Wealth Is a Tool, Not a Trophy with Gary Preisser | Financial Planner Search

<p>In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Gary Preisser, Managing Partner of Stonebriar Wealth Advisors, explains what he calls functional wealth. Most of his clients are retirees, or close to it, and he spends a lot of time reminding them that every dollar they have is going to be spent by somebody. It might as well be them.<br /></p><p>Gary came up through tax preparation and small-business consulting, where the useful question was always cash flow. He was surprised, once he entered this industry, to find the first conversation was a sheet of questions about feelings and risk. His process runs the other direction. Start with why the money exists. That tells you when it is needed. The investments follow the timing. Money needed in six months does not belong in the market, and it does not belong in a 12-month CD that will not be there when the bill shows up.</p><p><br /></p><p>He also walks through what a "good" return actually means. A 7% year sounds fine until someone took half the market's volatility in a year the market was up 20%. His business partner Shay compares that to paying for a dozen eggs and opening the carton to find nine. Later he talks about the widow's tax trap, the ants in Aesop's fable who saved the food so they could eat it, and a 96-year-old client he keeps telling to spend more. His longer aim is to get other advisors to start with purpose before they ever talk about a product.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><strong>Takeaways</strong></b></p><p>Every dollar already has a job, and the job is not to sit on a statement</p><p>A conservative return can still be a bad year if it lagged what that level of risk should have earned</p><p>The useful tax question is when to pay, while the lower brackets are still open</p><p>Saving for decades does not finish the plan. Someone still has to use the money</p><p>Purpose, then timing, then the portfolio<br /><br /></p><p><b><strong>Chapters</strong></b></p><p>00:00 Wealth is a tool, not a trophy</p><p>01:48 The $10,000 refund that was a loan to the government</p><p>04:11 Start with why, then decide when the money is needed</p><p>08:22 The real worry is not running out</p><p>13:45 Nine eggs instead of twelve</p><p>16:27 The widow's tax trap</p><p>21:32 The ants were supposed to eat the food</p><p>27:31 Clients who say "just take care of it"</p><p>32:28 The surgeon, the scalpels, and a backwards industry</p><p>37:38 The first appointment, and what a quarterly meeting is actually for</p><p><br /><br />You