Episode 9
Opening your Financial Closet with Zach Sheets
Join Coach April and her guest Zach Sheets, a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones, to discuss the ELEPHANT hiding in your financial closet.
ONE LIGHT AHEAD® and Addressing the ELEPHANT in the Room™ does not claim to provide professional financial advice nor guarantee any of the financial information offered in this episode. For more information on Financial Advisors visit Know your financial adviser | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (consumerfinance.gov)
Get more information from Zach:
Zach Sheets | AAMS®, CRPC®, CRPS®, Financial Advisor
facebook.com/zachsheetsfinancialadvisor
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Transcript
Just making sure that, uh, well, there we go.
Coach April Ballestero:We are recording to another episode of addressing the elephant in the
Coach April Ballestero:room and we created this podcast for those of you who have been listening
Coach April Ballestero:to us regularly, we thank you.
Coach April Ballestero:Those of us that are just joining you and joining us, we are, uh, building
Coach April Ballestero:this community, this platform to take on the difficult subjects to take
Coach April Ballestero:on the subjects are showing up, but people are uncomfortable talking about.
Coach April Ballestero:And we're getting deeper and deeper into these subjects.
Coach April Ballestero:And everybody gets to choose the, our guests are wise and they get
Coach April Ballestero:to choose our elephant of the day.
Coach April Ballestero:And let me just give you a couple of introductions and a heads
Coach April Ballestero:up of how our process works.
Coach April Ballestero:We record, we upload, and then we have a private platform for all the extras
Coach April Ballestero:that we'll be sharing in the future.
Coach April Ballestero:So my name is coach . I am the owner and founder of one light ahead.
Coach April Ballestero:I am a strategic leadership coach.
Coach April Ballestero:I help people own their leadership.
Coach April Ballestero:Determine how to defeat destructive mindsets and align their habits so
Coach April Ballestero:that they're walking their talk a whole nother conversation there.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:But ultimately to love what you do again.
Coach April Ballestero:And we love to attract powerful leaders like my guests today, Mr.
Coach April Ballestero:Zach sheets, he is a 10 year veteran with Edward Jones and
Coach April Ballestero:gets to choose the elephant today.
Coach April Ballestero:So Zach, what's your relevant?
Zach Sheets:Well, as a financial advisor, we encounter several different elephants.
Zach Sheets:If you will, uh, whether it's coming into the office itself, how much it
Zach Sheets:costs, uh, am I able to get started?
Zach Sheets:But one of the biggest is the, the fear of disclosing your whole
Zach Sheets:financial history to someone who you may not even know until that day.
Zach Sheets:You might not know anything about me.
Zach Sheets:You've walked in the door and now you've got to tell me everything
Zach Sheets:you've got hidden in your closet.
Coach April Ballestero:And so it sounds to me like we are going to be discussing
Coach April Ballestero:opening the door to your financial closet.
Coach April Ballestero:Is that what I'm hearing you say?
Zach Sheets:Yes.
Zach Sheets:That's exactly it.
Zach Sheets:Being able to tell someone in this case, your financial advisor, everything you've
Zach Sheets:got going on and be honest about it,
Coach April Ballestero:you know, there's so many different
Coach April Ballestero:opportunities we could go here.
Coach April Ballestero:So let's start, let's contemplate.
Coach April Ballestero:First of all, you know, What have you discovered, and as you have been obviously
Coach April Ballestero:10 years at nevermind your own personal journey, what, what's the resistance?
Coach April Ballestero:How do you see the elephant show up in the room?
Zach Sheets:Well, you know, at first it's just a reluctance
Zach Sheets:to, um, tell anything about what you've got going on financially.
Zach Sheets:Um, Maybe the person's finally made that decision to walk in
Zach Sheets:the door, which was hard enough.
Zach Sheets:A lot of people just, you know, knowing the step in is, is tough enough, but then
Zach Sheets:to get that person to be able to say, you know, here's where I am, or maybe I've got
Zach Sheets:all this debt that I really never wanted to tell anyone about, uh, or I made these
Zach Sheets:bad decisions that I'm now stuck with.
Zach Sheets:Those sorts of things, make it so hard for them to open up from the very start.
Zach Sheets:So.
Zach Sheets:Uh, part of the difficulty for me is initially just getting enough
Zach Sheets:trust with them, that they'll start talking about what their situation is.
