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Transcript
- Chase Walters: All right, Bill Bloom. Pleasure to have you on, man. Bill Bloom: Chase, I'm so happy to be here, share the story and go through all the ins and outs Bloom Financial. Chase Walters: Awesome. I've been looking forward to this. Let's Bill Bloom: Same, same. Chase Walters: let's jump right in. so Bill, tell us about your practice and what you specialize in. Bill Bloom: Well, we specialize in helping people retire as you desire. That's the the phrase, the tagline, the trademark, how however you want to quantify it. But we help people make their money last till age one hundred minimally. That's where we really strive for. But we go so much deeper than your typical financial planning, financial advising scenarios. We're really honed in on helping people find their soul. Finding their purpose because when you transition into retirement, your whole life is gonna change. And I mean, I built a whole course on this for free that anyone could use that shows people how to get realigned with themselves when they go into retirement and just really enjoy their journey because that's what this life's all about. The money is meant to be used, spent, enjoyed, and that's what the retirees you desire process is all about. Chase Walters: Wow, that sounds really powerful, Bill. t so tell me how did you get into this? What what's the origin story behind all this? Curious. Bill Bloom: Yeah, I mean, when I was a child I remember being eight years old and my parents were like, Did we pay the mortgage? How many months later we? It was just that typical never ending cycle of where's the next dollar coming from? And selfishly I never wanted to be in that position. And now my wife and I have two boys and we live a very abundant life and we're super blessed. But it's all been planned out. My brain thinks in the future. So I'm a futurist. And I knew at a very early age that I was gonna have to figure this out. My soul was telling me. I don't know if it was God talking to me or the universe or however you want to quantify it. And when I was in college, one of our f financial professors was a financial advisor and Chase, he showed up in this huge Cadillac Escade. And I'm in the middle of like God's country, West Virginia. I went to a really small school on purpose. And I'm like, if this guy can figure it out, I think I could figure it out 'cause I just love people and being around people. So the issues from our childhood transitioned into you know just having a very abundant life in our adulthood. Chase Walters: I like that as the origin story. But it's it's it looks it's like a movie scene where the where the the guy who inspires you to to do what you're doing now just pulls up in a big old Cadillac. It's it paints a really Bill Bloom: Yeah. Chase Walters: vivid picture. Bill Bloom: Yeah, I mean there's signs everywhere, right? If you follow your intuition and allow things to come to you versus you always pushing and striving and struggling, you don't have to live like that. And we teach our people that. We have folks who have millions and millions and millions of dollars and they won't order a Coca-Cola or a iced tea when they go out to drink because their parents wouldn't allow them to do that. I was literally sitting with my clients on Monday at their house and They have almost three million dollars and we've helped them through that process, right? They're able to take out double, double the monthly income amounts, and their money could still last to 100. And the guy's still worried about money. And I had to tell him, you need to stop doing this. And I'm 40, right? And I'm telling this to someone who's almost 70. Like, you need to stop this because you're only hurting yourself. So I'm not afraid to have those tough conversations and people really need that these days. Because if not, you're not getting the truth. We're not a fluff financial advisory firm. We're not someone who just tells you something to get your business. If you're not a good fit, we say no. And if you're a great fit, we say yes. And we're super grateful for that. And that's how money should be held. It's no nonsense, straight to the point, but let's make it fun and alive again. Because it's been so scarce for so many people for too long and money is so abundant. Chase Walters: So I'm curious, you started your story in childhood, which I love, that's that's beautiful. How did Bloom Financial come to be? I'm curious about that part of the Bill Bloom: Yeah. Well Chase Walters: story. Bill Bloom: when I was twenty two I started my career at Prudential. So the same day I had my rejection letter from Edward Jones, it was the same day I had my acceptance call from Prudential. So I'm like, Okay, this is a sign, go for it. And this was two thousand and eight. The whole world was on fire. Yeah, so that's when it was Chase Walters: Wow, what a time to become an advisor. Bill Bloom: it was actually the best time chase because people wanted someone to listen and I'm an Excellent listeners. I'm great at that because once I start listening and ask questions, the plan's already done within five to ten minutes, just listening, because you know you have the hours and it's really simple at this point, but I want to get to know the people and get to know what's really