Yahoo Finance

Welcome to Warrior Money. The show devoted to supporting our brother and sister veterans of business. I'm Patrick Murphy, and I'm Dan Kons. Today's guest is a certified financial planner with over 24 years in the financial industry. As a senior portfolio manager and shareholder at FBB Capital Partners, she specializes in guiding families.High net worth individuals and foundations toward their financial goals. But prior to joining FPB, she spent 12 years at Tw Swab and Company. Additionally, she's a military spouse. Married to a retired Marine Corps colonel, please welcome Maggie Keating. Maggie, welcome to the word money.

Thank you. Good afternoon.

All right, Maggie, we do. Our first question from the thing is bluff. Bottom line up front. I read your phenomenal piece for MOA, the Military Officers Association of America piece about why certain seniors should wait to take Social Security till they're age 67. Why is that important?

Well, if you take it earlier than 67, 67 is, uh, for most birth years, um, um, you're full, considered your full retirement age, and that's when you get, um, the best benefit. Uh, if you take it before then, you get a reduced benefit, and that will be reduced permanently, uh, for the for your entire lifespan. And so if you take it at 67 or even beyond, then you're guarantee of 67 through 70, you're guaranteeing yourself more money, uh, for every year that you can wait.

Yeah, I listen, I, I learned a lot from Rena. I, I've read it on your LinkedIn, uh, and you know what Dan and I talk about is, you know, plan your work and work your plan. And so when he talks about, you know, financial advice, go to someone like you who's a financial advisor, uh, and not someone who's just trying to day trade, but like, you know, having a plan. I had no idea that if you wait till, you know, a lot of people take it at $62 that if you wait till 67, you can go from like $2000 a month to $2500 a month, uh, you know, that's another over $50,000 in your pocket. So that was pretty, pretty remarkable.

Yeah, it's it's a it's a marked difference for sure. Yeah,

in our in our intros we talked about you being a military spouse and you're a retired colonel, retired colonel for a husband. How how long did he serve for and and what what was his what was his service like?

Uh, he was in for 27 years, so, uh, we got married when, um, he was, uh, on the Oso of out of Baltimore, and he always jokes that he couldn't recruit me, so he married me. Um, and, uh,

good decision.

And um we uh moved out to San Diego. I worked for Schwab at the time, as you saw, he was an artillery officer, so we went through Oklahoma and um.I, I don't think the business model would work today, but I was employed the whole time by Schwab. I was able to transfer to the Oklahoma City office, to Carlsbad, California, to the Monterey office when he was Crommel Valley actually, when he was at Naval Postgraduate school. So we were, um, I was very fortunate

that way. Yeah, you are. We we talk a lot about military spouses right now in the.Challenges that they face with transferability of their jobs and like their skill sets and to be a nurse in one place and to be a teacher in another place is very, very difficult. So when you were as a military spouse and you were working through raising two beautiful kids and having a husband that worked that was in the military for 27 years, how did you find yourself relevant and how did you find yourself a purpose within the work that you were trying to do?

Um, uh, as I said, I, I was very fortunate to be able to transfer from office to office, and because of, um,It it I actually ended up working with some of the same people in various offices through my swab career in different parts of the country, which was, you know, one of those crazy small world things, but um.I just continual, uh, probably one of the pieces and pieces I picked up from the military, the continual lifelong learning and, um, and I was able to get, uh, additional licenses as I went along and, and became, you know, I not only got my series 8 with I'm a series 7, which I came into swab with, but, um, my series 8, which was a managerial thing and, um, made me.Uh, a more integral part of, um, Schwab and then got my certified financial planning certification and, um, moved me into Schwab private client. And, um, so all of those pieces kept, kept increasing my, my skill set and, um, therefore, my, my transferability, uh, factor as I went along in my career.

Maggie talked about transferability and, and that's incredibly important, especially because every 34 years, we, we in the military, we have like a PCS, a permit changes station. Um, how about, you know, I, I read an article on your FPB site about the fact that if you have a 401k plan and, and if you have a bunch of them, how you can potentially consolidate them, is that some of the things that you offer to some of your clients?

Absolutely, yeah, to, um, be able to harness those, um, past employer plans that you can put them together, cause it's the law of big numbers. You have, you know, first of all, it's easier to track your investments when they're all together and you're, um, and able to keep them growing. And then later on, when, um, you're mandated to take distributions from it, to be able to haveEverything in one place, that just makes it that much easier for you to make sure that you've taken the amount you're supposed to take. And, um, and, and also evaluating if it's a good time to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth is another thing that when you have everything together and, and visibility of, um, all your accounts in one place or in one account makes it that much easier to do the modeling.