Zach Sheets:And then hopefully as I'm working along with it with them, they realize that
Zach Sheets:it's not a matter of being judged.
Zach Sheets:It's not a confrontational sort of thing.
Zach Sheets:It's just the fact that if I'm going to create an actual plan for them, then
Zach Sheets:I have to know what the real story is.
Coach April Ballestero:There's so many things you said there, because
Coach April Ballestero:I mean, there's a conversation yeah.
Coach April Ballestero:About when's the right time.
Coach April Ballestero:When you know, what, how much does a financial advisor need to know?
Coach April Ballestero:What is a financial closet?
Coach April Ballestero:What, what, what is comprised and all that.
Coach April Ballestero:And as you chose the career and you obviously have been in this
Coach April Ballestero:arena for awhile, what for you personally, what's been the journey.
Coach April Ballestero:And then what have you watched as you build the clientele to
Coach April Ballestero:start having those conversations?
Coach April Ballestero:And I've got a couple of other questions behind that.
Zach Sheets:Sure.
Zach Sheets:Well, the biggest thing about those conversations is establishing that
Zach Sheets:trust that whatever they tell me is never going to go beyond us, then I'm
Zach Sheets:not making any judgements about them.
Zach Sheets:You know, quite often someone will, you know, right at the start.
Zach Sheets:I feel bad that I don't know anything about investing or I've never been in
Zach Sheets:here or I've never talked to anyone and I let them know that that's not uncommon.
Zach Sheets:The majority of the American population.
Zach Sheets:Schools don't teach, uh, there's no education on investments.
Zach Sheets:There's no education on retirement and you know, maybe that's getting better now, but
Zach Sheets:for the longest time there was nothing.
Zach Sheets:So part of the whole thing is to make them comfortable enough to feel like,
Zach Sheets:okay, I can actually say something without feeling like, Oh man, he's over there
Zach Sheets:thinking that I am just the biggest loser.
Zach Sheets:And because people get that feeling automatically when
Zach Sheets:they have to admit that.
Zach Sheets:Maybe they didn't do as good as they wanted to do, or maybe they made mistakes
Zach Sheets:that they don't want to admit to.
Zach Sheets:But you know, until that trust is there a lot of times people don't tell me
Zach Sheets:everything and, and sometimes in all honesty, I can be honest and tell you
Zach Sheets:I've got clients I've had for five, six years, but finally say, Oh yeah,
Zach Sheets:I've got this other thing over here that I never told you about, you know?
Zach Sheets:So it does happen.
Zach Sheets:And sometimes it takes a while.
Coach April Ballestero:Trex is a process.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:And, uh, and what made you choose to go down this road to be a financial advisor?
Coach April Ballestero:What about it, uh, is helps you give people permission to
Coach April Ballestero:open their financial positive?
Coach April Ballestero:What have you seen so important about the journey of
Zach Sheets:that?
Zach Sheets:Well, the biggest reason why I went this path is, you know, I had been in
Zach Sheets:the corporate world, uh, I've done that side of things and really wanted to do
Zach Sheets:something where I actually help people.
Zach Sheets:And this was an opportunity to do something where my success is
Zach Sheets:tied to the success of my clients.
Zach Sheets:If I do a good job for them, they're going to tell their friends, they're
Zach Sheets:going to tell their family and they're going to want to come to me.
Zach Sheets:If by the other hand of that, if I do a horrible job, the opposite is true.
Zach Sheets:So it's imperative on me to be as good as I can doing what I can for them.
Zach Sheets:And.
Zach Sheets:You know, the connection that I found once I started doing it, I, you
Zach Sheets:know, it's fantastic to be invited to weddings, family things, uh, have your
Zach Sheets:clients show up and bring you things.
Zach Sheets:And by that same token, being there for them whenever they need you, you know,
Zach Sheets:and even that means going to funerals and the like, but you know, there is like,
Zach Sheets:you're almost family with most of them.
Zach Sheets:Uh, you know, we have a lot of households, but I can tell you that between myself
Zach Sheets:and my administrator, uh, we can tell you a whole list of things about
Zach Sheets:every client we have and that personal connection, uh, also makes the trust
Zach Sheets:that much easier, but it also makes the job that much more rewarding.
