Episode #205 – Jeff Kronenberg On How To Set Yourself Free With A Tax-Exempt Retirement

David Allan: Hey everybody – welcome to another edition
of the podcast, I’m David Allan – we’re back and today we’ve got an exciting guest because this is something I don’t think many people like to really think about but it is one of the most important things that you will encounter probably going forward in your life especially if you’re in business and if you’re a copywriter like a lot of our listeners are this is something that involves a little bit of planning perhaps which most people may not want to think about but we have an excellent retirement planner on a show today he’s got kind of a very interesting story and he’s got a very interesting offer that I think you’ll appreciate once you hear him – Jeff Kronenberg welcome to the show…

Jeff Kronenberg: David thank you great to be here.

David Allan: Yeah, it’s nice to have you on the show, man. I think this is one of these things that people are sort of like you know talk about and whispers maybe or don’t like to think about but it’s super important and you’re an expert in this field and you’ve been doing this for like you said the better part of like 14 years or sometimes right mm-hmm so this will be interesting I want you to sort of start though by taking us back like
we like to do on this show we like to go back to see sort of how you progressed into where you’re at today so take us back into the early life of Jeff and sort of what led you to this…

Jeff Kronenberg: Yeah, thanks

so you know I when I got out of college

actually what I wanted to do was be a

pharmaceutical sales rep and that was

kind of the hot job at the time so when

I got out of college I had done this

internship at a pharmaceutical company

and they wouldn’t hire me and I’m like

what are you kidding me of intern for

you for two summers and you know for

free and then I came to realize that

well I was not a pretty girl and

therefore they weren’t gonna hold me

because that was the description of what

they were looking for in that industry

at the time so here I was getting out of

college and I thought oh my gosh you

know I’m gonna do this and it’s a great

job but a great career and all that and

you know I was like disqualified right

away

that’s okay I kind of just fell into the

industry that I’m in I met a guy that

knew a guy and know another guy and I

started my journey in the financial

services industry in New York City

downtown downtown off Wall Street and I

yeah thinking back to one of the first

training classes that I had and I

remember you know the line of expertise

that I have is very out-of-the-box stuff

you know we’re helping people

essentially get their assets tax exempt

so although retirement planning is kind

of a boring subject when you say to

someone you know they say what do you do

and you say well I’ll show you how to

get your wealth tax exempt their ears

perk up because let’s face it it’ll

definitely yeah no one wants to have to

pay more in taxes than then they’re

required to you’ve got to pay the income

tax once but after that it’s really your

choice as to what you want to do with

your money I really just got lucky in

terms of meeting the right people I

think very very early on that were con

ahead and and you know that were headed

and heading in the right direction in

terms of you know the knowledge they had

in the information and the strategies

that they shared with clients so I’ve

been doing this work from the get-go

obviously it’s progressed over time I’m

still learning to this day so it’s kind

of how it all it was just by chance

so that’s fascinating I mean it says

like you said I think it’s kind of an

unsexy topic to talk about retirement

and protecting your assets and stuff

like that but it’s really one of the

most important things I mean he doesn’t

take much of a Google search to find out

plenty of horror stories and stuff of

people who have not fought ahead to to

their retirement or to you know other

people passing away in their family and

coming into assets and so forth that

aren’t necessarily yours to begin with

but that you’ve been left from other

people and so forth totally I think that

you know for the most part if you

picture a mountain as an example well we

learn about all we hear about is how to

get up the mountain how do we invest our

money how do we get rates of return that

are really good and this and Adam we

hear oh you have to take a lot of risk

on in order to grow your wealth but the

reality is is that if you understand how

the how money really works what’s more

important than acquiring a large

treasure chest of assets at the end of

the day if we’re saving for one day when

we’re not gonna work anymore we need to

know how to get off the financial

mountain so to speak in other words

we’re never learning or hearing about

how to spend our money in retirement you

know and so I use the mountain analogy

because I forget the statistic but I

heard about 70 percent of the deaths um

that occur on Mount Everest occur on the

descent right that’s the great that’s

great well yeah you’re right you know so

if if I was a Sherpa you know knowing

that you’ve got a much greater

probability of dying you’d probably hire

me as the Sherpa to get you down the

mountain than the one that gets you up

right yeah absolutely

so what I’m helping people with is not

just the accumulation of their assets in

a much safer fashion without risks and

without taxes but we’re also taking that

to the next level and saying hey we need

to also show you how to spend your money

at retirement and if it’s done the right

way and you can have your assets tax

exempt that therefore then means that

your cash flow coming off the mountain

is also tax exempt so when you study it

you’re gonna have a heck of a lot more

cash flow and if you don’t do it this

