Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Wealth Intelligence. I'm Dominic d'. Andrea. On this show, we look at the decisions, behaviors and strategies that help people build, protect and optimize wealth over time.
Today we're talking about one of the biggest financial transitions people ever face. Turning a lifetime of savings into a retirement income strategy that can hold up throughout market volatility, longevity, changing needs, and new technology.
My guest is Alex Samoye, national sales manager with MassMutual Strategic Distributors.
Alex works at the intersection of retirement income, annuity strategies, advisor education, and changing role of technology in financial planning. Alex, welcome to Wealth Intelligence.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Dominick, thank you very much for having me on. I'm excited to be here today and chat with you. It's good to see you.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Good to see you too. I'm excited for you. Also, Alex, why is the transition from accumulating assets to creating reliable retirement income so difficult for so many investors?
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, when you think about transitioning assets from, from accumulation into retirement income, there's a lot of challenges that pose during that time period. Right. Number one is the fact that we don't know how long we're going to live. There's so many studies that are going on right now. The fact that there's longevity, technology that's meeting healthcare, where people could ultimately live 20, 30, 40 more years in retirement than they were necessarily planning on living. As a matter of fact, I listened to a podcast the other day, Dominic, and the host of the podcast was interviewing a scientist in this space. And the scientists said, if you can live to 2038, then whatever your life expectancy is at that point will double.
So all you got to do is make it from now until 2038 and you're going to double the life expectancy you have at that point because of technology and medicine coming together. So number one is we don't know how long we're going to live. Number two is that whenever you have a market based investment, we don't know what markets are going to do. Right. We've been very fortunate in America because markets have been on an absolute tear for the most part.
So it's been great for accumulating assets, but as we start shifting into generating income from those assets, things like how long do I need my income to last? And how is the market going to either work with me or against me really come into play. And when you live longer than you think you're going to, you live longer than you're planning, planning to, and markets aren't necessarily working in your favor. Therefore, you're distributing more assets from what you saved than what you plan to do. That could potentially pose a challenge for people as they near retirement.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Wow, that was amazing. And yes, I, I, it's the hardest thing. When I talk to people, it's like, well, the market's great. I'm not worried. They don't understand that we're going to have a correction at some point. Don't know when, don't want to predict it, don't want to predict the time, you know, how much we might be down. But you're 100% right that we're all spoiled from the great market we've had in the last 10 years or so.
So, Alex, that was a great answer. So, next question.
What are the biggest risks people underestimate once they stop receiving a paycheck and begin relying on their assets?
[00:03:18] Speaker B: It's exactly that. Right. So, you know, without getting into too much math, let's think of it this way. So there's a lot of opinions out there about what is considered a safe withdrawal rate.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Some people say four, some people say a little bit more, some people say a little bit less. I don't have an opinion on this.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: It's all about statistics and probabilities. But the thing is, is that when you're accumulating assets, we live in this average annual return type of world where like the average annual return is X over the course of a period of time.
But once you start to distribute money, it's no longer about averages or average annual returns. It's about what was the actual return the year I needed income. And most of us, and I'm sure I don't know about you, Dominic, but like me and my family, we don't pay bills in percentages of our savings. We pay bills in dollars. Right? So it's not like I could go to my mortgage company and say, hey, look, the market's down and I take 4% distribution, so I'm going to give you a little bit less this month. The mortgage company will be. What are you talking about? Right. You owe me X amount of money. I don't care about percentages. So what ends up happening is for most Americans, they have a set dollar amount that they need to pull out of their investment.
And then all of a sudden you're in retirement and if the market ends up turning in the wrong direction on you, what may have been a 4% safe withdrawal or 3% or whatever your safe withdrawal rate is, what would have been a safe withdrawal rate a year ago may no longer be a safe withdrawal rate this year because if the markets go down but my fixed dollar expense that I'm pulling out stays the same, well, then my withdrawal rate went up in order for meet that obligation.
So the one of the biggest challenges, in addition to longevity, which is probably the most unknown, right, Everyone, everyone assumes they're not going to live as long as they do. Most people actually live longer than they think. But the biggest risk is what is the money I'm pulling out, what is the market done that year and what is my actual withdrawal rate year on year, not on an average. And we do a lot of work with MIT and we talk about these average life expectancies, which is a big portion of this equation.
And one of the things that Dr. Joe Coughlin at MIT, which I know you know well, Dominic, one of the things that Dr. Joe speaks about often is that there's two components that really dictate how long you're going to live.
