All right. Hello everybody. It's Anne Duffy and welcome to Just DeW It podcast. I'm so happy you're with me today and I have a really. Great person for you, today, and she is a new friend but a fast friend she found us online and she joined. She dove into DeW and she is amazing and a real asset to Our community, because we are women, we have businesses, not only just our own business, but if we're working in a business or we're running the household business and we need to take care of our money. and let me tell you a little bit about her.
Anne: Here's her bio. My father was a financial advisor who introduced me to the impact proactive planning can have on people's lives at a very early age. At the same time, I also watched my mother struggle to make the right forward, focused decisions after divorce, which ultimately led her to a life of financial insecurity.
Forever moved by the sacrifices she made for us. I wanted to honor her by helping others avoid some of the mistakes she made. Now as a passionate financial professional myself, I strive to help others make sound financial decisions that expertly balance their priorities today and their future needs.
Fun fact, she has five dogs and. Lives 15 minutes from where she grew up. Please help me welcome Laurie Ingwersen. How are you today, Laurie? I
Laurie: Anne. I am great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Anne: Well, I'm excited to have you and in our community because as I was saying, we are all women making money, but not paying much attention to it.
And we've all seen, friends of ours, mothers, single moms, everybody out there that, Really doesn't take their financial, education seriously. we kinda leave it to the men. Um, and we have for years and years. Yeah. how did you get into this by the way?
Laurie: So I really started coming into the office with my, father at a young age and loved the atmosphere.
And when I was 14, his assistant went on maternity leave and he asked me if I would come in and answer phones and just kind of cover some light administrative work and, um. Loved it. And I knew from that point I really wanted to come into this industry and was fortunate enough to have a fantastic mentor in my father.
And you know, he's just always had that proactive planning mindset, My mindset is very similar. So I love that planning. Putting something on paper and seeing it actually come to life, it's very, very satisfying to me as well as helping people.
Anne: Yeah. Well, you were born into it and seems like it works beautifully with your gifts and your talents.
I've got a couple of questions for you. a lot of people know that my story was from riches to rags. So I mean, I mm-hmm.Tom and I were married. He was, a great corporate guy. we were doing really well until he started his own business.
And so I do have a little bit of insecurity around money. Mm-hmm. really right when I'm asking you these questions today. Yeah. So, you work with clients. Navigating major life transitions. Mm-hmm.Retirement, divorce, even emotional challenges around money.
How do you help people feel confident and cared for during those big changes?
Laurie: Yeah. and you know, I will just say that any of these transitions can be extremely stressful. I mean, retirement, while it sounds like, oh, I've been just waiting to retire, it's such a major life transition where you're going from accumulating assets to now spending those assets.
Mm-hmm. It can be very stressful to change that mindset, and so a big part of my job is just to listen. Understand what are the areas that are causing stress, in my client's lives, and how can we help relieve that stress? And a lot of times it's just putting together a plan, that takes a look. Okay.
Where are they today? What are their goals? And do they have the resources they need in order to, navigate their retirement and stay retired rather than have to go back to work? Right? Yeah. Nobody wants to outlive their assets and so making sure. that we have that plan in place. And then, when it comes to women, and you mentioned this in the beginning, a lot of times women tend to not as much anymore, but for, you know,earlier generations mm-hmm.
Tend to not be the financial leader in their relationship. Mm-hmm. Um, and then all of a sudden they have to step up to that plate, whether it's because they were divorced or. maybe they're a widow now. and that also is very stressful time as well. And so just really listening, being that sounding board and helping them make those financial decisions that are so important, is, you know, one of, I think my most important roles As a woman, we really do face that wage gap. A lot of times we're taken out of the workforce for caring for um,child. We're caring for parents. And so we're really starting from a different baseline, than men a lot of times. And so we have to catch up with our savings for retirement and our planning.
And so, all of those. Different, situations can really impact you not only financially, but emotionalemotionally. And so making sure we, you know, kind of tying all of that together. So you're comfortable with, the plan that we're putting in place.