way and people love hearing that and

they love seeing it you know it’s it

it’s a game changer really a game

changer and a life changer it’s freedom

that’s totally true I would totally

believe what you’re saying I mean a lot

of people of course in the latter stages

of their lives that may be listening to

this and they’re also worried about you

know what they’re gonna leave behind or

what they’re worried about their family

or their family members and so forth and

so with the services program that you

provide it’s going to

ease those worries so those those latter

years are stress-free which is super

important as you get older yeah I mean I

I have this kind of you know I guess you

would maybe call it a spiritual view on

money or whatever word you want to use

but you know what at the end of the day

money is a fake thing you know human

brilliant human beings we were able to

create this system of currency in this

world here and it’s it’s really really

interesting when you look at it from

that standpoint like money runs our life

some of us yeah yeah I mean it’s kind of

silly when you take a step back because

it’s like where did this all Evan come

from and so my view is like you know

it’s super easy for me to help people

get what they want with their money and

get what they want it retirement but

what really jazzes me is seeing the

smiles on their faces when that fear

about how they’re gonna do it dissipates

when they’re pumping their fists because

you know they realized wow I just

reached freedom I just reached that

pinnacle of financial freedom that gets

me going because what we’re doing is

we’re saving people’s lives and they’re

able to live a happier healthier less

stressed-out life and then we reclaim

control of not just their money but the

way that they’re gonna live and enjoy

those latter part of the years without

having to worry and without having to

have the sense of confusion and without

having to know that you know there’s a

risk right around the corner whether

it’s the tax rates going up and changing

or the stock market taking fifty percent

of their money you know when you don’t

have those concerns you can now live

life on your terms and that’s uh and

it’s a beautiful thing to see it’s a

beautiful thing to know that you’re

impacting you know your your fellow

brothers and sisters in such a way you

know we’re all connected at the end of

the day yeah I think it’s one of those

things that’s so nice to see because

especially people of like my you know

I’m in my 40s now my parents

my deaf father as in his 70s maybe sort

of a lot of those that day and age a lot

of people were like living that sort of

like deferred life plan work a certain

amount and then you’re gonna save up

like you’re saying and you’re acquire

all these treasure chest of assets and

then you’re gonna stop working one day

and you’re gonna try to enjoy this stuff

and people like to you know travel or do

whatever they want to do and it’s a lot

of people have found out that that’s not

the case the way the world has gone and

the economy has shifted here and there

and maybe they’ve been burned a couple

times and now their nest egg or whatever

is not as large as I’d hope it would be

and maybe some of those dreams are no

longer attainable with something like

you offer I mean it’s it makes that

process so much more reassuring and

worryfree totally and I can give you a

really simple example as to kind of the

issue that I think people are facing but

then an alternative because at the end

of the day what you described there is

person a let’s say and person a retires

and they have let’s just say three

million dollars and that million dollars

gives them let’s just call it a hundred

and thirty thousand dollars a year

taxable for life or and that may work

out for them or it may not most of the

time it’s not working out you have three

million dollars you’ve got to get a

return on that money but also make sure

that you don’t run out of money and so

there’s this thing called a withdrawal

rate I don’t want to get too hyper

technical here but the withdrawal rate

of your money so that you have a 60%

chance of not running out of money is

around 3% why on earth would you ever go

for a plan and go and and strategically

move yourself towards a situation where

you have a chance 60% chance of not

running out of money because to me that

means 40% of the time you will it makes

no sense

that’s output so that’s why people can’t

retire is they’re literally just setting

themselves up wrong but they don’t we

don’t know alternatives

because person a with three million and

a buck thirty of income as an example

may or may not be attainable let’s just

say it is I could make somebody or I

could show them how they can make

themselves be person B but person B has

one point five million dollars and a

hundred thousand dollars of cash flow

tax exempt the who would you rather be

at the end of the day knowing at in at

the end when you’re retired it’s all

about maintaining your lifestyle it’s

all about cash flow that’s a person

person be easy choice yeah easy choice

so therefore would dad said that means

that the folks out there who have

acquired a treasured treasure chest have

asks us but maybe it didn’t go as they

had planned if they could just become

person B and get those assets to spend

as if they’ve got two times as much

they’re gonna be okay and that’s what I

help people do it’s powerful super

powerful and of course we you know we

probably all have people in our lives

that have experienced some of those

horror stories and we probably even

listening to this when this comes out

people will be thinking oh if only you

know if only had known this sooner or my

uncle Nick had known about this or

whatever you know and it’s one of those

things that like nobody likes to talk