And people will often say, oh my genetics, right? Did I choose mom and dad correctly? And other people will say, well, did I take care of myself right? Am I eating well? And those are all really important things. But actually the two things are wealth and education.
So when we look in America today, the people who have the highest wealth and the highest education live the longest. And the people who are seeking financial advice from financial advisors typically have potentially more education and more wealth than the average. So average life expectancies don't really mean as much because you're going to live longer than the average.
And the fact that we don't know what markets are going to do and what the withdrawal rate is, those are two components that are complicated.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: That was a great answer. And the funny part is I just want to give a quick analysis to what you just said. With life expectancy, I'm in a weird family situation.
All three of the older men in my life outlive their wives, which everybody says the wife will outlive. So I know exactly what you're saying with life expectancy. And my father outlived my mother by 20 plus years and both my grandfathers outlived my grandmother. So I don't know if I'm gonna outlive my wife or not, you know, but normally we, we don't outlive our, the wives, the women in our lives, right? So that was definitely great. And it hit home that answer to me, next question.
And again, that was a great answer. How should investors think differently about market volatility when they are withdrawing money rather than still contributing?
[00:07:19] Speaker B: It's critically important Right. So you have many ways that you can generate income in retirement. There's some guaranteed sources of income that come from various solutions that companies provide and then there's market based. Right. So I've saved money in my 401k, I got my IRA, I got my mutual funds, my ET, I got all these savings and I'm pulling market out. And like we mentioned earlier, average annual returns are no longer the basis of how you judge whether or not you're doing well. It's not about the average, it's about what happens when I need my income. And if markets are down, when you take out that set dollar amount, that means your withdrawal rate is higher than what you may necessarily consider to be safe. And that right there is a critical component to investing. So really all of a sudden, market volatility becomes super important in the distrib phase, where as a matter of fact, in the accumulation phase, market volatility helps you. Right. In the income phase, it could potentially work against you.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Wow. Yes, you're 100% right. And I love that answer too.
Moving on to another question, because your answer has been phenomenal so far and I love them. Thank you.
What role does behavior play in retirement planning, especially when fear or uncertainty can lead people to make poor decisions?
[00:08:37] Speaker B: All of is the fundamental reason that I have financial advisors in my life.
We have so many tools and I've been in this business like you, Dominic. I've been fortunate to do this for over 25 years.
So do I know markets? Do I understand some right? Not all. We all specialize in certain things, but I know enough.
But the reason that I have advisors is one, to get me invested, to keep me on course and to help me not panic when things don't go the way I think they're going to go.
It is the fundamental reason that we seek advice from people because it's not just about making a bad decision.
It's also about making no decision, which is often even more detrimental to your financial plan, where you have all of this access to information all around you and it is too much.
And we all at some point have become the ostrich that sticks their head in the sand because they want to reduce the noise of information.
And that's where you need financial advisors. The behavioral part of what we do is so critically important because number one, I put it in steps. Number one step, get invested. Number two step, stay invested.
Number three step, keep your eye on the prize, meaning the goal that you laid out for yourself. And don't let the outcome side environment move you off of that path because even you know, I'm a sailor. Even one degree off of your course is the difference between hitting Los Angeles and hitting Honolulu. Both great places, but very different based on where you thought you were going to be.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: I love it. And that was a great analogy. The final question for this segment, if someone is five to 10 years from retirement, what questions should they be asking now that they may not be asking yet?
[00:10:32] Speaker B: So, you know, the thing that we need to all really do a better job of is really clarify simply what it is that we're looking to achieve. You know, I think fundamentally when you go to sit down with the financial advisor, the question you really have in your mind is will I be okay?
And will I be okay is actually a very deep, complicated question because that means something very different for everybody else. Right? Wealth means something different for each individual. So the questions you need to ask advisors is not about the products, although you should absolutely make sure you're comfortable and understand the solutions that you have in place. But it's about how do these things come together in order for me to achieve the goals I've laid out and ultimately answer the question of am I going to be okay? Because that is a very deeply personal question that means something different to so many people. And five years out to retirement, that is the quote, unquote, potential danger zone. Because if something were to fall off plan or a decision were to be made that is off of the course that you laid out with your financial professional, you may not have enough time between now and when you retire to adjust course, you may run out of time. So that is the most critical time to make sure you know the goals it's laid out, you and your advisor are aligned on what those goals are and you feel confident to stay the course.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Perfect. Thank you very much.
