Scaled Up Wealth

"Cool...you've got money. Now what?"

That was an actual question I asked someone recently, and it turned into one of those conversations that sticks with you.

We spend years focused on building retirement. Maybe it's time we spent a little more time talking about living in retirement.

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Cool...You've Got Money. Now What? Post title | Scaled Up Wealth Most people spend decades building a retirement account, but very few spend time thinking about how they'll actually live on it. Sometimes the most important retirement conversation starts with one simple question: "Cool...you've got money. Now what?"

How many of you have ever heard of EBRI?
Probably not many.

EBRI = Employee Benefit Research Institute
They are a nonprofit organization that has been researching retirement, Social Security, healthcare costs, pensions, and employee benefits sine 1978.

Organizations like the EBRI, Vanguard, Morningstar, and others publish thousands of pages of retirement research each year.

Here's some things they research...
~𝟒𝟎%of U.S. Households are projected to 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 of the 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 they'll need.
~𝟔𝟕% of workers say they're confident they'll have enough money to 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲.
~𝟗𝟒% of retirees 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 as part of their retirement.
~𝟖𝟎% of 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 about 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞.

These are all very important stats. But not the ones I was interested in, yes, I'm interested in them but they aren't the ones that I was looking for...

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔?
(𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴...𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘐𝘚 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮)

Not average 401(K) balances, Not participation rates, Not average investment returns...

How many people did everything they were told to do... and STILL outlived their retirement savings?

Surprisingly, I could not find that answer.

We track how much people save, what they invest, participation rates, but not how many retirees actually exhaust their retirement savings before they die.

Maybe it does exist and I just haven't found it yet.
OR
Maybe we're just measuring how people prepare for retirement and not how retirement actually turns out.

Because retirement isn't just about building account balances. It's about making them last.

If your retirement plan only focuses on accumulation and not the distribution, taxes, inflation, longevity, and income.... then it might be time for a second look.

Let's make sure your retirement is designed to outlive you.



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I’ve been quietly adding to my website over the past several months. New blogs, educational resources, ideas, and a few things that make people think a little differently about money.

Just figured it was time to put it back out there.

Financial Planning, IUL, and Retirement Strategies Financial planning focused on IUL, tax-efficient retirement strategies, and protecting your money. Learn how to build wealth without market risk and create long-term stability.

𝐖𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝟏𝟖.

Every conversation about children seems to end up in the same place.

College.

Florida Prepaid.

529 plans.

Tuition.

Scholarships.

But if there's only $100-$200 a month available, are we sure age 18 is the most important problem to solve?

A conversation about grandkids sent me down a four-day rabbit hole that I couldn't stop thinking about.

So I wrote about it.

https://wix.to/PIlZCTc

We've Become Obsessed With Age 18 Post title | Scaled Up Wealth Most financial conversations about children revolve around college. But if there's only $100-$200 a month available, is age 18 really the most important problem to solve? A conversation about grandkids, Florida Prepaid, and long-term planning sent me down a rabbit hole I couldn't stop thinking about...

Facebook is full of Then & Now photos and posts.

Some talk about weight loss, quitting smoking, becoming healthier, how long ago that business was started, or maybe becoming an empty nester or grandparent.

Maybe it's time to ask yourself when you last reviewed your life insurance.

Because while you're busy comparing old photos, there's a good chance you've never checked whether any of those life changes created opportunities you didn't have before.

Most people don't, so you're not alone...lol

Buy a policy, forget about it, and frankly it's not your problem after you die anyway, right?

But what if your coverage could be better?

What if you're paying for something you don't need?

What if you don't have enough coverage?

Or heck, what if you were never shown all of your options and potential benefits from the start?

Let's review what you have.

If it's good, then it's good.

If there's room for improvement, at least you'll know.

https://wix.to/nUx46Jc

One of the most common things I hear is:

"I already have life insurance."

Okay.

But do you know what kind you have?

Do you know how it works?

Do you know what happens if you outlive it?

Do you know if it has living benefits?

Do you know who the beneficiary is?

Do you know if it still fits your life today?

You'd be surprised how many people have policies they haven't looked at in years. Some were purchased when they were single. Some were purchased through an employer. Some were recommended by a friend, family member, or even an ex.

Life changes.

Families change.

Goals change.

That doesn't automatically mean your coverage is wrong. It just means it may be worth reviewing.

One of the things I do is help people understand what they already own before recommending anything new.

Sometimes the answer is to leave it exactly as it is.

Sometimes there are gaps.

Sometimes there are opportunities people never knew existed.

The first step isn't buying something.

The first step is understanding what you have.

That's where I come in.



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The neighbor probably doesn't have enough kids for a baseball team anymore ⚾

Yet somehow we're shocked every time we hear the Social Security trust fund has problems.

