkie. So I’m always taking in this stuff. Okay. And I looked at the training plan. I’m like, whoa, Ooh, this is really next level. Ugh. I don’t know. And then on this side it says, why don’t you know? Look where you come from, look how far you made it, you know, you are doing this. Now, by this time the weight has started coming down a tiny bit. Slowly, you know, it didn’t get over there overnight. So it’s not going away overnight.

Todd: It has to be with all this running, it has to be slowly coming down.

Ila: Yeah. But I still hadn’t reeled in my food intake just yet, but it is getting there. I’m making the effort. And I said, well you are gonna have to make some more lifestyle changes. You can’t keep eating this and expect to do this. You’re gonna need your energy, which I learned from the 10K to the half that you need energy. Now I still don’t know about gel and electrolytes. I’m just living on water. Yeah. Okay.

Todd: What are goos? What are electrolytes? Gatorade, who knows?

Ila: Right. And I can’t stand Gatorade. It just threw my stomach into a lurch so that I knew that right away. Yeah. So again, I didn’t know. Didn’t know the thing. How do you run nutrition, look up so and so. I didn’t know anything cause everybody was doing GU. Everybody was doing gu and I’m like I can’t do that. I just can’t do that. But then that’s when I found out about the jelly bean things and the honey stingers. Okay. And I’m like, oh, I said I’m diabetic. So I gotta be careful with the sugar. But since my body was turning over so quickly, it didn’t have time to stay there. So I got the energy from it. As long as I flushed it out. I drank water to push it out of my system. So I learned that balance on my own.

I can do it for race time. Then I’m done with it. I can’t eat that stuff anytime after that. Cause this is the energy that I need to run. Cause I kept getting tired towards the end. Well, you know, you don’t put gas in your car, your car don’t go nowhere, right. Same way with your body.

Todd: Good analogy. That’s right.

Ila: You don’t put the nutrition in it is like, okay, I’m done. And you know, your body starts breaking down and stuff and I’m like, okay. So I got that a little bit honed in. So I started training. I said to myself, I’m gonna run a Chicago marathon. I know I am really, really crazy, but I’m gonna do this. So in 2013, I signed up for the Chicago marathon. So I told my brother, I signed up for the marathon, do it with me. He says, oh, I’m done. He said, that was it. I’m like, what you leaving me? You got your system, worry about it. So I found another girlfriend who was in Black Girls Run. I said, I’m doing Chicago. She’s like, okay, if you are crazy enough to sign up for Chicago, I guess I can be your wingman. I’ll sign up for it.

I don’t need to look cute when I run. I’m not out there to look cute. I’m out there to run. And so I learned all that, put that together. That was the hardest thing. I thought was gonna die. That was so hard. It was just so hard. They talked about the wall, which I didn’t know what the wall was. Well, baby, let me tell you.

Todd: You found it.

Ila: I found it. Okay. I found that was my kryptonite. Okay. But I got over it. It took me forever, but I finished that. Okay. And when I crossed that finish line, I’m like, wow, look what I actually, I stood there and was like, look what I did. Yeah. Like I’m talking to the sky. Look what I did. I did this by myself. Nobody helped me. Oh, I did this.

Todd: Confidence must just be going up as you continue to accomplish these goals.

Ila: And I just said, I may not come back again, but I did this today. And my brother met me halfway. He didn’t run, but he was on the course. Cause they’re tracking. They have a tracker. They can track it.

Todd: Yeah. They’re cheering you on.

Ila: So he met me like four times, I think, on the race route, you know, I’m so tired. He says, that’s okay. You’re doing fine. You’re doing great. He can see, he said I saw it in your face, but I couldn’t let you know that I saw it. Okay. No, he says you’re doing great. You’re almost there. He said, just keep moving one foot in front of the other. That’s your job. That’s all you have to do: one foot in front of the other. And so they walked me almost to the next section. I said, okay, you guys go and he said, I’ll see you at the finish line. I’m like, okay. Okay. Where is that? He said, just keep going that way. Okay. And so when I finished they were there.

Todd: Oh, he was there again. He was there for the first one, the first 5k ran it with you. And here he was for your first marathon as well.

Ila: So, you know, the journey. Nothing to me, nothing is easy, you just get better at it. And so when you up the stakes, you gotta get better at it to complete that goal.

Todd: So tell our listeners here. So you’ve had these series of little mental breakthroughs/ mindset change shifts, right? All the way back to when you found the zero to 5k, you related with the zero, right? Because we’ve all been zero. And if the plan says I can get you a 5k. Okay well, I’ll just follow these little simple little steps. Now you’ve continued to build confidence. You’ve finished the 5k. Oh, I can do that. What about a 10K and then you do a 10K and then the half marathon, and then somebody plants a seed to do the whole Chicago marathon, all 26.2 miles. Where is this going? Right? So did you kind of celebrate and the medals on the wall or what transpired next?

Ila: Well, I did a few other marathons, local meaning, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, you know, that’s local, as far as Chicago is concerned, you know, like that. Yeah. The Midwest, you know, some buddies, we all, you know, jump in a car, you go drive, you do a marathon, you come home. And I’m like, wow, okay. Cause now my body’s getting acclimated to these miles now. Right. You know.

Todd: By the way, are you a runner yet or not?

Ila: Yes. I’m a runner now. A runner. Okay. I’m a runner now. Yes. Well, I was pulled to the side by another lady. I was gonna say, yeah, I said I guess I’ll be a runner as soon as I do this. She said you are a runner. A race doesn’t define you. She says you are a runner. You put your shoes on, you go out and you run. You’re a runner period. Like, okay. So I got that in there too. So I had to put that in the mind bank. Okay.

Todd: Okay. So let’s do some math here. So this is 2013, I think you ran the Chicago marathon. That was, let’s see, we’re looking at 2022.So that was like nine years ago. No, 11 years ago, right? No, my math is off nine years ago. So you, are again, you’re in your late fifties. Mid to late fifties. And you’re not stopping, you said you started to run more of ’em right? You ran several more then what happened?

Ila: Well, about 2015-ish. I was a diehard Runner’s World Magazine subscriber. And Running Times, which is no longer in print anymore. I was reading this article where this gentleman was an avid marathoner and he did it in 2:38. I’m like my shadow doesn’t even run that fast. Okay. I don’t even breathe that fast. But I was okay at being a back of the packer, you know, I’m cool with that. Yeah. He was in a serious car accident and at first he was told he could never run again, but he proved them wrong with that. He had a hard time getting his speed back, you know, people are speed conscious, you know. If they can’t do a two minute pace, you know? Yeah. They get all wigged out. Okay.

Todd: The serious runners, the professionals.

Ila: The borderline professional runner couldn’t care less. Okay. Yeah. And a friend of his, in the article, told him why don’t you look into doing longer races? He’s like, I don’t do those. He says, yeah, but I think you might like it. If you come from the dark side, as we all say, and he said, you ought to enter this race. Because there’s ultra running. Ultra running? What is that? I look it up. I’m like, oh, then I looked at it again. I said, ultra running in Chicago came up. There’s a race here. It’s called Chicago 50/50. 50k, 50 miles.

Todd: Racing 50 miles? 50K is how many miles?

Ila: Uh, 31.

Todd: 31 miles. Okay. So marathons are not enough for you. You are now flirting with something else.