Anne: That is so real for me right now because of my age. Right. And so I just destroyed my sister, just retired. Turned 65, got married. And she's had a financial planner. She's always, she just got married for the first time, so she's Oh, wow. Had to manage her own money all these years. Mm-hmm. And you're right, as far as the wage gap goes, but she's done very well.
And her financial planner, what she did is what you're talking about. Honestly, Laurie. Mm-hmm. Shegave her the confidence Yes. That she can retire. Mm-hmm.This is a good time to retire. Mm-hmm.What to do with a certain assets, how to buy the car. Do you cash or do you put it on loan? How are you gonna mm-hmm.
Be able to, afford your house payment. Mm-hmm. If you live to be. I mean, now what is it Laurie? I mean, is it 95? Is it how, yeah. How far do you plan out for people?
Laurie: well, it depends on family history, but at a minimum we are planning to the mid nineties. Yeah. and so if you retire at the age of 65, you could be in retirement for 30 years and that's a real long time.
And you know, we need to make sure that when we are looking at different spending goals that we're including cost of living adjustments on that. and so, you know, if you retire today, 20 years from now, you probably need twice the amount, right? Yeah. To, to spend. and, you know, we wanna make sure that we're not only just factoring in your basic living expenses, but we wanna have, uh, fun retirement, right?
What are all those kind of right and dreams that you have? So we wanna incorporate that, whether it's traveling around the world, if it's a vacation home, if it's helping grandchildren with college education funding. There's so many different goals and it's so personal. and that's why we really have to take the time to understand what are your goals?
What is your desire?
Anne: Yeah. And just having an expert. I just think it's so cool to be able to have an expert, all you ladies that are listening to this podcast, to have an expert that's female that's kind of lived it. Like you talked about your mom. You've seen that. Yeah. You know, you,you've obviously got the chops for financial advising, but youunderstand the mindset, the emotional mm-hmm.
part of it because the. Friend I had when I was at her wedding, it was really funny because her other friend had just retired. Mm-hmm. And she and her husband had a really great business, but she was kind of freaking out that that check didn't come in at the end of the month. Yes. Because it's like, it's one thing when you're spending money and you know that check comes in, but then all of a sudden when nothing is flowing into the bank account.
Yes. Yes.Other than, you know,interest and all that kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. You definitely need an expert because we Ladies, we're experts in our lane. Mm-hmm. But you can't be good at everything that, that's right. And I think it's so important to, you know, not think that this is the luxury.
you know, you just need a financial coach. Mm-hmm. And I feel like that's really, What you do provide is, you know mm-hmm. Also, like, how do you set that stuff up? Yeah. I've heard. Yes. Also, Laurie, like, we know the mergers and acquisitions, and I hate to say it, but they will buy a practice that it's a shell of the practice they thought they were buying.
Laurie: Yes. And that's,
Anne: you know, you probably have to deal with the loss there. Mm-hmm. And it's a big mm-hmm. what do you do when you see surprises? I mean, I guess it's, great that you can hold their hand through it, but Yeah.
Laurie: life definitely throws you surprises and whatever the plan that we put together is, it's a snapshot of where they are today and it's gonna constantly change.
So we really call it a living document. So it changes as your life changes and it needs to be updated on a consistent basis. Right. Um, I would prefer that we're planning for retirement 20 years. Ahead of retirement. Right.'cause the earlier you plan the better. Yeah. That's not always realistic. And so sometimes people come to me a couple of years outta retirement or I've even had people come to me and say, I wanna retire right now.
Can I do it? and so, with the changes that could happen, if they unfortunately did fall into, bad deal, or they could retire. The market could be volatile and have some negative volatility, and how does that affect them? so all of those things happen. So it's really important that the plan is adapting as life is adapting, and then we can make changes to that.
And because we're projecting so far out into the future, we can really get a good idea if we were to have some sort of a fluctuation. How is that gonna affect them 10, 20 years from now? So what are some small changes that they could make today to improve that result?