important to them. So we go really, really deep on certain levels, which a lot of people don't and we hear this a lot. But when I was in college, I started my career and then after six years at Prudential. I knew I wasn't gonna be there forever. I knew it. I mean I paid off my student loans. I had fifty four thousand dollars of it. I had no salary. I earned everything. Right? It wasn't like I was getting a huge salary, my parents didn't have money. So essentially what I did is I took the leap of faith at twenty eight. I started Bloom Financial and I thought, you know what? If this all fails, I can go back live with my parents. I have no student loans, I have no debt, so let's go for it. Let's just try it. And the first year the revenue was twenty four thousand dollars net. It I lost all my clients for two years. I built everything from scratch. It was a really strict non compete. That's when they were more enforceable back in the day. But I said, you know what? I'm gonna figure this out. And I have that mentality, and that's why planning is so fun, because there's always a way to figure it out when things change and they're always gonna change. And we're really great at keeping up with those changes for people. So it's just a core philosophy and a core belief in my life and that's why we really excel at the planning stage because we have those core beliefs and they correlate with where what's gonna actually happen in your life. Chase Walters: Wow. And so Can you describe the kind of person who who comes to you? Like how do they find you and and who are they, typically? Bill Bloom: Yes, so we have people coming from us from all sorts of places. I've had the Retire as You Desire TV show. So they come from YouTube. We have people reach out to us all the time. They go straight to our website and they see how we're different from people just from seeing the website. We are all about the people. It's all about that relationship. It's a family first environment. So let me give you an example. Like if you came to us from YouTube or our website and you want to see if you're a good fit, we have the family first approach. If you are my parents or if you are my aunt and uncle, what would I do for you based on your scenario, based on what you want, not what my parents will want, right? But that's the breath that we take. It's all about if you are our family, how would we treat you and do the right thing for you? So we have people coming us from all sorts of places online, the website, YouTube. our social media and primarily a ton of referrals from our clients just 'cause they're so happy with the outcomes that they receive. Chase Walters: And that's really one of the best testaments to what you do is when you start receiving those referrals from people who already work for you or work with you. And they trust you so much that they refer you to their friends and family. Bill Bloom: Yep, we had we had a client, this was an introduction that we had maybe eight years ago, and she had a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That's what we started with. And it was great. She's the nicest lady in the world. Very low maintenance, very simple. We set up her investments, we we still check in with her, and then all of a sudden we get a phone call from her brother and he has three million dollars. Out of nowhere. Those are the things that happen because we take care of our people, whether you have a hundred and fifty thousand, three million, ten million, we know how to plan it all. So it just you take care of the little things, write handwritten notes, say thank you. On Saturday when my wife and the boys were out, I wrote eight just handwritten notes saying hello to our clients. And I keep in touch with them, but those are the little things that you get from us. Because they're always first in the front of mind. That's how we wanna engage with our people and that's why they always introduce us to their friends and family and coworkers. Chase Walters: What was it that shaped your your approach? Like you're you're you sound like you're very, very personal and very, very well, thoughtful. Like that seems to describe the way you approach this. Was there a person or an experience that helps shape that approach? Bill Bloom: Yep. a gentleman by the name of Herman Miller, when I was at Prudential, he had been working at Prudential for probably thirty plus years at the time. So he was super veteran. He was there forever. And he called me in his office one day. And this was after the first year of being in the business. He goes, Man, you're a freak. He goes, Bill, you're a freak. I'm like, Herman, what are you talking about, man? Like who are who are you? He goes, Man, you're not gonna be here in five years. And he told me this. And when I had introductions, even at twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-five in that age range of people having a million dollars, I went to him because he wasn't like rah, rah, rah, prudential, prudential, prudential. He's like, You need to look at the industry, what's available outside of these walls. How are you gonna create a customized plan for people? Because we don't have all the solutions here. That's what he would tell me. So When I went to MDRT all those years and my first few years of my career, I mean I made it my first year in the business. It was great. So I met all these people and learned from them. So I learned from people who were in the business for twenty, thirty, forty years, so that I got a leg up. And one of the smartest things I did was I asked the I call them the old guys in our office, you know, the the people who are in their seventies. I said, Can I go to lunch with you guys? 