Latest / Money to Give / Ep. 56 The Safe Money Strategies Most People Never Learn with Kris Miller

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Ep. 56 The Safe Money Strategies Most People Never Learn with Kris Miller · Money to Give

0:01
Speaker 1: Many people work their entire lives trying to build financial security,
0:04
Speaker 1: only to discover late in life that what they've accumulated
0:08
Speaker 1: may not last, may not protect them, and may not
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Speaker 1: allow them to live with purpose. Welcome to Money to
0:14
Speaker 1: Give with me Rick Peck, the philanthropy Guy. With over
0:17
Speaker 1: twenty years in the nonprofit sector, I have seen hundreds
0:20
Speaker 1: of millions of dollars transferred from donors to nonprofits. I
0:25
Speaker 1: have learned a lot along the way that I want
0:26
Speaker 1: to help convey to you, my loyal listeners. In this
0:29
Speaker 1: podcast series, we talk about one how nonprofits can most
0:32
Speaker 1: effectively showcase their mission and vision and raise as much
0:35
Speaker 1: money as possible. Two how donors and potential donors can
0:40
Speaker 1: make the greatest impact possible in the world, and three
0:43
Speaker 1: how professional advisors, including philanthropic advisors, can offer the most
0:48
Speaker 1: up to date information and services to their clients. So
0:51
Speaker 1: join us here each episode for more of that giving feeling.
0:54
Speaker 1: In today's conversation, I'm joined by Chris Miller by financial
0:58
Speaker 1: legacy strategists, known as the Money Maestro, who has spent
1:02
Speaker 1: more than three decades helping people safeguard their assets, create
1:06
Speaker 1: tax efficient income, and experience the joy of giving both
1:11
Speaker 1: now and later. Chris has helped protect over two point
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Speaker 1: five billion dollars in assets and guided more than six
1:18
Speaker 1: thousand clients without losing a dime of principle to market risk.
1:23
Speaker 1: Her philosophy is rooted in safe money strategies, approaches designed
1:28
Speaker 1: to avoid the volatility of traditional markets, protect against catastrophic illness,
1:34
Speaker 1: and build a living legacy that people can benefit from
1:37
Speaker 1: in their lifetime. This isn't just about accumulating wealth. It's
1:42
Speaker 1: about using money as a tool for peace of mind, generosity,
1:45
Speaker 1: and personal transformation. Let's begin. So, Chris, two point five
1:53
Speaker 1: billion dollars protected in client assets, and you said when
1:57
Speaker 1: we talked earlier, not one of over six thousand clients
2:01
Speaker 1: have lost money in market risk under your guidance. How
2:04
Speaker 1: is that possible?
2:06
Speaker 2: Well, because I'm a financial legacy strategist, so not a planner.
2:13
Speaker 2: A planner is kind of like check check check. A
2:15
Speaker 2: strategist is looking for all the holes in your boat
2:18
Speaker 2: because you're trying to get to the other side of
2:20
Speaker 2: the river right right, and all the boat those holes
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Speaker 2: that'll sink you. So I target safe money, and that's
2:28
Speaker 2: what that's what I'm good at.
2:30
Speaker 1: Safe money. So describe safe money for those who don't know.
2:33
Speaker 3: Well, a lot of people, we're all brought up.
2:36
Speaker 2: You go to school, you learn how to make money.
2:38
Speaker 2: You get out of school, what do you do? Go
2:39
Speaker 2: make money and give it.
2:40
Speaker 3: To someone that usually gambles it.
2:43
Speaker 2: So most people only know about the stock market, and
2:47
Speaker 2: the stock market is.
2:49
Speaker 3: What I call the Wall Street casino. It's a roulette will.
2:53
Speaker 3: It's going up and down. Right. So my generation, I'm
2:57
Speaker 3: a boomer, I'm proud of it.
2:58
Speaker 2: Okay, retiring now and when they get there, they're looking like, oh, whoops,
3:04
Speaker 2: my four oh one k just lost forty percent or
3:08
Speaker 2: sixty percent, and that is not a very fun thing
3:12
Speaker 2: when you're getting you know, sixty, seventy eighty.
3:15
Speaker 3: Years old, right, right, Yeah.
3:16
Speaker 2: But unfortunately, where we're at right now, seventy percent of people,
3:21
Speaker 2: people not just older people, are living paycheck to paycheck,
3:25
Speaker 2: and that includes people that even make one hundred thousand
3:29
Speaker 2: dollars a year, which used to be like, okay, yeah,
3:32
Speaker 2: that's not enough. So people have to do several, you know,
3:37
Speaker 2: several jobs to keep up with all of the taxes
3:40
Speaker 2: and inflation.