Anne: earlier I remember the first call we had together that relationships were so important to you.
Mm-hmm. And so it's not like somebody retires and they give you your portfolio and you say, okay, this is how it's gonna go. I mean, you probably have have to go a lot of funerals because you stick with people until they're no longer able to, you know, live on this earthly, and then how do you distribute that and mm-hmm.
I, I didn't ever think about that as just such mm-hmm. Arelational ship. Business. It, it is.
Laurie: Yeah. It is. I mean, we have had clients, my father has had clients for 40 years. I've had clients, well I'm going on my 26th year. Wow. So I've had clients for like 25 years. And you're right, you do.
See them through all different stages of life. and we also strive to have relationships with the next generations too. So in some cases I've got the grandparents down to the grandchildren, and so, you know, it's really nice and you're a part of their lives. Yeah,on, on a consistent basis because we are very proactive, so we're in touch, on a regular basis because we wanna know if something has changed in their lives.
and that of course, that we're there and we're thinking of them and other things that change are, you know, for example, you know, risk tolerance. So somebody retires and maybe they, have more appetite for growth in the beginning or as they're leading up to retirement, they want more growth.
Exposure in their portfolio. And then as they're retired, they wanna have less volatility, they wanna have some more consistent returns. And so helping them understand, okay, what you want emotionally versus what you need to take as far, risk is very important. And that's gonna be different from the grandparent to the grandchild, right?
Yeah. And also when somebody's headed into retirement, I would think, you know, as a, yeah.If they're a professional in the dental world I think the last thing they wanna do when they're in retirement is researching stocks and investments and, you know, should that be what's in my portfolio? So really relying, on the financial professional to do that, I think is very important because just like, I'm not gonna go pull my own tooth.
I would think, you know, you would go to a financial professional to do their due diligence in the research and to build the portfolio so you're not spending your precious time, bogged down and,things that could make you more anxious. Right. And so there's so much information out there, it's sometimes hard to make those decisions.
And so that's where we come in too. Making sure we're up to date on all of their life changes, understanding how their portfolio should align with that. And then also, some strategic tax mitigation strategies, wealth protection strategies, charitable strategies. All of those things are really important to align all together, in the plan.
it's fantastic to, really get to know so many different types of personalities and really get to know their family and, and their values.
Anne: Yeah. And the businesses that they run and the profitability. Yeah. I mean, there's so many things you're like that call, you're the person that they call mm-hmm.
If something happens and even in the market and I think the big part is the peace of mind you're giving people. Mm-hmm. I don't even know, you said tax mitigation, so. Oh yeah.What I know. Tax savings.
Laurie: Tax savings. I would say, what aresome ways to defer taxes?
Anne: Yeah. So I have never had anybody talk to me about that.
Laurie: So tell me a little bit. because that's so cool. Absolutely. So while you're, in your working years, of course, that would be contributing to IRA accounts 401k accounts. if you're a business owner, you can establish of course, retirement plans for your business.
Depending on your income, but there are ways that you could defer over a hundred thousand, a couple hundred thousand dollars a year of income through setting up. It's a defined pension plan or a cash balance plan. So we actually do that for our dental clients, a lot in the cases that they are looking to defer that income.
They have, high cashflow coming in and they don't need to. Spend all of that. So, that's kind of the question that we hear a lot. How can I save in taxes? I'm paying too much in taxes. And so that's one way during the accumulation phase or what we would say your working year is when you're saving, when you're retired, there are various strategies.
Have you ever heard of a Roth IRA conversion? Mm-hmm. Yep. So that's one. It's funny because when you implement the Roth conversion strategy, you have to pay taxes in the year you do that. So it seems like, well, that's counterintuitive. I'm paying more taxes now. But the goal of that is to reduce, a future requirement that you'll have from the IRA.
You'll have to take a minimum amount out of the IRA later on, and when you have Significant amount of money in the IRA accounts that can result in a very high income stream, passive income stream in retirement and in a lot of cases more than they were making, right? So while their earning years, all of a sudden they've gotta take out a couple hundred thousand dollars of IRA distributions.