Coach April Ballestero:There's so many things that what I also heard
Coach April Ballestero:you say is that person is just not a number to, you know, is not a
Coach April Ballestero:set of, uh, financial, uh, revenue.
Coach April Ballestero:It is a person that truly you get to watch blossom from the education,
Coach April Ballestero:from the opportunity, from the growth process and a journey that
Coach April Ballestero:you've helped create with them.
Zach Sheets:And absolutely, and one key point of that, that I would tell
Zach Sheets:anyone, and I tell clients all the time that, you know, whether it's.
Zach Sheets:20,000 for the person that they only have 20,000 or whether it's 7 million
Zach Sheets:and they've got another 10 million, it makes no difference because it's
Zach Sheets:equally important to that person.
Zach Sheets:Uh, in fact, the 20,000 is more important to that person than the 7 million
Zach Sheets:that this guy might have with me.
Zach Sheets:And because of that, it never take any of it lightly.
Zach Sheets:The smallest account is just as important as the biggest and never
Zach Sheets:give anyone short shrift to the point.
Zach Sheets:That they feel like they're not that important because you know,
Zach Sheets:like I said, you know, for the people who have a smaller amount,
Zach Sheets:quite often, that's all they have.
Zach Sheets:So they, they can't afford you to take that lightly.
Zach Sheets:That's so important to them.
Zach Sheets:That might be the only thing that saves them from, you know,
Zach Sheets:living on the street someday.
Coach April Ballestero:
:There's so many pieces of that.
Coach April Ballestero:
:And so to go back to that financial posit and, you know, the, as you talked
Coach April Ballestero:
:about that ability that some of it only gets timely, you know, a little jar
Coach April Ballestero:
:and there's sometimes open a pathway or the open it up a full, here you go.
Coach April Ballestero:
:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:
:Uh, what have you seen is the, uh, the most resistance, um, conversation and,
Coach April Ballestero:
:uh, and, and, and how do you see it?
Coach April Ballestero:
:Be observed.
Coach April Ballestero:
:We've heard about that.
Zach Sheets:Probably the two most common would be on the one side, not wanting to
Zach Sheets:disclose all the other money they have, um, or other accounts they have or other
Zach Sheets:retirement savings, or maybe they think I'm going to be offended because they've
Zach Sheets:got a retirement account somewhere else.
Zach Sheets:And they're working with someone else too.
Zach Sheets:Um, a lot of times.
Zach Sheets:That extra wealth is what's not told, uh, you know, I don't, I, you know,
Zach Sheets:I hate to say this, but it's been so many times that someone and, you
Zach Sheets:know, it gives me a net worth figure.
Zach Sheets:That's probably less than half of what they actually have,
Zach Sheets:or maybe even less than that.
Zach Sheets:Uh, and then as we go along, you know, we find out about more and
Zach Sheets:eventually find out the whole story.
Zach Sheets:The other side of it is the person who just doesn't want to talk about.
Zach Sheets:The mistakes they've made.
Zach Sheets:Uh, you know, they won't be honest about the debt they have.
Zach Sheets:Uh, maybe they've got IRS issues.
Zach Sheets:Maybe they've got credit cards, maybe they've got other
Zach Sheets:things and the bad part for me.
Zach Sheets:And something like that is I can't really create a plan.
Zach Sheets:That's the right plan for them, unless they tell me the truth.
Zach Sheets:Uh, I.
Zach Sheets:Fully believed that do the right thing for any client who walks in the store.
Zach Sheets:And sometimes the right thing is to send them back out the door and tell
Zach Sheets:them to pay off credit card debt.
Zach Sheets:You know, we don't have investments that I can say are gonna all the time
Zach Sheets:do 25%, quite frankly, not that often.
Zach Sheets:So if they've got all this credit card debt, the best thing they can do for
Zach Sheets:their financial future is pay it off.
Zach Sheets:If they're not contributing to their 401k plan and their employers matching.
Zach Sheets:They're turning away a hundred percent return on their investment.
Zach Sheets:So again, you know, if that's all the money they have, then do that.
Zach Sheets:So a lot of it is that, and then the ones who will, who will just right off
Zach Sheets:the bat say, you know, I want to invest, but I can't, I don't have any money.
Zach Sheets:And then it's a matter of getting them to open up and honestly, write out a
Zach Sheets:budget and even journal their expenses to prove to me that is that the truth.