3:41
Speaker 1: It's insane, isn't it to think that they're making that
3:43
Speaker 1: much money and they have all these expenditures that makes
3:46
Speaker 1: them feel like they have to live paycheck to paycheck.
3:50
Speaker 2: It's actually sad and I haven't rick. I haven't figured
3:53
Speaker 2: out the number, but it's got to be in the
3:55
Speaker 2: seventy or eighty percent. In my own practice, those that
3:59
Speaker 2: did the the safe money strategies with me didn't lose
4:03
Speaker 2: a dime in the market. Those that protected their assets
4:07
Speaker 2: from nursing homes, which is another huge that's another seven
4:11
Speaker 2: out of ten of us end up in a you know,
4:14
Speaker 2: with medical bills. And there's really three things that I
4:18
Speaker 2: see that people miss. But the problem is that people
4:22
Speaker 2: don't know about money. And it's not like a judgment.
4:26
Speaker 2: You don't know about you weren't taught right, like I said,
4:29
Speaker 2: you're going and just getting out and working and expect
4:33
Speaker 2: your expert to know about these things. But I wonder
4:36
Speaker 2: how many people actually got a phone call from their
4:40
Speaker 2: you know, their the broker or whoever saying.
4:43
Speaker 3: Okay, two thousand and eight, your money's you know, crashing,
4:46
Speaker 3: now let's get it out. They get the call after right.
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Speaker 2: It isn't a proactive thing unless you're managing your own
4:53
Speaker 2: money and you're paying attention to it right, and unfortunately
4:57
Speaker 2: people it's set up. And this is what I s
5:00
Speaker 2: hard to say, was most people end up losing their assets.
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Speaker 3: Before they cross over to the other side.
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Speaker 2: That's what I've seen either in probate, not having the
5:13
Speaker 2: right paperwork in the market, casino, Wall Street, right stock market,
5:20
Speaker 2: and catastrophic illness. So those and it's really sad because
5:24
Speaker 2: when you're in your third and fourth quarter life, you know,
5:27
Speaker 2: most people weren't told about this. Unfortunately, Rick, My family
5:34
Speaker 2: is like the nightmare story, and I have to just
5:37
Speaker 2: grit my teeth to tell the story and not go
5:40
Speaker 2: into tears because it's kind of a theme that we
5:44
Speaker 2: all have. It will never happen to me. My daddy
5:49
Speaker 2: was a genius. He worked till he was ninety one.
5:52
Speaker 2: Einstein was one of his teachers at cal Tech.
5:55
Speaker 3: Wow, it's brilliant. And he did very well, and we
6:00
Speaker 3: had millions of dollars.
6:01
Speaker 2: And one day he came up to me and said, Honey,
6:03
Speaker 2: you're gonna heirit a million dollars. And Dad, look, I
6:07
Speaker 2: never counted on his money, but I just told him
6:09
Speaker 2: I wanted him, didn't care about his money.
6:12
Speaker 3: Good thing, I said that, and I could say this
6:15
Speaker 3: because he empowered me with sharing this story with others
6:19
Speaker 3: that a few years later he said, you might get something.
6:23
Speaker 3: And what happened was my mommy got cancer. And what
6:28
Speaker 3: do you think five days of chimo is rick?
6:30
Speaker 1: I have no idea, but I'm sure it's not cheap.
6:33
Speaker 3: I got a golp on this ninety thousand dollars for
6:36
Speaker 3: five days of chemo. She had to have it every
6:41
Speaker 3: month for a year. Wow.
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Speaker 2: Okay, so a million dollars is not a lot of money.
6:47
Speaker 2: A lot of people think, well, I got a million
6:48
Speaker 2: dollars all self ensure. When you've got to expect the unexpected,
6:53
Speaker 2: you have to make sure that your assets are safe,
6:57
Speaker 2: that you don't lose your principle, and that you protect
7:01
Speaker 2: it from catastrophic illness. And so what I found as
7:05
Speaker 2: a result of all of these you know, different estates
7:08
Speaker 2: is the three things that three secrets for safe money
7:12
Speaker 2: is protection of assets from catastrophic illness, long term care,
7:17
Speaker 2: and the Great Recession. And this is how if you
7:21
Speaker 2: protect your assets, you can actually live your legacy why
7:25
Speaker 2: you are alive and not wait until you cross over, right,
7:29
Speaker 2: leave it on paper.
7:30
Speaker 3: You know you're going to give to this charity.
7:32
Speaker 2: We want to teach people how to give now, how
7:35
Speaker 2: to give to your charity now and experience all those
7:38
Speaker 2: good feelings.
7:39
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I feel like you're you're helping your clients
7:42
Speaker 1: in two different ways. One is you're saying, let's put
7:46
Speaker 1: some safeguards in. Let's think about risk as you said,
7:49
Speaker 1: like really underline that, but say not at the expense
7:53
Speaker 1: of doing something during your lifetime, doing something powerful. You
7:57
Speaker 1: can balance it. That's what I'm really hearing you say.