And so that Roth conversion, the idea is you convert the traditional IRA asset. Assets to the Roth I a assets, it reduces those required minimum distributions out in your, eighties and nineties. Which then creates a domino effect when you have to take those high withdrawals.
'cause it could potentially increase your Medicare premiums too. So, Oh yeah, it all is, All works together in that sense. And then you're also passing at the end, you'll pass more tax free assets onto your beneficiaries. So that's a couple of different strategies. Another one is, um. Call the qualified charitable distribution.
So we have a lot of clients that are charitably inclined and once they reach 70 and a half, when they start taking, withdrawals from the IRA account, if you make those charitable contributions directly from your IRA, that will go against your required minimum distribution. So let's just kind of keep it simple.
Math view, donate a hundred dollars. From your IRA account to the charity, it goes directly to your required minimum distribution, and then you don't pay any income tax on that withdrawal. Wow. Okay. So yeah, so it's a real impactful way to benefit the charities that you know, you're holding near and dear, but also then reduce your tax bill.
So I say you can do good and do well at the same time, right? Mm-hmm. So, those are a few strategies that we are looking at for all of our clients and making sure that we're making recommendations around that.
Anne: That is great to hear. We have the go do good fun at the retreat and so hopeful for you all listening.
We'll have you make sure you listen to this podcast. Yeah. Because again, I mean so many things that we don't know. Yeah. We don't know about these things and like I have a good accountant and I accountant is not the way to go. You think you having a good accountant that's different. Mm-hmm. Tell the distance between mm-hmm. An accountant and a financial
Laurie: advisor. And a financial advisor? Well, so depending on the accountant, 'cause I don't wanna lump everybody in one pool. But, I have found in my career that CPAs and accountants tend to be a little more transactional.
And what I mean by that is they are constantly chasing deadlines through no fault of their own. It's just that the way the nature of it is.And so they are just kind of doing these returns and they may. Pick out, oh, hey, you didn't make an IRA, contribution. Make sure you do that, which is a small deduction that they're getting from that, but more of the planning.
I think that working with a certified financial planner is very beneficial. So working, with the planner and the accountant together is even better. So I really like a team approach. I like to work with the CPAs. I like to work with the estate planning attorneys, and that way we can put a plan together and see how that itdirectly affects that.
Person's return or estate plan and then implementing it on our end. So we'll make this Roth IRA, conversion recommendation, and then I'll bring the CPA in on a meeting so we can directly show how it impacts their income and their taxes over their lifetime. And then they tell us how does that impact their taxes in this next tax year, So how much more they would have to pay, And then help us kind of, understand the thresholds that we're trying to, um,stay within. But I think with the financial planner in the title, it is a little bit more planning wise.
Anne: Mm-hmm. Well, I love it. It sounds like you're the quarterback, you know?
That's right. you need somebody that's going to likeset the paceand then set the plan. Because again, I just remember my sister was always just, she knew exactlywhat she could do when she was gonna retire, and she was so happy to retire. Yes. And she's not nervous about anything.
knows exactly the lifestyle that she can live and she's. Gonna live it. she's been waiting for this for a long time, but she's had a financial planner for, gosh, as long as I can remember. And I'm really proud of her because my husband's always taking care of that kind of stuff. Yes.
And I'm, I'm trying to get more into itand it's never too early to start, Some of our dues are starting their own business. They don't have a paycheck necessarily coming in. Yeah, but that shouldn't deter them from reaching out to you or to a financial planner.
No, because you don't need to have a boatload of money to start. Right. but you gotta have, that's a planon how to have. At least enough money for you to like, we say dos don't retire, but we don't mean that you're gonna work the grind. Yes. We mean you're gonna do things that you love because That's right.
You want to not because That's right. You need to. Yeah. So tell us, is there a certain amount that you need to have in the bank before they can work with you? for
Laurie: planning purposes, no. I am always happy to meet with people and, and like you said earlier, the better.