'Cause they had already made it, right? They had the money. And I would just sit there and listen to them at lunch and pick their brains. And that's how I learned. And they were doing things the right way, really the right way. So I learned from some of the best in the business at a very young age just by being surrounded by them. That was one of the best things that I did. And you can do that in any career. I would highly recommend that. Just say, Hey, can we go to lunch? I want to learn from you. And people are more than willing to help. Chase Walters: So what are the when your when your clients first come to you, what are some of the questions they typically ask when they meet you for the first time? What's keeping them up at night? Bill Bloom: Yeah. A lot of people who come to us, they are just scared of running out of money. So we really dig deep into that. I ask, what was your childhood like with money? What were your parents like with money? And I could already tell which person or if both of them are either scarce or super abundant or how they interact, because I'm getting that feedback. I just feel that energy, I'm just aware of it. And that's part of our superpowers because once I can hone in on that, it's sort of like the the Obi-Wan Kenobi, you know, the the Jedi force you can feel that. we were talking pre-show about that. It when you understand that concept, it makes planning a lot easier. So I'm asking them questions along the lines of what's most important to you about money? Just start with that and then let them talk. And I shut my mouth. I don't want to talk. I barely talk in the first meeting or two because I'm taking all the in info in. We rarely talk numbers unless they want to. I'm not there to say, How money you got? You need to have a ten million dollar minimum to talk to us. We're not like that. It's more relationship-based. And once we dig deep into the why, we always need to know the why, because they could have a grandchild who has spina bifida and they want to leave a million dollars to them. Well, we could help plan for that. There's certain investments or plans that we could do to make that certain things like that happen. If you qualify and if at all the stars align, but those are sort of the things that we're looking into is why do you want this to happen? And then we can create the financial plan around that. And it's pretty simple because it's all about what you want. It's not about how we get paid, how we work, it's all about you. So that's how everything starts. And that's the way it should be. I mean, it's not about our process, it's about you and what's best for you. Chase Walters: Can you describe the last client who reached out to you? What was going on in their lives at that time? Bill Bloom: Mm. Chase Walters: Like what inspired them to pick up the phone finally or to get in contact with you? Bill Bloom: So you mean a new introduction? Yeah. Yeah Chase Walters: It could be, or maybe just one that stands out in your mind, perhaps? Bill Bloom: yeah, one so here's a really tough conversation that I would recommend or that I would love to talk about is one of our clients was in their their late fifties and he retired. He was the breadwinner, the sole money maker. The wife worked, but she has been really scarce, really bad with money, just doesn't understand the concept of how to keep it in her pocket. It's just like it's burning a hole in her pocket. She wants it out. So he unfortunately passed away at 60. And what we did for them is before they retired is we set up a life insurance and long term care plan. Chase Walters: Mm. Bill Bloom: So if I'm telling you the whole story here to give you some feedback. So God forbid if you pass away in your sleep, you have a tax free benefit that goes to your estate to hopefully pay some taxes on the traditional IRA money or pre-tax 401k money, or you could start doing Roth conversions with that. So we want to get tax free as much as possible. But we had to use the long term care portion of his death benefit early because he had three brain tumors. It was really sad and he retired early, planned to retire early. He's popped Up out of nowhere and passed away a year later. It was terrible. But now that he's gone, I'm working with the wife and I had to have a very tough conversation with her because you have two houses. You planned a thirty five thousand dollar basement renovation and it went to a hundred and twenty thousand. These are the things that are keeping you off of your plan. We need to stop doing this. Because we need to have X amount of return to make this happen to keep the money lasting to 100. Because when we re-ran the numbers, it's like we're out of line with where you should have been. So you have to have those tough conversations some days and be like, this isn't working. It's not a it's not a perfect scenario all the time. And we want to help people get back on track when these things happen. And this