That was a great session. I really appreciate the answers and I hope our audience does too. After the break, we'll look at guaranteed lifetime income annuities and why products that were once misunderstood are becoming part of a broader retirement conversation.
Great job.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: So is this a break?
[00:12:38] Speaker A: Welcome back to Wealth Intelligence. Stay connected to this show and every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand, anytime you like.
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Alex works with financial professionals on Retirement income and annuity strategies, including guaranteed income approaches designed to help clients address longevity, volatility and income uncertainty.
Alex, thank you for the last session.
Why do annuities still generate so much confusion or skepticism among investors?
[00:13:38] Speaker B: That's a really great question and a very valid one, I think. And people may disagree, but I think fundamentally it's because the word annuity is used to describe so many different types of solutions out there that are very different from one another.
I think that's why I often use a terrible analogy. You're going to be like, that's a terrible analogy, but it's like saying, I bought a stock once and that's stock loss money, so don't ever buy stocks. Right? One stock of one company is way different from one stock of a different company. There's different types of stocks. You can't compare something to something else and be like, well, that word. So I think people get hung up on the word. And when it comes to annuities, there are so many different kinds of annuities. You have fixed annuities, which although they're not FDIC insured, they're designed to operate closer to something like a cd, although they're not like a CD because of the FDIC insurance.
You have immediate annuities, which is a way to be able to convert a lump sum of money into pension, like lifetime income. Totally different from the fixed annuity. You got deferred income annuities, which is like an immediate annuity, but it's down the road. So I buy something today for future income. So there's that. Then you start to get into the slightly more and in sometimes significantly more complicated types of annuities where you have variable annuities, which are market based investments that have optional riders that you can buy for income. You have RILAs, which are registered index linked annuities, which operate similar but different. You have fixed index. So there's a lot of different products out there. They're all designed to do something very specific. But because you have this one word that is used to describe this whole plethora of solutions, people get confused about what is it that it actually does. And I think that's why people get so complicated. And then of course, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of publicity around things and you know, you get, you, you get media that latches onto something and then they talk about this one annuity didn't work, therefore all annuities are bad. And you know, and that, that actually does a disservice to a lot of people across the country because they read that and they buy into it and it may not necessarily be true.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: You're 100% right. I love that. It's like, you know, it's the old saying, you know, one size doesn't fit all, you know, doesn't fit all. So you're 100. Right? You know, you got to figure out what's right for you and your situation and figure out what type might make sense. So I agree with you 100%. Thank you for that answer.
What planning problem is guaranteed lifetime income actually trying to solve?
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Honestly, if you boil it down, annuities are designed to solve for a lot of things, right? They're designed. Some of them are designed to solve for income. Some of them are designed to solve for, for legacy and death benefits, the way they operate.
But ultimately, what they're designed to solve for is a way to be able to invest money, save money, put it into a vehicle that grows tax deferred, and when you need the income, the income will be there and you can no longer outlive it. That's what they're designed for. It's, how do I generate an income stream that will outlast me and then should something be left from the contract? Because every contract is different. It passes on to whomever my beneficiaries are. That's what they're designed to do at the end of the day. And that is a very complicated problem to solve outside of an annuity. For the one reason that we spoke about many times before. How long are you going to live? You tell me how long. You tell me the day you're going to die, and I'll tell you exactly how much money you need. The problem is, we have no idea. So annuities really fill that gap, and there's a lot of things that could fill that gap. But annuities are specifically designed to do that.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: I love it. Thank you very much.
So, Alex, how have modern variable annuities and income riders changed compared with the products many investors remember from years ago? I love this question.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, everything's always evolving in the industry. We sit around when I say we, I often will never use the word competitor because these are my friends, right. These are my peers in the industry. We all sit around thinking about how can we make an investor's life better? How can we make Americans lives better? That's what we do. So as solutions started to evolve, things have come up in products where you have some variable annuities, for instance, to give you an idea. Some variable annuities where what they do is for an additional fee they'll give you either what the market does or a roll up on your benefit base, which is different from your account value. But the benefit base is what is used to generate your lifetime income. And that is a really good solution for people that are absolutely terrified about investing assets.
We all have friends and family that say, look, investing is great, but the second I do it, I'm going to lose all my money.
Well, to be able to say to somebody, you have a way to be able to guarantee that the benefit base grows at X percentage, worst case scenario, and then you can draw a lifetime income off of that for the rest of your life. I think that's a really important feature. Other annuities, again, I'll stick in the variable annuity phase. Others out there talk about we do the same thing, but we do the roll up on the withdrawal rate. So every year that you defer, your withdrawal rate goes up. When you think about things like indexed annuities, what they do is they put, they put caps on your growth potentially, but they put floors. So you can't lose more than X. Right. So if the market's negative, you get a zero. If the market's positive, you get a positive up to a certain. So there's all these different things that have evolved in the annuity space.
