Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to justice on Fire. I'm Kevin Benjamin. Today we're breaking down the legal and financial issues that could have a major impact on your future and helping you better understand the options available when the pressure is on. You're watching now Media Television.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Welcome to justice on Fire. I'm your host, Kevin Benjamin. And here we help viewers better understand the legal and financial challenges that can affect their rights, their assets, their businesses and their future.
Today we're connecting two conversations that are too often separated.
Long term financial planning and the legal problems that can suddenly put that plan under pressure. Tax, debt, foreclosure, overwhelming debt, business distress and other evidence.
Other events that force difficult choices.
You know, a financial plan is built for the future, but a legal or debt crisis demands decisions for the present.
The danger is making an urgent move without understanding what it can mean for retirement. Liquidity, Family goals and resources need to recover.
With that, I want to introduce my first desk, Dominique d'. Andra.
Dominic is a financial advisor and a wealth strategist with more than 30 years of experience helping individuals, families and business owners build sustainable financial futures. His work focuses on retirement planning, wealth preservation, financial security, and strategies built around a client's goals and priorities.
Dominic, welcome to justice on Fire.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Thank you for having me, Kevin.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Okay, Dominic, after more than 30 years in financial planning, what kinds of financial pressure can most quickly disrupt a retirement or wealth strategy that looks good on solid, on paper or otherwise looks fine?
[00:02:03] Speaker C: That's a great question. I know it's over legal stuff. The things I've seen is divorce, you know, because people I've watched retirements that were solid get destroyed with divorce.
You know, one of these, one of the spouses is overspending where now their credit card debt is beyond, you know, a range where they can't afford to live day to day anymore.
You know, so it's really important that you, you know, person looks at all these different things when they're making a financial decision on what is the right thing to do long term, it makes
[00:02:43] Speaker B: a lot of sense.
What kind of pushback do you get from clients or what kind of things surprise you about what they don't know or know
[00:02:54] Speaker C: what I get is what they don't know is how to budget their money. They think, okay, well I'm going to be able to retire because I'm saving it and saving and saving it. But if they don't know how much they need and they're overspending now, and look, I want every client to enjoy every phase of life, whether it's the Accumulation stage, whether it's retirement, whatever it might be, but it all works down to a budget. You know, you can't overspend today and expect to be able to live tomorrow. And you know, the biggest thing I see is people buying either too big of a house or having too big of a car payment.
You know, car gets you from A to B. So if you can't afford to save and you're driving a car that's costing a thousand plus a month, you might want to think about knocking that down to a four or five hundred dollars a month car payment while you're trying to rebuild yourself instead of keep digging yourself further in debt.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: So you need to make a plan and work a plan. But basically how you help is people don't know how to even start making a plan. So it's like you build a house, you got to lay that foundation, and you're the foundation, and then you help them move forward. That's great.
[00:04:08] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: So when someone is facing serious debt, tax pressure, a threat of a major asset being levied or something, why is it important to look at the entire financial picture before making like what they call like an emergency move?
[00:04:24] Speaker C: If you're in any of those situations, I highly suggest building, getting a team of professionals that can help you make the right decision.
Accountants, lawyers, and financial professionals. Because those are the people that have dealt with this stuff. Those are the people that have worked with the entities to help you get out of this.
You know, don't, you know, don't avoid it. Don't just throw the mail in the garbage because it's not going away.
And more times than not, if you're the right professionals, they can help you negotiate, you know, potentially a better deal to help you get out of this situation. But if you let it keep festering and going and going and going, eventually it's going to be out of your control.
They're going to go after your bank accounts, they're going to go after your income. And if they do any of those things, getting those dollars back is potentially next to impossible. Where if you started negotiating prior, you could put yourself in a better situation.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Basically, you put yourself, you put a team around yourself, lawyers, accountants, for whatever situation is needed, get the proper advice, and then you can make a plan and then work the plan. That makes a lot of sense. I mean, a lot of people don't even understand the difference between a lien and a levy. You know, someone's putting a lien on the property, not good. But a levy obviously is worse. Levy is Taking the asset, liquidating lean is just putting public notice. But you got to get the facts straightened out first so people can understand what's going on and start working through things. That's great advice.
What information about cash flow, like account obligations, insurance, business interests, and future income should someone organize before seeking professional guidance with someone like yourself?
[00:06:05] Speaker C: Anytime I'm meeting with somebody for the first time, I always tell them, please put together all of your statements.