Ila: Well, you know, I kinda looked at it and I thought about it. Like I don’t know anything about this. And a colleague of mine at work, she ran it that year. We were always chit-chatting in the morning before we got our day started and she put the medal down on my desk. I said, oh my God. I said, I just looked that up. What is this? And she told me you’re running loops, you know, five mile loops, six times for the 50K and 10 times for the 50 miler. Okay. And she said it’s a little boring, but you know, I figured why not? I just jumped in to see if I could do it.

I’m like, Okay. So I got to looking at that, I’m like, huh? Loops. That means I’m running in circles. I said, oh, that’s how you started. Like, okay. So I went in, I looked up 50K training plans.

Todd: Did Hal Higdon have one of those?

Ila: I don’t think Hal had one. Okay. But I found one from somebody else. So a friend of mine who I met online, we became real good friends. And her birthday in fact was just yesterday. And, we talk all the time and stuff and I called her. I said, Hey, I said, I think I’m gonna do a 50K. She said a 50 who? I said, she said, how far is that? I said, it’s 31 miles. She says on your feet? I said, well, I don’t think they’re gonna let me drive my car in the race.

Todd: I was gonna say, yeah, that’s driving distance, right? That’s not running distance.

Ila: She says, are you serious? She says, why am I asking this? I’m talking to you. She says, hey, you signed up for it already. Cause I know how you are. Once you think about it, you just go do it. I said, well, not yet. I said, I just wanted to roll it across you to see what you think about it. She says, you know what, if you are crazy enough to sign up for this race and she lives in Missouri, she says, I will sign up with you and we’ll train together. Virtual, of course, you know, we check in with one another and everything. So my first 50K was 2016.

Todd: Wow.

Ila: In October. So I figured, well, we got a whole year to train for, at this point. We had like a whole year and a couple of months, you know, and she says, okay, okay. So we trained for it. That was like, my new religion was 50K training. So I went back to baby brother. And I told him, he says, okay, you have gone beyond.

Todd: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s now something wrong with you is what he’s thinking.

Ila: Exactly, exactly. And I told my inner circle that I was gonna do this and I started training for it. I mean, every Saturday I was out there every Sunday I was out there. That’s when I really learned about long runs and pacing yourself and things like that. But don’t forget. I’m learning now. Each step I take, I learn about the next race I wanna go to.

Todd: Okay. Yeah. And this is kind of interesting to me because I’m just thinking, forgive me for bringing this up, but I’m just gonna say the obvious cause you’ve said it a number of times. You know, if my math is correct, you’re kind in your late fifties training for your first 50K, which is over 30 mile run. You did, at age 54, your doctor’s about ready to, you know, play the brother card on you and, you know, admit you somewhere that you don’t wanna go. So between age 54 and 59, not only did you get off the couch, you’re now training to run a race that’s over 30 miles. And this is at a time, you know, 58, 59 year olds are sort of slowing, most of them are slowing down in life, right? They, maybe, aren’t thinking of climbing these big mountains, but yet here you are sort of, as you’re not, I know you’re not ready for retirement, but you’re sort of accelerating here in what your goals are. Right?

Ila: This started and it’s in my veins now. Like I’m feeling good. Now the weight has started coming. Again still slowly but surely, but it’s much better than, you know, than where it was. And don’t forget now this is 2016. In 2014. I graduated. So now I kind of have my life back. Yes. There’s no more school now. Okay. Yeah. So now I can get on a schedule. I can plan things out. I can live again, opposed to being glued to my computer or my laptop on my iPad, you know, cause if I had to travel or go out of town, I always had to have something on me causeI always had work to do, you know. I always, always had work to do.

And when I start, I said, ultra, what is this ultra stuff? So again, I’m a researcher and I’ll keep saying that. And that’s when I found out this was a whole new, different world.

Todd: There’s a whole subculture out there.

Ila: And then they run on the trail. I thought oh Ila, doesn’t do dirt.

Todd: And there’s no dirt in Chicago.

Ila: There’s no dirt in Chicago. So Ila doesn’t do dirt. So I’m training on pavement. Didn’t know that the dirt would be better because it’s easier on your legs and your feet and stuff like that. And this 50K was on pavement. So I was fine. That was like, I was good. And I did this 50K and it was a schlep. I started out real good. Learned the hard way you don’t start out fast. Huh? Okay. When they said, when you’re going into ultra, you start off slow. And if you think you’re slow, you go slower, okay. Didn’t quite understand that, but I learned. Yeah, when I got to that fourth loop, I’m like, oh, sweet Jesus, I don’t know if I can do this. I got two more loops to go and it’s getting dark out now and you know, I’m tired. And my girlfriend, you know, now we’re trying to speed walk at this point. Okay. And there is no speed. Okay. But my friends are still there and it was 10 of them. They came to see me off that morning at seven o’clock it was pitch black out cause this is October. So, you know, this is fall. Yeah. And they went out, they had lunch, they came back, they had dinner. Okay. That’s how long it was taking me to get this done.

Todd: And you’re still out there running.

Ila: But they figured if she’s still out there schlepping it, then we’re gonna stay here until she gets done. And when I finished that, and I didn’t think I had made the cutoff, but what I didn’t realize you had the same amount of time you had to be done by the time that 50 milers were done. Okay. And so when I came in, cause I know the race director now we’re good friends and he’s key, you know, I started out, Hey.

Todd: And then all the fun is gone.

Ila: It was just like, woo. I just groaned it as I came in. And they started talking to my family and stuff. He said, I’ve never seen anything like it. Is she gonna make it? And my brother was like yeah, she’s gonna make it. She’ll be okay. Just leave her alone. She’ll be okay. Cause I was in my own head. Okay. I didn’t realize that running was mental. Okay. So I had to learn that. Okay. For those youth who don’t know when you’re ultra running, your brain will tell you, you know what? You need to stop. You’re tired. Your legs hurt, your feet hurt, but there’s nothing wrong with your body. You can still keep moving, but your brain will talk you out of it. So you have to know how to override your brain.

Todd: Oh, well said, override your brain.

Ila: You have to override. You have to let the brain know I’m in control, not you. Sometimes you can go down there, but you know, you need to know how to pull yourself out of there. And I had to learn to do that just by different exercises, just by I mean, mental exercises humming a song. Oh, I don’t run with music or anything. Cause I like to be aware of my surroundings and I need to be alert. So, you know, you start thinking of things like, oh, when I get home, I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna eat this. I’m gonna have this. You start humming a song to yourself. You start counting the trees, you start counting the street lamps and stuff, anything so, you know, you’re moving as long as your body is moving. You’re good. Don’t let the brain tell you, you know what? You can stop right here. People will understand. I’m like, oh, not on my watch.

Todd: So you, then you overrode your brain and you toughed it out. And you finished in time. Yep. First 50K. Doesn’t sound like there’s was a lot of celebration necessarily. It was just, I’m glad I’m done.

Ila: Well, my family was cheering me on and everything. I was like, whatever,

Todd: They’re celebrating, but you aren’t.

Ila: I just didn’t. I didn’t have the strength. Yeah. And luckily my sister was here because she was able to drive me home. Yeah. Because she came in from Michigan to see me at this race. Oh nice. And I said I’m so glad you got the keys. Cause I might be spending the night underneath the tree if I had to stay. So now after that I figure if I could do 50 and I had a bunch of friends doing a hundred. Well, what the heck.

Todd: Man, this is a subculture, right? I mean, who the heck? I mean, a marathon is out of most people’s even mental realization of something they will ever do. You’ve gotten to 50K now you’re thinking 50 milers and your friends are doing 50 milers and it sounds like even further. I mean, what’s going on here?

