Achieving Financial Security – ep.144

Join me as I chat with Christian Chukwuma, an independent Financial Planner and Accredited Investment Fiduciary® with Osaic Wealth as we navigate financial strategies that align with your vision for the future and build your wealth to achieve personal financial security goals.

Christian is more than just an independent Financial Planner and Accredited Investment Fiduciary® with Osaic Wealth. He is a partner in your financial journey, someone who listens deeply to your hopes, dreams, and concerns, and works alongside you to shape a future that reflects your most important values.
Specializing in retirement income planning, 403B & 401k management, behavioral financial coaching, and insurance protection (life & long-term care), Christian’s approach is not just about numbers but about creating financial peace of mind.
Beginning with a meaningful conversation about your goals and values, Christian partners with your CPA, attorney, and other trusted professionals to craft a financial plan that truly reflects who you are and what matters most to you”.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and an MBA in Finance from the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, and further deepened his expertise by obtaining the Behavioral Financial Advisor (BFA) designation. This enables him to not just prepare you for retirement but also for the inevitable uncertainties of life with compassion and foresight.
In 2020, he proudly earned the highly regarded designation of Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®), affirming his commitment to act in your best interest. His success is truly measured by your success.
Christian’s impact stretches far beyond his profession. Deeply passionate about his community, he has served on the boards of Tri-Valley Haven, a domestic violence center, and The Rotary Club of Livermore. He is also a valued member of the Tri-Valley Estate Planning Council, where he served on the board for two years, helping to connect people with the resources and guidance they need to plan for their futures.
At home, Christian finds joy and balance in the love of his wife and four children. His life is full of meaning through travel, giving back, and savoring time with family and friends. Christian isn’t just helping clients secure their futures—he’s building a life rooted in purpose, community, and connection.

Social Media Accounts:: https://www.facebook.com/chukwumafinancial

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-chukwuma-mba-aif-bfa-0298872a

Tweets by chukwumaFA

#ValuesDrivenAdvice

#HappyRetirement

#Liveyourdreams

Melyssa Barrett:  Are you ready to take control of your financial future and build a legacy rooted in purpose and equity? Join us on the latest episode of the Jali Podcast as we sit down with the extraordinary Christian Chukwuma, an independent financial planner and accredited investment fiduciary with Aaic Wealth. Christian isn’t just about numbers. He’s about creating financial peace of mind and empowering you to live a life aligned with your deepest values. Many of you have heard me talk about more business and more life, so I wanted to try to bring more episodes that aren’t just about creating more business, but also about creating more life. So in this episode, Christian shares his insights on closing the retirement gap, navigating financial uncertainties, and ensuring that everyone has access to the tools they need for financial success. Now, let’s take the first step towards financial empowerment with Christian Chukwuma.

Whether you’re just starting your financial journey or looking to refine your strategy, this episode is packed with actionable advice and inspiration. Don’t forget like and subscribe. I would love to hear from you. If this episode is interesting, if you want to hear more, reach out to me, let me know. I will definitely hit you back. I am excited this week as I am every week. This week. I am bringing you a wonderful, wonderful conversation on financial planning because I think it’s so necessary. I think there are so many people in the world who don’t spend the time doing financial planning, and there was one specific person in my life, Ida Jones, who really kind of set me off in a direction, and I am also grateful for her still to this day. So we have Christian Chuck wma from oaic, and I’m excited to have you on the podcast because financial planning, financial education is so necessary and I think obviously it’s not necessarily something that everybody gets in school, right? So I’m just excited to have you here representing.

Christian Chukwuma:  Well, thank you. Thank you so much, Melyssa. I’m so glad to be doing this and thank you for inviting me. Hopefully I can make a difference even in one person’s life because I have a passion for what I do and it gratifies me when I see that I change even one life, and that is why I look forward to coming to work every single day.

Melyssa Barrett:  Well, I appreciate that you come to work every single day. So I want to just start just to provide a little bit of context because I think it’s so important because I know how many rooms you probably walk in and are maybe the only person of color. Maybe there’s a few, but it’s also an area where you don’t see a lot of African-American men per se in this area. So can you talk a little bit about your journey as a financial planner and fiduciary? I know you are deeply rooted in the commitment to acting in your client’s best interests, but what initially inspired you to pursue a career here and how did you even get here?

Christian Chukwuma:  Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you so much. I’m going too deep into my roots and wasting time talking about myself. I was born and raised in Nigeria and my brother, who was a medical doctor, came to school here, went to school here, went to got first degree medical school, everything, and I used to come visit on vacations and he kept telling me that there are many opportunities here. I should come here and do my master’s. So I got my bachelor’s in economics. When I came to do my MBA here, I specialized in finance and marketing from even south South Florida in Tampa. I was so happy to do that. Then from there, I worked for various companies. I was incorporated America and stuff, airports, Pitney bows, MasterCard, international selling visa terminals. I know you worked for Visa. I would give you the little visa terminal to swipe your card.