All you know, everything, whether it's the business accounts, whether it's insurance, whether it's in investment accounts, because even if I can't handle it, at least I know what it's doing. Because the one thing I don't want to do is have you have a 401k that, say, has a large cap investment in it. And then I recommend the same type of investment in your investments that I'm handling now. The market, that part of the market goes down.
I didn't do a good job by you because now everything is going down at the same level.
So I want everybody to understand that anytime you sit down a professional, give them all the facts, give them all the details, because the better the picture that you lay out for them, the better job they could potentially do for you because they see everything.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: That's terrific. As an attorney, my background and my experience an attorney, I deal in facts. Give me the facts. You're coming for advice. And sometimes clients are, or potential clients don't know what they don't know.
Give me the documents. We could see things. We could ask probing questions. Sometimes they're not hiding anything, but they don't realize what's going on or a lot of different issues. Help us help you, so to speak, and bring all the information.
Get the best advice you can.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: Yeah, like, I mean, I just met with a gentleman a couple weeks ago and you know, he's got some, he's got, he's got investments all over the place, needs help getting it organized. He's got, he's getting, he's inheriting some IRA money. And I basically. And he's got way too much sitting in bank accounts. And I said, look, we could put this in an account that can help do some tax loss harvesting that as you're taking out the, the money you have to take out of the inherited ira. We could potentially offset, offset some of that with tax loss harvesting in this other strategy. So we can help you avoid some taxes legally. And that's really, you know, where we can come in. If you give me the picture, we can come with that creative. Those Kind of creative strategies that could potentially put you in a way better situation than you trying to do it on your own. Because most people don't know those things available are available to them. Just like, you know, you're a lawyer. I don't know every aspect of the law, so God willing, I don't need to go to court anytime soon for anything bad or ever.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Right?
[00:08:38] Speaker C: But I'm gonna get a lawyer because again, you know more than I do when it comes to those things. If I'm, if I'm going to the hospital, you know, I'm not gonna go to WebMD and try to diagnose because I have to.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Right. I'm going to the point.
So why can a short term relief option become expensive if the decision is disconnected from retirement goals or the role of an asset we're supposed to play in a long term plan?
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Great question.
More times than not, what I see is, with short term investments is that the average person isn't seeking out that financial professional when they should, they're seeking out the person in the cubicle next to them who's saying, this is how I'm investing, so this is how you should be investing.
More times than not, I'm not disparaging your friends, but more times than not, that is the worst advice you can get because money is the most emotional thing that any of us deal with. So if we can get somebody brought in that has no skin in the game and, and helping give you advice, odds are you're going to come out in a better situation than somebody that is giving advice on how they're handling their money and we don't know where their expertise is.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: I understand that completely. I deal with a lot of people.
It's like human nature.
Someone said, my friend said, my buddy does it this way.
Those aren't reasons. You're seeing a professional for a certain reason.
Ask us the advice, let us help you.
Good answer.
How can a financial advisor and legal counsel work together from the same set of facts without stepping on each other's professional roles?
[00:10:24] Speaker C: Great question. We do it all the time at Dandara.
We work professionals, lawyers, accountants, whoever is needed to be part of the team. And you got to put your egos aside because again, each of us has our own expertise and we have to have the clients or prospective clients best interest at heart.
So I will never walk in a room with another professional and step on their toes or tell them how they should do their job. What I'm going to do when I'm especially, you know, I'm going to bring my facts and okay, this is why I'm recommending X, Y and Z for this client, whether it's a legal benefit, whether it's an accounting benefit, and then let the other professional analyze it and come back to me and say, you know what, I understand why you're doing this. I understand how this is going to help the client out.
But what do you think about this?
You know, because I want their insights, I want their beliefs because again, I'm, we're bringing them in because they know something that I might not know.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Exactly. I mean, as an attorney, I've worked with people's teams of financial advisors and stuff like that. And you made the great point is I don't know what you're doing. Your job. I, I do my job. I don't step on your toes, you don't step on mine. But sometimes you don't understand as the attorney, maybe when I'm going through and I don't understand your point. So we discuss things, but I don't tell you how to run your business and give your advice because that's your advice, just like someone doesn't tell me how to give legal advice. And that's how you work together as a team.
Well, after the break, we're going to focus on liquidity. Why having assets is not the same as having options when a financial or legal problem requires action.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Now we'll be right back with more practical insights into your rights, your financial challenges and the legal options available to you. Stay with us.
And we are back. I'm Kevin Benjamin and this is justice on Fire on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the conversation.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: Welcome back to justice on Fire.
