How to Retire Happy

Planning ahead for retirement or looking to invest in the real estate market? Talk to a Certified Real Estate Wealth Agent and see how they can help you invest wisely and get more profit from real estate.

If you would like to be able to retire sooner and not worry if you have enough money, learn more at HowToRetireHappy.com.

Interviewer: Thank you for joining us at BrokerIPTV. I am here today with Mark Eibner and Jeff Sibel, CFP- a Certified Financial Planner. So, tell me a little bit about what makes your real estate financial planning practice so different?

Jeff Sibel: Well, I'm a real estate based financial planner, so I show people how to retire early with less money invested and essentially no financial planner out there does that. So that's what makes me special.

Interviewer: Great.

Mark Eibner: Yeah, I am a real estate broker, I've been practicing for 27 years and I have always been intrigued by the financial service or financial planning part of real estate and how it can be; it can really bring an integral part in peoples' lives, you can be a big part of their lives.

Interviewer: Oh, so tell me what is a Certified Real Estate Wealth Agent?

Jeff Sibel: A Certified Real Estate Wealth Agent is a real estate agent that basically helps their clients accomplish their goals by using a financial planner, in every step of their lives. So it could be buying or selling their first home, buying and selling investment property or buying and selling real estate inside their IRA or 401K.

Interviewer: So Mark, how does this apply to real estate brokers and what makes them so successful?

Mark Eibner: Well I think that being a certified real estate wealth agent can bring a lot to the table for a real estate broker. First of all, it is going to allow the broker to be involved in, let's just say a multi-transactional lifestyle over the course of the consumer. Most agents today are just used to really kind of sell them a house, sell a condo, and you wait five to seven more years before you do anything else.

A lot of our agents are actually working with certified financial planners such as Jeff and helping people look at the fact that their IRAs or 401Ks or Roth's- any of these products out there can actually hold real estate inside them as far as the financial tool. Real estate has a lot of very good potential; some of the best potential out there has been used by kings and queens for thousands of years as far as real retirement.

Interviewer: Now Jeff I heard Mark say earlier that only about 2% of all Americans over the age of 65 actually retire financially independent, can you tell me about that?

Jeff Sibel: Yeah, it's tragic, most people they don't even know they are investing the wrong way, they don't have clearly defined investment goals and essentially, they just think they will be able to retire someday.

So the first problem is, they can never save their way to retirement. The second problem is they live off their assets from the assets that they have saved up to be able to retire and unfortunately most cases they live too long and outlive their money.

So real estate is different, when you buy real estate you buy enough real estate that will provide the income you need and then you live off that income. Whereas, traditional investors unfortunately live off the principal of their investments and that's the tragedy.

Interviewer: So Mark, what can wealth agents do that really has an impact on people's lives?

Mark Eibner: Well kind of playing off those numbers that you mentioned there with Jeff.

We've got a trademark model that we are working with 75, 65, 23, 2. So if you look at those numbers 75% of the people today over the age of 65 in America today right now basically are dependent on government charity, family or church to survive until death. Another 23% are going to have to be greeters at Wal-Mart. So 23% of the richest nation on the earth would have to work from now from 65 till death or disability.

Only 2% if you don't count any type of government assistance are actually financially viable, financially free- they actually wake up with a mailbox check. And sadly that minimum number to even get in that window is about $45,000 a year. So a lot of people have got to ask themselves, based on what you are making right now for an income of $45,000 that's sort of the bottom threshold of that wealthy 2%.

So when we are working with agents out there, I think the biggest thing is for somebody to just retire with that number, $50,000 a year, let's say in income; it amounts at least in Denver, Colorado to about $700,000 worth of real estate. So $700,000 worth of real estate in a family's retirement portfolio is somewhere around $20,000 to $25,000 in commissions.

Interviewer: So, what allows Certified Real Estate Wealth Agents to earn so much more than the national average?

Jeff Sibel: Well, I think what we have done is incorporated some of the tactics and techniques that financial planners have used throughout the years. As far as really looking at the whole holistic part of the consumer; helping people save, helping people invest, and really taking a look at what's available to them on the outside world. Most people, another statistic is the average American spends less than two hours in their life time on their financial plan. Two hours.

Interviewer: Wow!

Mark Eibner: Yeah most people just go to work to get a 401K, some guy comes in, gives him an employee thing- here take this, buy some mutual funds- that's the extent of their financial planning, pretty sad.

Interviewer: It is...

Jeff Sibel: It's tragic.

Interviewer: So Jeff, I understand you're published author, tell me a little about that?

Jeff Sibel: Yes, well thank you, I have basically three publications that can be found on my website. It's the 15 Minute Retirement Planning Guide, The 21 Worst Retirement Planning Mistakes and Mark and I go over that with people everyday just avoiding one of those mistakes can change peoples' lives. And then I also have The Real Estate Retirement IRA Planning Guide and that's for people to understand how to buy real estate inside their IRAs, 401Ks and pension plans. It's pretty good stuff.

Interviewer: Definitely.

Mark Eibner: Yeah and I love The 15 Minute Retirement Plan, it's a great piece. We do drop-bys with clients all the time and that's the main piece we use to have people look at. "Wow, what can we do with real estate?" "What am I doing now with my existing financial products?" etcetera. So really, in a half hour appointment, it opens up the door to many other financial options for that real estate broker and the family.

Jeff Sibel: See and what I do is with that 15 Minute Retirement Plan, what Mark is saying is, they dial in on the fact that they will not be able to retire; they will be poorer than 98%- if they don't change what they need to do. So if they change what they do that's when things change for their lives, and for their children's lives and they can leave a legacy.

Interviewer: Great, Jeff I heard off camera that you are speaking at the 2012 Colorado Association of Realtors?

Jeff Sibel: Yeah I am very proud of that. I'm going to be able to pay it forward to thousands of realtors to be able to understand how to retire happy and how to show their clients how to retire happy. So it's pretty exciting, very exciting.

Interviewer: Definitely, so Jeff where do we get on to get more information on this?

Jeff Sibel: Yes, all you have to do to go is go to HowToRetireHappy.com- that's HowToRetireHappy.com- and essentially they can get the three books and then sign up for more information.

Interviewer: Wonderful, thank you for joining us on BrokerIPTV. For more real estate related videos, please feel free to go online to Broker IPTV.