about because it is kind of scary I

think too there’s like you know

trepidation that comes along with

thinking about being older especially if

you’re younger you know and and often if

you’re quite young then you’re not

thinking about it at all because you

feel like you’re impervious you’re

focusing on your career and your family

perhaps and it just doesn’t seem like

something that’s like that’s super

important because you figure you got the

whole life to figure it out but I mean

the sooner you get started the better

yeah I mean it’s it’s certainly easy to

procrastinate on it and it’s not as fun

as going to a basketball game or a

football game or skiing or sitting at

the beach that’s for sure but admit when

when people I found gets started on it

you know younger and let’s say their 40s

or something like that

stead of their 50s or 60s it

allows them to relax more and then go

enjoy the things that you know they and

they like to do and then subconsciously

in the back of their head they don’t

have this worry like shoot am I actually

gonna be able to like not have to go to

this job I don’t like

or run this business that I don’t really

want to run anymore or am I gonna have

to do this forever and so when they what

I found through experience is that when

people get started younger and they know

they’re headed in the direction that’s

going to work a hundred percent of the

time versus sixty percent of the time

just better quality of life overall

you’ve this subconscious worry is now

gone yeah and then and then the

trepidation and the fear perhaps of like

I think I think that’s one of the things

to which experienced people who were

over 40 to is like you’re also thinking

you know like you almost don’t want to

know what you’re up against so you put

it off because you’re just like I don’t

if I’d actually check the numbers or do

it it’s gonna be a rude awakening oh

yeah yeah totally and and and when they

start digging under the hood it’s

actually worse I’ll give you an example

most people have their money in these

retirement plans right but right thing

is though is that when we do these we we

do them because we want to not pay taxes

on our money today so we’re deferring

paying the tax right but we’re also

deferring the tax calculation right so

we don’t really know what tax rates we

will be in in the future but you know

here’s the question you know do you

think that it’ll cost more or less to

run the government in ten twenty and

thirty years that’s a pretty easy one

I’d say yeah so we know what we know

it’ll cost more therefore how do they

how does the government make money to

function they raise taxes so you could

be putting money into one of these

vehicles and then just setting yourself

up to pay more on your money in the

future in which case you’re doing

reverse tax planning so you know no one

would ever want to do it

good news is is that if you get it it

soon enough and you realize this soon

enough and you address it soon enough

you can reverse it that’s the good news

I just as rebels and for anybody

listening to this I mean to sort of

encounter that is like yeah that’s a

mistake a lot of people have made is

like to defer all that stuff to later

and I have family members going through

that right now where they’re like trying

to get that taxation stuff out of the

way now when they’re in their early 40s

because of because of that because of

that you’re unsure what kind of rage and

it’s funny though if you study taxes you

know if you look at where they’ve been

at between let’s just go back to mid

ronald reagan became president taxes

were between seventy and ninety four

percent but it’s the highest bracket i

mean that’s you know those are big

numbers tears well really even before

they stayed between 73 and 70 or the way

up until around 1980 so then they came

down but you know we’ve got we’ve got

Wars like the Gulf War to still pay for

we got we have all this stuff you know

we we have to pay for it at some point

we’re so high is that you know during

those that period of time from let’s say

say nineteen eighteen or nineteen twenty

whatever however you want to look at it

up until the carter administration then

reagan we used to pay we used to fight a

war that actually pay for it you know

really they allow companies and pay for

it or do we would pay for the things

that we did for the citizens so we

haven’t been doing that for a very long

time

but at some point we’ll have to and then

therefore in order to be an informed

consumer or an informed citizen it’s

just important to understand where

things were because it kind of gives you

an indication of where things could go

right now even though it’s think we’re

taxed at such a high rate historically

speaking we’re really not right good

point Lee so that’s why it’s important

to address it now before it’s too late

I think you’re that’s a very good point

and that’s some interesting historical

facts are bringing to bear there it’s

very interesting to me to how little

people prepare for this kind of stuff I

mean some people do and I try to slander

everybody here today but it’s a subject

that you know prevention is such a slow

thing to sort of take hold in people’s

lives because wherever they’re at in

their life they probably feel good maybe

about especially if they have some money

and they’re like not particularly

they’re worried about it and it’s

usually like you said people get started

like way way late or that they figure

they’ve got it handled but they aren’t

gonna end up paying big on the back end

and when the tax rate perhaps may be

higher you know obviously you’ve

encountered a lot of these people and

horror stories and stuff over your 14

year career in this maybe some of the

listeners would benefit from maybe a few

stories of people who were able to