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We're back with our guest Dominic d', Andrea, financial advisor and wealth strategist whose work centers on retirement planning, wealth preservation and long term financial security.
A person can have meaningful assets and still be financially trapped. If those assets are not liquid, they're concentrated, restricted or tied to a business. In a crisis, the question becomes not only what do I own, but what resources are actually available and what can be harmed if I use them.
Dominic, why is liquidity so important when someone is trying to respond to a sudden financial problem without dismantling their entire financial plan that maybe you help put together.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: That's a great question. And that's the biggest thing that I have to really explain to clients is we have to put things in different buckets. It's not just everything goes into retirement because. Because what most people don't understand is, well, it's my money, it's in retirement. Well, no, some accounts are not accessible because you have to be 59 and a half. Some have restrictions on pulling it out if you don't qualify for hardship. Some you can take loans against, but they take time to process.
So when I'm building a plan, I'm always going to look at having some non qualified assets. I'm going to look at having, making sure they have available credit because you never know when that big emergency is going to happen and you need quick resources to get to. The other day my dog had to go to the emergency room and he was there three times.
I have insurance, I'm going to get back most of it, but I always make sure I have an emergency credit card. I didn't even have to think about taking care of my dog.
My wife went, we went, we gave him the credit card. I'll have it paid off before the bill is due. But I had, I had the availability of making the decision very easy because I had a plan and that's really what I try to do for my clients. Okay, you need to have different ways of getting through emergencies. It can't be, let's liquidate the 401k, pay taxes and penalties if you cannot even access it.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: And it takes time to do so as well.
[00:15:26] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's. I always try to tell clients, it's like, what's your backup plan? Your plan A, plan B, sub, sub 1, sub C. You got to have your financial planner or your team of, you know, financial advisors or attorneys as your lookout. You know, look at the load mines, you know, you're the quarterback going down the field. You got to read the defense, so to speak, and see what's going on and anticipate problems. I tell people I'm the what if man, but if what if often doesn't happen, but you have a professional for the what if and liquidity is. What you just said was the what if situation.
What mistakes do people make when they look only at the net worth and not how accessible or concentrated their assets really are?
[00:16:13] Speaker C: Great question. And we talked about that in the last segment. That, that's why I need to see your whole picture. Because the last thing I want to do is say, okay, well you're X type of investor, you have X type of time that we're going to be saving for, so let's put you in this investment and if I don't know you're in the exact same or extremely similar investment and I've over concentrated you in that type of investment and the market tanks, if that's what's tanking, you're going to take a bath. And that's what I want to try to avoid. Obviously we, you know, nobody out there can control the market up or down. But what I can control is building you a diverse portfolio that the investments work well with each other no matter where they are. And that's why again, I need to know your whole picture. And any financial professional that you're going to sit down with, or even any professional in the world, you know, if you go talk to a lawyer and you don't give them all the facts of why you're going to court, they can't do a job. You don't go to the doctor. If you go to the doctor and say I'm sick, that's not going to help the doctor cure you. You have to tell them why you're
[00:17:20] Speaker B: sick, what are the symptoms.
[00:17:22] Speaker C: So all of the above, every professional, the more detailed information you give, the better job you're going, they're going to be able to do for you, the better, you're going to be protected long term and you have to build trust with those, with those professionals because they know their job. You know, you don't want me doing brain surgery on you. I don't have the training you don't want me to be. I'm not a rocket engineer. I'm not going to help SpaceX build a rocket. If I, you know, that's not my capabilities. But there are people that, that is
[00:17:54] Speaker B: their capability and net worth is great, but liquidity is more like your speed. So someone thinks they can make an investment down the road, but they don't understand liquidity. Yeah, I have money, I have net worth. But how are you going to access and unlock that cash? And that's how you concentrate your assets.
What's liquid, what's not in different areas? That's why someone like yourself comes in with your experience.
That's great.
How about for business owners? How can having too much personal wealth tied to the company, maybe the stock options for example, when the business itself is under financial pressure?
[00:18:30] Speaker C: That is the greatest question that any person can ask because the biggest thing I hear is oh, my retirement, My business is my retirement plan.
We don't know what the business is going to be worth 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. We're obviously rooting for every client for their business to succeed and boom and be worth a lot of money.
But we don't have control of that. You know, I've used this analogy a few different times over the last year.
But the biggest one I always look at with businesses is Toys R Us, you know, a major toy store where any time I took my kids there, it was always booming. It was always going to be there for the, you know, for them.
You know, I never thought I'd go there one day with my kids and it was the last time we were going to shop there.
