Build the Team Before You Need It

The worst time to assemble a coordinated team is in the middle of a crisis. The best time is now, while everything is calm. The finale of Both Ends of the Table.

Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/build-your-financial-team-before-you-need-it/

American Retirement Advisors helps families in Arizona and Nevada navigate healthcare, retirement income, and inheritance planning. Want to reach out? Text us at (602) 281-3898, email support@americanretire.com, or visit https://americanretirementadvisors.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the American Retirement Advisor, coming to you from One to Three Z Studios. Real stories, real strategies, and straight talk about healthcare, retirement income, and inheritance planning. I'm Ian Schaefer, joined with Eddie and Betty. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_05 0:16

Welcome back to the American Retirement Advisor. I'm Betty, and as always, I'm here with Eddie. Today we're closing out a series we've really loved doing together. The one Ian Schaefer has been calling both ends of the table. This is the final part, and honestly, it might be the most important one because it ties everything else together.

SPEAKER_08 0:36

It really does. We've spent the whole series walking through the pieces, the will and why it's only the floor, the hard conversation families keep putting off, how to prepare for an inheritance you can see coming, why coordination beats chasing returns, the tax bill that hides inside a good year, deploying a windfall on purpose, and the joy of giving while you're still here to see it.

SPEAKER_05 1:01

Seven parts. And what struck me reading Ian's piece is that he points out something I hadn't quite noticed while we were in it. Every single one of those came down to the same quiet little lesson.

SPEAKER_08 1:14

Same sentence over and over.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

Before, not after. Say more about that, because on the surface, it sounds almost too simple.

SPEAKER_08 1:25

It does sound simple, and that's exactly why people miss it. The whole article is really built around one question: When should you put together your financial in a state team? And Ian's answer is short, before you need it.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Before you need it. So not when the storm hits, but on the calm, sunny day when nothing is wrong.

SPEAKER_08 1:45

Right. And here's the part I want listeners to really hear. The families who handle all of this well, they're not smarter than everyone else. They're not wealthier. They just built their team while things were calm, instead of scrambling to assemble one in the middle of a crisis.

SPEAKER_05 2:00

That's a relief in a way, isn't it? Because I think a lot of people assume the families who seem to have it all together must have some special advantage, some inside knowledge.

SPEAKER_08 2:10

No special knowledge, just timing. They did the boring, unglamorous thing of getting ready before anything forced their hand.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

And the thing is, a good team is most valuable at the exact moment you can't go shopping for one.

SPEAKER_08 2:24

That's the heart of it. A coordinated team is most valuable precisely when you cannot stop to go find one, after a diagnosis, after a death, after an inheritance that suddenly lands on the table with the clocks already running.

SPEAKER_05 2:38

Let's sit with that, because I think this is where it gets real for people. Ian walks through the moments when families usually go looking for help. Can you paint those pictures? I think we all know somebody in each one.

SPEAKER_08 2:50

We do. Picture the first one: a parent has a stroke. Suddenly the family is tearing through drawers and nobody can find the documents. Nobody even knows who the attorney is or if there is one.

SPEAKER_05 3:01

Oh, I've watched that happen. The grown kids standing in the kitchen, calling each other, asking, Do you know where mom kept the folder? Did dad ever have a lawyer? And nobody knows.

SPEAKER_08 3:12

Second picture. A spouse passes away, and the survivor is suddenly handed a financial life they never managed. Maybe one person always handled the money, and now the other one is holding all of it, grieving, with no idea where to even start.

SPEAKER_05 3:29

That one breaks my heart because it's so common. One spouse paid the bills and made the calls for 40 years, and now the other one is staring at accounts and passwords and statements, and they're supposed to make good decisions in the worst week of their life.

SPEAKER_08 3:46

And the third, an estate settles and a large, complicated inheritance arrives, and there are already deadlines ticking on it, decisions that have to be made on a timeline somebody else set.

SPEAKER_05 3:58

So in all three, the money shows up or the crisis shows up, and that's the moment people finally reach out for help.

SPEAKER_08 4:06

And Ian's point is that those are the worst possible moments to be meeting your advisors for the very first time. Grief and urgency are not when any of us make our best decisions.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

No. Nobody's at their sharpest the week after a funeral or the day after a scary diagnosis. You're running on adrenaline and heartbreak.

SPEAKER_08 4:27

Exactly. And that's where a team that already knows you is worth its weight in gold. A team that already has the picture, already knows your situation, and is ready to move the moment you call. They're not starting from zero. They're picking up a plan that's already in place.