7:59
Speaker 1: It isn't like hoard everything, do everything you can and
8:02
Speaker 1: save every penny because you can't afford to give to charity,
8:05
Speaker 1: you can't afford to help others. It's more like, how
8:08
Speaker 1: can we safeguard ourselves so that we can also be
8:11
Speaker 1: fruitful and help and be not only resourceful, but also
8:17
Speaker 1: give back during our lifetime. That's really a very important message,
8:21
Speaker 1: and probably a contradictory message to some people, but you're
8:24
Speaker 1: proving that it doesn't have to be contradictory.
8:27
Speaker 2: It's exactly exactly. It's a living legacy, and it's all
8:32
Speaker 2: about joy. It's all about the good feeling you get
8:35
Speaker 2: when you know you've helped somebody on you know, getting water,
8:39
Speaker 2: getting food, getting you know, I've I think about halfway
8:44
Speaker 2: through my business career, as you know, successful business, and
8:50
Speaker 2: in my fifties, I looked at what I was doing
8:52
Speaker 2: in it I started to shift.
8:55
Speaker 3: And it wasn't like I was so smart.
8:57
Speaker 2: It just naturally happened that I took all of my
9:01
Speaker 2: practice had put it and created a financial wellness program
9:05
Speaker 2: to teach people to go into corporations and teach the
9:09
Speaker 2: employees to go into the underserved schools and teach the children.
9:15
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm in that launch now. I'm mega
9:17
Speaker 2: scaling the program called Create Income. You'll never outlive because
9:21
Speaker 2: people need to know their other options than the Wall
9:25
Speaker 2: Street casino or bitcoin or things that are like a gamble.
9:30
Speaker 2: Everybody's this is you know, money is energy. So people
9:34
Speaker 2: are just spending all this energy, you know, and then
9:38
Speaker 2: they're throwing it into risk. And I'm not saying that
9:41
Speaker 2: you have to all be safe, but you want a
9:44
Speaker 2: good part of it safe right now because of the
9:47
Speaker 2: other vulnerabilities of the shift that's going on in the
9:50
Speaker 2: planet in the currency right right where half the pop
9:55
Speaker 2: you know, half the globe, like the bricks is wanting
9:58
Speaker 2: to op off the petro dollar right, right, and so
10:02
Speaker 2: they want to get out of the and they're trying
10:05
Speaker 2: to create a digital currency. So there's a lot of
10:09
Speaker 2: you know, forces in play that it creates lots of
10:13
Speaker 2: volatility inside of that system. So you want to make
10:16
Speaker 2: sure that the assets are protected so you do have
10:19
Speaker 2: a living legacy and a legacy when you do crossover.
10:24
Speaker 2: But you're not going to have anything if all of
10:26
Speaker 2: your assets are in the casino.
10:28
Speaker 3: That's the point. You know. Some people like the thrill
10:31
Speaker 3: of gambling. I don't. I don't like losing money. I'm
10:34
Speaker 3: working too hard. I like safety. You know what, In
10:38
Speaker 3: two thousand and eight, I made money. I felt bad
10:41
Speaker 3: for all the people that didn't listen to me. But
10:43
Speaker 3: the people that listen to me, I got a lot
10:46
Speaker 3: of thank you, you know of what you know what
10:49
Speaker 3: I had put them into. They never lost one dime
10:53
Speaker 3: in two thousand and.
10:54
Speaker 2: Eight, I actually was making two to four percent when
10:56
Speaker 2: everybody was losing money. I had one thing product that
10:59
Speaker 2: was I didn't lose a dime. And these strategies are
11:04
Speaker 2: like from the Middle Ages. There are a long time
11:07
Speaker 2: One of them is called equity index annuity, right, It's
11:11
Speaker 2: a savings account with an insurance company. It creates income
11:15
Speaker 2: you'll never outlive. Imagine that and that they've done research
11:21
Speaker 2: on that where people that have those actually live longer
11:24
Speaker 2: because it does something to your psyche knowing that, hey,
11:27
Speaker 2: I'm not going to run out of money.
11:29
Speaker 1: Right, you feel relaxed and you probably blood pressure is lower,
11:33
Speaker 1: and you're not waking up in the morning feeling like
11:35
Speaker 1: I'm going to outlive yeah, outlive my or income.
11:38
Speaker 2: It's a subconscious kind of thing, just even like having
11:41
Speaker 2: not having your paperwork in order. You know, mom and
11:45
Speaker 2: dad go out to dinner and don't come back.
11:47
Speaker 3: Who's going to take care of the kids?