So we don't know if that your business is going to succeed. So I always try to get my clients to say okay, your business is worth X, that's what you think is worth. But let's save for retirement. And if we sell the business down the road for X or X plus something, your retirement's better. If we sell it for X minus what you think it's worth and we saved, you can still retire.
So look at it as an extra benefit of what you're going to have especially retirement a few years down the road and save on your own to know you can retire. The other thing that could happen is, you know, if you're the primary business owner, does anybody know when their health is going to turn? You could be planning you're going to sell the business 5, 10, 15 years from now. But, but God forbid something bad happens health wise to you that you can't run the business anymore if you didn't plan for something now your business isn't worth what you thought it was worth or you got to sell it in a fire sale because you can't work anymore. So you're definitely not going to get what you thought it was worth if you got a rush or sale.
So always look at it as the gravy but the meat is got to be you saving on your own.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: Corey's horrendous is a great example. Another one comes to mind is sears Roebuck Co. Another one quite battle but you know, back in the 60s, 70s, I mean boom that was and companies like that who thought they would go down.
[00:20:41] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Things change.
Great points.
So how should someone think about an emergency reserve?
How do they think about the reserve differently as they approach retirement and have less time to rebuild from a major setback I'm sure as you're younger you may be a little more aggressive with your plan and as you're getting older, you kind of change the plan for him a little bit. Getting towards retirement Great question.
[00:21:10] Speaker C: I always recommend that you sit down with a financial professional at a minimum of five to 10 years ahead of what your goal is to retire. Should be sooner, but at least five to 10 years because they can start building your strategy. Because what you don't want to do is think you can live. You know, you're just going to live off the money and take money off of that money every month because you think the market's only going to boom.
I would love for that to be the case. But if you lived a decent amount of years, you've seen at least two or three corrections in your lifetime, you know, and not knowing when those are going to happen and knowing that we've had a booming market the last 10 plus years, sometime in the next five to 10 years, don't know when, not going to make any predictions, but we're going to have another correction. And if you're living on, let's just say you build up a million dollar portfolio and you're take and your goal is to just take income off of the growth.
If the market's booming, that strategy can work great.
But if we get a couple downturns, let's just say the market goes down 20, 30%.
Now your portfolio is worth 7 to $800,000. Well, you're used to living on a million dollars, taking that income draw and now you need that same amount of money to live on.
Well, if you're taking that same dollar amount, or seven or eight that you were taking off a million, the market's going to eventually rebound. We've seen it.
But when it rebounds, you've already done permanent damage to your retirement because you're living on the money at the same dollar amount. You're taking out on a lower dollar amount, you're never going to recover from that. And now you're in danger of running out of money.
So you want to build a plan that you have your okay, this is my income, this is my slush fund that I can use for emergencies, vacations, enjoying the family, whatever it might be. And then I have another area that's growing still potentially that now I can say here's a place I can either increase my income down the road if inflation comes in or get higher bills or whatever it might be.
I have that backup plan.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: So saying someone needs a resilient financial plan, which makes sense. So how would that different than a plan that works only when the income markets and life all cooperate? I think you were kind of touching on that.
[00:23:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I did tell you. Great question real quick.
You can't live on your money like that and hope it's going to work because hoping it's going to work is a lot different than knowing it's going to work. And that's why most people come to me is they say, can I retire? I want to retire. Will I outlive my money? My job is to show you a way that you shouldn't outlive your money. Obviously we can't guarantee anything. There are some guaranteed vehicles we can use that can help with that.
But by having somebody that understands what the vehicles are, what the proper usage of them are, you should be in good shape, you should be able to retire comfortably and you shouldn't run out of money. And my dream goal is that every client that retires, when God calls them, they have no less than a dollar in their accounts that they're good to go.
[00:24:18] Speaker B: Sounds good. Well, next we're going to after the break, we're going to be looking at the retirement under pressure, the emotional and financial danger of making irreversible decisions simply because a crisis feels immediate. We'll be back.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: We'll be right back with more practical insights into your rights, your financial challenges and the legal options available to you. So stay with us.
And we are back. I'm Kevin Benjamin and this is justice on Fire on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the conversation.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: I'm Kevin Benjamin and I'm continuing my conversation with Dominic DeAndrea.
His work helps clients prepare for the transition from accumulating wealth to retirement income while managing risk and preserving long term financial security.
When debt or legal pressure is intense, the future can feel abstract.
Retirement assets, income plans and long term resources may represent decades of work.
