Retirement is a Marathon

Hello and welcome to Mr. Stillman's opus John Stover joined this week by good friend Crystal lease in the electric city, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Well technically what Doug Moore, Chris Dunmore is where I actually live over my my practice is located but not many folks know about Dunmore are so right next door at stone's throw away Scranton and everybody knows all Scranton, especially with the popularity of the sitcom the office till that's where that's where that is basalt yeah I just tell folks from outside the area that I'm I'm from Scranton and they know exactly where it is, by the way, we have some sort of affirmative action thing where every year we have to have one Notre Dame fan and one Dolphins fan on the podcast as I wanted to just knock both of those out in one interview okay I'm not talking Irish/dolphin fit exactly the main reason I want to talk with you even though you bring it often seems very important is that your marathon runner and I know you've been able to draw a lot of analogies between training and planning for marathon in planning for retirement. In fact, you write a book about it right. That's right has published back in 2011 to 2012 at the time flies by the is called retirement is a marathon not a Sprint debate Ashley talks about how you could get to the finish line of retirement successfully and so the thing that I think is is fun to think about is when you're getting ready to do a marathon.

If you've never done it before and I've never run more than 4 miles in my life not cumulative total but at one time I met and so for people who haven't trained for marathon for it. It's not just the training right it's not just going out and and running every day or every other day or whatever you want to be there is a lot of planning that actually has to go into it right, exactly, usually for for most folks that that want to run a marathon.

It will take anywhere from six months to a year of a carefully laid out and written training plan that takes into account how many runs will do each week.

What are the distances of each of those runs.

What is the purpose of each run some of your rhymes are filled with just easy days where you're running at a relaxed in a conversational pace. Some of your rhymes are filled with what are called speed work where you are, you're running faster than the normal summary runs are long runs were going out there for 10 or 12 or 18 or 20 miles and you try to simulate the maritime so it's it's not just a matter of just going out and running and thinking you'll be ready. You have to have a plan in place that thinks about all the different physiological aspects of the human body and Houck, best traded to prepare you for success during that race you. What about the nutritional aspect of it that's that's a huge part of his well II always a kind of talk about the human body, especially when you're training for eight and endurance event like a marathon and it's it's like your automobile you know the you got the better gasoline you put into it. The higher the grade.

The more efficient that the car is going to rhyme in the same holds true for for your body that the better nutrition.the better food that you put into your body more efficient.

Your body will perform during that race and then certainly you know the night before the marathon. I guess you doing the carb loading all that right there. I am out of the night before, but generally for about a week before the maritime you do want to carbo load because of the body burns cards a lot more efficiently that it burns fats so you want to have the feel good supply of of carbohydrates in your system so your your your body is burning that it it it will give you the best chance of success come race day. I've been doing a carbo load for the last 15 years.

I just haven't run a marathon yet, and by the way you run, how many I've run I it's it's it's thermoset almost lost, I think I met 68 now, my goodness, but it's it's in the high 60s so that I need at what age did you start, how many year are we talking yes my first one I wrote my first in 1993. So that's 23 years. So yeah about about three a year is is what I try to average just some years I've only ran one is been a couple years that I ran 6085 read over average exceed about the 2 to 3 year. So when you have a marathon on the horizon at how far in advance of that marathon. The start of a pretty regimented really planned out training schedule will for myself job because I been doing it for so many years, and for so long I almost feel like I perpetually training for maritime you could.

I generally will do at least one of the spring in one of the fall. So for me it's it's a year-round that I'm in training mode if you will. You want but once I get. Let's say three months away from race day, then the training will become that much more focused.

But in my book and women were talking here what I'm talking about laying out a marathon planner how important the planning aspect is over a period of 6 to 12 months, but it's really for the year for the first time for the novice marathoner yeah and so so many analogies that we can draw thereto. Retirement planning and as I was saying a lot of people think that training for marathon is just going out and running every day and then suddenly you're ready to run a marathon when in reality there's a lot of planning that needs to go into it will. Same thing with retirement right you can't just go out and save and invest for many years and suddenly get to age 65 or 68 or whatever it isn't is a boom ready to retire is not that it a writer. We we wish would be that simple for Meg. We don't wish to be that simple because you know guys like us. What would be able to enjoy our profession is as a career were actually the help so many people on but it's not that easy. You know you do have to put a lot of thought yet to have a lot of planning together of how do you turn these investments that you have accumulated over the last 20 or 30 or 40 years of your life how you turn these investments into income that will last you for the rest of your life and that that's one of the big challenges to job is when you think about it when you are saving for retirement. A lot of times people have a fixed goal in mind a fixed age in mind. So let's say you're 35 right now you want to retire at 65 will you can save yourself okay I have 30 years now to save for retirement so that kind of manageable because you have a fixed number to shoot for.