Ila: You know, I just like the vibe of the ultra community. It’s totally different from the road community. Okay. Totally different. And I thought, oh, this is my tribe. I need to be over here. So I decided I’m gonna do a hundred miler. So now my friends are ready to put me in that jacket.

Todd: And admit you.

Ila: And I signed up for that in 2018. Just a quick history of that. I didn’t finish it. I only made it to 62 miles because I got lost on course so then, you know, I can’t leave that undone. Right. So now I went back for 2019 and I had to cancel it because we’re going into COVID now. Okay. So it was moved to 2020.

Todd: I’m just trying to think of 62 miles. If I’m in downtown Chicago and I’m running 62 miles, can I make it to another state? Can I make it to Indiana by then? I mean.

Ila: Probably. So I was very, just upset. I didn’t make it, so I’m already planning for the next one. So I signed up again for the same race and I didn’t make the second one. It just, things happened in the ultra. People don’t understand. You can have the best plans, but they’re just not guaranteed because that distance is a lot.

Todd: Your body won’t cooperate or…

Ila: Your body won’t cooperate or whatever the case may be. So now I’ve signed up for the third time.

Todd: Currently? Yes. You’ve signed up to run in another 100 mile race.

Ila: November 11th.

Todd: November 11th. Tell us about that.

Ila: It’s called Tunnel Hill and it’s in Vienna, Illinois and it is about six hours away from Chicago. Close to Paducah. Now in October I have a 100K.

Todd: Okay. So that’s 60 miles,

Ila: 62 miles. So in October I have a 100K, which is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and that’s the 14th of October.

Todd: That’s great then. So this is part of your training plan to run a 100K.

Ila: Yes. My coach has it figured in for all this. All roads lead to my hundred miler.

Todd: A hundred miler on November 11th.

Ila: And so that’s a 100K. And then in November I do the 100 miler. And then in December I go to Arizona for my last 100 miler of the year.

Todd: Oh, you’re running two this year. Okay. Does your coach know you’re running two this year? Within about 30 days of each other. Okay. And nobody is questioning this.I mean, this just sounds, how does the human body even think about it?

Ila: Well, don’t forget. I’m trained up. In November, I’ll be coming off a hundred miles. The body is ready to go. I probably won’t even be in a taper.

Todd: That’s amazing, Ila. That’s just, and to think that you in the beginning were having a hard time fathoming this thing called a 5k right when your brother suggested that.

Ila: And this is where I am now and just a little sidebar through all that journey my eating habits have changed. I’m now vegan. Okay. Yeah. I’m now vegan. I’ve been vegan for eight years now.

Todd: Wow. Okay. Tell us why. Tell our listeners, why? Why?

Ila: Just because a dear friend of mine was also type two diabetic, but not only was she on the oral medication that I was. She was also insulin dependent. So I called her a double, double. And when she turned vegan, her numbers, which is our A1C score. Okay. That needs to be under six to be not diabetic. My score was 6.9. Okay. And it hovered between 6.9 and 6.5. She said she went vegan. Her scores changed. She’s feeling better.I’m like vegan, Really? So what do I eat? Seaweed.

Todd: Grass.

Ila: So grass. Exactly. Again, I did my homework. I’m like, oh, I can eat that. I can cook that. I can do that. Okay.

Todd: So you’re not just making athletic changes. This is not just all athletic, right? This is just not Ila pushing yourself to the next race. These are like, these are like lifestyle changes. Like, with the long game ahead of you making decisions, like going vegan for your long term health.

Ila: Yes. So I went vegan totally cleaned up my diet. My blood pressure, if you remember, I told you it was 170 over 110. Yeah. My blood pressure is 119 over 74.

Todd: Nice normal numbers.

Ila: And my A1C is 5.757. I’m off of all medication. For two years I’ve been off of all medication.

Todd: Oh my gosh.

Ila: Because I took control. And to wrap all this up, when you take control, you own it. See, it’s not about so and so motivating me. Cause see if you move the motivator away, Todd, then what do you do? You have nothing, right? So you have to motivate yourself. Oh I don’t mind being an inspiration to somebody, but if you say, oh, Ila, you know, let me show you, no. Suppose you go over here, Todd can’t motivate me anymore. I can’t do it. No, you have to want it, it has to be internal and I’ve made a decision. I’m not taking pills for the rest of my life. I don’t wanna go out like that. So I’ve been pill free. Going on three years in 2023.

Todd: Wow.

Ila: So it can be done. Was it an easy journey? Not at all. Am I still working on things? Oh, very much so. But I’m still out there trying to kick butt on the trails.

Todd: Yes you are.

Ila: And I keep telling people, I am living proof. I know people my junior that don’t do what I do. And I mean junior by 20 years. Okay. Even 30 years. Now, there are people in my age range who are, who are jamming, who are making podiums. I say it’s about the journey. It’s about the journey. I’ve set some goals for myself this year. I wanna learn how to race, opposed to chasing the clock, setting a time. I wanna finish a race in X. Okay. Not just, oh, I wanna cross the finish line. Mm-hmm cause that’s so easy to do you just cross the finish line. I wanna have a goal.

Todd: Like a time goal.

Ila: A time goal. Yeah. And if you know anything about ultras, you have to hit goals at these eight stations or you’re gonna get pulled. I know that too. I got plenty of DNFs to prove that. Okay. But I don’t stop. That’s why I’m going back for the third time in November to finish this race.

Todd: Ila, if you could go back in time and say anything that you wanted to 54 year old Ila, what would you tell her?

Ila: I would just say sister, girl, you’re going down the wrong tunnel. You need to stop, breathe and take care of yourself cause if you don’t take care of yourself, nobody will. I don’t care if I had a husband, a boyfriend, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about you. You have to invest in you. It took me a while to do that, but I made it to 65. I plan to make it to 130, if it’s on my books, God willing and the Creek don’t rise, as they say. Yeah, but you can do it. I don’t wanna hear it. Cause I was always taught you make time for what’s important to you. So I schedule me time on my calendar. Nothing comes before my training. My people know that what’s your training for tomorrow? Well, on Saturday, how many miles you got? Then they ask me, can you come out to dinner? Can we go have a glass of wine? Because they know.

Todd: Yeah. Your priorities.

Ila: My priorities. Yeah. Used to make ’em mad, but hey.

Todd: Because you’ve taken control.

Ila: Yeah. So just to tell everybody, just because you get into your senior years or anything over 50 there’s no excuse. Unless there is truly a very, very health issue. Yeah. But all things being equal. If it’s you and your mouth on the couch, there’s no excuse. Move the couch, close your mouth and do something.

Todd: Ila, as I’ve told you, you are an inspiration to me. I know that you’re an inspiration to our listeners and thank you very much for being on the Retirement Secrets podcast.

Ila: Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me. I’ve enjoyed myself.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:As we age, our health becomes more and more important. Enjoying an active retirement means being able to be healthy enough to enjoy it. What does that have to do with Ila Allen? Ila is an entrepreneur, lifelong learner, and artist, but by the age of 40 she realized she was stretching herself way too thin. These days, she’s transformed her life into a better work/life balance. Hear about how Ila’s brother helped her get off the couch and to a new starting line in life!

Accelerating towards retirement with Ila AllenHi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets, where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

Today, I want to introduce you to somebody who is an inspiration to all those who want an active retirement. Now tell me, how many times have you heard something that goes like this? And maybe this is, perhaps, your story. Because it’s not uncommon that people in their teenage years, for example, are busy. They’re active. Some play sports. They’re full of energy. Then you transition to your twenties and you’re still active, still full of energy, but you get your first job so it’s sorta, kinda, the first time you maybe get behind the desk and start to slow down just a touch.