And again, based off of your risk profile, based off of your goals and the conversations you have with your advisor, there are solutions out there to meet very specific needs and goals that you have as you retire.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: God, I love that. What I love more about the changes and everything, things you've touched on and you know, why people are skepticism about annuities is that in years past, early in my career, every annuity there was only one option you had to annuitize it, which is what I believe. Where the big stigma came from is that people didn't like giving up the right of their money and didn't understand it. Where these new products, they're not giving up the right of the principal.
It's there if they live, when it's still there and they can go back and get it if they want to turn the income off. So it gives a lot more flexibility. Which is why I think the conversation is changing as we move along 100%
[00:20:18] Speaker B: and you know, like, look, let's be clear, right? These things aren't free, right? Right. So there is a trade off. And the trade off is that you have to pay money in order to get it because the companies, I mean, to be able to do what they do, it requires significant capital investments to be able to do those things. Right. So, yeah, there are fees for it, but for the client with the right goals that can understand those fees and are okay with them, they're worth it for the right person, right? For me, they're worth it. I can only talk for myself in this scenario.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: Perfect.
So, Alex, I love it. Thank you very much. Where can guarantees add value and where might they create trade offs that investors need to understand Clearly, I think you've touched on this already a little bit.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Yeah, they add value in the fact that if the market goes south, my income doesn't change.
If the market continues to gain, I gain with it. That is really powerful. If I end up living 20 years in retirement, I'm okay. If I end up living 60 years in retirement, I'm okay. To be able to know an old mentor of mine, You've heard this a million times, right? I doubt he made it up, but an old mentor of mine said, the day that you retire, you are unemployed.
And that's scary because now you're going to be unemployed for almost as long as you've been employed. And now you got to live off your assets. So how much easier would it be to be unemployed if you had a guaranteed paycheck that comes in every month and no matter what happens in the world around you, it's there for you.
That is the benefit, right? That's a tremendous benefit. The trade off, though, is some of the things you touched on. In some cases, you may lose control or liquidity of a portion of your assets.
In every situation, you're paying an extra fee for the protection that you're getting. So there are trade offs to these types of solutions. But I mean, that's life. Whenever it is that you're trying to get a benefit from something, there's an opportunity cost for something else. And finding the right balance with financial professionals is really what it's about.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: God, I love that.
And the final question of this segment, how should an advisor decide whether guaranteed income belongs in a client's retirement income strategy rather than simply recommending a product?
[00:22:31] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it's the analysis that you do every day for clients. It's not about products. Right. Products are tools. It's like showing up on a job site going, I'm definitely using a hammer today.
Well, if there's no nails that you need to hammer in, what are you using that hammer for? It doesn't make any sense. Instead, you show up with A truck full of tools. And based on what the job ahead of you is, you pick the right tools and the right order and you, you know, you get the job done. So depending on what job is at hand, when a client sits down across from a financial advisor, that advisor needs to look at it and say, hey, we may need, we may need guaranteed income. We may need the hammer today or we may not. We may need something completely different today because these are what you laid out the goals to be. Right? You said in order for you to be okay, you need A, B and C. Here's what your financial solution situation looks like and here are the potential solutions or tools that we have in order to build, you know, build your ideal retirement.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Gotta love it. Thank, thank you, Alex. For this segment. I love your answers.
And next we'll turn to AI and technology and ask whether smarter tools will replace financial advice or make the human advisor even more important.
Foreign.
Welcome back. We're continuing with Alex Samoya, whose recent work has explored how AI and automation are changing financial planning and the roles of advisors in helping clients make complex decisions. AI can provide data in seconds, but financial confidence depends on more than processing power.
This segment explores where AI can improve research, due diligence, planning efficiency, and personalization, and where the machine logic may fall short when decisions involve emotions, financial dynamics, compelling priorities, or uncertainty.
Alex, where do you see AI creating the most immediate value in financial planning today?
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Great question.