11:49
Speaker 2: Right? Guardianship is inside of a living trust. It isn't
11:53
Speaker 2: just the end of a life document. There are things
11:56
Speaker 2: inside of there that powers of attorney for financial Hey,
12:00
Speaker 2: if I go skiing and break my leg, I can
12:02
Speaker 2: have somebody to take care of my business for me.
12:05
Speaker 2: So it's not just the end of the life document.
12:08
Speaker 2: Because all the misinterpretations, people procrastinate planning. And this is
12:14
Speaker 2: what got me started in my practice was people would
12:17
Speaker 2: come into my office and start their retirement plan when
12:21
Speaker 2: they were retiring.
12:23
Speaker 3: What is wrong with this? Yeah?
12:25
Speaker 2: So Rick, it wasn't that I was so smart, But
12:27
Speaker 2: because I've done this for decades and I've seen thousands
12:31
Speaker 2: of people around year twenty five, I saw a pattern.
12:35
Speaker 3: Hey, this is interesting.
12:37
Speaker 2: Everybody's not being taught about money waiting till they retire,
12:41
Speaker 2: so they lost all that tax deferred money that they
12:46
Speaker 2: could have.
12:48
Speaker 3: Tax free income. Yeah, nobody knows about that.
12:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean you are a teacher. You say, well,
12:55
Speaker 1: it's not that you're the smartest, but you're reflecting back,
12:57
Speaker 1: is what you're doing. You're reflecting back to people, and say,
13:00
Speaker 1: I'm an observer. I've seen this happen over twenty five.
13:03
Speaker 1: I'm watching trends. I'm seeing what people are doing that
13:07
Speaker 1: isn't to their benefit. And let me show you another way.
13:10
Speaker 1: Let me show you something that's actually I'm personally, I Chris,
13:14
Speaker 1: I'm personally benefiting from it by my own advice, and
13:17
Speaker 1: I'm helping lots and lots of other people as well.
13:19
Speaker 1: So I think, who wouldn't want to stop and listen
13:21
Speaker 1: to that if they felt like you were providing that
13:24
Speaker 1: type of seasoned, reflective advice.
13:29
Speaker 2: I know, I know, and basically all this time, and
13:33
Speaker 2: that's what shocked me when they did the numbers and
13:35
Speaker 2: added up, you know, two point five billion I've protected.
13:39
Speaker 2: I literally have been given complementary financial fitness strategy sessions
13:44
Speaker 2: for people.
13:45
Speaker 3: I really just wanted to help people.
13:47
Speaker 2: So I hop on a call, get your information, come
13:50
Speaker 2: back with what.
13:52
Speaker 3: Would you know?
13:53
Speaker 2: Suit you give you a class and send everything to
13:57
Speaker 2: you so you would be empowered, and give you videos
14:00
Speaker 2: to watch. Why that was another broken thing I see
14:04
Speaker 2: is people don't know about their money. When they come in,
14:07
Speaker 2: I go, well, where's your IRA or your four way
14:09
Speaker 2: k oh? And they name a big company like it
14:12
Speaker 2: was so impressive. It was with this blah blah blah company. Okay,
14:16
Speaker 2: but where is it? In other words, where's an investment?
14:19
Speaker 2: They really didn't know. Well, it's an IRA or it's
14:22
Speaker 2: a four you know, I think it's in some stocks.
14:26
Speaker 1: They don't even know.
14:27
Speaker 2: They don't know, and they're embarrassed it they don't know.
14:30
Speaker 2: It's not your fault, there's no judgment, right. The point
14:33
Speaker 2: is that you need to know, you need to pay
14:36
Speaker 2: attention right now. So that's why my podcast is called
14:39
Speaker 2: Money nine to one one because I feel like I'm
14:42
Speaker 2: running in front of a fire. Literally, that's how close
14:47
Speaker 2: I think huge shifts are happening. This is not normal,
14:51
Speaker 2: this is not two thousand and eight. And I'm not
14:54
Speaker 2: a gloom and doom person. I'm a pretty positive person, right,
14:58
Speaker 2: But I have to study all this money because I'm
15:02
Speaker 2: the responsibility of holding and you know, helping other people
15:06
Speaker 2: with their money. I pay a lot of more attention
15:09
Speaker 2: now to what's going on in the world politically and
15:12
Speaker 2: financially and all of it, because it's all about.
15:16
Speaker 3: Where the money's going to sit. Well, it be there
15:19
Speaker 3: when you need it.
15:20
Speaker 1: Right now, that's the most important thing. Right If it's
15:23
Speaker 1: not where, If it's not there when you need it,
15:25
Speaker 1: why bother?
15:27
Speaker 3: So exactly, well, exactly.