But once you get into retirement at what say 65 and now you need to make sure that your money last for the rest of your life will we now have an unknown how long is the rest of your life and we don't know how long it's going to last. And that's one of the things that makes planning for retirement. Such a challenge is just that unknown of how long this money needs to last for that's where the marathon component comes in. The note is the subtitle of the book is retirement is a marathon not a sprint. So many people. I feel like because they don't have that plan. They get into the early years of retirement and they're just going to fast. You can't go on it all out sprint the first couple miles of the marathon the same thing with retirement right are you IND.

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make is that they number one are taking too much risk with their portfolio with their investments during retirement number two the spending way too much in the first couple years of retirement and that's a mistake or as a potential mistake again because we don't know how long were going to live if you're spending twice as much. As you should be or three times as much, as you should be in the early years that may be okay for those early years but it eventually will catch up with you where you look back at some point say all I made a mistake. I spent too much.

Now I have nothing left in the same thing happens with with marathon runners, John especially with inexperience marathon runners where they'll go out in the first couple miles of that race and they feel good race. They have all the energy of the crowds helping them and are so excited that this is the first marathon they finally got to the starting line they trained for months and I were ready to go. I feel great, and they start out and they run a lot faster than the capable lodges because they feel so good and that may not catch up with them for the first two or 3 miles, or even maybe the first eight or 9 miles. But if you go a lot faster than your capable. It is going to catch up.

I can almost guarantee it's good to catch up at some point, usually around mile 15 or 18 or 20 or then you just feel like you have nothing left and that's were false things we talk about hitting the wall where they have no energy left and they it's almost like a death march that were there to stop running and they're just walking now that even walking becomes a struggle. So, it happened so often in marathons were people start out too fast and the same thing that happened in your retirement if you start out too fast it it will eventually catch up with you and Ed could room your whole plan.

I take it you've never done that come out again to fast even in your early marathons actually my first few marathons. I was because I read all the books and did all the right training I was very very cautious with it where it came back to hurt me.

Later I was your experience provide me with overconfidence in which Stegall got it done so many times now I good.maybe I could get away with it. You're going out to fast and never works for because I have had those marathons. John where I am reduced to the head that death markets just like all man are never just give it to the finish line and I will never do it again, but they always forget about how bad he feels and I sign up for it again so many different retirements analogies.

We can draw from marathon training.

Maybe that's why your so successful as an advisor.

Chris you've run those marathons over the years and in the even if you're not drawing a clear distinction when you're talking with your clients about retirement planning and marathon claiming you have that in the back your head in the dyskinesia helps you with the overall planning process right right III tend to be a patient person because training for marathon running a marathon. There's really no instant gratification have to trust in the months of training that it will help you be successful, race day, and it always has worked out for me. Thankfully, for the most part it's the same thing with with retirement planning.

Everybody wants to hit a homerun. Everybody wants to have that magical stock that you know returns 50% in one year.

You just hit a homerun in. We know from experience that those happen just very, very, very infrequently. While it's more exciting to get a 50% return in one year. I would rather just consistently get four or five or 6%, year after year after year without the big's ups and downs. I rather have it just slow and steady wins the race, are those back about the classic tortoise and the hare analogy just steady Eddie as it goes is the best way to be successful in and in marathon running and it's also the best way to be successful in retirement planning in the book is retirement is a marathon not a sprint. Crisco leases the president of fortune financial group glad to talk with you buddy. It's my pleasure and not I do get these requester areas on a lot of podcasts and I'll send you you're right you're right. Token Tar Heel and Panther fan that I will do my interview with. I appreciate the essence of the precedents that absolutely give a good talking with you will do it all again very soon.

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