In this Veterans Day episode of the One of a Kind Financial Show, host Mike Milligan, joined by consumer advocate Gary Nolan, delivers a heartfelt tribute to U.S. military veterans and outlines a five‑part financial planning framework tailored to their unique needs. The conversation weaves personal anecdotes about growing up near Fort Bragg and living in Norfolk, a city adjacent to the world’s largest naval base, with practical advice on tax planning (service‑connected tax‑free income, Roth conversions, RMD avoidance), retirement income gap analysis, investment management, VA long‑term care and healthcare benefits, and legacy planning that emphasizes preserving veterans’ stories through wills, trusts, and family communication. The hosts also highlight two veteran‑focused charities—Folds of Honor and the Wounded Warrior Project—and provide a call‑to‑action with a phone number and text keyword for listeners to schedule consultations. The episode concludes with a compliance disclaimer clarifying that Mike Milligan is a CFP and investment advisor representative of Advisory Alpha LLC, and that the content is for informational purposes only. The overall tone is conversational, appreciative, and promotional, aiming to empower veterans and their families to secure financial stability and honor their service.
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Welcome to the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily with your host, Mike Milligan. It is Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11th, here in the United States. I am so blessed to live in a country that's free because of the sacrifices of those still living who served our country. It is amazing that in my everyday walk, I see it because as I travel so much, I'm a United 1K passenger. In the pre-boarding process, I see it over and over and over again. They ask for those who are, who cannot, who need extra time getting down the runway to go on first. They then ask our current active duty military to go second. And I think, you know, that is so humbling because I see that. But then when I'm in Norfolk, I, as I'm walking around, I see the Navy hats, I see the Marine hats. And so the One of a Kind Financial Show just wants to say thank you. And as part of our thanks, we're not giving away a free lunch like Golden Corral or a free haircut like Supercuts or free donuts like Krispy Kreme, but I can do only what I can do best. And that's give some financial planning tips around taxes, retirement income, investments, long-term care, and legacy. So enjoy this segment from the One of a Kind Financial Show.
Welcome back to the show. This is the One of a Kind Financial Show. I'm Gary Noling, your consumer advocate. Back with us to help you take charge of your money is Mike Milligan. Mike has helped hundreds of clients achieve their financial retirement goals. Been doing it for quite a while, over 25 years experience in retirement planning business. And Mike is also a fiduciary. We talk about how important that is. Very important distinction when you're looking for a financial advisor. We're gonna talk about veterans. Veterans Day right around the corner, Mike. Uh, what do you think?
Well, you know, veterans, uh, are a big part of the community in Norfolk, Virginia, and even out in Texas where our radio show is. Uh, you know, uh, I, I have a totally different perspective, Gary, on veterans now. as the father of a lieutenant in the Navy than I did. I had an appreciation for veterans, those people who served in the military. I mean, I grew up, I was born in the '70s in a town that's about 25, 30 miles away from what used to be Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina. So the Army—
Oh, sure. Yep.
Was ever-present. And then I moved to Norfolk, Virginia. where the world's largest naval base is right at our door. And so we see midshipmen and we see those that are really taking care of us right in front of that. And so again, veterans, the Navy, Gary, just celebrated 250 years. I saw that. Yep. And on November 10th, the Marines will celebrate their— hurrah— will celebrate their 250 years. Many of our listeners, Gary, are veterans. They served in the military, and we just want to say thank you and kind of talk to them about how the one-of-a-kind financial plan and each individual element can work with that. So if you're okay with it, Gary, before we do that though, I want to remind veterans of something really cool. You know what happens on Veterans Day for veterans, Gary?
They get a lot of free stuff, which they should.
A ton of free stuff. And so, like, for instance, you could run— like, they can go to Krispy Kreme, and I think Krispy Kreme's giving away a free donut or a free dozen, right? Gold— the Golden Corral, free dinner for the veterans, right?
Yes.
You get a free haircut here, you can get a free car wash there, folks. And trust me, veterans know this, by the way. They, they could spend the whole day just collecting, right?
That's what my brother does. Yeah, my brother's a veteran. That's exactly what he does, Mike. He spends the whole day getting the freebies. Good for him, because he's earned it, you know that?
They do earn it, right? Whether they spent one tour or 20 years, the time away from home overseas that they miss. I mean, there's a lot of veterans who miss a child's, maybe a birth of a child, or they miss the first step, or they miss time with a spouse. Life is not necessarily always easy in the military. It's not always hard, as some of the veterans remind me, because there's a lot of shore duty in there. But boy, when they're caught up, it's not good. I think one of the things that, on top of the free things, I'd like to just talk about the 5 components of the financial plan and how some of those apply to veterans. And so, Gary, if you're okay, we'll talk about tax planning first.
Yeah.
So veterans, if they have a Service Connect benefit, there's a lot of advantages if you get 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% Service Connect because it's tax-free income. as part of your retirement. Well earned and well deserved. But what a lot of veterans miss is that chance to get reevaluated, either by working with a veterans organization like the American Legion or a VFO. So going and having, being reevaluated for veterans, you're leaving some money and some added benefits on the table. From a tax planning standpoint, everybody would love tax-free income. But one of the things that veterans may miss and those in their family is that Things that are key to tax planning is doing Roth conversion analysis, even this time of the year, looking at not missing required minimum distributions, and then making sure that you're paying the right amount of tax that you can during that time. So the one-of-a-kind financial plan addresses tax planning, and we love doing that for veterans. The next part is that retirement income piece, Gary, right? And so veterans obviously if they retired from the military, could have a military pension and that others, but veterans today still have a gap in retirement income. And a lot of that gap can be filled by savings that they have in place. In a retirement income analysis, I mean, there's always gaps that occur where inflation or life expenses have taken away at their expense. And one of the things that veterans, if you're looking for an analysis, you can reach out to us and we'll do a retirement income a retirement income gap analysis for you and see if there's any way to increase your income.