Yeah, I was, uh, I was really close to my grandfather and he passed away about 8 years ago. And as he was, uh, as, as he was, as he was getting closer and closer to passing away, he was an Army veteran, by the way. So this, this is an appropriate commentary, appropriate like, uh, uh, he had money in so many different places that it was hard to know where his money was, especially as he was starting to lose his wherewithal, especially as he was starting to lose his understanding of where of where he was going.And I, I feel very strongly about our protections for elders and our protections for elders kind of financial abuse, essentially. And I know that there's some red flags and in my grandpa's case, it was like he didn't always know where his money was and then he added advisors that gave him a very conflicting opinions. So I'd love to hear what you think about some of the red flags in that area and how some of your advice can support them.

Uh as in regard to the elderly

specifically. Yeah, yeah, kind of how that, how, how, how good advice and how good support can help them through, through their, their maturation.

Yeah, well, you know, we, we are very concerned, you know, a lot of our clients are elderly, you know, they come to us as they're retiring, um, so it's something that we discuss often as a firm and, you know, one of the things we do when, when they're retaining us is we have them sign a trusted contact agreement. So we have either a family member or a friend that we can reach out to if we're concerned, you know, we see a difference in their spending or a difference in um.In in just their understanding of, um, when we have conversations with them about their money. Uh, so that's one thing. Um, we also make sure that we're having regular ongoing conversations with them so we can get a gauge of, of how plugged in they are with their finances, um, if they start taking, um,You know, unusual deposits, we always make sure that we check in and we try to meet with them in person so that we get a real feel of um how they're doing.

Yeah, and, and I, I, that's important because especially because when you look at, you were from Pennsylvania, right? And it's one of the oldest states in the country, but when you look at how seniors are prided upon, especially when you look at cybersecurity, right, the digital information is incredibly important and how they could be abused with a, with a click of the wrong link on an email or text they might get.

Yeah, we also just take extra steps, you know, if there's a money transfer, you know, uh, you know, 10,000 or above, we make sure we call them, you know, even if it's something that's going to the bank we have on file just because of these, you know, so many online scams these days and, you know, all people, but especially seniors being vulnerable to phishing.Attacks and, you know, really any kind of, um, incidents online. We want to make sure that, you know, anything they've done online is truly them. So, you know, we try to take that extra step to make sure that, um, everything's aboveboard.

Yeah, you know, part of the part of the discipline that's required to be what we think to be good investors also requires you to follow a strategy.And with all the with all the noise in the news these days, I, I really am interested in your perspective on like, how, how do veterans, uh, how, how can veterans best benefit from investment decisions? How does their strategic decision making help support them as good investors?And how do they find their way through that, through through the noise? Well,

I think you probably have to go back to your training, right? Where it's like the rigorous um training and, and non-emotional decision making. And, and I think you're right, it, it is a lot of noise and focusing on the, the long battle plan and to, you know, so to speak, and, and look at the why you bought the companies in the first place and to focus on, um,He did that plan, you know, and part of our role as financial planners is developing a strategy, not just picking investments. So, you know, we make sure that, you know, we're developing a risk tolerance, you know, or communicating a risk tolerance with clients that they're comfortable with whatever level of um volatility in the market, you know, that they're participating in as far as um whatUm, how much the exposure they have to stocks, and then that they have an emergency fund for, um, cash investments so that when we have volatility in the market, they know that they don't have to dip into that in the next few months, that they have money set aside. And I think that all that's.because then they can focus on, you know, we've experienced volatility like this in the past. We know we have good fundamentally strong companies. We meet with our clients routinely and, and get a gauge of how comfortable they are with the investments we hold and make adjustments, you know, we're making adjustments, you know, throughout the year. So, you know, when, when times like this happen,You know, it's not fun for anybody, but I think we're a positioned well to weather itout.

Yeah, personal finance is truly personal. So it's for what for what works for one person may not work for the other person. It's really, really about trust and truth. So.