is the most recent one that came to fruition. And You know, since we're being transparent, it's sometimes you have to have those tough conversations with people, but that's why people respect us because we're gonna have those tough conversations when needed. Chase Walters: On the other end of the spectrum, and earlier you mentioned that it's fairly common for people to have that three million dollars and be able to withdraw twice or or more what they what they currently do if they wanted to, if they wanted to live life, you know, at the level that they are actually capable of. how do you approach those conversations? Bill Bloom: Yeah, those are the fun ones because a lot of the times what we're doing for our people is we're reanalyzing your numbers on a quarterly, semi annual basis. So when we give them those opportunities to have pay raises and even some of the investments that we choose could have the opportunity for higher income next year. Those are some of the best conversations that we have because we wanna tell them, Okay, you're retiring now, next year We hope you have bigger paychecks. So we try and want to have this to be your smallest paycheck ever because inflation's going to be here for another five to ten years. If they start printing money again at the Fed level, inflation's going to be here for another five to ten years. So we need to plan for that. Fixed income is not going to work for people anymore. It's just not going to work. So we help people plan around that. Chase Walters: Awesome. And let's see. Let's say let's say I'm I'm I'm looking for a financial planner and I come across Bill Bloom and I think, okay, I'd like to work with Bill Bloom. can you walk me through what the experience looks like from my side? Bill Bloom: Yeah. This is the best part because it's all about you. When you come to us, we could work in person, virtually, over the phone. We have clients all over the country, so you don't have to be based in Chicago where we are, where my office is. So first and foremost, we make it as simple as possible for you. Sometimes I travel to see clients as well. So it depends on your situation, but we're able to work with people in basically any state. And if we're not licensed there, we can get licensed there. Super simple. Happens all the time. But when we start, we do that deep dive into you, your situation. What do you want your future to look like? Do you want to start a business in retirement? Do you want to never work again? Do you want to do hybrid work? Do you want to donate your time to charities? What does that actually look like? What's your experience been with money? Why did you save money? What do you actually want to buy? In retirement. Is it the Florida house, or should you just rent that and do an Airbnb for a month at a time? Because we have these conversations a lot. But we go really deep into that process. And then the next time we meet typically is when the numbers come out. That's when people want to get into the figures. Here's what we saved, here's our statements, here's our social security, any pensions. We're looking at that from a holistic standpoint. And we're also looking at taxes. Like I'm not a CPA, but I love talking about tax structure. I'm very well versed on that. I don't really appreciate and enjoy paying taxes on my end. So we try and do that on for our clients as well. So there's a ton of tax ideas that we have. Again, we're not CPAs, but we love helping with that process. And then the third meeting is when we really start building out the plan. That's when I show them, here's where you're at. If you want to live till at least age one hundred with your money growing and hopefully having income to age one hundred, I'm gonna show them with where they're at if that could happen. So they're gonna see if they're able to hit that milestone. And if they tell me, you know what, no one in my family has lived till age seventy-five or or greater. Let's just plan for seventy-five. I'm gonna say to you, Why are you limiting yourself? You're limiting your belief that you're not gonna live past seventy-five. What if we can do ninety and you can get fifteen more years out of your life? What would that look like for you? Then the mind starts going and they're like, my gosh, this could happen. I've been putting that self-doubt on myself when I could have more, I could do more, and I want more for our people. So during those meetings, we have those amalgamations of what if? How big can we go? That's how I want you dreaming and being. Then usually between that third and fourth meeting is when we start managing your assets and putting them into the right places. Cause in that fourth meeting, I show you, okay, here's where we're at. If we make these little micro adjustments, or if we move this account here, here's how much better off you could be. So you see the before, then you see the after and the reason behind it. And we explain all Chase Walters: The transformation. Bill Bloom: of that. It's purely transformational. You need to see the before, you need to see the after, and we tell you all of your cost, nothing's hidden. Everything's there. We're very transparent with that because you need to know what you're paying and what you're paying for. And just recently over the past couple of years, the markets have been making