And I'm, you know, I am, I use AI in all areas of my life and from fitness to preparation to organization, you know, I'm really utilizing the tool. And when it comes to financial planning, what I believe AI does really well is that it is able to be able to give you complex answers quickly, to be able to set the stage for further conversations. But that's where you need to really take pull that thread all the way through. It's not about asking a question, getting an answer and being like, that's the answer, right? Because AI has gotten better. But AI still hallucinates. Which hallucination is it gave you a bad answer. AI is also really trained to make you sound like you're the smartest person on the planet. When I type things into my AI, it's telling me back, like, great question. You're on. You know what you're talking about. And I really don't know what I'm talking about, which is why I'm asking it. So you got to be a little bit weary about, like, what you're getting. But I'll tell you where it Does a great job is that, you know, I read an article about free cash flow yield and why is free cash flow yield really important to finance, you know, to buying equities? Well, before, I would have had to have many conversations around like, what is it? Where do I get it? How do I get it? How do I buy it? Now you just plug it into, you know, you plug it into the, the whatever learning model you're using and it can print out. Here's what it is. Here are stocks that have it. These are the companies too. And then I could take that information to my financial advisor and have real conversations because my advisor knows my goals. And they could be like, that's interesting, but that's not applicable. Right. And that's where like people get. People need to really understand interesting information versus applicable information to your plan are two very different things.
Right. But it is fundamental in doing the research that you need to have that further conversation.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Yes. So use it as the tool it is. But understand that you still need the human touch in your answer, which is going into the next question.
What parts of the advisor's work are likely to become more automated and what parts become more valuable precisely because they are human?
[00:26:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Look, unless something fundamentally changes about just humans, right? Like the, the primordial need that humans have to be around other humans and break bread and share stories and sit around, unless something fundamentally changes about that, AI is never going to replace that. People do business with people, people trust people, and trust is something where you either have it or you don't. And you know it, right? You know it when you meet someone, you know it when you sit with somebody. And that will never be replaced. The human aspect of what we do cannot be replaced. What AI will be able to do really well for us, especially as it evolves, is, does my. Is my financial plan on pace to hit this number by this date? It does the math, right? It's really good at the math. But what it can't do is that when uncertainty hits markets or you're going through a situation within your family, it's not going to be there to hold your hand and talk to you about how things are going to be okay. It's not going to be there to keep you invested when you become most scared. It's not going to be there when you lose your spouse or when your kid goes to college, or when you're transitioning from work to life after work, or when you decide in retirement you're going to move from Pennsylvania to Florida and you have, you have no idea what those things are. But you know what your financial advisor does? They've gone through it many times through their clients. If I sat down with you, Dominic, and I said, I'm moving from New York from Long island to Florida, that's what I'm going to do. How many people have you talked to this year that have made that move? You are an expert in people moving from Long island to Florida.
I'm not going to ask the AI robot to tell me how to do that, but I would certainly ask you how to do that.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: At a minimum, in New York we have snowboard.
[00:28:49] Speaker B: At a minimum, right?
[00:28:51] Speaker A: At a minimum, half the year they go down there. So yes, we are planning for multi states heavily for people who live in New York that they're going to move south for at least half the year at some point. So I would definitely say at least 20 to 30% of my clients have moved at some point in my career.
But great answer.
So go and keep going. In the same logic and theories, Alex, what are the risks of one size fits all machine logic? When financial decisions depend on goals, behavior, family and context, there are two.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: There's a lot of risks, but there are two that come to mind immediately.
Number one is the fundamental question of why somebody seeks financial advice is am I going to be okay? That means something different for everyone.
For some people, wealth is an identity they grew up with that they can't, they can't lose. For other people, it was a goal that they've worked their entire lives together and it became part of their accomplishments. For other people, it's safety and secure. It's different for everyone. So a one size fits all can't fit. When everyone is so different with their goals and what and how they answer the question of will I be okay? Number one. Number two, it makes you lose trust in people. And you know why? We live in a world. I'm in Seattle right now, so the home of Starbucks. And you and I just spoke about this. You know what Starbucks did? They change the world. You know why?
Because coffee used to be Folgers in a cup, right? That used to be coffee. Now it's a specialized order made just for me. There are people who order coffee that no other person in America had that same order.
That is personalization.
So when you sit down with someone, they try to give you a cookie cutter, one size fits all. And you're now used to the. I personalize my drink to the literally amount of sugar crystals that go into it.
You lose trust in the person that gives you the one. And then all of a sudden, things start to break down. So there are a lot of fundamental problems with the one size fits all, but it's. Everyone's goals are different, and we now live in a world where personalization is the new norm.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: It's so funny you say that. I know we were talking about Starbucks a little earlier this morning on a conversation, but it's funny you say that. Do you know, I. I heard a stat last week that there's over a billion different combinations of how you could order in Starbucks.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: I believe it.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: If you're going to do that, if
[00:31:24] Speaker B: you're gonna do that, my wife has over a billion.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Right. If you can do that personalization for your drink, you should definitely have that kind of personalization for your financial plan.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: So I definitely love that.