15:30
Speaker 1: Let me ask you. Let's go back to when you
15:33
Speaker 1: were young. Some of the things we talked about before
15:36
Speaker 1: we started recording. You're an inspirational singer and you write songs.
15:39
Speaker 1: You also talked about helping kids. But anyway, just kind
15:42
Speaker 1: of go back to when you're young and just walk
15:44
Speaker 1: us through a little bit about how you sort of
15:47
Speaker 1: how that shaped you and the things you think about
15:49
Speaker 1: today as a result of that.
15:51
Speaker 3: Well, you know, long, I don't know how far back
15:55
Speaker 3: you want to.
15:55
Speaker 1: Go, Maybe like a moment where you said, you know,
15:59
Speaker 1: I remember that that kind of change my perspective about
16:01
Speaker 1: money or people or you know.
16:04
Speaker 2: When I was really young back in the in the
16:07
Speaker 2: Roaring sixties and seventies, there was a it was a
16:10
Speaker 2: crazy time, and there was there was a trend of
16:16
Speaker 2: like people were seeking God and it was spiritual and
16:19
Speaker 2: you know, it was sort of a revolution and all
16:21
Speaker 2: these different things, a love thing and everything. And I
16:25
Speaker 2: was I was in that generation, and I want and
16:27
Speaker 2: I had this thing about knowing God more than anything.
16:29
Speaker 2: I mean, it was and so I literally left the
16:33
Speaker 2: university and went on a pilgrimage. I ran into some
16:36
Speaker 2: people that were living like Christ, take no shoes, no script,
16:39
Speaker 2: no purse, and I walked with them in faith barefoot
16:43
Speaker 2: across America, where we lived literally like the Disciples two
16:47
Speaker 2: thousand years.
16:48
Speaker 3: We were nomadic.
16:49
Speaker 2: Back in those days. You sat on the side of
16:51
Speaker 2: the road, didn't hitchhike, people pick you up. So there
16:53
Speaker 2: was a lot of traveling. It was a kind of different,
16:56
Speaker 2: really different generation. And it was amazing actually writing a
17:01
Speaker 2: book about it called Barefoot Across America, that it was
17:04
Speaker 2: literally living living it, not just reading it. And during
17:10
Speaker 2: this time I was blessed and I'd walk out in
17:12
Speaker 2: the desert. I'd get like five songs downloaded, you know,
17:16
Speaker 2: with the music and the words, and we set around
17:20
Speaker 2: the campfire and sing. And then, you know, one day
17:23
Speaker 2: the spirit said to me, you know, go to Hollywood
17:25
Speaker 2: and make a record like what I don't want to,
17:28
Speaker 2: you know, And I thought it for like a year
17:31
Speaker 2: or two, and then was like, okay.
17:33
Speaker 3: So there were seven sisters.
17:34
Speaker 2: We walked white robe, bare feet, knocked on the record
17:37
Speaker 2: label's door, got a record deal, you know at the
17:41
Speaker 2: Mansion and the TV shows and you know the old.
17:43
Speaker 3: Big old discs right right, yeah, LPs.
17:47
Speaker 2: And it was called a Day of Pure Righteousness and
17:50
Speaker 2: we were set to launch it, and then the ego
17:54
Speaker 2: monster came and got me and I was in Hollywood.
17:56
Speaker 2: I'd never you know, done any of those things as
17:59
Speaker 2: he did in Hollywood, but I did and I ended
18:02
Speaker 2: up you know, doing drugs and alcohol and I fell.
18:05
Speaker 3: I lost everything. I'm just being straight with you.
18:08
Speaker 2: I lost my voice, I lost my friends, and I
18:12
Speaker 2: lost my family for a little bit. It was pretty intense.
18:15
Speaker 2: I was homeless for a part of season, and during
18:19
Speaker 2: this time, I just re you know, had my Jesus
18:23
Speaker 2: moment my real one, and I committed myself to just
18:27
Speaker 2: taking all of this. So I studied law, that became
18:30
Speaker 2: a paralegal. I started working with attorneys and pairalegals, learned
18:35
Speaker 2: about the living trust, worked with some attorneys doing living trusts.
18:40
Speaker 2: And this is in nineteen ninety one ninety two, and
18:43
Speaker 2: I was working and there was a widow and I
18:45
Speaker 2: was working with an attorney and all she had was
18:48
Speaker 2: a car and a house and that's it, right. He
18:52
Speaker 2: wanted to charge your five thousand dollars for a trust.
18:55
Speaker 2: She didn't have any money in the bank. She needed
18:57
Speaker 2: the living trust. So I just said when she left
19:00
Speaker 2: the room, hey, could you give her a deal?
19:03
Speaker 3: And he looked at me like I was nuts. I
19:06
Speaker 3: give her a deal. And it was five thousand dollars
19:09
Speaker 3: in nineteen ninety one or two. Yeah, okay, that's crazy. Yeah.