all time highs and new records. So we've been putting a lot of downside protection in place for our clients and some mit mitigation strategies that still have a ton of upside with the markets because that's where a lot of people are at right now. Is just picking the S P five hundred and hoping is not going to work anymore, in my opinion. You need to be doing a lot of different things with your money. things I'm doing and my wife is doing, our family's doing ourselves. So we're a big, big believer in practice what you preach kind of situation. So we are trying to get ahead of things before things could get a little unfortunate with the markets if this AI bubble bursts. Chase Walters: Yeah. It's is it is it a matter of if or is it a matter of when, right? Yeah. Bill Bloom: Time always tells the truth. we don't know. We don't know. But you still need to be invested right now. That's the key, because if not you're you're wasting a lot of time. they say cash is king, but if you could have your cash working for you and limit some downside, that's a much better scenario. 'Cause then you're not guessing. Chase Walters: I like the let's let's help you live until one hundred message. That's really powerful. And it's like we interview a lot of financial advisors, a lot of and then a lot of their clients as well. And though that's the one thing that keeps coming up over and over is people will say, like, Well, I was afraid or I am afraid that I will outlive my money. And so that like plan till one hundred line, that's a really powerful message that I like that really plays on that. I love it. for your practice, what's your vision? Where do you see yourself and and your business in the next one to three years? Are there any goals that you're working on? Bill Bloom: we're gonna get to the one billion dollars of assets under management. And the reason for that is we wanna be stewards of our clients' monies in the best way possible. I mean, a lot of our clients we've had some very, very wealthy folks come to us as of late, and we still have people who are, you know, in their fifties and they're looking to figure out their plans. We see a lot of different folks coming to us for help and the earlier the better. The younger you are the better because we can help plan that out. And I really love helping people retire as early as possible. That's the big thing that we do is if you want to retire, why don't we figure out how early you can retire as you desire? And it's just fun to hear that phrase because it puts a smile on everyone's faces. Chase Walters: I love it. Is is there anything that is standing in your way to reach that goal right now? Are there any challenges that you're facing? Bill Bloom: Well, it's just we're having great clients come to us and I think that it's all about having the right kind of people and working with the right kind of people and having the right kind of collaborations to have the best introductions possible. That's really the main thing is we're we're doing a lot of social media outreach, just trying to give people as much value as possible without selling to them. And Chase Walters: Mm-hmm. Bill Bloom: that's where a lot of people are coming to us with bigger accounts I would say. So It just takes time. Just takes time. But we will be there and it's gonna happen because we're gonna help our people and do the right things for them. Chase Walters: Awesome. And as you've grown, are there any programs or training or people who have contributed or positively impacted the way you serve your clients? Is there anybody you'd like to give a shout out to? Bill Bloom: Oof, there's a ton of I mean, I've you know, haven't done this on my Chase Walters: Yeah. Bill Bloom: own. I mean, the folks at my back office at Ozaic have been incredible. I mean, our compliance team, I wanna start there. 'Cause I've put out a ton of content over the years. So just our compliance team and our our back office has been amazing, amazing, amazing. Because without them I couldn't be doing all this stuff. So wonderful. And like Jonin House, Mark Sweda, my My dear friend Mario Minati who introduced me to Woodbury back in the day in Alzaic when I was leaving Prudential. Mike Miller, who was our compliance person at Prudential, and his wife was my eighth grade reading teacher. It's like you can't make this stuff up. Yeah, Chase Walters: Wow. Bill Bloom: it's amazing. Pete Valenti, who was our MD, he helped me figure things out when I didn't know what I was doing when I was twenty-two and twenty-three. those people really helped guide the pathway. And there's people who also who doubted me when I left Prudential. Like I'm not gonna say their names, but they were like really unhappy and not glad that I left because I was the sort of like the poster child for you can come in and do this and you can make it and they would tell all the recruits about that. Like, see this guy, he came in with nothing. Look how well he's doing. And then they were all mad when I left because they're like, sending the message to the people. Right? 