#97 - How to Build Wealth with Todd Tresidder, The Financial Mentor
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Good day to you once again and welcome to this show notes page for the Retirement Answer Man podcast. I’m Roger Whitney, your host… and I’ve once again been blessed to put together a great episode of practical information for you, to help you get underway on the retirement journey. On this episode there’s lots of good stuff, almost too much! You’ll hear about my upcoming Retirement Plan Live session that begins in 2016 and how you can be involved in that event in some very practical ways, you’ll learn what “High Yield Bonds” are and how they’re in the news these days, and a bit from my guest, Todd Tresidder of www.FinancialMentor.com). All of that is crammed into this ONE episode of the show, so be sure you listen! 

 Retirement Plan Live is ready to go! Coming up in January 2016 I’ll be hosting my second Retirement Plan Live, where I’ll be leading a couple of volunteers through an actual retirement planning session - as an example for you to learn from as we walk through each step. This multi-session event is going to allow you to be involved in some conference calls where you can ask questions, create your own retirement plan with the free worksheets I provide, and follow along as we navigate the various real life hurdles our demo-couple brings to the table. You won’t find a more practical way of learning about and planning for your retirement needs as you will as a part of this free event. If you want to find out more, go to 

www.RogerWhitney.com/RPL)

 What are “High Yield Bonds” and why should you know about them? 

The “why” is the easy part… because high yield bonds are in the news today and are going to be impacting many, many investors who have tried to benefit from them. A company just this week announced that they are not allowing the investors in their high yield bonds to cash out their bonds, and that they will be liquidating their bonds for whatever price they can get to pay back their investors. That means that a lot of people will be out a lot of money. But what ARE high yield bonds? They’re an investment vehicle that you need to know about… and you can learn all about them by listening to this episode of The Retirement Answer Man. Todd Tresidder’s amazing journey to early retirement at 33 years of age. 

I think you’d agree with me that 33 is not only young to retire, but it’s young to be ABLE to retire. Todd achieved that amazing feat because he learned some non-intuitive ways to go about building wealth and on this episode we’re going to dig into his expertise and strategies, including a discussion about why neither of us agree with the “retirement number” way of approaching retirement planning. And true to form, Todd’s going to give you an alternative to what he suggests instead. You’ll not only get to hear Todd’s incredible journey into retirement and how he got there, you’ll also get to hear what he experienced once he got there, and how he’s had to adjust things as a result. It’s all on this episode!

 Today’s smart sprint is simple: Beneficiaries. 

Each week I give you a small chunk of action you can take to put some smart things into practice in your life and this week I’m focusing on all those tax-deferred accounts you’ve got. IRAs, 401Ks, others… and I want you to consider looking into the beneficiaries you’ve designated for each of those. It’s not uncommon for people to have no beneficiary set, or to have people receiving their investments upon their death who they don’t want to receive those funds any longer. So take a little bit of time to check on that information and you could save your family a ton more grief than they’ll already have because of your passing. Find out how I advise going about it, on this episode.

 Stress is one of the biggest detriments to true happiness. 

I know that’s an obvious statement, but sometimes we need the obvious to shake us into reality. Overwhelm is one of the main things that causes stress in modern society and the happy reality is that you can actually take control of your life to a degree that you remove that sense of overwhelm from your experience. How? By managing your responsibilities and activities to a greater degree, by keeping tabs on how you’re feeling about the load you’re carrying, and by adjusting things as you begin to feel that sense of overwhelm creeping higher on your emotional thermostat. That’s the focus of today’s “Be Happy” segment on the Retirement Answer Man, and I think you’re going to like it!    OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN 

• [0:24] A Christmas Gift idea!
• [1:15] The upcoming Retirement Plan Live and an introduction to this year’s participants.
• [2:09] How you can plan your retirement alongside this year’s example and how you can sign up.

 WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? SEGMENT 

• [3:41] What are “High Yield Bonds?” (Junk bonds)
• [5:46] Reasons you might consider purchasing a high yield bond.
• [7:39] The risks involved with high yield bonds.

HOT TOPIC SEGMENT

• [9:35] How high yield bonds are in the news today.
• [12:48] Steps you might want to take in light of the high yield blowups happening now.

PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT

• [13:28] Introduction of today’s guest, Todd Tresidder.
• [14:07] Why Todd began his Financial Mentor website.
• [16:27] The unconventional things Todd thought would earn him pushback.
• [18:12] Why a “retirement number” is not a reality.
• [19:40] The difference between the simple answer and the more advanced answer.
• [20:54] How to approach retirement from a fuller perspective.
• [23:10] One of the greatest deceptions in the world of investing.
• [26:20] How Todd goes about creating range of outcomes for retirement planning on the asset based side of retirement.
• [28:35] An example of how there are a variety of things you can think about for retirement.
• [30:35] Why lifestyle design for retirement is just as important as the financial side.
• [32:32] Todd’s story of creating his early retirement.
• [35:39] What people can do to get started planning on a more realistic level.
• [43:01] Todd’s website and what you can find there.

TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT

• [45:10] Renew the beneficiaries of your IRAs, Annuities, 401Ks and and other retirement investments.

THE “BE HAPPY” SEGMENT

• [46:46] The importance of not allowing yourself to be overwhelmed… a key to happiness.

 RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE 

www.RogerWhitney.com/RPL) - sign up to be considered for Retirement Plan LIVE

Contact Roger: http://www.rogerwhitney.com/retirementanswers/)

Roger’s retirement learning center: www.RogerWhitney.com/learn)

The Retirement Answer Man Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/RetirementAnswerMan)

BOOK: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less)

Todd’s website: www.FinancialMentor.co...)