The 162-Game Retirement: Why Consistency Wins in Financial Planning

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It's the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily with your host, Mike Milligan. Baseball is highly, is a big part of my life. And I spoke about that next. I spoke about that on the One of a Kind Financial Show. See, baseball to me is something that I did from a very early age. I mean, it's one of the first memories I have in my life all the way through my early adulthood. And then I continued coaching it well into my 40s. And so for 80% of my life, baseball was a daily activity, something that was highly influential. So I wanted to speak about the opening day, the World Baseball Classic, and really how a long season like baseball, how that can tie lessons into building a one-of-a-kind financial plan. Enjoy that segment from The Financial Show next. All right. Welcome back to The One of a Kind Financial Show. I'm Mike Milligan, and I cannot do this Easter weekend broadcast without talking about what's happening right now in the sports world because baseball is back. Opening Day just happened on March 26th. 30 teams, 162 games, 6 months of almost beautifully relentless schedule. It's the most relentless schedule in professional sports. Matter of fact, locally, our Norfolk Tides kicked off their season last week as they try again to do what they did a couple years ago and win the Triple-A crown. Well, let me start with most one of the most exciting events that the sports world has ever produced. Again, this is Mike Milligan with the One of a Kind Financial Show. If you want to reach out to us, you can you can text ideas to 600-700 or call me and talk to me directly. I'll be picking up the phone and talking to folks this Easter weekend. Dial 757-403-5078. So let's start right here. Just a couple weeks ago, Venezuela and Team USA played in the Championship game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and it did not disappoint. Personally, I was en route to Nashville, Tennessee. I flew from Norfolk to Chicago, and my flight from Chicago was supposed to leave to go to Nashville at 7:20 Central Time. But luckily, as most airlines have been experiencing things lately, there was a 2.5-hour delay, and I sat In the Chicago Cubs Sports Lounge at O'Hare International Airport, and I watched Venezuela and the United States. I watched the energy from Venezuela, the almost miracle-like comeback in the bottom of the 8th inning by Team USA, finally to the spiritual leader of Venezuela knocking in a run in the top of the 9th inning. To the closer of Venezuela crying like a baby on the mound with 2 outs as he was recording what was one of the most meaningful victories for the country of Venezuela in sports in its history. The championship game drew an average of 10.2 million viewers on Fox, more than double the 4.5 million who watched the 2023 final between Team Japan and Team USA. The World Baseball Classic attracted 32 million viewers across all of the 47 games in the month of March. That's the most watched baseball broadcast in streaming history. The total attendance, fans at the game, and I was one of these, by the way, in Puerto Rico, hit a record 1.6 million fans, a 24% jump in 2023. Now, baseball isn't dying, folks. Baseball is thriving, and it sets the stage perfectly for what now is 6 months of pure American Tradition. For some of you, me talking in sports like this is about as long as the American baseball season. And I apologize to those listeners who, when they hear me talk sports, just hear blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I want to get to the point here. 162 games is a significant amount of time, right? Here's what I love about baseball. It's been woven into the fabric of this country for over 150 years. Soldiers on both sides of the Civil War played it in their camps and brought it home with them. After the war, it was professionalized. The Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first team in 1869. The rise of baseball as America's pastime happened in the same decades as the rise of America's big business. It grew with the century. Baseball reflects the American story, every American story. Jackie Robinson's integration of the game in 1947 Came in the era as Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight for civil rights happened. The World Series has been played every year since 1903, except 1904 and 1994, both strike seasons. One was stubbornness, the other one was a strike, but neither could stop the game for long. The cultural historian Jacques Barzun once said this, and this is one of the favorite quotes I have in sports. Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better Learn baseball, the rules and the realities of the game. Think about that. Not football, not basketball, baseball, baseball, right? As I quote something famously from the Field of Dreams, baseball, it rewards preparation, it respects experience, it honors consistency, and it teaches you that even the best hitters in the world fail 7 times out of 10 and still end up in the Hall of Fame. That's not a game, folks. That's a philosophy for life. Now, here's where I love this. The One of a Kind Financial Show. This is the One of a Kind Financial Show after all. Think about what baseball season actually is. It's 162 games of consistent daily execution over 6 months. It's not decided. The season is not decided in one game. It's not won in April. Champions are built on the grind. That's exactly what the one-of-a-kind financial plan is. Your financial life isn't decided in one big moment. It's not one lucky investment. It's not one big bonus. It's the daily discipline of living below your means, the consistent contribution to your 401 every paycheck, even when the market feels uncertain. It's the MYGA you put in place that quietly compounds at 6% while everyone else is reacting to the headlines. It's the Social Security decision you make at the right age for you because you had a plan. It's the estate documents you signed because you loved your family enough to prepare for the unexpected. 162 games every summer, your financial plan every year for the rest of your life. The formula is the same. Show up, stay consistent, trust the process. And whether you're a baseball fanatic or someone who couldn't care less about the game, the lesson applies to you equally. This is Mike Milligan with One Oak Financial and the One of a Kind Financial Show. We do this week in and week out to be able to offer you the chance to build a one-of-a-kind financial plan for your one-of-a-kind life. Let's take the consistency, the lessons learned from baseball, and build a retirement plan for you around how to lower taxes, create retirement income you can't outlive, an investment plan that acknowledges the risk needed, needed to take so we can keep up with inflation but have you sleep at night, and finally build a long-term care legacy plan that ultimately ends your life with dignity and says to the family, I love you. This has been the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily with your host, Mike Milligan. Uh, I am an investment advisory rep with Advisory Alpha LLC. Ideas by Mike, doing business as One Oak Financial, is an unaffiliated entity of Advisory Alpha LLC. All material on the One of a Kind Financial Show and the One of a Kind Financial Show Daily is done for educational purposes only. Please consult with your, uh, accountant or enrolled agent for tax planning advice, a licensed financial professional for investment Or insurance advice and an attorney to, to complete your estate documents. Or you can reach out to our team at One Oak Financial. That's the number oneoakfinancial.com and request an appointment for yourself. Thanks. Look forward to talking to you soon.

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