The sickness making a crisis deserve both legal analysis and a clear understanding of the financial consequences.
That's what we have Dominic here for.
So, Dominic, why are people especially vulnerable the short term thinking when a financial crisis threatens their home, their business, credit or sense of security?
[00:25:42] Speaker C: Great question again, thank you for having me today.
That's where again, a professional comes in because you got to figure out what's the best way to draw on resources when an emergency happens.
You know, I get too many people to call me up and they want to liquidate money out of their retirement account because they want to go to Disney World or they want to buy a car and they don't realize that they're never going to rebound from that because they've lost, you know, that 5, 10, 15, 20,000 or more that they're drawing on?
Yeah, it sounds like it's 5, 10, 15, $20,000. But depending on how old they are, if you take that same dollar amount and let it compound and grow, that could be hundreds of thousands of dollars or more because of time and letting it grow.
So you have to make sure you draw it in the right place. You have to make sure that you're using it for the right reasons, not just saying, well, okay, it's my money, I saved it, I built it up. Because now you're paying taxes and penalties and you don't have the chance for the money to rebound.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: That's great.
So when someone's coming to see you, what question should someone ask about the long term purpose of an account or asset? Because before considering a major change in a crisis.
[00:26:58] Speaker C: Well, great question. The first thing they got to do is, what is the purpose of it? Tell me everything, because I'll tell all my clients, I tell all my clients, prospective clients, the same thing. Tell me all the facts, tell me all the stuff so I can give you the right answer. I'm never going to put my fist down on the table and slam it down and say, no, you can't do that.
But my job or any financial professional's job is to make sure that we're giving you an educated response and plan that makes sure that you're pulling the money out of the best place. Or if you pull it out of a place that's not recommended, you truly understand the long term and short term ramifications of that decision.
Not just I need the money because I want to spend it on X, Y or Z.
[00:27:45] Speaker B: That makes a lot of sense. I mean, making financial decisions sometimes seem a little more complicated than a first appearance. Because, you know, for example, all taxes, timing, lost, lost growth, future income, you gotta take all that into consideration when you make a financial decision. It's a lot more complicated than people think.
[00:28:07] Speaker C: Yes, that's recruitment play, 100%.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Because both, both kinds of decisions can have serious ramifications. You know, taxes could be big or small. How do you minimize them? There's always a plan, right? You know, lost growth, you know, you're taking money, how much you lose it, what's it costing you? And people don't always see the cost, they always see the one side of the coin, so to speak. So someone like yourself up and see the whole big picture which helps you make informed decisions and make proper decisions.
So it's a lot more complicated. People should see professional yourself, not try to just wing it or see what their friends said or what someone said.
[00:28:52] Speaker C: This thing I see this happen is, is either in divorce or death.
You know, oh, I liquidated an IRA in full.
Now in Harriet IRA you get, you know, if you're not a spouse, you get 10 years.
Well, you know, if you got a few hundred thousand dollars or a much larger number, you're going to get killed in taxes. By liquidating all in one shot. It can negatively impact your income that you're getting right now, tax wise. Or even depending on how old you are, it could cause you to pay more in Medicare because it counts as income.
So before you liquidate assets and in a death or, or divorce, make sure you have a professional in your corner that can make sure they guide you in the right way on how to access the money.
So you're giving Uncle Sam as little as possible. Look, we're going to have to give taxes. If it's qualified money, there's no way of avoiding it, but you can plan it right way.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: And I'm glad you made this point because I want people to understand that, you know, as an attorney with a bankruptcy background, you know, I have a lot of clients that come to me sometimes last minute or was too late.
You know, ask a professional before you're transferring an asset or liquidating something. You know, it's bankruptcy planning, planning, perfectly legal. See the professional first. Don't just act on what someone told you because sometimes it's irreversible. You're making things worse than a simple situation and making it complicated.
A lot of times people think it's complicated when it's really not. It's just kind of ironic. It kind of works both ways.
So that was a good point you made.
[00:30:32] Speaker C: Thanks.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: So why is coordinating especially important when a decision could affect both a legal strategy today and retirement income years from now? Because there's a legal complication, but you have a long term picture, someone comes to you.
[00:30:46] Speaker C: Coordinating is the most important thing.