You get to your thirties and your careers are taking off. Maybe you get married. Kids start to come along. You start to put on a little bit of weight, perhaps. In your forties you’re working long hours and driving kids around to school activities. Your doctor mentions you need to be careful with your health or you might need to consider medications. Hmm? And then your fifties. Now your doctor’s chirping in your ear about losing weight. He’s no longer, or she’s no longer, talking about maybe medication because maybe now you are on cholesterol medication and/or blood pressure medication. And, your body’s starting to slow down a little bit. And you think, how did I get here?

That story is no longer Ila Allen, today’s guest. Ila, instead, is accelerating towards retirement. However, she’ll be the first to tell you that by age forty she was in the thick of the sludge of the grind of life. Alright, she was working during the day and then also working at night teaching. She got her Bachelors degree then her Masters and more. Stay tuned for that. She was just burning the midnight oil and not taking care of herself.

By age 54, her doctor was actually threatening to check her into a health facility. It was getting serious. Hear about how Ila’s brother helped her get off the couch and to a new starting line in life, one where she is accelerating towards retirement. And I gotta tell you, after talking with Ila and interviewing her and asking her questions, she is a huge inspiration to me. And this indeed is the Retirement Secrets first guest interview.

Here’s my conversation with Ila Allen.

Todd: Ila Allen, Welcome to the Retirement Secrets podcast.

Ila: Thank you. Thank you.

Todd: Why don’t you tell our listeners a little bit about Ila Allen. Tell them a little bit about yourself.

Ila: Okay, well, first, I’m not retired, even though my age says so. But we’ll put that out there just for, you know, for purposes. Well I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois; not a suburb, in the city okay? Because when I say Chicago, I mean Chicago. Okay. Most people say it and they live a solid half an hour away. I’m not a Suburban Girl. So for now, I’m single, no kids, but I have nephews and I’m Auntie to a lot of folks.My mom was a single mom and we needed to be in eyesight at all times.

Todd: Wow, that’s an interesting part of your story. I didn’t know that from before.

Ila: So yeah, so a lot of people, you know, a lot of people are exposed at a young age, you know to baseball, football, flag, or whatever. We weren’t, and probably more so me than the rest of my siblings, because the era that I grew up in, it just wasn’t conducive to that. So my mom was a single parent.

Todd: Yeah

Ila: I was kind of like second in command. Okay. I do have a sister who is four years younger than me and I have a brother who is 14 years younger than me. So now if you fast forward, I’m biting my 40s right now. Okay.

Todd: Yep.

Ila: And I finally got that bachelor’s degree done. And I’m so ecstatic, so excited. Unfortunately, my mom didn’t get to see that because she passed away, but I have my siblings, you know, and so they were very proud of me. And you know, people don’t understand it’s very hard to go back to school when you’re an adult. Because it’s a totally different mindset than when you’re like, in your 20s. You come out of high school, you go to college, and you move on with life. But if you skip that in between and you move on to life, you know, ish happens when you have life now, okay.

Todd: What does your health look like as you’re kind of traveling through life at this point? Are you still active? You know, where do you stand from a health standpoint?

Ila: Oh, health was pretty good. You know, I didn’t pay any attention to it because I’m alive and breathing. What else do I need? Okay.

Todd: Yeah.

Ila: And that’s how I carried things through and nothing was wrong or anything at the time. So I just, there’s just my everyday you know, you get up you shower, you go to work, you know, you go out and stuff like that. But there was no physical activity on my part. Okay. That’s what you’re alluding to. Okay. Yeah. Exercise. How do you spell that? What is that? Oh, that’s a word. Oh, it is action. I knew nothing about that. Okay. Again, just your daily routine, hanging out with your buddies or, you know, just, you know, cooking, eating whatever. And you have to realize, you know, being African American, we have certain issues that run in our community in terms of health wise, but I was oblivious to all of that. Okay.

Todd: So none of this is even on your radar.

Ila: Nope.

Todd: You’re living life kind of going through the grind of life. And this isn’t really on your radar yet.

Ila: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So finally, I thought maybe I should get my Master’s. Okay. Never say never, okay, in anything you do. Because it will come back to you. Okay. So I went and I started my master’s program. Again, full time masters, full time work

Todd: Full time job. Okay.

Ila: And by this time, once I had got my Masters, I picked up a second job.

Todd: Okay, so you are working, you’re also going to school to get your masters. Once you finish your masters then you added a second job.

Ila: Yes, I started teaching. Okay. I started teaching part time undergrad.

Todd: So you’re burning the midnight oil? Yeah.

Ila: So now you see the wheels in motion. Okay. Second job, burning the midnight oil, not eating properly. Okay. So now the wheels are really, first I was just sitting there. Now like, Okay, you’re not paying attention, we’re gonna start rolling. So the wheels started rolling.Once I completed my Masters, you know, I was doing fantastic. And I think that was in 2006-ish. Took a little bit of a break and somebody else, I need to stop listening to people, suggested, you know, I think you would be a great PhD candidate. And I said, okay, you are smoking something to say that, because a PhD doctorate is not for people like me. I have no role models to see another black female woman who has their PhD. So what makes you think I can do this? And so why, you know, don’t rule out the possibility to just think about it.

Todd: Okay, fascinating. I love this because there was a catalyst that it took to motivate you to go back and finish your undergrad, right? You wanted, you didn’t get the job that you wanted. And they said the reason was because you didn’t complete your degree. So there was a catalyst to go back to that. Then somebody planted the seed about a Master’s program, and maybe not necessarily your first choice, but you ended up going for the Masters and getting your Masters. And now we’re at the PhD level and you still have other people planting seeds in your head and encouraging you to pursue something that was not even on your radar that you didn’t even think was possible because you said you don’t see that in your circles.

Ila: No. Absolutely not. I do have friends who are doctors and attorneys and things like that, but that’s way up there as far as I’m concerned. Please, that’s not even me. But it was that same counselor who is now my friend, maybe I shouldn’t call her a friend, but who gave me that seed to get my masters and put the same seed in for me to get my doctorate. She said you’re on a roll now she says so you might as well keep picking up the moss you need to keep going. I said that Masters I mean it really just took me out, I’m so tired. You know suddenly you’re writing a paper three o’clock in the morning and I leave and I get up for work at six. I gives me three hours to sleep. Okay. And also as you build if you look back you see that? You see what I’m doing right? Working, no sleep, bad eating habits.

All of this is now the momentum is picking up even more in terms of health, but I still don’t see it. What people don’t understand is that when you get into a habit, good or bad, you adjust.

Todd: Because it happens gradually. I’m sorry.

Ila: You don’t see it because this is my everyday routine. There was nothing wrong. I had a headache every now and then and I took a couple of Advil and kept moving.

Todd: Okay, so you’re driven clearly. I mean, you can’t string this all together without having an internal drive to do it. But you’re obviously giving up. You’re giving up some things. You’re giving up sleep. Right? You’re giving up taking care of yourself. Yep. I said you said you’s eat toast and tea. But there’s probably other things that you’re just convenience food that you’re surviving on in between, as well, I would assume. Right. So you started the doctoral program in 2008. When did you complete it?

Ila: 2014. Okay, that’s when I did it.But 2008 or 2009 is when I was diagnosed as type two diabetic. So all of that caught up with me.