Alex, could AI make financial advice more accessible while also making trust and judgment more important?
[00:31:46] Speaker B: It can. And there's a fear there. Right. Because again, more information, interesting information, is different than, like, is this appropriate, applicable information?
And what people are starting to do, me included. Right. Without even realizing it, is that you ask the robots first before you go to the meeting, and then what happens is that you already have an idea of the direction you want to take the meeting. And if you don't have that open dialogue with your trusted advisor, then what you're doing is you're trying to put up their answers to what the robot's answers are. And if they don't align, that creates a level of mistrust that is unnecessary.
Right. Instead, the better way to approach that is to set a plan of what it is that you're looking to accomplish and be forward with what it is. Here's what I'm searching. Here's what I've learned. Here's what AI has printed out. Bring. Come prepared with that. Give it to your advisor well in advance so they can understand what it is that you're thinking and what questions you're asking so that they could be prepared for. I think that right now there's the potential that it leads to less trust if the answers don't align. I think it can actually lead to more significant partnership in trust if you use that information proactively so that everyone is on the same page. They're called your trusted advisor for a reason.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: I couldn't agree more. That was a great answer. When somebody comes to me with what I perceive as an AI generated answer, I always ask the framework of the question they asked, because the framework of the question they asked can lean them towards an answer that is nowhere near the right answer for the question they wanted. And that usually when they see that I understand that, that definitively makes them think, okay, this guy understands me, he's listening to me.
So I love that answer, Alex.
And now the final of this session, which I love, is how should investors evaluate whether technology is actually improving their decision making rather than just giving them more information?
[00:33:58] Speaker B: If you're looking for me to go into a really deep answer on this, I don't have one because the answer is so simple.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: That's fine.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: Is it, is it making you make a decision?
More information doesn't necessarily lead to more decisions. As a matter of fact, what we find is that more information leads to less decisions because you all of a sudden you think you know what you're going to do and then you do a little bit more research and then you get bombarded with all these other options and now you're starting to think, well, I thought I was going to do this, but now maybe it's this and then maybe it's and then that. You know, they call it, what do they call going down the rabbit hole, right?
[00:34:40] Speaker A: Powerless by over analysis.
[00:34:43] Speaker B: That's exactly what it is, right? So like, is it, is it useful to help you make a better decision? If you make a better decision, but if all of a sudden you're making fewer decisions, then no, I'd say that the technology is not being helpful at all because it's preventing you from doing the fundamental thing you need to do to move forward, which is decide and take action.
Right? So like, if the technology allows you to take action and if that action aligns with your goals and if those actions are sanctioned with the collaboration of your trusted financial professional, then it's working. If not, maybe we need to reassess what we're doing. Maybe.
[00:35:19] Speaker A: Oh, you're 100, right? I love that.
And I'm sad that we're ending this session and we're going into the final segment next. But in our final segment will bring everything together around Wealth Intelligence itself. How people can make better decisions about retirement, legacy and long term financial confidence.
See you next session.
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Alex Samoya is a national sales manager with MassMutual strategic distributors focused on helping financial professionals navigate retirement income strategy, annuity solutions, changing client expectations and the evolution of financial advice.
Wealth intelligence is not simply knowing more. It is knowing which decisions matter, which trade offs are worth making and how to align financial tools with the life you actually want to fund.
The final segment connects retirement income, legacy planning, advisor relationships and financial confidence. It gives viewers a framework for thinking about wealth as a system rather than a collection of disconnected products.
Alex, thank you for today.
When you think about long term financial success, what separates a thoughtful retirement strategy from a collection of financial products?
[00:37:28] Speaker B: Right. And it really comes down to setting the stage at the very beginning of what your goals are and being specific. And you know, I grew up in single mom in Philadelphia, inner city Philadelphia.
We, you know, we didn't know, we didn't know what we didn't have. Right. It just, it was a very, it was a very humble upbringing. My wife similar, she grew up in central Pennsylvania, middle class family. We didn't grow up in wealth but we've worked up, we've worked hard in order to accumulate it. So I kind of half joke around about this with my financial advisor where they say to me, what are your goals? Like what are your financial goals? And I said I could boil it down to two things. Number one is, and by the way, let me preface this, we don't buy a lot of stuff. We're not like, we're more like let's go hiking in the woods, let's go kayaking.