reverse it and sort of what ages they

were at and so forth and sort of what’s

city of the main names obviously but

some sort of situations that people

think themselves out of because of your

expertise mm-hmm yeah sure so if we take

the person a in person be example I had

this client come in the door about five

years ago and at the time he was 56

years old and he wanted to retire in

eight or nine years was his goal so when

he looked at what he had and he looked

at a projection of where he thought he

could go let’s just say he had $500,000

I’m just making the numbers part of it

up because it’s kind of irrelevant what

he actually had but let’s just say he

had $500,000 and he wanted or he thought

he could get that 500 to become a

million in eight or nine years okay but

the thing was is that when he count

all right I stopped working and I’ve got

a million dollars and I can get let’s

just say four person on my money or five

percent of my money well then I’ve got

to pay taxes on that so my let’s just

say it’s five percent my five percent of

my million my fifty actually gets taxed

huh

and my social security I get is also

taxed so he calculated for himself if he

could even get five percent which is a

whole nother story what he calculated

when he came into my office was I’m a

millionaire but I’m not going to be able

to live even close to the way I want to

live I’m not gonna be able to travel to

see my kids when they have their own

children which they have or what she

thinks they’re gonna do now at the time

he hung bright whose kids were younger

um but he you know

that was a hope every parent wants their

their kids to have kids you know so he

calculated out that he wouldn’t be able

to travel he wouldn’t be able to

maintain a Country Club membership he

wouldn’t be able to do the things that

he wanted to do and so you know it’s sad

to see people come in who they’re

working hard they’re running businesses

whatever they’re doing and they’re

trying to do all the right things but

the system just has them set up to be

set up wrong you know we just basically

switch things around what made him

person B and as a result of that he had

much stronger cash flow

he’s currently is set up to have much

stronger cash flow and will have it

throughout retirement and he’ll be able

to you know he’ll be able to live the

life that he wants to live and that’s

that’s the cool part about it is five

years have passed a lot of time has

passed he’s happier now as a result of

this the worries gone and then when he

does get into retirement he’ll be good

the reality is is that you can get your

money working more than once for you

doing multiple jobs for you and when you

do that you can accomplish both of the

is that all of the things whether it be

paying for your daughter’s wedding

paying for college buying cars buying

real estate retiring all those things

can really be accomplished using the

same buck and we don’t need to segment

it into a B dot this dollar for this I

me need this dollar for that that’s the

wrong way to look at money um so you

know that’s a whole nother conversation

just about efficiency but did that

coming in to your question about yeah

yeah I think that’s a very good answer

and man as you shared with us here today

I’ve just been like outstanding just a

real sort of fresh perspective I think

one that people need to hear and people

need to consider that it’s not as scary

perhaps as they first thought and then

there are people like you out there Jeff

that are can make things quite simple

and straightforward yeah you know it is

simple it’s not easy but it’s simple and

we make it easy and we make it simple

but it certainly also doesn’t have to be

as scary you know people listening like

you don’t have to be scared you just

have to you know work with someone that

does the right things that can validate

and improve it to you that’s also

important so no I’m glad that this

hopefully this shed some light for the

listeners and viewers for sure

absolutely

now if people want to get ahold of you

personally Jeff where’s the best place

to go how do they get in touch or get

involved with you yeah so they can just

go right to my website it’s wwm ajan

wealth coach ENCOM forward slash apply

and I would suggest going and and going

going there watching the video that I’ve

got up it’ll give you some great

information we’ll expand even further on

the things that we talked about today

amen and do that go there now check it

out check it out now and then go to the

apply page and apply and book a call I

mean we’re here

only so many hours in a day and the

scheduled debt does get filled up

quickly but go there go there now go to

WWF coaching calm forward-slash apply

and pick your time for a breakthrough

call and it’ll be the best 45 minutes

when you book that call will get on and

it’ll be the best 45 minutes you’ve

spent talking and planning your

retirement talking about in planning

your retirement you have ever had and

will ever had frankly awesome awesome

great advice I really want to thank you

for coming on the show today you really

give me food for thought and I know the

people listening this will be perhaps

reconsidering the trepidation and so

forth with getting involved with getting

a head start and for the younger people

to get on it now so that you can take

advantage of that compound interest

curve yeah

thanks for coming on the show man it’s

been a real pleasure listen it’s been my

pleasure was really great speaking with

you and uh you know to all the listeners

out there thank you for tuning in and I

hope everyone has a safe and healthy and

blessed day

thanks awesome and for everybody else of

course hopefully we’ll be back again

with somebody next week who’s as

knowledgeable and thoughtful and

informative as our friend Jeff here