Todd: How did that hit you? Right? Was it just another thing that sort of accumulated or did that sort of stop you in a track in your tracks and get your attention? I mean, how did that impact you?

Ila: It scared the hell out of me.

Todd: Tell us about it.

Ila: You know it gets very cold here in Chicago. And I’ll never forget it was in February. I came home because we had a little bit of a major snowstorm coming. So we all decided we’re gonna go home early. I got home, changed clothes, got ready to sit down and do some work. And I noticed that my feet were so cold. And I’m like, Okay, so I got some socks on, and then they were still cold. So, sitting there trying to rub my feet. And I did like this on the bottom of my feet. If you’re not looking, I’m rubbing my feet with my hand.

Todd: Yeah, right.

Ila: And I couldn’t feel anything. I’m like, okay.

Todd: You couldn’t feel the bottoms of your feet at all? You’re rubbing them together and you can’t feel them?

Ila: My hands and my foot contact, I felt nothing. Only reason I knew I was rubbing my feet is because I saw myself doing it. So I went to walk into the kitchen and I couldn’t feel myself walking. I only knew I was walking, because I knew I was walking.

Todd: Your legs are moving. Right.

Ila: And so I have what you call neuropathy. So you know, I did a little Google search, no feeling in my feet.And it says that’s neuropathy, which could be an onset of diabetes. Okay, this is not good. But you know, I don’t listen to Dr. Google like most people do. I call my doctor the next day.

Todd: Okay, smart.

Ila:I told her what was happening. Plus, I had caught bronchitis. I was kind of born with bronchitis. So it rears its ugly head, every blue moon when it gets an opportunity. And this was a prime opportunity. Okay, so I’m hacking and looking, all that kind of stuff. And she hears me over the phone and says, Oh, you sound horrible. I said, well my feet, I don’t feel my feet. She said what do you mean? I said, Well, when I walk, I feel like I’m floating like Jesus on the water. She starts cracking up. I said, how I’m really walking on the floor. I just don’t feel my feet. She said are they tingling? I’m like no, I just don’t feel them. She said okay. So I might be diabetic butI let’s just not jump the gun yet. I need you to come in for a blood workup, right? I said, well, I’m germy. I said, I’m just awful. She says, Well, I need you to come in, I need to assess you. So I call into the office and I’m hacking and puffing. And she said it’s all in my chest. Because she can hear it when she when he got the stethoscope on my back. It was all lodged in my chest.

Todd: Okay.

Ila: She says oh, you sound awful. So she gives me what you call a Z Pak which really, I don’t like those. But these are antibiotics. Okay. A mega dose though. And she said, we’re gonna take, we’re gonna take a blood test, and we need to get this bronchitis out of your chest. And, you know, I need you to go home and take these meds. I’m like, okay, and I have no appetite. She said, That’s not good. So she took my blood pressure.My blood pressure was 170 over 110

Todd: Over 110. Oh my gosh.

Ila: She saw that. She says, let me try the other arm. Okay, maybe because you’re nervous about being here. And I’ve been going to her for a while now. She says, okay, timeout. You’re done. Just whatever you’re doing you gotta stop. As of, we’re speaking right now, you got to stop. Or I will put you in the hospital.

Todd: Okay, so right there in her office. You can’t feel your feet. You’ve got bronchitis. You’ve got high blood pressure. And she essentially is not letting you out of her office until…

Ila: She gave me two weeks.

Todd: Two weeks for what?

Ila: To turn it around and to bring the blood pressure down. She administered meds. She called it in. We have Walgreens here. So she called in into Walgreens. You do not pass go. You need to go straight there. You need to get the medication, come home and start. You need that blood pressure to drop. Well remember I said I had a couple of headaches.

Todd: Yeah.

Ila: That was my blood pressure. Oh, interesting. Because I could sit and I could feel the pulsing in the side here. Like I had a heartbeat in my head. And she was not happy with me.

Todd: Okay, so what do you do during these two weeks? Did you follow the doctor’s orders?

Ila: Oh, yeah see. This is where most people don’t. Ila knows how to follow rules. Okay. Because I didn’t want to go to the hospital. And she had my brother’s information as next of kin she was like, I will call your brother and tell him that you’re not behaving over here. He has no idea cause I haven’t told him anything. Okay. And so with the antibiotics and everything, I finally started getting that bronchitis out of my system. Mind you, they got the blood results back. So she hasn’t told me that I’m diabetic yet.

Todd: She suspects it but she didn’t tell you.

Ila: She didn’t tell me because she didn’t want to hit me with that just yet. So I had to go back to her in two weeks. Blood pressure was still up there, but it was getting better. Okay. And she asked me to give an outline of what I was doing, because she wanted to see what was causing all this. And I’m a spreadsheet person. So I had put everything in a spreadsheet timezone, work, etc. And she says, you are insane. She says, I’m surprised that you have not broken down beforehand. So then she told me she says, I do want you to know you are type two diabetic.

Todd: So this is dead serious. I mean, we’re laughing a little bit here, but this moment in her office is not fun, and she’s dead serious. She’s dead serious about the condition of your body.

Ila: Yeah, she says, your body has been shocked to hell and back. She says, I don’t even know how you’re sitting here.And when she told me I was type two diabetic, I burst into tears. And I’m not one to cry like that. I’m not a martyr or anything, but I’m just saying that I thought it was a death sentence. She said, this can be turned around, but you’re gonna have to be the one to turn it around.

Todd: Okay, so there’s hope. But it’s not on her, it’’s on you.

Ila: It’s on me. She can give me the drugs and everything. But, you know the drugs only do so much. You have to do your part. So she called in the prescription. And they’re like horse pills as far as I’m concerned. I have a pillaphobia. You know, I can’t take a little bitty whatever baby aspirin without gagging. Okay. I said, are these chewable? She’s like, No. Okay, so much for that. And I had to take them three times a day. And that’s not including the blood pressure medication. So I was taking pills four times a day.

Todd: Four times a day, so your list of meds is growing you’re taking them multiple times a day.

But this is, she said not medications alone, right? There needs to be lifestyle changes as well. Right? How did you transition from taking meds, seeing the doctor and then all of a sudden, Ila decides to do something different? What happened?

Ila: Well, like I just said, I’m not a pill taker. And I said, I’m not going out like this. I see people, older people in the grocery store walking around on walkers and pushers and all that kind of crap. So I can’t do that. I’m too vain for that. Okay. A walker doesn’t fit my lifestyle. It doesn’t look good, okay? So I’m going into her office every two weeks now.

Todd: Okay, so you’re on a short leash then.

Ila: A very short leash, okay. And she says I need you to move your body. I said excuse me. I said I’m moving, I don’t understand. She says you need to give me 15 minutes of exercise. I don’t care what, jump up and down, you need to do something. You need to move. You need to move.She said you carry too much on your frame. I’m barely five feet okay. So I was as wide as I was tall. I’m just trying to keep it real, you know? I’m not ashamed. And she said you need to move your body. She said you things will start coming now and not gonna happen overnight.

I said so I guess I’m not gonna be looking like Halle Berry come Monday. She says not

at all. Oh man, that’s not good. She says Halle Berry looks like Halle Berry because Halle Berry works out. And I said okay, whatever. I asked her you know, is there an app for that too? You know, she was looking at me like this.

Todd: She was having none of that.