I, even with my clients for their children that are graduating college, I always recommend have them meet with me. We will put together a plan. It's gonna be a very simple plan at that point, but it's very motivational as well. Right. And so, just seeing how a little bit of savings every month, how impactful that can be later on, I think, sets a fire under people, right?
And it's like, well if I can only save a hundred dollars a month or a thousand dollars a month or whatever it may be, it goes a long way to meeting your goals. So, the earlier the better. And, for some of the planning, a higher income stream is probably required, or, you know, Some larger assets under management would definitely be required. But there's always strategies that we can at least recommend that will give you an edge what you said was something about can you afford to retire?
Yeah. Right. And you know, a lot of people come into the office and that is really their first question. Can I afford to retire? I wanna stop working. And then when we run the plan and we show them, you know, you can. Certainly afford to stop working right now. A lot of them say, well, you know what, I don't wanna stop working.
I actually like what I'm doing and now that I know I don't have to work, ah, it makes Boeing to work so much more enjoyable. And I have had this happen to me several times this week, and this happens a lot. And this.is one of the better parts of my job when I tell people that they could spend more than they plant.
Yeah. Right. So many people spend, years and years saving and kind of scrimping and, oh no, we shouldn't do that. We're gonna do that later. And then they've accumulated so much assetsit's hard almost to change that mindset. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. Now I can go on that vacation or I can book that, or I could.
Fly business class, right? Yeah. I mean, we've had to tell that to clients. They were going to Australia and I said, how are you flying? And they said, economy. And I said. You can afford to fly business, please, you know, splurge a fall on yourself. That's such a long flight.So we will certainly tell people if they're spending too much, which is not a fun part of my job, but I will do it because it is required.
But I also really enjoy telling people, you know what, you can spoil yourself a little bit because I'd rather you spend the money that you've spent your whole life saving. Rather than somebody else, because somebody else will spend that very easily that didn't earn it.
Anne: Wow. You know, that is so cool because I can just see them on the flight in business class going, yeah, this is so cool.
And they're not, ifif you hadn't told 'em that, Laurie, they'd be like, I don't know if we should have done this. You know what I'm saying? Yes. That is the mindset of guilt, having wealth and, knowledge is power. Yes. I should say knowledge is power. And the other thing that struck me is like if you're a college student and you've got a plan, anybody, even if you go through the plan and you see what your goals are, you may not go to Starbucks every week.
Yes. Or every day on the way into the office, you may think, well, maybe I, I will save that. cause I have a goal of saving so much a month. Yeah. And that's gonna diminish that amount. Absolutely. What are you willing to give up, or even
Laurie: just illustrating, you know, if you took that money you were spending in Starbucks and you saved that every day and you got a 7% rate of return over the next 20 years, Those are the questions I actually love answering. And love, you know, showing people whether it's, you know, my client's kids, my own kids, or my friend's kids. I mean, I get out my calculator all the time just to illustrate that, and it, it really is just like, huh. That's significant, you know, $6 a day on that Starbucks coffee, and then it will be a lot of money later on.
So, yeah, love those kind of educational meetings. And I think that it's really a good way to give back. and support women and women supporting women and,when I first looked at the website for due and, you know, everything was about empowering women. And I said, you know, it's just so important that we do that.
We have to support each other. We have to lift each other up, whether it's through here or other financial advisors that are just starting in the industry. I really love to mentor young women in the industry. 'cause there's not a lot of us still, we're very underrepresented. Yeah. it's a definitely a passion of mine to make sure that we can share that all together because.
There's so much room for success out there, right? Everybody should be able to be a cheerleader for everyone's success.
Anne: I love that so much. even what you said about taking the kids on as a favor for the parents. I mean, yeah. I know that you have built these long-term relationships and where your clients refer you and your friends.
Yeah. And I, I mean, if you had to pick, what is the secret sauce for how you've built Your book. Yeah. Becauseknow, you, yeah. You came in with your dad, but you're building your book of business.
