In this Retire Happy Hour episode, host Brad Smith interviews Freddie Garcia, a Certified Financial Planner and fiduciary at Left Brain Wealth Management in Naperville, IL. Freddie, with 25 years of experience, explains why retirement planning is crucial and outlines two primary retiree profiles: those who have sufficient savings and those who do not. He emphasizes the need to assess whether a retiree’s portfolio can cover their annual expenses and discusses how goals beyond basic income—such as leaving a legacy or traveling—require growth‑oriented strategies. Left Brain’s niche is helping clients pursue additional wealth through individual stocks and bonds that have the potential to double in a few years, while warning against meme‑stock or crypto hype. Freddie identifies common retiree mistakes, including assuming an advisor covers all needs, neglecting the growth component, and chasing high‑risk quick‑gain investments. He concludes by encouraging listeners that it’s never too late to improve their retirement plan and that seeking expert help is one of the best steps they can take.
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Hi, I'm Brad Smith. I'm your host today for the Retire Happy Hour, and I hope that you'll stay with us now for the next half hour. We're going to be having some of our advisors in our network of independent financial advisors whose focus is on retirement just sharing some of their thoughts from their experiences and answering the questions that we have for them as well. You know, retirement is a huge topic these days. It's a very fluid issue, and it's something that it's, it's hard to stay up with. And so we're so thankful these people have come by. 10,000 baby boomers a day are retiring. Huge subject. We know this program is going to be a help to you. Please stay tuned. Hi, and welcome back to the Retire Happy Hour. I'm your host, Brad Smith. Our next guest is Freddie Garcia. Freddie is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois, west of Chicago, and is an expert in the field of retirement and He is a fiduciary. Freddie of Left Brain Wealth Management is a Certified Financial Planner. I love the name of that company, Left Brain.
Well, thank you, Brad, and thank you for having me today.
We appreciate you coming out and taking some time from your schedule to be a part of our program, and I know our viewers also will appreciate you sharing some of your experiences and just what you've learned over the years. How long have you been in the business?
So I have been doing this about 25 years now.
Okay.
Sometimes I have to pause a little bit to think about it, but yeah, about 25 years.
Yeah, it's adding up, isn't it?
Yeah, it sure is.
Congratulations, that's a quarter of a century.
Yes.
Well, we have a couple of questions that we want to ask you today, and so let's just go ahead and get started on that.
Okay.
This one is pretty general, but it's this: Why is retirement planning important?
Well, Brad, it's the premise of what I do. I've been an advisor for 25 years, and a lot of that focus has been retirement planning, right? And when it comes to retirement planning, it's important to understand there's two types of people when it comes to retirement planning. This is why it's so important. The two types are the people who have enough money for retirement or are in retirement and have enough money, and then there's a type that don't. Okay, those are the two types, and the people that we work with are both. But if we start off with the people who do have enough in retirement or already are in retirement and have enough, it's important for them to find out if they're that person because sometimes you don't know. And this is something you can't do later on. You can't back the clock, you know, back and find out where you fall. So for those people, the way we work with them, we ask them, you know, you have enough money saved up? The numbers show this is your expenses per year. If it's, say, a random number of, say, $50,000, you have $1 million saved up, you can safely draw out $50,000. You'll have enough money if your goal is to just have enough. But what if your goal is to go above and beyond that and maybe leave wealth behind, travel, add additions? Everyone has different goals.
Yes.
What if we hit a recessionary period or inflationary period that we're in now and you need—
the numbers change.
The numbers change, exactly. So for that person, you know, we would ask them, all right, we've got this amount covered, what else is it you're looking for? And with our firm, that's really where we specialize is If you're trying to get more than just the income, we want to make sure that gets covered first. Are you looking for anything in excess? And that's where we have to focus on the growth. Now, let's go to the other scenario for the person who doesn't have enough or is going to run out of money.
Tougher conversation.
Tougher conversation. But again, that's part of the planning part. You have to ask that because you cannot backtrack anymore, right? You know, you can't save for retirement in retirement. So now that person needs to ask, well, what am I doing now? How much will I have? Again, same person. Say they have $1 million or on track to have $1 million, but their spending amount is $100,000, $150,000, or $200,000, which is very feasible depending on how much they're making, that's not going to be enough money. They can draw income from that, it's not going to happen. So something else needs to happen. It's like, here's your stream of income, this is your steady stream, it won't cover the essential expenses, which means you're going to need that added component, you may need growth. And again, that's where our firm specializes. At Left Brain Management, we really focus on the wealth management part. We can help you making sure the needs are covered, the fixed, and getting some of those prime essentials, but what about the people who want to actually grow wealth? So we specialize in individual investments, stocks, individual bonds, and some of these people are gonna have to look at adding those types of investments in order to get to their needs. You know, one of our coin phrases, we specialize in looking at stocks that have the potential to double in 2 to 3 years. Is it a guarantee? No. But these are investments that we can all look at, and they're not the, you know, necessarily these, what they call the meme stocks or these—
Bright and shiny.
Yeah. You can actually get there with sound planning, buying companies that people use every day. And this is all part of the planning process. And that's really kind of our niche at Left Brain is looking at— we help you grow that additional wealth that you may be looking for or need. Some people want it and some people just need it.
And now I understand Left Brain. That was good. That was good. And that is a— that's a great niche or niche to be in. I've heard it pronounced both ways. I'm not sure which is right, but we're communicating anyway. Great answer. Let's go to the second question. What are some of the biggest mistakes retirees make?
Well, it ties into what I was saying earlier as far as the planning process. A lot of times people assume if they're working with an advisor, that's enough, and it may not be. If they need that added growth component, maybe that advisor's provided the income component, but now they need the growth. They have to ask ask, "Am I working with someone who can specialize in that area as well?" Or if they're focusing on someone who's giving them growth but not the income component, they have to go back and ask them, "Do I have that covered?" Not all advisors specialize in everything. Everyone has their niche. And again, I don't claim to be an expert on everything. My focus and, and, and left brain has always been on the growth side, looking at those individual stocks and bonds. So if that is what you're looking for, you should ask your advisor, "What is it you're providing?" And many people just assume if I have an advisor, they've got it covered. Not necessarily true. The other part that we're seeing a lot now is that people assume they have to get those investments that can double, you know, within a week or two. There's a great commercial right now, and I won't say what we're talking about, but it talks, and specifically they say the person invested in the latest craze right now, you know, those crypto-type currencies, and they're like, "Oh, I'm a millionaire. Oh, no, I'm not. I am. I'm not." And they assume that's the only way to get there. That's not the case at all. You can invest in sound companies that can get you to that added level of growth without having to take those extreme risks. And at Left Brain, we like to educate investors like that. Some people assume, "If I don't know anything about the stock market, I shouldn't be invested in it." No, that's not true. Go to someone who does.
Right, right. Wow, you are bringing up some, some great points to ponder, and I really appreciate the fact that you've come to be with us today, because I'm sure there are people viewing now who say, you know, that's the kind of an emphasis I need to find somebody in my area, at the very least, who can, who can help guide me through something like that. That was exceptional.
I really appreciate your time today.
I appreciate the opportunity. Is there anything else you'd like to cap us off with in reference to your practice or your passion or anything like that?
Well, I want to tell everyone out there it's never too late. Even if you are, you know, do have some money saved up, you're in retirement, you're getting near retirement, if you feel that you can't do anything, that's not necessarily true. Doing something is better than not doing anything at all.
That's great.
And finding expert help is one of the best things that somebody can do for themselves.
Wow. Well, you heard it here from Freddie. That was good. And we have some more advisors coming in in just a moment, so please stay right where you are.