And I can tell you right now, if I was hiring a professional and they told me they don't like working with other professionals, that would be the biggest red flag. I wouldn't hire that professional when I'm on, you know, because I'll tell a client when I'm working with them, I meet you for the first time, I'm going to tell you flat out if there's something more detailed in your situation. Like if I got a client that Roth conversions might make sense. You know, I've got financial planning software that can show them the ramifications and how that can work for them. But before I have them sign on the dotted line that that's the strategy we're going to do, I tell them flat out, let's get your account on the phone. Whether it's, we do an in person meeting, whether we do a zoom, whatever it might be. But I want to explain to your accountant why we're doing what we're doing, why I think it makes sense, and then listen to what the accountant says. Because the one thing I do not know is your write offs. You know, a couple that makes $300,000 with a house and two kids and a dog is not the same as another couple that makes $300,000 with two kids and a dog. And everybody's got something different in their mix of write offs and, and legalities and everything out there, how much they've saved. So we want to coordinate with the professional to make sure that they. The recommendation that I'm giving you long term is the most beneficial for your situation, even though your exact same situation on paper as another couple I met last week. But any minor thing different could drastically change what I'd recommend.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: That's, that's a great point. Because a lot of things cross over. It's not just blinders. Like sometimes people only do one kind of case. But you gotta look at the whole big picture for somebody. That's what you're doing with the client. I always tell people my job is what your option or options, the pros and cons of each. I help you make an informed decision. And in doing so, you're saying getting the facts together, right? Well, I'm getting the facts together. You may have talked to the professional too. Or there could be different scenarios of what happens, which goes to the other point you were just making where basically everyone's situation is different. You know, I get all the time, hey, how much for this? What charge?
I don't know what I'm doing that.
Oh, I'm all, I need this. You don't know what you need. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'll tell people, I'll help you tell you what you need. And we work together. There's other professional tax resolution. So I work with a lot of CPAs, I don't do CPA work and I work with other professionals trying to guide people identify problems. And maybe the accountant has their tax strategies. You work Together and be part of someone's professional team, and they come out smell like gross. That's really nice.
So with that said, how about couples or families? How can you help couples or families make these decisions coming together? When one person is focused on stopping the immediate media pain and the others worried about the future? I get that all the time with married couples. You know, different. Different ideas. How do you handle that?
[00:34:05] Speaker C: That's the best. That's the best question when it comes to families, and it's something that comes across all the time, is because everybody's got their own opinion, everybody's got their own thought process, and everybody thinks that they know the right answer. So I use the old adage, I'm sure you've heard this when you talking to a couple, as he said, there she said, and there's what's in the middle. Well, I use that with our planning. When I've got a couple that they're not on the same page, I give them both a budget sheet, and I say, look, you put down what you think is what you need, you put down what you think, what you need, and then let's combine them together and see how we can make both of your concerns work in conjunction with each other. Because what this person wants and what you want, we're not on the same page.
And you're gonna. And we're never gonna be able to make this work if we don't find a compromise. And it's always best to let them do it separately.
And then I'll help them put together a budget that gives, you know, gives a little bit of each of them being happy. You know, if you're a sports person, they always say the best trades hurt both teams. Well, a budget gonna potentially hurt both people because somebody's giving this up, somebody's giving that up. But sure, you can't expect both people to say, I'm gonna give everything up. No one, you know, if they're coming in with their mindset, everybody wants to know that they're being heard and being, you know, put in the right position of their plan working. So I let them create it, and then I tweak it a little bit and say, okay, this is a little what you want, this is a little you want. And here's how we can make it work.
And more times than not, once they see it, they both can agree, and now they're moving along in a happy way and having a better future, basically.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: I mean, they come for you for expertise, your financial, your education and your experience.
Psychiatrists or therapists.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: Write down what you need. And people are surprised. They don't talk to each other.
They realize what's going on. I see the understand that.
Well, that's only really good advice.
In our final segment, we're going to talk about the rebuild, how to create a stronger financial future after a period of debt restructuring or legal pressure that changes the plan.
We'll talk about that when we come back.
[00:36:29] Speaker A: We'll be right back with more practical insights into your rights, your financial challenges and the legal options available to you. Stay with us.
And we are back. I'm Kevin Benjamin and this is justice on Fire on NOW Media Television. Let's continue the conversation.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: Welcome back to justice on Fire and stay connected to the show and every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand, anytime you like, Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock nonstop bilingual programming in English or Spanish on the move. Test the podcast version of www.nowmedia.tv.
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Ready whenever you are.
I want to welcome back our guests, Dominic d'. Andrea. And thanks for joining the show. We're having nice conversations.
I want to continue our talk. Dominic is a financial advisor and wealth strategist who helps individual families, individuals and families, excuse me, and business owners connect today's decisions with retirement, wealth preservation and the life they want their resources to support.