SPEAKER_05 4:44

Versus filling out new client paperwork while you're trying not to cry. There's just no comparison.

SPEAKER_08 4:51

None. And what I love about how Ian frames the whole series is that he says, look back at every part, and you'll see the same shape every time.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Walk me through it, because once he pointed it out, I couldn't unsee it.

SPEAKER_08 5:06

Take the inheritance you can see coming. The whole reason that one's valuable is the window before it arrives, the time you have to prepare. Right. The planning happens in the before. The tax bill in a good year. You can only do something about that if you plan before the year closes. Once December 31st passes, a lot of doors quietly shut.

SPEAKER_05 5:30

And the family conversation, the one everybody dreads, that works best long before anyone actually needs it to work.

SPEAKER_08 5:37

And giving while you're alive. That only happens if you start while you're here to do it. You can't experience the joy of giving from the other side of it.

SPEAKER_05 5:46

And coordination only protects you if it's already in place before something slips through the cracks.

SPEAKER_08 5:53

So every chapter is really one sentence wearing different clothes. The advantage goes to the people who set things up in advance. That's the whole series in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

Okay, so let's get practical because I can hear someone listening and thinking, a team sounds expensive and complicated and like a big production. Eddie, what does Ian actually mean by a team? Because I don't think he means what people picture.

SPEAKER_08 6:19

He's very clear about this, and I'm glad because the word team scares people. It does not mean a building full of people. It does not mean some elaborate, complicated arrangement.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

So what is it then?

SPEAKER_08 6:33

It means having someone whose actual job is to see your whole picture. And then that person works in concert with the specialists your particular situation calls for. The person handling the investments, the attorney handling your documents, the professional handling your taxes, the people handling your health care and your income.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

So it's not about collecting as many advisors as you can.

SPEAKER_08 6:55

Not at all. Ian says it straight. The point is not how many advisors you have, it's whether they're coordinated and whether somebody is holding the whole table.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Holding the whole table? I really like that phrase. Because when somebody's holding the table, you're not the one who has to remember everything yourself. That's the payoff.

SPEAKER_08 7:14

When that's true, you stop being the person who has to remember every detail and connect every single dot on your own. You're not the project manager of your own life's finances anymore.

SPEAKER_05 7:25

And I think that's the part that wears people out. It's not any one piece, it's being the only one who sees how all the pieces fit, and being terrified you'll forget one.

SPEAKER_08 7:35

Right. And one piece left disconnected is usually where the costly gap shows up. The investment person doesn't know what the estate attorney set up, the tax professional never talked to either of them. Each one is good at their job, but nobody's looking at the seams between them.

SPEAKER_05 7:51

And the seams are where things tear.

SPEAKER_08 7:54

The seams are where things tear. Well said.

SPEAKER_05 7:57

So here's a question I think a lot of our listeners have. What if I already have advisors? What if I've got a good investment person and a good attorney? Do I really need a team on top of that?

SPEAKER_08 8:09

Ian answers that one directly too, and it's reassuring. What matters is not the number of advisors, it's whether they're coordinated and whether anyone is holding the whole picture. He points out that a lot of families have several genuinely good professionals who simply never speak to each other.

SPEAKER_05 8:26

Which is so true. You've got a great accountant in one office, a great attorney across town, a great investment person somewhere else, and they've never once been in the same conversation about you.

SPEAKER_08 8:38

And the value isn't in replacing any of them, it's in connecting them, getting one set of eyes on everything. You may already have all the right players. They've just never been on the same team.

SPEAKER_05 8:49

That feels much less scary. It's not throw out what you have and start over.

SPEAKER_08 8:55

Not at all. And Ian makes that point gently. Being ready does not require tearing up your current plan, and it doesn't require firing anyone.

SPEAKER_05 9:04

So where does it start then? If somebody's listening right now and they're nodding along, what's the actual first step?

SPEAKER_08 9:11

It can start with a single conversation. One conversation, where someone looks at the entire picture, both ends of the table at once, and tells you honestly where the gaps are.

SPEAKER_05 9:22

And I love that he says it goes one of two ways, and both of them are good.

SPEAKER_08 9:27

Both are wins. Maybe everything's in good shape and you walk away with genuine peace of mind. Or maybe there are a few seams worth closing before they cost you something. Either way, you'll know, and you'll have a team in place for the day something happens instead of meeting them on that day.

SPEAKER_05 9:44

Instead of meeting them on that day. That's the whole thing, isn't it? You either meet your team on a calm Tuesday with a cup of coffee, or you meet them in the hardest week of your life. You get to choose which.