Yep, and you got to plan your work, you got to work your plan, and then especially where if it's the markets, you got to be stoic and and not try to be a day trader and leave it to experts like yourself. So listen, Maggie, we're going to take a quick break. We're right back, more with Maggie Keating in just a second.Welcome back to Wor Money. We're joined by Maggie Keating. Maggie, before we, we took the break, we're talking about, obviously, you know, planning your work, working your plan. Um, we talked about Social Security earlier and Social Security, for people who forget, it was the most effective anti-poverty initiative in American history, right? But that's the baseline of taking care of folks. We talked about 401ks, etc. How do you counsel youngTroopers, young military families, right, that, that may be transitioning out, may still be in, uh, and every year there's about 200,000 that transition out of active service. How they could better leverage things like the GI bill, the VA home loans, what are some of those strategies you might give to them?

Well, I, I mean, I, I think.Um, they definitely have to take advantage of all of that, you know, the, um, the VA home loan is great because it really allows them to, uh, get in a home without having to uhYou know, save as much of a down payment, so it gives them a lot more flexibility than their private sector here. The GEI bill will allow them to increase their skill set in a very cost effective way. So all of those they need to be taking advantage of. One of the most important things I think that they need to do is realize their biggest asset is time as far as saving.Investing, um, participating in whatever money they can save, um, you know, I know a lot of times money's really tight, but whatever money they can put aside, um, for the, the long term, um, investments is a great strategy for them as well. Just because, you know, even the fact that they don't have to put a substantial of a down payment down doesn't mean, as we all know, that there's, um,Expenses that don't come along with owning a home, uh, that they need to be prepared for. So I think it's looking at their financial situation and making sure that they're prepared, you know, with all the traditional things we have to worry about the um emergency fund, but, but leveraging um those additional um benefits that they've earned with their service is, is definitely something we discussed.

Yeah,it's, it's interesting. I, I bought my house on the VA loan.And, uh, one of the things that I was warned is that it's not going to be an easy process or like, hey, like, I'm not sure that the the the the sellers are gonna want to sell you a house if you're using the VA home loan. I could, I found that to be completely the inaccurate story based on a misconception of things that were like 2020 or 30 years past. So I think it's, it's really important to know not only how you can use the VA home loan for your personal residence, but how you can use it as a wealth, a wealth generation tool. Can you talk a little bit a bit more about how you can leverage those things?

Well, one of the things that I think is really interesting in, in many, in some cases, the VA loan is assumable. So if you were lucky enough to lock into the mortgage rates a few years ago, um, and are wanting to sell your home, you can potentiallyUm, have your loan be assumable. So what that would mean is the buyer would need to potentially come up with more money, but then they could, you know, essentially inherit this very low interest rate. And so that's an asset that you can I'm not sure I've utilize to your benefit. Yeah,

I'm not, I haven't heard that's the first time I'm hearing that one. So talk a little bit if you don't mind talking a little bit. That's the first time I've ever heard that. Would you, would you share a little bit more about that if you can?

Yeah, so, um,For example, uh, my husband and I saw this, uh, condo that was, uh, for, for sale, not too far from us, and the mortgage rate on it was 2%. And that was assumable. Uh, the, the realtor was trying to discourage everyone from trying to take this because the process was longer, to your point, you know, the same, same information you got. But, um,What you would have to do is come up with the, with the, the financial difference between what they, they owed on that loan. So, it, it's a more, it could be a more substantial down payment, but for someone who's in that position, then to have this loan at a really, really attractive mortgage is, is something to consider.

Yeah, and obviously 2% historic low and, and, you know, homes are, are one of the greatest, uh, generators of, of someone's private wealth. Yeah. So, uh, how about as far as diversification, right? You know, I, I try to tell young folks, you know, like, oh, I'm going to invest in crypto. It's like, hey, like, you know, make sure you have something that that's pretty aggressive, but there's other things you can do. You know, what are some of the things, uh, younger folks should be thinking about?

Right. I, I think, you know, you're right. The crypto seems to be the draw for, for the younger people, for sure. But I think, um, some of the tried and true investments, and it doesn't have to be something that takes a lot of time, um, or energy, they can utilize, um, passive.Strategies of index funds that have worked so successfully over the years, you know, like, even, you know, um, as is evidenced in the military retirement fund, the TSP uses index funds. Um, uh, you can use exchange traded funds orUm, mutual funds, but what you want to do is make sure that whatever fund has a low internal fee, and you can um get funds that mirror the S&P 500, which is the largest 500 companies in the US, and just, um, use a strategy of dollar cost averaging, which essentially means you justPut a little bit in at a time. And most of these mutual funds allow you to put in as little as a, you know, initial investment of $500 or less, and then you can put subsequent investments of $100. And so if you get in the habit of putting monthly investments in,Um, you're buying more shares when the market's slower and you're buying less when it's higher, but over time studies have shown that you're getting a better price and it's just a great disciplined way to get in the market and you're instantly diversified because you're buying a variety of companies. They, as I said, the 500 largest US companies.