Zach Sheets:And sometimes it is, but most of the time.
Zach Sheets:You know, it's a matter of not opening up and saying, yeah, I admitted,
Zach Sheets:I'm spending $15 a day on lunch.
Zach Sheets:Cause we go out every day at work and maybe I've got a $10 a day Starbucks habit
Zach Sheets:and you know, and all these different things that they didn't want to admit to.
Zach Sheets:But once they're forced to, then it comes out.
Coach April Ballestero:There's so many things you said there.
Coach April Ballestero:And what came up for me right away is I taught high school for a year.
Coach April Ballestero:For real estate.
Coach April Ballestero:Cause I got my designated subject Prudential for real estate and I had
Coach April Ballestero:my students for three hours and I would walk them through playing games as well
Coach April Ballestero:as, um, uh, creating their own business, creating their own balance sheet, doing
Coach April Ballestero:all kinds of fun stuff, stuff like that.
Coach April Ballestero:And it, some of the feedback I got from all of those high school
Coach April Ballestero:students is they didn't teach me this.
Coach April Ballestero:They didn't teach me how to pay attention to these details, uh, the cashflow
Coach April Ballestero:game and, uh, what a balance sheet is.
Coach April Ballestero:I mean, just there's so many pieces.
Coach April Ballestero:Uh, what you just said, um, how much opportunity there is to be aware and to
Coach April Ballestero:be conscientious of, I love the awareness of, you know, I've got people that are
Coach April Ballestero:quite wealthy and they're, they don't want to dispose how well who they are.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:And that's a whole nother conversation, uh, and that's a protective mode.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:And then you've got people that are so concerned.
Coach April Ballestero:Well, Gosh, can I even find, you know, $5 or $10 or a hundred dollars and does
Coach April Ballestero:it belong on my credit card balance instead of a retirement account?
Coach April Ballestero:If it's a hundred percent match, it absolutely belongs
Coach April Ballestero:to my retirement account.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:And I love that's what the journey is.
Coach April Ballestero:If you're willing to open up that financial closet and say,
Coach April Ballestero:this is what's really happening.
Coach April Ballestero:But one of the things that I wanted to clarify on that is.
Coach April Ballestero:A lot of times you said people, uh, you asked people to journal
Coach April Ballestero:what's really happening.
Coach April Ballestero:And that is one of the most difficult things for anybody to do in any aspect,
Coach April Ballestero:not just financially is to journal and to assess and to review like one of
Coach April Ballestero:the things I love to assign as a time study, how do you spend your time?
Coach April Ballestero:And that is a huge wall of resistance in my world.
Coach April Ballestero:And yet it's, uh, I'm curious how much walls or resistance you get
Coach April Ballestero:with that journaling exercise?
Coach April Ballestero:And what have you discovered to help people through that process?
Zach Sheets:Well, seeing, you know, the journaling thing has been a huge
Zach Sheets:success when it comes to the person who's told me that they can't invest, they
Zach Sheets:don't have any money, they live paycheck to paycheck, all their money's gone.
Zach Sheets:Uh, it's also something, you know, in my role as.
Zach Sheets:Uh, chairman of our local habitat, we do that with our new partners
Zach Sheets:to put them through that, just so they know what their real number is.
Zach Sheets:But like I said, all too often, when you tell someone, Hey, you're going
Zach Sheets:to have to write down everything you spend, and then you're going to have
Zach Sheets:to explain it to me when we review it.
Zach Sheets:And.
Zach Sheets:It's amazing when they come back because they're like, and I was about to buy
Zach Sheets:that, but then I thought, you know, I'm going to have to tell him about that.
Zach Sheets:And I don't think I really want to tell him about that.
Zach Sheets:And, uh, it's a great experience.
Zach Sheets:Now there is resistance and some people are like, well, that's not going to help
Zach Sheets:because they don't really want to do it.
Zach Sheets:But what I found is most of the people who end up doing it, find that
Zach Sheets:there is a whole lot of money that they're throwing out the door either.
Zach Sheets:They don't spend it because they had the right it down.
Zach Sheets:Or after they look at it later, they're just like, Oh, what
Zach Sheets:in the world was I thinking?
Zach Sheets:And it's such a huge benefit to them.