Think about it.

People are having fewer children, living longer, collecting benefits for more years, and fewer workers supporting more retirees.

You don't need to be an economist to see the challenge. You just need a calculator. But instead of doing the math, we turn it into a political argument every single time.

Maybe the bigger issue isn't Social Security. Maybe it's that somewhere along the way Americans started treating Social Security like a retirement plan instead of what it was intended to be: a supplement.

That is a VERY expensive misunderstanding. Don't get me wrong. Social Security matters and for many retirees, it's a critical piece of the puzzle.

But somewhere along the way, we stopped asking a much more important question:

What happens if it isn't enough?

Because surviving retirement isn't the government's responsibility. It's our responsibility.

The government can provide a benefit, or supplement, but it can't provide a plan. That's why retirement planning is about more than just Social Security.

Most successful retirees don't rely on a single source of income and hope everything works out. They build a plan with multiple pieces working together. Some assets are positioned for growth, some to protect principal, some to create predictable income, some that have a different tax treatment, and some that offer flexibility for when life just doesn't go according to plan.

It's about creating a strategy that can withstand inflation, market volatility, rising taxes, unexpected expenses, and the reality that many of us may live a lot longer than previous generations.

The irony is that most Americans spend more time planning a two-week family vacation than they do planning a retirement that needs to last 20, 30, maybe 40 years.

So before the Social Security headline sends everyone into a panic, ask yourself this:

If your benefit was reduced by 20% tomorrow, would your retirement plan still work?

If the answer is no, maybe that's a conversation we should be having.

https://wix.to/mD8NyXc

A headline about the new Trump accounts got me thinking today.

And honestly, I think we're asking the wrong question. Every time a new savings account, retirement account, education account, or investment account comes along, people immediately start debating which account is best...
529
Roth IRA
Brokerage account
UTMA
Trump Account

Everybody wants to compare contribution limits, tax rules, investment options, and account features. But that's like arguing over which toolbox is best before you've even decided what you're trying to build.

Maybe the better question is:
What future are we actually preparing children for?

Because when I was growing up, the script was pretty simple.
Graduate high school
Go to college
Get a job
Stay there for 30 years
Retire

I was raised by small business owners. There wasn't a college fund waiting for me. There wasn't some perfectly mapped out path.

And looking around today, I'm not convinced the old script works for a lot of kids anymore anyway.

A child born today may never work for the same employer for more than a couple years. They might start a business, work remotely, learn skills online, go to trade school, go to college, or they might even have a career that doesn't even exist yet.

So why are we still having 1980 conversations about children's financial planning?

Why are we still acting like the primary goal is simply getting them to age 18 with a college account?

Why aren't we talking more about age 30, 40, 65?

Why aren't we talking more about flexibility, control, and options?

If we're being honest, parents and grandparents don't really care about accounts.

They care about opportunities.

They care about helping a child buy a first home, start a business, handle a financial emergency, take advantage of an opportunity, retire with choices instead of stress.

The account itself is just a tool. The strategy is what matters.

And I think that's where a lot of families get stuck. They become so focused on choosing an account that they never stop and ask what the problem is they're actually trying to solve.

Take children's life insurance for example. Most people automatically think Whole life because that's what they've heard about for decades. Parents and grandparents had whole life and that's what the family insurance agent sold. So that's usually where the conversation starts and ends.

But why?

Have we ever stopped to ask what the actual goal is?
Is it simply a death benefit, cash accumulation, preserving insurability, future flexibility, creating future tax advantages, creating something that can supplement retirement income?

Depending on the answer, the conversation may look very different.

And let's be honest....

Most people don't reject Indexed Universal Life because they've spent hours researching it and decided it isn't a fit.

The average consumer is exposed to Term Life and Whole Life because those conversations have been around for decades, they're familiar, they're common, they're what most people know.

That doesn't automatically make them wrong.
But it does mean many families never realize there are other options worth exploring.

One of the reasons I became fascinated with properly designed life insurance strategies for children is because they forced me to think beyond age 18.

What if the goal isn't just saving money; what if the goal is creating future opportunities or creating a source of tax-free income later in life?

What if the goal is creating flexibility that can potentially be used for education, a business opportunity, a first home, emergencies, or retirement?

What if the goal is locking in insurability while they're young and healthy?

What if the goal is giving time the opportunity to do what it does best: compound?

Because that's the part I think most people miss.

A newborn has something most adults would love to have.

Time.

The conversation shouldn't just be about saving. It should be about growth, compounding, flexibility, control, and strategy.

The world has changed.

The workforce has changed.

Retirement has changed.

Education has changed.

The cost of living has changed.

Maybe it's time the conversation changed too.

Instead of asking:
"What's the best account for my child?"

Maybe we should start asking:
"What gives them the most options no matter what path they choose?"