Yeah, discipline is the habits of the things that we repeatedly do, right? So discipline and habits are the things that we create ourselves around.And what I, what I've heard you consistently say in this conversation is like, even if you don't have any money or even if you're just starting, get into the habit of saving a little bit of money, trying to figure out how to automate that savings out of it because if you're 1820, 24, and you're making a little bit of money, hopefully by the time you're 44, you'll be making more of the money and you'll be figuring out how over time to save a larger percentage of your, well, probably the same percentage of your salary, but a larger percentage of money over time in the first place.

Right, when you're in your higher earning years, but also that, you know, when you're 1820, your biggest asset then is time. You have this much longer runway of savings and studies have shown too that if you're able to start earlier, even ifYou, you know, say you started at 20 and stopped at 40, you would probably have more money by the time you're 65 than someone who starts at 40 and puts in more money along the way, just because you are participating in the market for that much longer.

Yeah, it goes to the point of like.Discipline is more important than motivation. When you make a ton of money, you're gonna be motivated. I mean it doesn't

work that way. It doesn't work. I, I meet too many people that make too much money that have never figured out the discipline habit of just putting money away and they just continue to spend.Just the same way they did when they didn't have any money. So it's hard to do that.

Yeah, it's that lifestyle elevation they make more money, they spend more. Yeah,

that's right. Yeah.

So I know you have, you have two kids, uh, you have a Jack, I have a Jack and I have a Maggie as well. Um, when you, when you think about your career, you know, you met your husband, he's in Marine Corps, you are, you know, Radford University.Um, did you ever think you're gonna go in the financial planning, you know, back then, and, and what was some of the things you look back on with, with the sense of pride?

Um, I was always interested in the stock market. So the fact that I ended up here, um, was not a surprise to me, but I'm really proud of the more holistic approach through financial planning. I think that's more valuable. Um, I'm really proud of, I'm reallySerendipity that I met Susan Bolton, who was the founder of one of the founders of FBB and was able to land here because uh this company has uh been, you know, being able to become a partner and shareholder in this company and um seeing its growth has been life changing, really, and it's umUh, you know, I've been a privilege to be a part of it.

Yeah, um, and, and I love the fact that you talked about, you know, when, when you were in San Diego and then you're in Oklahoma, etc. because, as we said earlier, 24% of current military spouses are unemployed.Uh, and, and it, it breaks my heart because most American families are dual-income families. So when you have military families, you know, who are, you know, struggling to get by because, you know, these are spouses, 8%, by the way, are women who are, you know, looking for work and a lot

of very talented

spouses.All right, so before we let you go, we do a warrior Q and A at the end of a second. It is uh it's not to be scary. It's my, my favorite, my favorite question. we've talked a lot about this during this call is like, what is the money advice that you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?

Probably to, you know, buy what you know. I, I mean, I look at things like, um, when my kids came home and said, you know, everyone's getting Netflix or, you know, um, when Tesla first came out to uh research it and buy those kind of things, like when, uh, you know, they were becoming the trend if you look at Apple, um, I remember I set up a trade and I didn't do it in 1990.8 to buy Amazon, and we were getting ready to buy a house, so I didn't do it because I read an article about it was the every CEO's favorite website. So like when when you see these little things, um, pay attention.

Uh, what was your favorite part of being a military spouse for almost 30 years?

The camaraderie for sure, you know, the, the pride, the camaraderie, it was just a lot of fun to have that common bond and um meeting people, traveling, all ofit.

And what was the hardest part about being a military spouse for almost 30 years?

When he was deployed.

And how did you get through those days?

Oh, you know, just uh a lot of hanging out with friends and uh.

Cultivating your friends. There you go. I got you I got you. Well, thank you so much for, thank you so much for answering our questions. Thanks for being with us today. Yeah,

thanks for you and your family have done. We, we appreciate you and thanks for joining us on Money. All right, that's our show. So listen, subscribe and review Warrior Money wherever you get your podcast or find us on Yahoo Finance. I'm Patrick Murphy and

I'mDan Coons. We'll see you again next week.

This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.