Zach Sheets:I mean, it's great to me because I can show them that, you know, no,
Zach Sheets:there was actually money there that you can invest if you want, but
Zach Sheets:more so the importance is for them.
Zach Sheets:And the fact that now they actually have some idea of what
Zach Sheets:they're doing and they realize how impulsive some of the wives are.
Coach April Ballestero:Impulsive is such a powerful word word
Coach April Ballestero:in so many different aspects.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:And yet, uh, there's also, I mean, for the, on the other side of the equation
Coach April Ballestero:of the wealthy individuals, uh, they can also be very protective and guarded
Coach April Ballestero:and, uh, very conscientious, almost too conscientious at times, right?
Zach Sheets:Oh yeah.
Zach Sheets:It runs the gamut.
Zach Sheets:Whether someone has money or not.
Zach Sheets:I mean, I can talk to you about, you know, a client with $3 million who.
Zach Sheets:Just won't spend anything unless they have to.
Zach Sheets:And, and when we talk on a regular basis, am I going to run out of money?
Zach Sheets:And the reality is that I don't think there's, you know, Ben, but
Zach Sheets:a couple months in the last few years that the account balance
Zach Sheets:went down, it goes up every month.
Zach Sheets:Uh, so, you know, there's a fear that's attached to money and
Zach Sheets:it's always going to be there.
Zach Sheets:Uh, you know, and I, and that's, I guess that's natural, but that's also
Zach Sheets:why you come to a financial advisor.
Zach Sheets:So you have a second set of eyes.
Zach Sheets:Someone will watch over things for you.
Zach Sheets:You know, I, I get the people who want to do it on their own.
Zach Sheets:And then, and I tell people all the time, if you want to do it on your own,
Zach Sheets:we'll make sure you're looking at it.
Zach Sheets:But most people get so busy in their day to day that they don't look.
Coach April Ballestero:There's so much truth that how often
Coach April Ballestero:would you recommend looking at it?
Coach April Ballestero:And then I really want to dig into the final part of that closet that you brought
Coach April Ballestero:up and, uh, before we start wrapping up.
Coach April Ballestero:So, uh, how often, if they are, I mean, besides taking the time to write it
Coach April Ballestero:down, Ruby, your bank statements review all that madness on a regular basis.
Coach April Ballestero:Uh, what would you recommend if they just to get,
Zach Sheets:well, you know, if you're not going to come to a financial advisor, Then
Zach Sheets:you probably need to find a way to review your stuff at least every three months to
Zach Sheets:make sure, make sure nothing's happened.
Zach Sheets:Make sure that the world hasn't changed and you've been so busy.
Zach Sheets:Um, if you come to one of us and certainly, you know, I'm
Zach Sheets:not everyone's cup of tea.
Zach Sheets:So find that financial advisor who you connect with, but when
Zach Sheets:you get in that door, you know, establish how often you want to meet.
Zach Sheets:I know that every financial advisor is going to want to talk to you at least.
Zach Sheets:Once a year and more often, especially depending on what you're investing in.
Zach Sheets:If you have a lot of stocks and individual things like that, you need to look more
Zach Sheets:often because changes can happen quick.
Zach Sheets:If you're more like the 401k investor in mutual funds, you need to look at it, but
Zach Sheets:you're probably not going to make changes nearly as often, but you should rebalance
Zach Sheets:things and make sure you're still on that track that you set yourself on.
Zach Sheets:And it doesn't hurt to look.
Zach Sheets:I mean, You know, set yourself a reminder, pull up the website, look and see, uh,
Zach Sheets:make sure nothing weird has happened.
Zach Sheets:You know, a lot of people don't even check their checking accounts and
Zach Sheets:you know, or credit cards and they could have all kinds of charges and
Zach Sheets:it might be months before they notice.
Zach Sheets:So it doesn't hurt to take a couple minutes to look, uh, you know, set
Zach Sheets:yourself some time while you're at home watching TV log on the computer
Zach Sheets:and look, you know, uh, what, you know, It's going to be a lot better
Zach Sheets:than what you don't know, what
Coach April Ballestero:we measure has ability to add improvement.
Coach April Ballestero:Right?
Coach April Ballestero:The more often we measure, the more often we can improve.
Coach April Ballestero:And
Zach Sheets:within reason as we tell stock investors, too, if you check
Zach Sheets:the price on a daily basis, you'll drive yourself crazy because the
Zach Sheets:market goes up and down all the time.