Ila: She was not laughing. Okay? I’m like, okay, so this is not funny, right? She’s like, No, she says you are flirting.You’re flirting, you’re flirting with death. You’re flirting.She says, I need you to think about that.I need you to give me one day a week that you move. One day. That’s all I’m asking you. So fast forward, you know, I started making those moves. And I did give her one day a week. And then I’m like, I’m a calendar person.

Todd: What were you doing that one day a week? You said one day a week. What was Ila doing that one day a week?

Ila: I started stretching, because I had been most immobile for so long. And then after that, you know, we’re in the age of technology so I started, you know, taking myself for a walk. On my lunch period, I’d go outside and walk the perimeter of my building. I work in downtown Chicago. Even in the snow. It’s as cold as all get out. I would bundle up, and my boss was like you’re going out in this? And I was like, yeah, I said, I gotta go home in it.

Todd: So just simple walking then. So a little bit of stretching. So that’s pretty, pretty simple to start to get some mobility, and then walking. We all, most of us, can walk. So you just started with a few minutes on the lunch hour and just started walking around the block.

Ila: My building is like a four block perimeter thing that you can walk around. I’m right on Lakeshore drive downtown Chicago.

Todd: You said you’re using technology. You weren’t, okay. Just walking around just walking around.

Ila: Yeah there were people watching like, oh boy, really you need a hat on. I can crack myself up, okay. And it’s just like, okay, this is not bad, because now my numbers have started to stabilize. They didn’t go down. But they didn’t go up. So now we have a benchmark, okay. She says you’ve been here for the last six weeks, because I’m going to see her every time.

Todd: Every two weeks. Right.

Ila: She says okay, now we need to work on it to come down. So I was talking to my brother. And at the time he was a little bit of a runner. And he was doing 10Ks and 5K. And he says why don’t you run? I said, excuse me, run where? Right? He says, you know, run. Like, for what?

And he’s laughing. I’m not finding this funny because I’m like, Dude, you want me to run? In what? He says I think you might, you might want to try to run. He says, well, you know, run from one block to the other block. I said when? He says do it on Saturday. And at the time I said, it’s just too cold out there. I’m not doing it. He said, you belong to a gym. Don’t they have a track? Yeah, they did. He says, okay, so run your circles. And that’s when it started.

I got the zero to 5k couch to 5k app, put it on my trusty dusty iPhone, plugged in my tunes, and I walked in a circle til I thought I was very loopy. Okay. I got bored with that.Like there has to be more to it than this.

Todd: But what I find interesting here though Ila is before you got there, before you got the app, before you started listening to your podcasts or wherever you’re listening to your music. It took your brother to challenge you a little bit. Right? He suggested running and you’re like, well, I don’t run. That’s not you know. Again, it was somebody else planting a seed. But your brother had a little bit of a stronger relationship. It sounds like he more than planted a seed of sorts. That sounds like he sort of, kind of nudged you or pushed you a little bit. Is that true?

Ila: Yeah. Because he knows me. It’s like, oh, I could do that. So he threw it out there. And then we laugh about it now. Because he says I had no idea you’d go this far with it.

Todd: So you’re at the gym, you hear about this? I think you called it a couch to 5K app. Tell the listeners what it is that you were starting to train for.

Ila: Oh, I just Googled how to start running. And a lot of the articles said, there’s apps. You can do this, you can do that. I didn’t know what a training plan was. So I said, Okay, I went on my iPhone and looked on the app, and it says zero to 5k. So that would be me. Okay.

Todd: Because you’re at the zero, and you know what zero is. If they’ve got the steps to go from zero to 5k. Well, okay, well, I’m at zero, I fit that mold, right.

Ila: And that’s what I started doing. You you plug it in, and you hit start. And that’s all I did. Because it would tell you to walk at a certain pace at the time. You’re not running when you do this until you get to the end of the program. Because the whole thing is just to get the body to moving. And so like about the second week, that’s when they start wanting to just do a slow job. And I was like, oh my god, I gotta move this body like that. Like, okay, I felt like the Michelin woman. Okay. All the stuff.

Todd: But, here’s the interesting thing that you’re saying is that the plan… The only requirement to start the plan was you had to have the ability to be able to walk. That was it.

Ila: That was it.

Todd: You had to be able to walk. If you could walk on day one, well just follow our plan and we’ll get you there.Week one was walking. Week two was maybe adding a little bit of additional movement to it. You pick it up, can you just, can you pick it up? And then can you pick it up? And then can you pick it up? To the point where you’re walking and to the point that you’re like now you need to run because you’re tripping over your feet because you can’t walk that fast.

And I just kept going and going and going. I said okay, so I can. I went by this time and I said I need to do this outside.

Todd: So you’re in the dead of winter in Chicago having barely done more than just walking and having barely done more than just walking. And somehow this little seed that was planted this little shift in your thinking and your mindset. Now all of a sudden, this is just incremental, right? It’s just adding a little bit more each day or each step of the training plan. All of a sudden, you’re at the point where like, alright, I’ll give it a shot.

Ila: Now I noticed that I can sleep a little better.

Todd: Hmm. Interesting.

Ila: I’m a little bit more tired now. But not tired from school, just tired. My body’s like, Okay, we need a little bit more sleep. So instead of going to bed at midnight, I start going to bed at 11

getting up at six. So I’m getting a little bit more sleep time now.

Todd: Okay, wait a minute, though. You’ve got me hooked. So I’m in the story here. You’re doing this from zero to 5k. But is there a 5k? Is there a race how does this happy story end?

Ila: So my brother, God love him. He says you’re doing all this work, you need a target. So now what you want me to do. This is where you’re putting all this work in and you need a goal. You need to do all the stuff you’ve done, you need to do a race. I’m like, a race. Are you kidding me?

He says yeah. He says it’ll be fun. That’s what you told me about this and this is not fun. And he’s like, trust me. He said, I’ll help you find a race. I’m like you’ve lost your mind. And so we found a race that was not far from the house here. Took me about 20 minutes and I signed up for it and everything. And I twisted a friend of mine’s arm to do this race with me.

Todd: Oh, interesting.

Ila: I said so you really need to come do this with me. So in case I die, you know, you can scrape me off the pavement. And I say here’s my brother’s number. So you can call him if I don’t make it. She said you will be fine, you’re such a dramatis. I said , dude I’ve never done this before.

Todd: So race morning, you show up to the race. There’s 1499 other people there. There’s probably background music, the music’s pumping, and you’re probably a little nervous, a little like, how the heck did they end up here with all of these athletes? I don’t look like any of these people. Right?

Ila: Exactly. But my brother said, I’ll be there to see you on. I’m like, okay, so him, my two BFFs, they came to support me because I’m in the back of the line. It’s like, you know, I got all this energy, because that’s what I felt like.

Todd: Jittery.

Ila: And then the music is going I’m jamming, but I can’t use that energy. I gotta run. I gotta run, conserve, conserve it, you know. And my girlfriend and the both of them are there. And then my brother finally shows up. And they’re all sitting there. And he’s like, I’m so proud of you. Look at what you’ve done. And I said I ain’t started yet, so let’s not start doing that. Okay. So now they say runners, five minutes. So I’m in the back. I’m a back of the pack runner. Okay, I knew I wasn’t gonna be up front. I had that much sense.

Todd: Not up front with all the rabbits.

Ila: I don’t, I don’t even know who they are. Now, I watch the Olympics. So I know enough to know that the fast people are in front.

Todd: So you’re heading to the back.