SPEAKER_08 9:56

You get to choose which, and almost nobody thinks about it that way, but that really is the choice in front of you.

SPEAKER_05 10:02

Now, this series has a specific audience in mind, doesn't it? Ian's really talking to people in a particular spot in life.

SPEAKER_08 10:09

He is. Both ends of the table is about the folks who are receiving from one generation and giving to the next at the same time. If that's you, you've got more moving pieces and more at stake than most people.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

The sandwich, sort of. Maybe an inheritance is coming in from your parents, and at the same time you're thinking about what you'll pass to your own kids and grandkids.

SPEAKER_08 10:29

Both directions at once. And Ian's point is if that's your life, you deserve one set of eyes on all of it. Not four professionals in four different offices who've never met. A coordinated team that sees the inheritance, the taxes, the estate plan, the giving, and the next generation is one connected story.

SPEAKER_05 10:49

One connected story. Because in real life, it is one story. We're the ones who chop it into separate appointments.

SPEAKER_06 10:56

We carve it up because that's how the professions are organized. But your life isn't organized that way. It's all one thing. And built before you need it, that kind of team turns the most stressful moments of life into ones you're simply ready for.

SPEAKER_05 11:10

Now, this is the part where I want to be careful and fair, because Ian's article does point to what the team at American Retirement Advisors actually does here. And I think it's worth naming honestly.

SPEAKER_08 11:20

Sure. He describes it as an inheritance planning meeting. The team sits down and looks at both ends of your table at once, the legacy coming in and the one going out, and coordinates with the specialists involved so nothing's left to chance. And there's a tool he mentions to keep it all organized. The beneficiary box. The idea is it keeps everything organized so your plan is actually ready the day it's needed, which loops us right back to where we started. Ready before, not scrambling after.

SPEAKER_05 11:51

I'll say too, for anyone wondering exactly how that meeting runs or what's inside the process, the right move is just to ask the team directly. The folks at American Retirement Advisors know the specifics far better than we could lay out in a podcast.

SPEAKER_06 12:04

That's the honest answer. We're here to talk through the ideas. The specifics of your situation are a conversation for an advisor who can actually look at your picture.

SPEAKER_05 12:14

And the number to start that conversation, Ian puts it right in the piece.

SPEAKER_08 12:18

You can reach the team at American Retirement Advisors at 602-281-3898. And the best next step, if any of this is resonated, is simply to start that conversation while everything's still calm.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

While everything's still calm. Before, not after. It really is the whole message.

SPEAKER_08 12:36

And there's one last line in Ian's article that I think is the perfect place to land. The thread through all seven parts is a simple one. The money is the easy part.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

The money is the easy part. That's a surprising thing to hear in a financial podcast, isn't it?

SPEAKER_08 12:51

It is, and it's true. The money is the easy part. The care, the timing, and the coordination, those are what you actually pass on. Those are the hard part and the important part.

SPEAKER_05 13:03

I think that's exactly right. We spend so much energy on the dollars, and the real inheritance turns out to be whether you cared enough to get ready, whether the timing was on your side, and whether everyone was rowing in the same direction. So here's what I'd leave you with. If you've been following both ends of the table with us and something in it has tugged at you, don't file it away for someday. The whole lesson of the series is that someday is too late. Pick a calm afternoon and sit down with an advisor who can look at your whole picture, both ends of your table, before life ever forces the issue.

SPEAKER_07 13:39

Build the team while the sun's out. So the day the weather turns, you're not meeting them for the first time. You're just calling people who already know you.

SPEAKER_05 13:47

That's a beautiful place to end. Thank you for following both ends of the table with us, all seven parts. Thank you to Ian Schaefer for the writing, and thank you for spending this time with us. I'm Betty, he's Eddie, and this has been the American Retirement Advisor. Take good care of each other, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_08 14:07

A quick note before we wrap up. Today's episode covers financial topics for educational purposes only. American Retirement Advisors does not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult a CPA or tax professional before making any decisions based on what you heard today.

SPEAKER_05 14:25

This is Betty with the American Retirement Advisor. Thanks for listening. If this episode helped you think differently about your retirement, share it with someone who needs to hear it. You can read the full article and browse hundreds more at AmericanRetire.com. Wanna reach out? You can text us at 602-281-3898. Or email support at AmericanRetire.com. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. We publish daily. See you next time.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Thanks, Eddie. Thanks, Betty. Until next time, this is Ian Schaefer coming to you from 123 Easy Studios. I hope you've enjoyed this recording of the American Retirement Advisor, where we make healthcare, income, and inheritance planning 123 Easy.