Laurie: That's right. Yeah. I would say that it is showing up consistently. Being very proactive and.
I bring it back to the beginning, listening and actually listening. and remembering the important things that are going on in their lives. And it's not just about, okay, what did the s and p 500 do? what's going on in their lives that's affecting them. And just showing up for them when needed.
Right. And so I think that, we have a real sense of loyalty with our clients, and clients become friends, and friends become clients. So, it's a, I just think such a wonderful business. I think, as a, maybe a woman that didn't have exposure to it, it might feel intimidating to get into this industry.
But it's really. A lot about relationships. And, long-term relationships. So I think that is the key. And, being able to tell my clients that they could fly business class and, you know, they're probably telling their friends, well, my advisor told me that I could do that. And Oh, who's your advisor?
Andyou know, I think that's where we'll come up in a conversation and we'll get those referrals. 'cause most of my referrals do come from my clients, which is a really, validating feeling.
Anne: Yeah. that doesn't surprise me. And that is a real testament to who you are and who you have been all this time and, and in the future.
Yeah. I think there's maybe a lot of, dental professionals that are listening to this podcast right now that are saying, you know, what do I need to do to get into this business? Because it's, yeah, when you talked about that, honestly, it is. Kind of a feminine leadership business.
Because we love relationships. Women typically Yes.Are really into that. and they listen. They wanna know about the families and all of that is really important mm-hmm. In theplanning for the future. I'm so thrilled to know you. I'm so thrilled to welcome you to our Community of Dental Entrepreneur Woman.
How do anyone listening here find you? And you're gonna be at the retreat in November, so I'm gonna be at
Laurie: the retreat. I'm very. Excited. Excited. Yeah, absolutely.You're gonna have to pick
Anne: Laurie's brain. I love it when she come. Don't,overwhelm her ladies. We're just gonna welcome her.
But it's gonna,questions will be coming up from all sorts of things, but how do we get in touch with you, Laurie?
Laurie: Well, you can get in touch with me via email. I am on LinkedIn, or you can reach out to me directly on the phone. any way that. That works. if you go onto the website, which I think will probably be linked to this podcast.
It'll be in
Anne: show notes,
Laurie:
Anne: but what is it? Just what is it? In case they wanna write it down right now. What's your website?
Laurie: So it's, allworth, A-L-L-W-O-R-T-H financial.com/r-team/laurie Engerson. Yeah. But if you just Google me and Allworth it will come up And then on that page there's actually a link to schedule a meeting with me.
Anne: That's pretty cool. Yeah. Well, I'm so, I make
Laurie: it easy.
Anne: Yeah, you do Make it easy. Well, I,I, the other question I have is you had the five dogs and when I first had the Zoom call call, you were at a beach house.Did you go to the beach house? Yes. With all the dogs in the car? Yes.
Laurie: Okay. I stick them in the back. They all have harnesses and they're kind of all attached in, but they're pros at it. They know as soon as I bring out the harnesses, they just know they're going to the beach house. So they get excited. But yeah, they range in each from 14 to my grand dog, who is two and a half they're definitely all different breeds and looks. Butyeah, we're kind of crazy about our dogs.
Anne: I love it. Well, we've got a lot of dog lovers in our community as well, and just, you're so cool. I just loved having you on the podcast today. Thank you. Looking forward.
It's been such a pleasure. I appreciate it. Oh, you're welcome, and we're looking forward to seeing you in November. Ladies, if you're listening on November 13th through the 15th in Charlotte, North Carolina, we have our. seventh annual retreat. I can't keep track now, but we wanna welcome all of you.
We don't care what you do. If you're a woman, youand you have a toe dipped in dentistry, you are welcome to come and sit at our table and we hope that you will stay through dessert and check it out on DW life. And, we will be happy to share any information for you about that.
And. All of you listening, remember, the most important thing is to keep doing you. Thank you so much, Laurie. I'll see you on the road and for sure. Thank you. I'll see you in November.
Laurie: Absolutely. Thanks so much.