Ila: It was like maybe 12 of us in the back. Oh, we’ll have fun back here. Yada, yada, yada. So now they said runners one minute to race time. When you hear the bull horn, that’s when we go. So I got my trusty dusty Garmin watch on that I had bought for myself. And so I told my brother, I’m giving everybody a kiss and a high five. I’ll see you later. My brother’s like, you didn’t think I was gonna let you run this by yourself. And when he took off his jacket, he had a bib on. Oh my god. And that’s when I lost it.

I told him I said when we started running, he said this is your race. You trained hard for this. And this was in April and it was a little chilly but it was like the perfect running weather. He says you run your race. I’m gonna be right here. Don’t worry about me.

Todd: Aw, your brother was there to support you and run with you.

Ila: And I didn’t know the course. I didn’t know anything about like looking at the course and all that kind of stuff.

Todd: You hadn’t run a 5k so you don’t even know if you’re gonna finish right?

Ila: I had no idea. He’s like you run. Everything you learned, you do it now. Everything: all the cold, snow, the treadmill, the laps around the track, he says it all, you’re going to use that today. He says just stay focused. Well, I stay so focused, I left him

Todd: So you got ahead of him? Oh, way to go, Ila. I love it.

Ila: And he said, I went to bend down to tie my shoe and I looked up and he says, Where does she go? Did she turn off too soon? I was so far ahead. He just shook his head. And of course, he caught me because my brother is six foot three. Okay. And it was a point that I had moved so quickly and so effortlessly, you know? And then all my friends were waiting at the finish line for me. Now you would have thought I won the gold. I mean, that’s what it felt like. And that’s when I had the bug.

Todd: That’s when you were bit. Oh my gosh,and the cool thing is that your baby brother was there to run with you and the support of your friends? Oh, that’s awesome.I think that’s a perfect place to end our podcast for the first episode. And I know we’re gonna do another one for the second one, but I I love that the journey, Ila was not by yourself, right? That’s part of every step of the way. Whether it be back to when you were going to get your bachelor’s degree or your master’s degree, there were people that were planting seeds or nudging you or as you’re in your brother’s situation, pushing you a little bit. And this journey from zero to the 5k, you didn’t do on your own. You did it with others. So I want to say, Ila and you know this because we’ve talked previously, but you really inspire me. Your story inspires me. And I very much appreciate you being on this episode of the podcast.

Ila: Thank you. I’m enjoying myself.

Todd: I love it. I love it.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Any guest speakers along with the companies they are associated with are not affiliated with or endorsed by Finish Line Financial or LPL Financial.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Full Transcript Below:As we head into a brand new year, and a time for new goals, we are excited to introduce Season 3 of the Retirement Secrets podcast! This season brings even more expert advice from guest professionals on designing the best retirement for you. Todd and our guests will share their secrets each week to help you have a fruitful and vibrant retirement!

Look out for our first full episode of the season on Friday, January 6th! In the meantime, check out this short teaser on what to expect from the podcast in Season 3.

Welcome to Season 3Hi, I’m Todd from Finish Line Financial, and this is Retirement Secrets where we talk about what it takes to retire like a multi-millionaire.

Hey everyone. Welcome back. It’s that time of year again. In a few days we welcome in the new year, which is often a time of setting goals and looking to the future with optimism. As you plan for your future, we wanna help by delivering to you ideas, interviews, and inspiring stories to help you retire like a multimillionaire. Here are a few of the things we’ve been working on for Season Three of the Retirement Secrets Podcast.

We are introducing an interview format with industry experts sharing their secrets that they provide to multimillionaires. You’ll hear strategies and tips that you may not be able to anywhere else. We are also introducing inspiring stories for an active vibrant retirement. Hear firsthand from amazing people doing amazing things in retirement, and as they accelerate towards retirement. Get ready for a fresh breath of inspiration to motivate you to get off the couch and enjoy a long and active life.

We also continue our popular series “Demystify Social Security” where Greg Kateff simplifies this complex topic and brings clarity to the confusion around this critical piece of your retirement plan. And speaking of setting goals in New Year’s resolutions, next week in our very first episode of 2023, we introduce you to Ila Allen in our very first interview with a guest.

You’ll hear how this 65 year old superwoman is accelerating towards retirement and not slowing down. Ila is truly one of the most inspiring individuals I have ever met. You won’t wanna miss it.

Thanks for listening to Retirement Secrets. If you want to learn more about how to retire like a multimillionaire, please visit our website at yourfinishline.com.

Spotify Listen on Spotify

View Details

Remember back in high school there were different cliques: there were the cool kids and then there was everybody else which was just about the entire school. That’s even a common plotline in movies where there are people on the outside looking in. And investing in alternative investments can sometimes feel like you’re on the outside looking in at the few people that actually get to do it. That can be frustrating.

We are pleased to have Mike Bermel from Stepstone on today’s episode. Mike shares with us how access to alternative investments is no longer reserved just for the cool kids.

View Details

We all like to think that we know what’s coming next in life. Unfortunately, we’ve all had times when life throws us curveballs. Having a plan in those situations is what separates a small problem from a life-changing one. That’s especially true of your retirement savings. So what’s the biggest threat to your retirement? It’s your health. Today we will walk you through what you need to plan for in order to make sure that you don’t run out of money if your health begins to fail later in life.

View Details

We live in a great country. Is it perfect? Nope, but one of the best parts about being from the US is our spirit of generosity. It feels good to give to charities that you love. Not only that, it’s often advantageous for you to give as part of your retirement strategy. Most folks think you can only donate through cash or check, but today we will give you the three secrets to how millionaires give to charity. You’re going to want to listen to this one.

View Details

When you hear the word millionaire what image does it conjure up? Furs? Yachts? Keeping-up-with-the-Kardashians-level opulence? As fun as that exercise is, it’s far from the truth. In actuality, millionaires look just like you and me. That’s because becoming a millionaire typically has very little to do with how much you make, and almost everything to do with how much you save. Today, we will teach you the idea of “paying yourself first” and what that means in practice. Learn the best ways to save towards your retirement and maybe the next millionaire you see will be in the mirror.

View Details

For years you’ve been told to think practically, but here’s the thing: that’s not always the best advice when dreaming up your retirement goals. While you might think that you’re doing yourself a favor by not getting carried away, sometimes those big dreams are helpful. Even if you don’t get everything on your list, figuring out what’s most important to you can be instrumental in helping you focus the most on what’s crucial for you to enjoy your finish line. In today’s secret, we share the reason that you want to dream big – and how to build those goals into a realistic structure for your retirement.

View Details

Social security is a key component to any potential retirement plan. That said, it’s not always apparent WHEN you should take it or what the ramifications will mean for the rest of your retirement. Well, wonder no more. Greg Kateff, CPA, gives you the ten questions you need to ask yourself before you decide on a social security plan. You might be surprised at what you find out. If you don’t have a social security plan yet, then, as Humphrey Bogart would say, “This one’s for you.”

View Details

Your retirement is like a garden, it needs the right environment to grow. You need good soil, sunlight – but you’ll also need shade and water. Focusing on just one of these elements means that you won’t get the results you want. That’s exactly how your retirement works as well. Just focusing on one area of your retirement plan probably won’t get you the growth (or results) that you’re looking for. This week, we have Greg Brousseau back on to talk about the current environment for private equity investing. Learn about how these opportunities could help diversify your portfolio while providing meaningful growth.

