Page 16 - Investment Advisor April/May 2023

RETIREMENT/ANNUITIES PLANNING

How does awareness of one’s How is the financial planning financial plans every night and sending
retirement income style lead to community embracing the RISA out automatic alerts if issues arose.
better outcomes? framework? We aren’t involved in inStream now, I
To begin with, the essential thing is to At this point, the RISA framework is should add, but Alex brought me into the
realize that there is no single correct all set out and it is ready to be utilized fold to help them build out the retirement
answer with respect to the approach by financial planning professionals. Of income planning piece of their solution.
to retirement income. For a lot of course, there are always updates and In that sense, inStream was even more
people, getting to that realization is improvements to be working on, but the ahead of its time, but at this stage various
the most challenging and important real project now is about getting it out other programs have caught up.
part of income planning — to recog- there and putting it into use. We enjoyed working together on that
nize that there are actually a variety At this stage, we have been bringing problem, and so Alex then also brought me
of different approaches to income in cohorts of individual advisors who are in as part of McLean Asset Management,
and that different approaches can all interested in utilizing the framework, and which is now the registered investment
be valid. we run them through the theory and how advisor firm that is the parent company
The biggest risk that a lot of peo- the program works. We actually just had of the RISA program. Our collaboration
ple face in the retirement transition the third cohort come through, and at this has been really rewarding.
is getting themselves into a situation stage we’ve had something in the realm of And will you keep the Retire With
where they abandon their plan or strat- 75 advisors sign on to license the program. Style Podcast going with Alex?
egy because they just aren’t comfortable I think part of the early success is Yes, definitely. We intend to keep the
with it. Maybe they can’t handle the coming from the fact that so many more podcast going, but as you can imagine,
volatility of a total-returns approach, for advisors have been educated about the things have been pretty crazy in the past
example, and they end up making poorly retirement income planning topic, includ- month or two, so our episode releases
timed trades during volatile markets. ing at the American College of Financial have been a bit random. We already
That is a bad outcome. Services. As of early 2023, there are more have a list of topics we want to cover
The primary factors that best cap- than 10,000 advisors out there in the indus- this year. For example, I would love
ture an individual’s retirement income try right now who have gone through The to do a multi-episode arc about Social
style are whether the person prefers American College’s Retirement Income Security claiming.
probability-based thinking and plan- Certified Professional program.
ning versus a safety-first approach, and That’s a really big change that has What else will you be focused on
whether they prefer optionality versus unfolded over the past five or 10 years, in 2023?
commitment. and I’m proud of the role I played during Well, since you asked, the updated edition
The probability-based versus safety- my time at The American College. Today, of my Reverse Mortgage book is available
first factor explains whether individu- there is a fast-growing recognition that now, but I’m still finalizing updates for
als are more comfortable with market the planning needs and approach must the Retirement Planning Guidebook. The
growth or with contractual protections change when you retire. The topic of guidebooks are continuing to sell quite
as an income source for their essential spending down assets is very different well. The success of those publications is
retirement spending. The optionality from the topic of saving and investing. actually one of the reasons why I felt con-
versus commitment factor, on the other fident to take this next step forward in my
hand, describes whether individuals How did you first start working with career. As of the other day, the Guidebook
place an emphasis on keeping options your RISA colleague Alex Murguia? was at the top of the retirement reading
open to be able to make changes or We actually started working together list on Amazon, which is really gratifying.
whether they prefer to commit to a back when I was still living in Japan It’s awesome to see that impact.
strategy known to solve for a lifetime and working at the National Graduate The big lift this year was getting all
retirement goal. Institute for Policy Studies, around the Secure 2.0 Act updates inserted in
The RISA framework shows how 2011 or 2012. People may recall that, back there, because there have been a lot
these factors can be combined to create at that time, Alex was creating inStream of changes, as you know. I did a lot of
four distinct retirement styles, which Solutions, which was a general financial rereading and scrutinizing the text to
can then be mapped into the core retire- planning software solution that was make sure all the necessary updates
ment income strategies offered in the way ahead of the curve. For example, were made, so it feels good to have that
broader marketplace. the solution was rerunning the clients’ out in the field, as well.

14 INVESTMENT ADVISOR APRIL/MAY 2023 | ThinkAdvisor.com