Because generally resolving a crisis can create breathing room.
The next question is, what do you do with it?
A stronger rebuild, which is the topic of this segment, means understanding what failed, restoring liquidity, having discipline, reassessing risk, and creating a plan that reflects the new reality rather than trying to recreate the old one immediately.
So, Dominic, after a major financial setback or restructuring with one of your clients or maybe a new client, where should someone begin when the old financial plan no longer masters the new reality? And that old plan may have worked for decades, but now things have changed. How do you make the switch?
[00:38:41] Speaker C: Well, that's a great question and thank you again for having me today.
So I never let it get to that point. If I'm working with you at a minimum of once a year, depending on how complex your situation is, but a minimum once a year, we're reviewing the plan because a plan is a living, breathing thing, a part of your life, and it shouldn't be set it and forget it and hope that you're gonna it's gonna work. It should be reviewed. So if you're working with us, it's getting reviewed at again, minimum once a year to make sure that we can adapt and make changes on the fly, not wait till it's a problem because that's, by then it's too late.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: That's good advice because sometimes people could like you know, deer in headlights. I mean, life gets to you and you know, you got so much going on and you have this big weight on your head and they just, maybe I'll do it next week, I do it next month. And it just kind of snowballs in and they just really have to get in there and take care of it. It's easy to say for us or someone from the outside, but once on that person, they really got to just try to focus on that. That's good advice. Well, so how can people rebuild without becoming so afraid of risk that they stop making progress towards long term goals?
[00:39:56] Speaker C: Well, risk is in the eye of the beholder, you know. You know, just because you're young doesn't mean you should be aggressive. Just because you're old doesn't mean you should be conservative. It's what, where your comfort zone is. And we start every relationship learning about your risk and your behavior, your behavioral tendencies. So we can make things that work for you and you alone. Not the guy next to you, not the person that referred you to us, not your co worker, not your family, your situation.
So that if somebody's not working on a plan that you can distinctly see is for you, then that's not a good relationship for you to be in. No matter who the professional is, you want somebody that really is taking to heart your concerns. And you can see that in how it's being designed that it doesn't look like, okay, here's the same cookie cutter approach on what you're doing.
Because everybody has something different. You know, you go to a doctor, you know, you put, you have XYZ symptoms. XYZ symptoms could be five different ailments.
So a doctor could see five patients in the same day and all five patients had the exact same symptoms, but are diagnosed with five different things because they still can go different ways. Which is why, you know, ChatGPT, WebMD, all these things are nice resources, but they're not the end all be all. A human being in any profession is always gonna be able to give you better advice for your individual situation. I don't even like the talking heads on tv when they start giving advice to the general public. You know, I won't give you advice until I meet meet with you. You know, I've got Clients call me all the time. Respective clients call me all the time saying, oh, well, what do you think about doing this?
On paper it sounds good, but is it right for Kevin or Dominic or whoever? Maybe I need to meet with you.
[00:41:58] Speaker B: I get the same thing in my career with clients everyone's looking for. It's human nature, our age, the quick fix, simple question.
And I always tell people it's what you're just saying, it's a general question. It depends on a lot of different things, you know, so help me help you get the facts. And that's easier to do than just giving a basic answer. If someone's in too much of a hurry, you can't really help them. I mean, they're coming to you the day of the problem and you're going to spend your time to fix it. But it may not take 30 seconds, you know, it may take, you know, you may have to give me documents, you may have to, you know, look at stuff or write down your goal, you know, whatever you're doing. And it's, it's amazing how people don't always quite understand that, but you help them make understand that. And that's really important because it's no, it's not one stop shopping. Even though there's people like you, you know, a lot of lawyers, a lot of CPAs, right, it's not one stop shopping. How do we help you? Good advice.
[00:42:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I can, I just want to address something. I would not work with any professional that can diagnose most problems right in the first appointment. You know, you want somebody that's going to take their time, redo their research and figure out what's right for you.
Most cases cannot be solved.
Day one. There are a few simple things. Somebody comes in and says, I need $500,000 in life insurance, a million dollars in life insurance. And if it looks like a no brainer, you will move forward. But more times than not, we need to figure out what makes sense. And until we figure that out, you shouldn't work with somebody like that. So anytime you meet with a professional the first time, it should be a consultation, it should be fact finding and then let them go back to their office or put together the plan and then set up another appointment to review it and make sure that it matches what you're looking for.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: So besides the simple or basic stuff, the first consultation is basically to figure out what you need and for the next step to get your plan going. It's a step by step process. So there's a value in the first consultation. But you may not be solving all the problems, but now you're figuring out where they are or where the pain is, and you're getting some ideas. Just like a doctor would give you a diagnosis, maybe come back and try this, try that, probably rehab first, whatever. So you're formulating a plan which is not always the first consultation or one stop shopping.