'Cause that happens too. So there's there's a back and forth with that. But that was a good motivation to be like, you know what? I'll show you. I won't make it and I'm not gonna quit. I'm not gonna quit because I'm here for our people. And that's just what we do through and through, straight to the core. It's all about our people. Chase Walters: So Bill, you mentioned you have a course, the Retire with Purpose course. can you tell us a little bit more about that? Bill Bloom: I'd be so happy to. So this is a course that I created on a whim, actually. We qu I do this a lot. I just want to give back. And this is a 30-minute free presentation. You don't have to pay for it. And I give you a working PDF. And I'm going to be asking you a ton of questions about how to get alignment back into your life. Before you retire. You need to be doing these things before you stop working because there's typically your four phases in retirement. The first one is every day is a Saturday, is what we call it. You know, you're always on vacation, it's happy hour all the time, and you're super, super relaxed. But then you go into the next phase, and this is where people get lost. This is where people get depressed, they lose their purpose, they lose their vision. We want to help you avoid that. So we go so much deeper than your traditional financial advisor, especially on the retirement planning side, as to how do you keep your purpose in retirement and not get lost? Because that's when divorce happens, death, disabilities, sickness, right? All these things happen. We want to help avoid those things. And then the third phase is people actually come to us after they've been retired, they complain about this phase. I'm like, well. How do we reinvent yourself and how do we use the money to make that happen? And then you go to the fourth phase, which is like the bliss, like where you have your plan in place, the things that you want to see happen are gonna happen. And then you could sort of ride off into the sunset and go live your life. And that's what we want to help you prepare for before you retire as you desire. But going into it, you have these opportunities to you know prolong your life, be healthier, be happier. And that's what this course talks to you about. And we recommend our people to go through this once or twice or four times a year with your significant other just to make sure you're aligned because you wanna map. I'm gonna go very technical right now. You wanna map out your time. Cause once you have a clean slate, you need your time. You need significant other time. You need family or grandkids' time. So I help you visualize this and plan it all out. Just by watching this course. And it's free. It's amazing. Like the feedback that we have is probably some of the best work we've ever done outside of just the planning standpoint. Chase Walters: What is some feedback that you've gotten from people who have gone through this course? Bill Bloom: Ooh, they were missing all their blind spots. That's the big one. I didn't realize I wasn't taking care of my health as much as I should. I didn't realize I needed a plan to go see my trainer. I didn't realize that I was trying to take shortcuts when this isn't gonna get me to where I want to be. And people who want to take shortcuts, you don't get there because you're gonna fall back right to where you to where you were before. The shortcuts don't work. You have to do the work. And if you could plan things out appropriately, It makes life so much better and easier. Chase Walters: Wow, so this goes way, way deeper than just focusing on the numbers and the accounts, the financials and the investments. You're also helping them uncover their blind spots and helping them live better lives working through that. Bill Bloom: Yeah. That's what makes us so different, incredibly different. Like you don't get this anywhere else. And I've learned these thinking techniques through being a strategic coach for nine years and being in the same room as Dan Sullivan, who's a legend, for five of those nine years. So yeah, it just having the right people and the right thinking tools. And if you get your mindset right, everything else will fall in line. But you have to work on this because You're gonna be miserable if you don't. And I've seen it. I think you have too in talking to other people. You gotta get your mind right. Chase Walters: So for someone listening, Bill, who wants to get in touch with you, what should they do next? And where where should they go? Bill Bloom: Yep. So reach out to our team directly. You could email us. I know that's so boring. Send an email, but if you're interested, send us an email. Don't be afraid to take the first step. The email is Bill B I L L at Bloomfinancial dot US. Really simple. We'll put in the show notes. But our website is Bloomfinancial Co. com. It's B L O O like the Flower. I have the perfect last name to be in the financial world. Bloom is perfect. is Chase Walters: Yeah. Bill Bloom: very fitting. signs are everywhere. But go to our website and see how different we are. We are super, super different from most places and we pride ourselves on that. We don't want to be a cookie cutter shop. We want to be customized, super approachable, and please reach out. Don't be afraid to. If this resonates with you, take the first step. Don't wait, because if you wait, you'll never do it. Chase Walters: Bill, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having this conversation with me. Bill Bloom: Chase, you're such a great host. Thank you for having me. Chase Walters: Thank you.