Mike Milligan | Personalized Financial Planning with 1 Oak Financial

You don't try and fit into clothes or shoes that weren't made for you, and your retirement plan should be just the same. That's why Mike Milligan created One Oak Financial with the mantra, everyone is one of a kind and they deserve a one-of-a-kind financial plan. And he joins me now. Good morning, Mike. How you doing?

I'm doing amazing. How are you today?

I'm really, really good. Thank you so much for asking. So this is a question for you. Why do you think so many big firms treat your life or viewers' lives just like another number on a spreadsheet?

Well, I call this phenomenon the sea of sameness. You know, back in the 1900s when Henry Ford was creating like the Model T car, he created the assembly line so that it was efficient for the company to be able to create cars to sell at a lower price. Well, that model has been adopted by everybody from McDonald's to Apple to financial services companies. Many financial service companies that provide just model portfolios present the same thing to their clients at 9 AM appointments, 11 AM appointments, 1 PM appointments, and then maybe a 3 PM appointment if they're not off playing golf. See, this, the sea of sameness that exists in the financial planning world is all about the companies that you're talking to. What's different about One Oak Financial and the process I created with the one-of-a-kind financial plan is it literally is about you, the individual. It's about your goals, your hopes, and even your fears. And then after we hear and listen to that, we then create a plan based on negotiating with Wall Street and banks and insurance companies on your behalf. It's the new way for the future to be able to create financial planning in a way that's based on you.

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of our viewers is, you know, piqued right now hearing some of this. Another way of describing it is cookie cutter. So, you know, in your experience and expertise, what's the real cost of getting one of those cookie cutter advices instead of a plan built just for you?

Yeah, a cookie cutter plan is going to be the exact same no matter who walks in the door. And the real cost of that is that a cookie-cutter approach is not crafted for your unique lifestyle. And so it's really a cookie-cutter approach is going to leave you wanting for more because you are unique. You may want to travel, whereas somebody else in the cookie-cutter process may wanna spend more time with their family. When we design a financial plan, we design it with you in mind, with your hopes and aspirations in mind, not the end result— the investment, retirement income, tax planning, or long-term care solutions in place. We will implement those, but those are just tools. Uh, they are not the primary thing. Our clients are the primary.

When can a viewer spot when they're being sold a product Instead of being heard as an actual person or individual?

Yeah, so if, if, if you're not, if you're not told right, uh, how the solution, a product, fits your needs in it and you don't feel like it can actually solve a problem for you, you're being sold something. If it's, if it's sold with, um, with ambiguous terms and it doesn't give you the pros and cons of what's going on. Again, you're being sold a product. I equate this to building a house. Like, people want a custom house to live in, but you could go buy a lot in your neighborhood and then go to the Home Depot to build because they have everything you need to build the house. But nobody does that. That would be a cookie-cutter approach by just using the supplies and tools at Home Depot to do that. What you do is you go to an architect who designs a plan, who then talks to you about it. Then you hire a builder. And when you hire the builder, they hire subcontractors. They still go to the Home Depot. They still use the same products, but you have something custom built for you. If you're not working with a financial planner that is custom building a one-of-a-kind financial plan for you, you're being sold a product.

Yeah, it's great advice, Mike. Fascinating insight. Thank you so much for your time this morning. I'm sure our viewers have found it very valuable. You can learn all about Mike and One Oak Financial as well as the services they offer by heading to oneoakfinancial.com.