Retirement Planning

Not your parents’ retirement Preparing for lifetime income

 

Long-gone pension plans and reliable Social Security benefits allowed older generations to retire with a peace-of-mind that today’s savers lack. The modern investor instead contends with 401(k) plans, chaotic market shifts, and an impossibly wide-range of investment products – add in increased longevity and retiring with enough money becomes more complex than anyone 40 years ago might have imagined.

“With the replacement of pensions with 401(k) plans and the uncertainty of Social Security’s ability to maintain future benefits, the responsibility to provide retirement income has been placed squarely on individuals,” said Steve Walther, founder of Eagle Financial Group, LLC. “To ensure you’re poised for lifetime income, we develop a personalized income plan that will incorporate assets managed by us as well as assets held elsewhere.”

Eagle Financial Group based in Eagle, Idaho, provides customized retirement, insurance, and estate planning solutions. The firm does not maintain a minimum asset requirement and instead assesses prospective clients by “fit.” They don’t want to create a “revolving door” of clients, and prefer to develop long-term relationships, partner Kevin Andrews said.

After more than 20 years in the financial services industry, Steve and Kevin joined their individual practices to form Eagle Financial Group in 2013. Reese Phillips II – who had built a career in banking & real estate - was added to the team early in 2018 for his experience and background in business development.

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Long-term care and increased longevity loom large for today’s savers. Long-term care can drain lifetime savings quickly, and can be especially hard-hitting when an investor still supporting children also has to care for an ailing older relative. These “sandwich generation” investors face pressures from above and below, and it takes a steady advisor who can develop a tailored solution to assist these clients.

stevewaltherstanding400x600“When you have a loved one who is facing a long-term care situation it’s hard,” Phillips told “Advisors Magazine” during a recent interview. “You worked a lifetime to acquire your wealth and in one triggering event it can all be lost to long-term care. Longevity and the potentially draining effects of long-term care are two of the most important hurdles facing Americans today … Long-term care costs will derail the best plan if we don’t take into account what will happen.”

Eagle Financial Group takes client situations on an individual basis, developing custom solutions to prepare investors for their financial futures. The firm takes a comprehensive look at clients’ finances to ensure a holistic financial plan with a level of resiliency against sudden market changes.

“To ensure you’re poised for lifetime income, we develop a personalized income plan that will incorporate assets managed by us as well as assets held elsewhere,” Walther said. “It is natural to experience emotions like fear and greed in response to changes in the markets. Our income planning strategy will help you manage those emotions by segmenting your retirement years into defined time periods, each with their own investment objective and time horizon.”

Educating clients so that they can successfully navigate tough financial decisions is a priority for Eagle Financial Group. Andrews’ and Walther’s unorthodox backgrounds aid them in relating to clients who may feel overwhelmed by the jargon-heavy financial industry.

“I studied geography and art and language, and I started off on the route towards going to education and then realized that I like the business that we’re in today,” Walther said. “But I was able to take that focus on education and turn it into educating clients on the financial process.”

Andrews also took a circuitous route to finance, starting as a biochemistry major and later deciding to turn the analytical skills he learned studying science to helping others financially.
Empowering clients to make their own decisions allows investors to take charge of their financial future. Eagle Financial Group acts as a fiduciary for clients, meaning that investors’ best interests come before the bottom-line.

“It’s not the advisor’s plan, it’s the client’s plan, so getting down to what they want to achieve and what they want to accomplish is the most important thing,” Walther said. “And of course, with everything we do it starts with education and clear objectives.”

partnereagle400x600“A fiduciary is a person that has the power and responsibility of acting for another in situations requiring total trust, good faith and honesty. We take that responsibility very seriously,” Andrews added.

Walther illustrated this with an analogy of why people go to a butcher versus a dietician.

“In the case of the butcher, we trust them to sell us a good piece of meat, but have no expectation they would send us down the street to the fishmonger because fish is healthier for the heart,” he said. “In the case of the dietician, though, we expect healthy advice based on our own interests and needs. In financial services, brokers are like butchers that sell financial products instead of meat, and fiduciaries are like dieticians giving advice in your best interest.”

Investors often can be spooked by financial headlines or enticed by something they heard or read on the internet and as a result, lose sight of their long-term goals. A good advisor keeps an eye on the client’s objectives to provide guidance during turbulent times.

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Eagle Financial Group puts client interests first, and sometimes that means the managing of the clients’ emotions and expectations. Acting as the emotional coach to our client’s planning is as equally important to all of the other financial aspects.”

For more information on Eagle Financial Group, LLC, visit: eaglefg.net

Securities and Advisory Services offered through American Independent Securities Group, LLC.
Member FINRA/SIPC 1036 E. Iron Eagle Drive, Suite 105 ID. 83616 1-866-485-4635
Eagle Financial Group, LLC is not affiliated with AISG, LLC

 

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