That's how we spend our time.
So number one is I want to live life like I live in an all inclusive resort, meaning like I don't want to have to worry about purchases that I make. I don't buy a lot of stuff, but when I do, I don't want to have to worry about it. But more importantly, because I didn't come from wealth, I want to be the great grandfather of a billionaire.
Those are my two goals. So everything that we do going forward, I want to achieve those two goals. I want to be able to live my life where I can go around, you know, go around the world hiking through different wooded areas and mountains. And I'm setting up not just my children, but my grandchildren and great grandchildren with the opportunities and the resources that they can continue to follow a plan so that my great grandchildren or maybe my great great grandchildren at some point some generation are going to be billions of nurse. Those are my goals. So my advisor could give me a bunch of different financial products. But if they don't align to the goals I have laid out, then what is the point of having these products within my portfolio? Everything needs to align to my very specific goals. So because I say I want to live like it's an all inclusive resort to an extent, guaranteed income for me is an important component of that plan because I want things for the next two, three generations that legacy planning is really important for me. So I want. So. So I think that's a really long winded answer to say that everyone has goals that they want and a thoughtful financial plan is always addressing those goals at the center of everything that it does. And anything that doesn't align with those goals, what's the point?
[00:39:51] Speaker A: Actually, that answer wasn't long winded. That answer was amazing. I love that answer because the audience connects with stories, they don't connect with data. So you saying how your life is planning, somebody's going to connect with that and say, well that sounds like me. That's a good idea. Let me learn how to do that. So I absolutely love that answer. So my question is, you're hiking all these places. Did you go to Mount Rainier?
[00:40:16] Speaker B: Not yet. Not yet, but I very much want to.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: You gotta. I didn't go there either when I was there last week, but I figured. But I'm not a hiker so I figured maybe you did. You would go there while you were there.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: I would love to. And it's on my list of many things to do. Right now I'm taking my 7 year old on the Appalachian Trail. We live right near it and we're doing an overnight hike. He's going to learn real quick what it means to pack your own bag and you have to carry it for 13 miles on a trail.
[00:40:43] Speaker A: That's how you get good at life goals and life things. By learning about life.
That's right. Going into that. Which carries into this conversation, this question, how should couples and families talk about retirement income, longevity and legacy before crisis forces the conversation, which you sort of already alluded to this in your last answer. But let's go a little further.
[00:41:05] Speaker B: You know, it's like anything in life, you need to understand the plan of what happens when things don't go the way you think they're going to go.
We just did. We just did a cruise with the kids. We did a Disney cruise. They always wanted to do it, so we took them on one.
And before you go out, you have to go. Everyone get. The whole ship goes to their muster station. I think they're called and they go through, hey, here's what happens if the ship goes down. Why do they do that?
Because you don't want to learn about what happens when the ship goes down. As the ship's going down, that's like the worst time for you to learn what to do. So you need to sit down as a family to be able to prepare. One, align on goals. Two, align on the strategy. But three, I could tell you with certainty what you think is going to happen in the next 10 years probably is going to be a variant of what you think is going to happen in the next 10 years. Change is the only thing that's inevitable. So when something doesn't go as planned, what is the plan?
That's what. That's what families need to do, and that's what we really focus on as a family.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: I love that. And I was thinking about all the flights I do in a year, and you do more than I do.
I got to learn how to put a seatbelt on. Like, if I don't have to put a seatbelt on by now, I'm in trouble. But they got to do that every time you get on a flight. You can't leave the gate without them giving their spiel on safety. So I understand completely what you're saying. It's just preparing and making sure, God forbid, which I want to take off and I want to land wherever I'm going to.
So I do love that.
So, Alex, what does a strong advisor client relationship look like in an era when investors can access more information and technology than ever before?
[00:42:48] Speaker B: You speak for myself, and I think that this may resonate with a lot of people, but again, I've been in this industry, fortunate to be in this industry for over 25 years. I have access to so many tools and resources that could I create a financial plan. Probably right. But what I can't do is talk myself off a ledge.
I'm one of those people that once I get. Once I start to spiral, I spiral. And I need somebody to bring me back to reality. And I think a lot of us fall in that. And there's nothing more emotional than our money. Right. Because that's the resource you have to go do things. You've worked your whole life for it, rightfully so.