19:13
Speaker 2: And so I was one of the first paralegals in
19:16
Speaker 2: California to start going out and giving workshops what's the
19:21
Speaker 2: difference between a will and trust?
19:22
Speaker 3: Because people were being herded into doing wills.
19:26
Speaker 2: And then when they got to the end of their
19:27
Speaker 2: life losing a third or two third of their money
19:30
Speaker 2: to courts and fees and I was pretty upset about that, right,
19:34
Speaker 2: and because of this mountaintop experience, I came into the
19:36
Speaker 2: money world with from a different perspective. I wasn't really
19:40
Speaker 2: thinking about all the money I'm going to make from
19:42
Speaker 2: living trust I never thought about I really just wanted
19:45
Speaker 2: to help people. So back then I started doing living
19:49
Speaker 2: trusts for one hundred and ninety nine dollars same five
19:52
Speaker 2: thousand dollars living trusts okay, wow, broke the market. And
19:56
Speaker 2: at that time there was a lot of independent paralegals
19:59
Speaker 2: that were doing leaving, you know, being under the supervision
20:03
Speaker 2: of an attorney.
20:04
Speaker 3: We were doing all the work, you know.
20:06
Speaker 2: Bankruptcies, divorces, trusts, and so because there were so many
20:11
Speaker 2: of us that you know, revolted. Of course, in crazy California,
20:14
Speaker 2: the state Bar actually made a designation for us so
20:18
Speaker 2: they could.
20:18
Speaker 3: Get CE credits and fees. So I have a picture
20:21
Speaker 3: I did with the state Bar and we're called LDAs.
20:25
Speaker 2: So we're a step up from a pair of legal
20:27
Speaker 2: kind of you know, between a perallegal and attorney. We do
20:30
Speaker 2: everything attorneys do, but get legal advice or go to court.
20:35
Speaker 2: But I've gone to court a few times because I
20:37
Speaker 2: had to sue a couple attorneys that I worked for
20:39
Speaker 2: that didn't pay me.
20:40
Speaker 3: Wow wow.
20:42
Speaker 2: But long story short, in these three decades, I've learned
20:47
Speaker 2: things because I come from a different point of view
20:50
Speaker 2: of I got to own what I sell. So when
20:52
Speaker 2: I got in there and I started getting thousands of
20:55
Speaker 2: people coming in my office for a great deal on
20:57
Speaker 2: a living trust, they were also coming in to do
21:00
Speaker 2: the retirement plan. And when they came in there, I
21:03
Speaker 2: realized that they're like I said, they don't know anything
21:07
Speaker 2: about money, and the whole system really was set up
21:11
Speaker 2: to break them at the end of their life with
21:13
Speaker 2: a nursing home, the probate in the stock market, and
21:18
Speaker 2: I lost money.
21:19
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, I'm.
21:20
Speaker 2: A financial planner. I'm not supposed to lose money. So
21:23
Speaker 2: I opted out. I studied safe money because the responsibility
21:28
Speaker 2: of other people's money was just too much. I didn't
21:31
Speaker 2: want to hurt anybody, right, you know, And if I
21:33
Speaker 2: said the wrong suggestion, oops, I couldn't live like that.
21:37
Speaker 3: So I have to own what I sell. I'm out
21:40
Speaker 3: of the stock market. Yeah, I own what I sell. Well,
21:43
Speaker 3: I've been very blessed.
21:44
Speaker 1: You are. You are definitely sending a message out there
21:47
Speaker 1: that to say that you can be financially successful and
21:49
Speaker 1: you don't need to, as you say, go into the
21:51
Speaker 1: casino of the stock market. You can do it in
21:53
Speaker 1: other ways, which is a really important message. Just talking
21:58
Speaker 1: about when you were talking about legacy, just living your
22:01
Speaker 1: legacy and just sort of maybe wrap up today with that,
22:04
Speaker 1: just talking about what does that mean to you and
22:07
Speaker 1: the clients you've worked with. What does legacy mean both,
22:09
Speaker 1: I would say, during their lifetimes and maybe how they
22:12
Speaker 1: foresee what legacy means after they're gone.
22:16
Speaker 3: Well, living your legacy.
22:17
Speaker 2: You know, we all have, you know, if we're in
22:21
Speaker 2: tune with our hearts, right.
22:23
Speaker 3: A good feeling. There's a good feeling.