All right. Let me just remind everybody, the show is The One of a Kind Financial Show with Mike Milligan. I'm Gary Nolan, your consumer advocate. Let's give you the phone number. Get on the calendar, 800-748-1838, 800-748-1838, or text the word ideas to 600-700. All right. Pick up where you left off, Mike.
Yeah.
So on the—
so we talked about 2 elements of the one-of-a-kind financial plan and how they help veterans. That's taxes and retirement income. We're going to talk about the other 3 elements and how they specifically apply to veterans and their families is on the income side, the investment management. Veterans get free or discounted things all around where they are for their service, like going to Hardee's and get a discounted drink. They're going to go Veterans Day and get a lot of other free stuff. What veterans miss a lot of time is your savings are no different than somebody who retired as a federal employee or a teacher.
Right.
You still need really good investment management services at your doorstep. And a lot of people will overlook this because they have guaranteed income coming from their military service or others, but actually looking within your investment portfolio to see if there is growth opportunities or legacy opportunities in that fund. And so one of the benefits, the next component of the one-of-a-kind financial plan is long-term care.
VA benefits.
The healthcare benefits, I know they get like a black eye sometimes for wait. But when a veteran, I know a lot of VA doctors, VA doctors care deeply about veterans. That's why they're there. And so the VA long-term care system is also in place to provide long-term care assistance for veterans when they need it the most. But then guys, the last piece of the one-of-a-kind financial plan is legacy. This is where I get torn up on veterans, Gary.
Yeah.
is because they have stories. And a lot of the stories are stories they don't want to tell because of what they've seen in their life.
Absolutely, Mike. Without question.
And those stories are historical things for many of us who've never experienced war and been there, but they're real life. They're still in their dreams. They're still in the thoughts of our veterans. And veterans, you guys deserve all the help you can to help you when it comes to living a normal life, as normal as you can live. But one of the things I do know is that your story has meaning and your legacy, right, that, you know, hopefully would be to tell stories where you're comfortable about what you experienced to help us avoid many of those travesties again. Because people who forget, right, people who forget negative things that happened in the past are going to repeat them over and over again. So guys, your legacy as a veteran is if you can, is to not only put a will and trust in place, but remind your family of what you've been through and what your story has been. And so veterans from the One of a Kind Financial Show, we just want to say we thank you for your service because we see you. You are our neighbors. You are, you are the people who help us, like our small business owners. And you, you open restaurants that we in our community— and so a lot of people are going to say thank you by giving you free things. But we just want to, we just want to tell our listeners, we see you. And if you're a veteran, we appreciate you. And if you need us, we're here for you.
Yeah. Let's give the phone number, 800-748-1838. 800-748-1838. A salute to my brother and my late dad. Uh, my both were Marines and, uh, that phone number is 800-748-1838 or text the word IDEAS to 600-700.
Again, thank you for listening to the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily. Veterans Day has an even more special place in my heart now as my son is a Lieutenant In the United States Navy. We don't— growing up in Laurinburg, North Carolina, which is right near Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, and seeing the brave men and women of the Army living as my neighbors, many of those veterans there, I didn't realize how important they were to our country when I was growing up. But I understand now. You know, as I've been in Norfolk for the last 25 years, I've seen veterans firsthand. I've seen them suffering on the streets. I've seen them struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. Working with people who are clients of mine at the Veterans Hospital, I see the care that they give to those who have paid the ultimate, you know, paid the price with their health for our freedom. And so this is even more prevalent now that my son is going to be a career member of the US Navy. And so on top, thank you is just sometimes not enough for what you have done. And so to those who are able, I want to point out 2 charities that I believe, that my wife and I support, but I believe are very important for veterans. Number one is Folds of Honor. It was created by military, retired military personnel to provide scholarships to veterans and their families to be able to elevate their life, to soar high. If you've never heard of Folds of Honor, I You know, I encourage you to actually look at that one. And then the second one, which is one of the largest, it's the Wounded Warrior Project. And I've seen it firsthand. I've been on site where they are providing details. I have clients who provide prosthetics and build them. Shout out to you, JD. Thank you. And I see those in our veteran hospitals. I see the doctors and the clinical staff. I hear the struggle with you trying to cope with You know, deal with your life, but also provide the mental and physical help that our veterans need. The Wounded Warrior Project is one that helps directly. And so I'd like to highlight those today and just remind you that if, if you haven't served, you could still serve through your giving. And so today on Veterans, I want to say thank you to the veterans, but I also want to thank you if you're giving beyond to help veterans live life well. Continue to be one of a kind.
One last message from our compliance team. As a reminder, Mike Milligan, Certified Financial Planner, is an investment advisor representative of Advisory Alpha LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. All opinions expressed by me, Mike, or any podcast guests are solely our opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Advisory Alpha. This recording is for informational purposes only, should not be relied on solely for investment, tax, or legal decisions, and it's in no way intended to communicate or guarantee specific specific performance or suitability of any security instrument or product, as we may have discussed. Investment advisory and financial planning services offered through Advisory Alpha LLC, a registered investment advisor. Insurance products are provided by Ideas by Mike, a licensed agency located in Norfolk, Virginia, and licensed to do business in all 50 states. While tax and legal issues may be discussed in the general course of financial and investment planning, Advisory Alpha does not provide tax or legal services. Please consult with your tax A legal professional prior to making decisions related to these issues. If you want us an appointment with Ideas by Mike or One Oak Financial, please reach out via our website. This podcast is produced in conjunction with Mike Milligan, LLC.
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