View Details

Your retirement can bring feelings of joy, anticipation, and in some cases – stress. That’s what we’re here to talk about. Usually, stress happens when you don’t have a plan. Sometimes, it can feel like you’re lost in the woods. That’s why you need a guide to help you figure out your path. When you know where you’re going, it’s as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. This week, we have estate planning expert Thomas Bergh, a shareholder at the Varnum Law Firm. He’ll tell us a story that will change how you view estate planning. You won’t want to miss this one.

View Details

Retirement is more than a plan or a set of accounts. Retirement should be a memorable, vibrant part of your life. You and your financial advisor can create a strategy now so you can invest in creating lasting memories for generations to come. Whatever your individual or family values are, a retirement plan can be built around them. And don't settle for a minimal retirement. Dream bigger! Listen to today's podcast to learn how to turn those dreams into a retirement reality.

View Details

We are pleased to have Mike Bermel from Stepstone on today’s episode. Mike shares with us how access to alternative investments is no longer reserved just for the cool kids.

View Details

Social Security is one of the three major drivers of successful retirements. It is vital to unpack, because it can get complicated. That’s why we are excited to welcome Greg Kateff, CPA, onto the podcast to spell out the basics. Greg is a senior level financial and tax planning professional who is expertly positioned to help you understand how your Social Security is calculated, and how and when to best use it. Tune in for the inside scoop on leveraging one of your primary retirement benefits!

View Details

Estate planning is a huge piece of your retirement that’s easy to set up and crucial to your family’s well-being, so why haven’t you done it? Most folks put it off, either because they’re scared or they don’t want to think about it. Here’s the thing, having an estate plan will give you the confidence to have a truly enjoyable and vibrant retirement. We were lucky enough to have Lisa Walters, a shareholder at the law firm of Couzens Lansky, to come on and explain estate planning – everything from elder law to probate avoidance to tax planning. If you only have ten minutes to do one thing for your retirement today, make listening to this podcast priority one.

View Details

Retirement planning is a lot like assembling a championship team. You’ll have a whole bunch of different pieces that you’ll need to figure out how to fit together. When you finally find the right combo, that’s when things really start to happen. One key piece that is often overlooked when investing for your retirement are alternative investments. That’s exactly why our guest, Greg Brousseau is here: to let you in on the secret to unlocking alternative investments. Greg is a founding partner of the Central Park Group, an investment advisory firm that specializes in alternative investments. He’s invested more than 14 billion in alternative investments. You aren’t going to want to miss this one!

View Details

Today we are introducing Season 2 of the Retirement Secrets Podcast! We listened to you and have invited guest experts from around the country to discuss the important aspects of retirement planning. Each week, these professionals will give you their secrets for a thriving and fulfilling retirement. Enjoy!

View Details

Today’s episode is a quick thank you from Finish Line Financial for listening to the first season of the Retirement Secrets Podcast and a sneak peek of Season 2. Take a listen.

View Details

Paul Moore is the Managing Partner of Wellings Capital, a real estate private equity firm in Virginia. In this episode, Paul gives us a peek under the hood on how commercial real estate makes money differently than investing in the stock market. He’ll also explain why commercial real estate has become a favored investment choice among many of America’s wealthiest individuals. We were thrilled to be able to pick Paul’s brain on the hows and whys of commercial real estate. You aren’t going to want to miss this one.

View Details

No one likes to think about estate planning, but it is one of THE biggest keys to setting you and your family up for success. One of those key documents is setting up a trust. Now, maybe the easiest way to think about a trust is to picture a box. Within that box you can put anything, bank accounts, investment accounts, even businesses and real estate. On the outside of the box are written instructions from you on how to use what’s inside. So what do you need to put in there and what needs to be written on the box? Listen to this episode, and we’ll walk you through it. Trust in the trust.

View Details

There’s no machine in the world that can turn back time. That means right now represents the MOST time you’ll ever have to plan for your retirement. That shouldn’t scare you, it should excite you! Here’s the thing: you’re going to have to take care of business first. That means prioritizing some things and pushing other things aside. Today, we give you ideas on how you can take care of business today so you can retire in style tomorrow.

View Details

This week, we walk you through the basics of how to pinpoint when you should start your social security – and the details that may factor into your decision.

View Details

Courage doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid. Sometimes the courageous (and prudent) action is to think about the hard things in life and make some tough choices. Failing to do so will put unneeded stress on you – and on your family. The good news? This doesn’t have to be a difficult or drawn-out process to make sure you’re in the best possible position for all contingencies. In this episode, we explore the conversation that you’ll need to have with your attorney to make sure that you have a healthcare power-of-attorney plan that works for everyone.

View Details

We’ve covered in previous podcasts the idea of alternative investments, so today we thought we’d get a little more specific with one: alternative real estate investments. While many people have heard of the benefits of adding real estate to diversify a portfolio, they often only explore traditional real estate opportunities. The reality? There’s so much more out there. One of the biggest alternatives that multi-millionaires gravitate towards is non-traded real estate investment trusts, or REITs. What are they and how can they help you reach your retirement finish line? Listen and find out!

View Details

People spend their whole life saving money for retirement, but just before it happens there’s a big shift. Instead of money going into your account, money starts coming out of your account. Seems obvious, right? It’s a little more complex than you might imagine. That’s why it’s so important that as you get closer to retirement age that generating retirement income stays at the front of your mind.

View Details

It seems like social security is constantly in the news. Does it work? Will it run out? How can you maximize your own SS so that it fits into your retirement plan? It doesn’t help that there are so many options for how to disperse your SS -- with very little difference evident to a casual observer.

Today’s podcast takes a deep dive into how to maximize your social security options. We’ll give you the scenarios that might come up and how to deal with them. Think of this as a handy guide for navigating a pretty complex task. It’s time to finally nail down a plan so that you can think about your retirement without anxiety or fear. We’re here to put the security back into social security.

View Details

So much of retirement is spent thinking about how we will take care of ourselves that sometimes our loved ones get lost in the shuffle. That can be a problem when talking about leaving a legacy for a spouse, children, or other loved ones. It’s important to make it easy for your family so you don’t end up with a mess later.

View Details

As we get older, healthcare plays a larger and larger role in our lives. That’s why it can be so scary for some folks when the possibility of a gap between early retirement and access to medicare happens at age 65. The good news? If you’re proactive then this likely won’t become a problem. How? That’s what we delve into in today’s podcast.

Whether it’s COBRA, private insurance, or another option, there are plenty of ways to deal with a possible healthcare gap. In today’s podcast, we evaluate the best options depending on your scenario and give you a plan for how to proceed.

View Details

The stock market can feel like a roller coaster – and not in a good way. At times it can feel like a white knuckle, terrifying ride. While that can be fun for an afternoon, it’s not a great way to go through your pre-retirement years. Are there alternatives? There absolutely are! Here’s why we always like to take a look at alternative investments.

View Details

People waste a ton of time wondering what the worst-case scenario might be for their retirement. Why do we say waste? It’s not because it isn’t prudent to stress-test your retirement plans. It’s because they’re worried about the wrong things.

Instead of a bunch of abstract worries about how long your money will last or if the stock market taking a dip will hurt your retirement, we propose that there’s a big, overlooked item that you actually need to prepare for. What is it? Listen and find out.

View Details

There’s a big problem with most people’s retirement scenarios: it doesn’t feel like a relief, it feels like anxiety. Finish Line meets so many folks who are constantly worried so much about reaching a baseline threshold that they don’t even stop to think about what their ideal retirement looks like.

Retirement Secrets: Recent Episodes

Todd Holquist