22:25
Speaker 2: When you help other people, and it's really what we're
22:30
Speaker 2: supposed to do, you know, there's a all we're just
22:32
Speaker 2: supposed to give ten percent that's not enough, ten percent
22:36
Speaker 2: right to charity or something from what you make. There's
22:40
Speaker 2: a consciousness that happens when and I saw that in
22:44
Speaker 2: my own business. When I shifted my business to give back,
22:48
Speaker 2: everything shifted. Actually the business got even better, and that
22:52
Speaker 2: wasn't why I was doing it. But when you create
22:55
Speaker 2: give back inside of your life, when you have a
22:58
Speaker 2: certain percentage of what you make after you have yourself
23:02
Speaker 2: set up, because you don't want to go upside down.
23:05
Speaker 2: You want to make sure you have your brainy day
23:07
Speaker 2: and your income you'll never outlive and all the things
23:09
Speaker 2: that I talk about. Set up a living legacy, now,
23:14
Speaker 2: that's what you can do with your living trust. Set
23:16
Speaker 2: up a way that you can give back now and
23:20
Speaker 2: participate in that so that you get the good feeling
23:24
Speaker 2: of giving. And that's health. That's you know, health is wealth,
23:28
Speaker 2: wealth as health. You know, it's it's together because I
23:31
Speaker 2: know a lot of people that have had you know,
23:35
Speaker 2: millions and even you know a few billionaires that weren't
23:38
Speaker 2: very happy, right they had all of that money, but
23:41
Speaker 2: they weren't happy. One of my good friends who was
23:45
Speaker 2: a billion he's you know, since gone to heaven, was
23:49
Speaker 2: very generous, you know, with his money and there and
23:52
Speaker 2: his his lifestyle wasn't about I have to have five
23:56
Speaker 2: airplanes and you know, fifty fancy watches. You know.
24:01
Speaker 3: Success changes.
24:03
Speaker 2: We were taught a materialistic kind of a success. So
24:06
Speaker 2: if you have this kind of house and you have
24:08
Speaker 2: this kind of you know, diamond ring, then you are successful.
24:12
Speaker 2: And to me, the success is helping others. The success
24:16
Speaker 2: is giving back. This success is you know, feeding someone
24:20
Speaker 2: that doesn't have.
24:21
Speaker 3: Food or water.
24:22
Speaker 2: We are so blessed in the USA. Yeah, and we're
24:27
Speaker 2: and we're arrogant because we really don't realize how much
24:32
Speaker 2: blessed we are. And yeah, you see the pictures of
24:36
Speaker 2: the skinny kids and all of that, But the connection
24:39
Speaker 2: isn't there, right, Or you go to church or you
24:42
Speaker 2: tie or whatever community that you're involved in, you know,
24:46
Speaker 2: there's a disconnected And I like to see people connected
24:51
Speaker 2: with their legacy now. So you start your legacy in
24:55
Speaker 2: your plan now, with your safe money and your healthy money,
24:58
Speaker 2: so that you can give back now. And I know
25:01
Speaker 2: that's who you are, Rick, You're you know, that's the
25:03
Speaker 2: philanthropy and that is I think that should be a major.
25:08
Speaker 3: Part of our businesses.
25:09
Speaker 2: It's a you know, a living legacy, that's what I
25:13
Speaker 2: call it.
25:13
Speaker 3: So that gets me.
25:15
Speaker 2: Up in the morning because there's a lot of negativity
25:18
Speaker 2: and grief and all the different things that can come
25:22
Speaker 2: in that I can override because I have a power purpose, right,
25:28
Speaker 2: I have a beautiful thing, you know, giving giving back.
25:32
Speaker 3: There's nothing like it.
25:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can see that you you are showing people
25:36
Speaker 1: how to preserve their assets, and you're showing them how
25:38
Speaker 1: to live into their best selves, live with a sense
25:41
Speaker 1: of purpose, make themselves feel good. Hoarding all this money
25:45
Speaker 1: and having it doesn't do anything if you can't somehow
25:47
Speaker 1: feel like you're helping the human race a little bit,
25:50
Speaker 1: and as you say, go to bed at night and
25:52
Speaker 1: feel good about that and get up in the morning
25:53
Speaker 1: and want to do it again, right.
25:55
Speaker 3: Right, exactly, wow, exactly.
25:58
Speaker 1: That's great. Well, thank you so much for spending some
26:00
Speaker 1: time together today, Chris. How can people reach you if
26:03
Speaker 1: they wanted to learn more? And also you mentioned your
26:06
Speaker 1: podcast Money nine to eleven, so just maybe a little
26:08
Speaker 1: bit of how how the listeners would would find you.
26:12
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Rick.
26:13
Speaker 2: You can contact we're old school. You can contact the
26:17
Speaker 2: old phone number nine five one nine two six four
26:21
Speaker 2: one five eight. If you're interested in a financial fitness
26:25
Speaker 2: strategy session, you can literally hop on my calendar at
26:30
Speaker 2: meet with Chrismiller dot com. That's Karsmiller dot com.
26:35
Speaker 3: Send me an email Chris.