Because the biggest risk may not be choosing the wrong strategy.

The biggest risk may be never knowing the strategy existed in the first place.

Most people spend more time researching a new phone than they do exploring all of the financial options available for their children.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Because the decisions made in the first few years of life of a child's life can echo for decades.

EVERYTHING'S FINE. RIGHT?

I was reading a couple of articles about retirement and preparing for the death of a parent. But what stuck with me wasn't the statistics. It was the conversations that never happened.

How many of us grew up hearing some version of "everything's fine"?Mom and Dad were fine. The finances were fine. Retirement was fine. Everything was handled.

Until one day it wasn't.

Many Gen Xers are now finding themselves helping aging parents navigate health issues, retirement decisions, estate matters, or the loss of a spouse. And for some, it's the first time they've ever had a real look behind the curtain.

Not because our parents were trying to hide something. Many of them genuinely believed they were protecting us. They didn't want us worrying about bills. They didn't want us stressing about money. They didn't want us carrying adult problems as kids.

I respect that. But the unintended consequence is that a lot of important conversations never happened.

We never talked about what retirement actually costs. We never talked about financial mistakes. We never talked about what worked and what didn't. We never talked about long-term care. We never talked about what happens when one spouse dies before the other. We never talked about where everything is, who to call, or what the plan was.

Then life happens. A health scare. A diagnosis. A fall. A death.

And suddenly the kids are sitting at a kitchen table trying to piece together decades of financial decisions they knew nothing about.

The articles focused on retirement and preparing for the loss of a parent. But I wonder if part of the problem is communication. Because financial planning isn't just about money. It's about conversations. It's about making sure the people you love understand your wishes, know where things are, and aren't left trying to solve a puzzle during one of the hardest moments of their lives.

Maybe the most important financial planning conversation isn't with your advisor. Maybe it's with your parents. Or your children.

Because someday, someone you love may need to step into your financial world. And they shouldn't have to figure it out during a crisis.

📖 Pulling back the curtain doesn't have to be overwhelming.
I take an education-first approach to wealth and protection. To help families understand how common financial tools actually work—and avoid hidden exposure—I put together a library of plain-English resources with zero hype or sales tactics.

See the very first comment below to grab our 2026 Financial Field Guide, Tax Bucket breakdown, and Index Advantage guides completely for free.

Let's make sure your loved ones don't have to figure it out during a crisis.

Financial Planning, IUL, and Retirement Strategies Financial planning focused on IUL, tax-efficient retirement strategies, and protecting your money. Learn how to build wealth without market risk and create long-term stability.

DEATH OF THE PENSION

The disappearance of traditional pensions has fundamentally changed what retirement looks like for millions of Americans.

Yet you're considered incredibly lucky if you find a job that still offers one.

In fact, most Gen Xers are thrilled when their parents have a pension.

Why?

Because it means retirement will likely be a little less stressful.
It means a guaranteed paycheck shows up every month.
It means Mom and Dad aren't relying entirely on Social Security and hoping the stock market cooperates.

It means there is an actual plan.

Yet the minute I bring up an annuity, the eye rolls start.

Suddenly everyone becomes a financial expert.

They start repeating things they heard on social media, read in a clickbait headline, or picked up from a neighbor's opinion.

Most of the time, they couldn't explain how an annuity actually works if their life depended on it.

Here's the contradiction nobody seems to talk about.

The pension you're so happy your parents have?

At its core, it provides one of the same outcomes many modern annuities are designed to provide:

Predictable income.
Month after month.
Year after year.

In some cases, for life.

Now before the comment section comes for me, no, a traditional pension and a private annuity are not the exact same thing.

But they're both trying to solve a very similar problem:

How do you create income you can actually count on during retirement?

Am I saying everyone needs an annuity?

Absolutely not.

Just like I'm not saying everyone should invest entirely in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CDs, or Indexed Universal Life.

No single financial product is right for everyone.

What frustrates me is how quickly people dismiss an entire category of financial tools without ever learning what they actually do.

Some people use annuities because they don't want to watch their retirement account lose 20% right before they retire.

Some use them because they like the idea of income they can't outlive.

Some simply sleep better knowing a portion of their money isn't directly exposed to market losses.

And yes, some annuities are terrible fits for certain people. Then again, so is having 100% of your retirement invested in the stock market.

That's why education matters.

The goal shouldn't be to love annuities.

The goal shouldn't be to hate annuities.

The goal should be understanding your options before deciding which ones belong in your personal financial strategy.

Because making decisions based on contract facts will always beat making decisions based on headlines.

Your retirement strategy should match your goals, your risk tolerance, and your needs — not a social media comment section.

📩 DM me "ANNUITY" if you'd like to learn how they actually work before deciding whether they're right for you.


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