[00:44:27] Speaker C: That's great advice and it shouldn't be. Most professionals should be able to explain that process. Like we have the Dandara go process, which we pull out a sheet, we show you each step of what we're going to do.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: Right.
[00:44:39] Speaker C: You know, so you know where we're going to, how we're going to go at each appointment.
[00:44:43] Speaker B: That makes a lot of sense. So what should business owners reassess if a crisis exposes that the company was carrying too much of the family's financial future?
[00:44:54] Speaker C: Every business owner I meet, I have the same conversation with, I'm like, you can't have this as your only asset, as your only plan, because again, if it fails, if something happens to you, are you going to be able to survive? Is the business going to be able to survive? You know, if you have a business partner, you know, do you want to have your business partner's significant other as your new business partner if something happened to that person more times than not, the answer is no. Because you're working with that person because of a skill set they have.
Does their significant other have the same skill set? Maybe. But more times than not, probably not. You know, I'm a financial planner, My wife's a teacher.
Look, do I know how to help my kids with their homework as they, when they were younger, they're getting older now, so I don't have to do it as much. But I don't know how to teach a classroom of kids something I can teach people financial planning.
So find your strengths and work your strengths.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Good advice.
So, Dominic, how would you redefine retirement or financial success after circumstances force a major change in timing or expectations or resources of somebody?
[00:46:10] Speaker C: Well, it all depends on when it happened. If it's somebody pre retirement, maybe I'm telling the person, look, we need to work another 2, 3, 4, 5 years to recover from that. If they're in retirement, the first thing we're going to do is sit down and re review the budget and see if there's any areas we can reallocate funds. Because the last thing I want to do is tell you you need to go back to work.
So again, pre retirement, you might have to go Longer in retirement, review everything before you make any drastic changes.
And worst case scenario, if you got to go back to work for a few years at least. We looked at everything before we did that step.
[00:46:54] Speaker B: That's great advice. You look at everything and now you know the answer of why you're doing something and you don't have to have a regret or wonder, should I have done something else? That's, that's great advice.
[00:47:06] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: Is there what's one planning habit or is there one planning habit that can give people more options the next time life or finances to not going according to plan? I know things aren't that simple, but is there a basis?
[00:47:19] Speaker C: No, it's a great question.
The biggest thing is again, having that professional. Because what I see is too many clients are either way too aggressive in the market, you know, and they're over allocated in one area, or they're way too conservative and they missed out on tons of growth.
And that's why again, having a financial professional in your corner can help you alleviate that. Because we're not making the emotional decision on your dollars, we're making the financial fiscal decision on your dollars that are going to help you attain your goals.
And because of that, again, we want you to call me, you know something, drastic changes. You have a child, you're buying a house, you're selling your house, you're getting divorced, you're getting met, remarried, you're buying, you know, a death in the family, you're getting an inheritance, you got people that can be in your corner that can help you pick the right products. And more times than not, a lot of these products that I can offer, another finance professional can offer aren't available to the general public to buy on your own.
So you might not be able to get each vehicle that's out there without a professional that can sell it to you.
[00:48:37] Speaker B: Well, Dominic, thank you for all that, your advice coming on the show before we close, how and where can our audience learn more about your work and retirement planning, wealth preservation and long term financial strategy?
[00:48:48] Speaker C: First of all, thank you for having me. I thoroughly enjoyed today.
The best place to go to is Dandara. It's D A N D A r a h wealthmanagement.com. that's our website.
Everything's on there. Our contact information, emails, phone numbers, test client testimonials, articles, shows like this that I'm on. You can see different videos. That's the best resource. Our fee structure is on there.
You're going to learn everything about us and there's even a schedule a consultation button that you can click on and either pick something in the office or pick a zoom appointment to get to know us and have that initial consultation.
[00:49:26] Speaker B: It's wonderful. Thanks again, Dominic.
So the law can create options when finances reach a breaking point. But every legal decision exists inside a larger financial life. Understanding both the immediate problem in the future you're trying to protect can lead to better questions and more informed choices. Dominic, thank you for joining me. I'm Kevin Benjamin. This is justice on Fire. Know your rights, protect your future.