26:37
Speaker 2: Krs at Healthy Money, Happy Life dot com And if
26:44
Speaker 2: you go there, you'll also see a tab that says
26:47
Speaker 2: create income you'll never outlive and we have a really
26:50
Speaker 2: simple program that can educate you on all these things
26:54
Speaker 2: I'm talking about so you can get up to speed
26:57
Speaker 2: and get your assets safe so you don't lose a
27:01
Speaker 2: dime in the market. And I look forward to connecting
27:04
Speaker 2: with everybody Money nine to one one. We're available everywhere.
27:08
Speaker 2: You can go to healthy Money, Happy Life on YouTube.
27:11
Speaker 3: Money nine to one one and.
27:13
Speaker 2: I talk about health, wealth, a peace of mind. I
27:16
Speaker 2: think they're all connected.
27:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
27:18
Speaker 3: Forward to seeing you there.
27:20
Speaker 1: Thank you. And is there any punny who would reach
27:22
Speaker 1: out to you that's too young or too old? Is
27:24
Speaker 1: there an age?
27:26
Speaker 2: No? Everybody going well, you know, I've worked with people
27:29
Speaker 2: up to ninety. But you do have to have some assets, right, right,
27:34
Speaker 2: you do have to have some savings, so you know,
27:37
Speaker 2: I don't have that much free time. You got to
27:39
Speaker 2: be really you know, because I've had twenty and thirty
27:42
Speaker 2: years old that were millionaires that reached out to me
27:45
Speaker 2: right or want to learn about the tax free income
27:49
Speaker 2: and they're starting their journey. In a few weeks, I'm
27:52
Speaker 2: going to go teach some high school and college kids
27:56
Speaker 2: called Seeds of Greatness. So I have programs that I
27:58
Speaker 2: go into teach the youth. We have programs that go
28:02
Speaker 2: into the corporations for your employees so that they can
28:06
Speaker 2: you know, they'll be very thankful for you to have
28:08
Speaker 2: that as a wellness program and teach them. So we
28:11
Speaker 2: have a lot of opportunities for people to connect.
28:14
Speaker 1: Thank you for all that you're doing, Chris, that people
28:16
Speaker 1: need to have that financial literacy. You're showing people an
28:20
Speaker 1: angle maybe they've never seen before. And just all the
28:23
Speaker 1: good work you're doing. We talked earlier you've helped developed
28:27
Speaker 1: six thousand living trusts and all the work that you've done,
28:31
Speaker 1: and they called you. We didn't mention this, but they
28:32
Speaker 1: call you the money Maestro as well. So well well
28:35
Speaker 1: earned after thirty five years of doing all this work.
28:37
Speaker 1: So thank you so much, Chris. And you're welcome to
28:40
Speaker 1: come back again and tell some more stories and until
28:43
Speaker 1: then we'll see you well.
28:45
Speaker 3: Thank you, Rick, I do appreciate it. You're welcome.
28:50
Speaker 1: That wraps up today's conversation with Chris Miller. Her work
28:53
Speaker 1: challenges us to rethink not just how we save, but
28:56
Speaker 1: how we live, and how the financial choices we make
28:59
Speaker 1: today can strengthen the legacy we hope to leave behind.
29:03
Speaker 1: Here are three key takeaways from our discussion. First, financial
29:07
Speaker 1: security isn't only about growth. It's about protecting principle from
29:11
Speaker 1: market risk, medical costs, and life events that can erode
29:15
Speaker 1: assets quickly. Second, a living legacy means giving during your lifetime,
29:21
Speaker 1: not waiting until an estate is settled. Generosity can improve health, happiness,
29:26
Speaker 1: and a sense of purpose. And third, financial literacy isn't
29:30
Speaker 1: just for experts. People of all ages benefit from understanding
29:34
Speaker 1: how money works, where it sits, and whether it will
29:37
Speaker 1: be there when they need it. Thanks for listening to
29:40
Speaker 1: Money to Give. If this conversation resonated with you, please
29:44
Speaker 1: leave a review on your preferred streaming platform, share it
29:47
Speaker 1: with a friend or colleague, and most importantly, keep that
29:51
Speaker 1: giving feeling going. We are now broadcasting in thirty seven
29:55
Speaker 1: countries and growing with nearly ten thousand downloads to date.
30:00
Speaker 1: A reminder this podcast is meant to be for educational
30:03
Speaker 1: purposes only. For specific advice related to your own situation,
30:07
Speaker 1: please consult an attorney, financial advisor, CPA, or other type
30:12
Speaker 1: of trusted consultant. If you're looking for fresh insights on
30:16
Speaker 1: how to give smarter, raise, more money, and advise your
30:19
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Speaker 1: next time, let's keep making a difference together.