Zach Sheets:Now, uh, you're looking for.
Zach Sheets:Something that is a sign of a bigger move or something that's wrong
Zach Sheets:with the company or great about the company, not that day to day bouncing
Coach April Ballestero:and, and there's so many pieces there.
Coach April Ballestero:So the final part of that elephant of the financial closet, you
Coach April Ballestero:said the fear behind the money.
Coach April Ballestero:What have you discovered?
Coach April Ballestero:How does it come up in conversation?
Coach April Ballestero:How do you help overcome the resistance?
Coach April Ballestero:Is there anything that you wanted to address in that particular elephant?
Zach Sheets:Honestly the truth.
Zach Sheets:There is, uh, the only way you get past a lot of that fear is knowledge.
Zach Sheets:Um, as with many of the clients who walk in one of the first things
Zach Sheets:they're going to say to me is that I know nothing about this.
Zach Sheets:I don't have one little tiny bit of knowledge, or they'll say, you just do
Zach Sheets:what you want to do because I trust you.
Zach Sheets:And of course, I'm still going to explain everything to them and get their approval.
Zach Sheets:But.
Zach Sheets:There's so much of that lack of knowledge, which makes fear even worse.
Zach Sheets:And, you know, you kind of have a couple of different tax.
Zach Sheets:You have the ones who worry so much about it, that they make themselves miserable.
Zach Sheets:Uh, they're worried if they're going to have money for their retirement,
Zach Sheets:they're worried that they're going to be able to do the things they
Zach Sheets:want to do, worried if they can help with their kids' college education.
Zach Sheets:Uh, All those worries that come day to day.
Zach Sheets:And that's probably more so now after what we've seen this last year with,
Zach Sheets:with COVID and the impacts, how quickly people lost jobs that they thought
Zach Sheets:were safe, uh, how people lost family members, who weren't sick at all.
Zach Sheets:Uh, all of that just adds to that fear.
Zach Sheets:Uh, and that's the fear of the unknown.
Zach Sheets:You don't know what's coming.
Zach Sheets:The other side of this group.
Zach Sheets:Often takes the tack that well, you know, I'll just kind of bury it under
Zach Sheets:the mattress and forget about it.
Zach Sheets:Don't want to talk about it.
Zach Sheets:And you know, their method of dealing with it is avoided.
Zach Sheets:Now the problem with avoidance is of course, if you're not doing
Zach Sheets:anything to make it better, it ain't going to get better on itself.
Zach Sheets:Um, you could hope, uh, but it's not gonna really fix itself.
Zach Sheets:And if you don't have a plan, well, we all know planning or failure
Zach Sheets:to plan is planning to fail.
Zach Sheets:And that's the truth of a retirement plan.
Zach Sheets:Yeah.
Zach Sheets:If you're not doing anything, then you're going to be living on social security
Zach Sheets:and that's all you're going to have.
Zach Sheets:And, you know, while I'm not going to be that fearmonger and tell anyone
Zach Sheets:that I think social security is going away, the amount that they pay is not
Zach Sheets:a great life to live on in retirement.
Zach Sheets:And, you know, you've got to make sure that you take a proactive
Zach Sheets:approach to what you want to do in order to be successful in that.
Zach Sheets:And if you choose that method of, you know, I just don't want to talk about it.
Zach Sheets:I don't want to deal with it.
Zach Sheets:Well, yeah, you're going to get what you get and it's not great, you know, and
Zach Sheets:I kind of like, you know, we run into the same with even, even conversations
Zach Sheets:about estate planning and the like, some people don't want to talk about death.
Zach Sheets:They're afraid if they talk about it, it's going to bring it on so
Zach Sheets:they don't want to talk about it.
Zach Sheets:But then when something happens, there was no plan and things
Zach Sheets:are so much harder for everyone.
Coach April Ballestero:There's so many discussions there.
Coach April Ballestero:We could just address a few elephants if you were to wrap up Zach.
Coach April Ballestero:And how would you say what's the first step besides obviously reviewing if
Coach April Ballestero:they were to consider having support, how would they decide what would be the
Coach April Ballestero:step they could do today to move forward on addressing their financial closet?
Coach April Ballestero:Maybe even if it's just opening the door, uh, yet share with us.