So when. When things don't go as planned and you start to get overly emotional and spiral, the relationship and trust you have with your financial advisor is what brings you back. I think of my financial advisor, although I think he'd probably like me to think of him Less this way. But he's like a therapist.
He's my friend. He's a collaborator, but really, he's the lifeguard. He's the lifeguard at the beach, right? He lets me swim where I need to swim, but if something goes wrong, he's the first one out there with that red noodle thing to get me out of the water.
[00:43:56] Speaker A: I absolutely love that answer. I think it was fantastic. And that's the biggest thing. People need that shoulder. Like, I learned a stat years ago. People would go into, like, no load funds. I think, oh, I'm not gonna pay a fee. And then they don't realize that, oh, my God, I gotta pay a fee.
And because they don't know how to invest, and they end up losing more money because they didn't pay a fee, because they get in and out of the market at the wrong time.
So I see that all the time in my career. So I love that answer.
Second to last question of the day, which I'm sad about because I'm loving this session.
What is one misconception about retirement income or annuities that you wish more investors
[00:44:40] Speaker B: would challenge, but they don't need it?
Before they even think about it, before they even analyze it, before they even talk to somebody, There's. And we've spoke about it many times, but there's a misconception that the word annuity is, like, it's not a good thing.
But there's so many different annuities out there, right? And nothing is a good thing if you buy, right? If I'm looking to go sail the ocean and I'm trying to do it in a car, that's not a good thing. Is a car a bad thing? No, it's just not good for what I'm trying to do. So, like, anytime a solution doesn't align to a goal, people go, that's not a good thing. And then they're not willing to try because so much publicity has been put around it. So what I would say when it comes to guaranteed income is, do you need it? I don't know. Right? Maybe, maybe not. But again, talking to your advisor could help you. An annuity, do you need it?
It's the analogy that we used before. It's a tool in a toolbox. I don't know if you need this tool. Show me the job we're trying to do, and I'll show you what the most appropriate tool could potentially be, and then let's see if it is right. And that's why you sit down with the financial advisor. But I wish more people would just be open minded and curious about options they have available to them as opposed to just blocking out all options because they read some article somewhere.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: Yes, and I, I love that and I address that all the time with, with potential clients and say, look, I'm here to help you and look at what's right for you, not what the talking heads on TV say might or not might or might not be right for you. And I address that all the time and I, I love when I can answer that because I want to help people out, I want to benefit them and I know you do too. And I'm loving this.
So perfect final question today. And I hate that because I'm loving these answers. If someone watching wants to improve the quality of their financial decisions this year, what would you encourage them to do first?
[00:46:41] Speaker B: Meet with someone, period. Meet with somebody who knows more about the topic than you.
Don't rely on research alone, don't rely on AI alone.
These are just ways to access information.
Meet with somebody that knows what they're doing. Have been doing this for a while, understand you and that's really what it comes down to. And you know, interview people because at the end of the day you want to be working with a trusted professional that truly gets you. Do you understand who I am and what my goals are? And you may need to interview two or three or four or ten people before you find that person, but once you do, then you need to be all in.
My wife jokes around that I never test the water. I either dive into the deep end or I don't get in the pool at all. There's no in between with me. Well, I, I think when it comes to this is that once you find your right person, dive in the deep end with them. They're there to help you. They're not going to let you sink.
[00:47:38] Speaker A: Got it. I love it.
Alex, before we close, how can we.
Sorry, I apologize. Can we start that part?
I'm going to do that again. Alex, before we close, how or where can our audience get more information about your work and the retirement income insights you share?
[00:48:04] Speaker B: 1. Through their financial professionals. We work directly with financial advisors across America in order to be able to help them understand solutions that we bring to market as well as, you know, for us personally as an organization. Right. We have our own, we have our own websites and there's a lot of things that we do.
For the last 175 years, we've been really focused on helping people secure their future, protect the ones they love. That's what we do. That's what we're focused on.
But whether you come directly to us or whether you go through a financial professional, you can get access to in what it is that we do and what we specialize in. But I would highly recommend you go directly to a financial professional and talk to them and see what we have to offer. But it's not just us, it's everyone in the industry. We are all band together as a group to try to make Americans lives better and we all do it a little bit different.
[00:48:58] Speaker A: I love it. Alex, thank you for joining us on Wealth Intelligence and helping us look at retirement income technology and wealth planning through a more strategic lens. And to our viewers, remember, building wealth is important but building real intelligence is knowing how to protect it, use it and align it with the life and legacy you want to create. I'm Dominic d' Andrea and this is Wealth Intelligence.