Coach April Ballestero:Uh,
Zach Sheets:well, simplest and honest is take an honest approach and look
Zach Sheets:at what you have and make your own assessment of what you're doing.
Zach Sheets:If you think that that's getting you to where you're going to want to be.
Zach Sheets:Uh, the other thing, and I honestly believe this, pick up the phone, find a
Zach Sheets:financial advisor, go in and talk to them.
Zach Sheets:Even if you decide not to work with them.
Zach Sheets:At least get that Frank discussion about where you are.
Zach Sheets:Uh, it doesn't take very long to pull up a picture for us to create
Zach Sheets:something for you to say, yeah, it looks like you're on the right track.
Zach Sheets:And it doesn't mean that you're going to sign up with them.
Zach Sheets:It doesn't mean you're committing to anything, but having that conversation
Zach Sheets:with someone else to look at what you have gives you that second set of eyes,
Zach Sheets:it also gives you an honest opinion.
Zach Sheets:That's unbiased.
Zach Sheets:Sometimes it's hard for us as individuals to look at our own finances.
Zach Sheets:And say, what in the world are you doing?
Zach Sheets:Um, you know, you may be doing a great job, but you may be making
Zach Sheets:some terrible decisions and you won't call yourself on it.
Coach April Ballestero:There's so many pieces there and I love the word
Coach April Ballestero:you used bias because we do have a lot more biases than we recognize.
Coach April Ballestero:And until we give somebody else permission to see and observe and challenge some of
Coach April Ballestero:those perceptions, some of those belief systems to verify they're accurate or
Coach April Ballestero:what the longterm results look like and what other options are available.
Coach April Ballestero:Because sometimes we get very narrow.
Coach April Ballestero:Focused and we miss some major opportunities.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Coach April Ballestero:And we don't know about them again, lack of knowledge.
Coach April Ballestero:Yeah.
Coach April Ballestero:Every
Zach Sheets:individual's different.
Zach Sheets:Uh, you can have the person who comes in here, who's much harder
Zach Sheets:on themselves than I would ever be.
Zach Sheets:The reality is that they're doing a great job, but they think that they're not.
Zach Sheets:And then we have the other person who, you know, is chosen the, I guess you
Zach Sheets:want to say the turtle method and they're just hiding from it all and pretending
Zach Sheets:like the Shell's going to protect them.
Zach Sheets:And you know, that person might come in here.
Zach Sheets:And at age 55 and tell me they want to retire in seven years
Zach Sheets:and they haven't done anything.
Zach Sheets:And you know, that's no fun for me.
Zach Sheets:I don't want to ever burst someone's dream, but you know, it's like,
Zach Sheets:well, the reality is if this is what you want to achieve in seven
Zach Sheets:years, it's I can't do that for you.
Zach Sheets:It's not possible.
Zach Sheets:And that's no fun to tell anyone.
Zach Sheets:It's no fun to tell someone that the retirement of their dreams
Zach Sheets:probably isn't going to happen.
Zach Sheets:By that same token.
Zach Sheets:I wish I could get to everyone and tell them that, you know, if they start
Zach Sheets:early, it's the easiest thing in the world that doesn't take much because
Zach Sheets:time is the ultimate multiplier.
Zach Sheets:So if someone walks in here at 25 and starts even putting the way a
Zach Sheets:little chances are, they're going to be in great shape by retirement.
Zach Sheets:But if they walk in here at 55 and they haven't done anything, it it's hard.
Zach Sheets:It's really hard.
Coach April Ballestero:Well, and there's so many pieces of awareness.
Coach April Ballestero:It doesn't mean that it's not possible.
Coach April Ballestero:It just means that it may take longer and maybe more aggressive.
Coach April Ballestero:There's all kinds of pieces of that.
Coach April Ballestero:So, uh, the exciting thing about that is what I also heard you say is
Coach April Ballestero:I'm going to be straight out and say that based on what we have, this may
Coach April Ballestero:not be possible at this timeframe.
Coach April Ballestero:It doesn't mean that there aren't other options.
Coach April Ballestero:It means that this is, we need to be realistic as well as conscientious.
Coach April Ballestero:And that's what I hear throughout our whole conversation today
Coach April Ballestero:is the willingness to say it's okay to open the closet.
Coach April Ballestero:It's okay to find somebody that you trust to share that closet with, because
Coach April Ballestero:keeping it shut is not helping you.
Zach Sheets:Exactly.
Zach Sheets:You know, and, and not to put any light on it, but there was a great cartoon
Zach Sheets:that I once saw, uh, the financial advisers in front of this older, married
Zach Sheets:couple, and he's going well, you know, it's about time that we face the facts.
Zach Sheets:The only way we're going to achieve that retirement that you're hoping
Zach Sheets:for since you're starting now.
Zach Sheets:Is which one of you is going to be the DRI driver and which one of you is
Zach Sheets:going to go into the bank with the gun?
Zach Sheets:Oh, wow.
Coach April Ballestero:Of course that's the comedy side of it.
Coach April Ballestero:Right.
Zach Sheets:But sometimes it is the question and it's just no fun to tell
Zach Sheets:someone, uh, that you know, that that dream you had is not probably going to
Zach Sheets:happen unless you want to postpone it.
Zach Sheets:For quite a while and you're right.
Zach Sheets:You can always, you know, wait longer.
Zach Sheets:Maybe you're maybe you thought 62 was that year, but in reality you
Zach Sheets:might have to wait until 70 now.
Zach Sheets:Uh, and if that's the case, then it's better.
Zach Sheets:They hear it from me then, you know, go ahead and retire at 62 and they run
Zach Sheets:out a movie, I run out of their money by 68 and then what are they gonna do?
Zach Sheets:Um, you know, and not everyone has any backup plan, you know,
Zach Sheets:they may not have family.
Zach Sheets:They may not have kids.
Zach Sheets:They may not have any of that.
Zach Sheets:So if the money is gone, then there's no one to help them anymore.
Zach Sheets:And you certainly don't want, just because you don't want to give someone
Zach Sheets:bad news, give them the wrong news.
Zach Sheets:It's no fun to tell someone you can't tell them that I much prefer the guy
Zach Sheets:who comes in and says, I want to, I want to see if I can retire at 60 and you
Zach Sheets:run the numbers and you certainly can.
Zach Sheets:That's much more fun than giving anyone bad news.
Coach April Ballestero:Oh, there are many of those that are retired much younger
Coach April Ballestero:and still run multiple revenue streams.
Coach April Ballestero:Right?
Coach April Ballestero:So there's all kinds of opportunity.
Coach April Ballestero:That's just the willingness to be open and transparent and vulnerable with
Coach April Ballestero:somebody you trust to be allowing that financial closet to have cleaning space.
Coach April Ballestero:If you will.
Zach Sheets:Even from what you just said, uh, opening it to yourself to
Zach Sheets:some people blocked it up and they don't want to mention it to themselves either.
Coach April Ballestero:So powerful is that, and thank you for the time
Coach April Ballestero:today to go over the, this amazing elephant in the room, that's real
Coach April Ballestero:and tangible and opportunity.
Coach April Ballestero:Everybody needs to address.
Coach April Ballestero:And Zach, how do people get ahold of you?
Coach April Ballestero:If they do decide they want to consider a financial advisor.
Coach April Ballestero:Sure.
Coach April Ballestero:I'm happy to talk to anybody.
Zach Sheets:Uh, happy to talk to anybody that can answer questions.
Zach Sheets:Um, my office phone is (423) 566-4010.
Zach Sheets:Or you can reach me by email at Zach dot sheets, Z a C H
Zach Sheets:dot S H E T s@edwardjones.com.
Zach Sheets:And I'd be happy to at least give you some answers to preliminary questions.
Zach Sheets:And then, you know, we can see if a meeting's in place or something.
Coach April Ballestero:And I absolutely love the willingness to answer questions
Coach April Ballestero:tends to be a resource, to be a vessel.
Coach April Ballestero:That is absolutely what we do as well.
Coach April Ballestero:You can go to one letter, head.com.
Coach April Ballestero:You can reach out to coach april@oneletterhead.com.
Coach April Ballestero:Those are usually the best ways to reach me and we can, or you can schedule a call
Coach April Ballestero:right on our website at head.com as well.
Coach April Ballestero:Thank you everyone.
Coach April Ballestero:Joining us, we always are appreciate that people are willing to,
Coach April Ballestero:to take on the tough subjects.
Coach April Ballestero:Have an amazing day, everyone.