I was selling all those things. So anyway, from there I become a sales manager for Neopost. They moved me to California when I became the number one manager in the country out of hundred and 26 US locations. From there hoping to be the first black vice president. That was why I came here, the first black VP after 72 years. So when I see that wasn’t going to happen because of they put a lead somehow and on how your growth, I knew I need to get out. So I got out. I went into a few other ventures. Then from there, went into two banks, living Washington Mutual there in Bank of America for a few years. For some reason, something inspired me to become a financial planner. So when somebody asked me, are you looking for a job? Are you looking for a career? Especially when two of my colleagues were laid off at one of the big banks and I felt so sorry for them, and I said, Hmm, that’s a good question.

I’m looking for a career. So that’s how I ended up being an advisor. So however, my goal is to become independent. Being an independent financial advisor, you don’t have the obligation to push or sell anything that is not in the client’s best interest. So it’s been my goal to not be forced because of the company’s stock or whatever, because they’re getting me to sell what they want me to sell, whether the client wants it or not. I never liked that idea. So finally when I became independent, that was a dream come true. So then becoming a fiduciary, knowing that I’m now legally bound to do what’s in the best interest of the customer, I couldn’t thank God enough for that. So I’m really grateful for what I do, frankly. So that’s the long short, short of a long spell of where I came to be in the industry and I’m glad I’m here.

Melyssa Barrett:  No, that’s great. So how have your values shaped your approach? Because I find mean this is just me. I find in talking to you about financial planning, the process seems different than with other financial planner.

Christian Chukwuma:  When you come into this job initially from college or from graduate school or whatever, you are thinking money. And when you start doing the job, if you’re meant for the job, the job changes who you are because when you see the kind of impact you’re having on people’s lives, see the impact you’re having on that children see the impact you’re having on common conversations that to do even with health. So for me, I see myself as a complete holistic planner. That is why I start with simple conversation. So my values of giving one time at my church, I did one of these finding your talents, whatever it is called, and they told me that I’m very philanthropic in terms of giving to people welcoming and stuff. So that I should find a way to use that for the church, which I hope to still do at some point.

They are deeper in my life. But when I see the mistakes that people are making, when I see the kind of things that decisions people are making in their lives, some inspire me, some truly scare me because I know where it’s headed and unfortunately we are not getting younger. So the mistakes people make in inspire me to actually develop myself to a top-notch level of even becoming a behavioral financial planner. So also I specialize in behavioral financial planning, which accounts for over 87% of people’s long-term returns in their portfolios of managing their behavior. So it makes a big difference for me when I, so my value of giving back my value of seeing people being happy because of me, I can never thank God enough for that, frankly.

Melyssa Barrett:  And what’s a behavioral financial advisor versus some other, I know you also, you’re accredited investment fiduciary.

Christian Chukwuma:  Yes.

Melyssa Barrett:  And you have a bunch of other letters behind your name as well, but what’s a behavioral financial advisor?

Christian Chukwuma:  Well, thank you for asking. So I say behavioral financial plan, we found out that people’s long-term returns depends on saving and investment investing behavior. A lot of time it could be they’re scared of the market. Like last two weeks the markets was moving. I don’t get any calls because I’ve trained my customers to understand how the markets work. So many a time, it could be exuberance. It could be just jumping into something like Bitcoins or marijuana, a bunch of stuff that are fat because they feel, oh, I can make money here. Oh, this airline just went up this, can you buy this? So I don’t get into fast like that. So when people are that greedy, so to speak, hate to use the word greedy, how do you afford it to jump into something many a time could be damaging to them. Or sometimes they’re going to sell because they’re scared.

Then when the market goes up, they, oh my goodness, I wish I didn’t sell. Then they’re going to buy. So they’re buying high, they’re selling low because a good advisor that’s not there for them is not managing their reactions. They’re not managing their reactions to that’s going to affect them. So as a behavioral financial planner, I’m able to pull you back, Hey, look at what we have. Here’s why you don’t need to worry. Here’s why I sleep well, even though I have your portfolio being managed and here’s why you should sleep well, and let me show you what has happened in the market in the last 20 years, and this is what you have. We’re not throwing dots on the wall to see what sticks. So stay calm. But because of that, I’m able to have my clients invest for the long term and not go in and out of the market when it’s going to hurt their future.

Melyssa Barrett:  Awesome. And I think I’m one of those people because I started working in corporate very early in life and I worked in financial services and payment technology. So of course I was always very conscious of financial planning, financial education, and the lack thereof. So what are you seeing in terms of the life cycle of financial planning? Because people go through so many different stages in their life. Is the, and I know you specialize in retirement income and 401k management and all of that. What do you think is the biggest challenge when it comes to that life cycle of just getting people to actually focus on financial planning?

Christian Chukwuma:  Well, thank you. Thank you so much. That’s a very, very big question, and I’m going to try to condense as much as possible because of the time factor. I think the biggest challenge our industry is first of all is people seeing financial planners as salespeople. That is the biggest impediment. So there are some people you truly know what could change their lives. They’re headed in the wrong direction based on your skills, your knowledge, that you can help this family. When you reach out to them, sometimes they think you want to sell them, and frankly Melissa, you cannot blame these people because of a lot of knucklehead advisors out there that all they want is your money. All they want is your wallet. All they want is their commission. That is all they care about. You go to them, they don’t even ask to find out what your values are.

They don’t understand your goals. All they know, how much money do you have? Lemme start investing this money. I can make you 10%. I can make you. They start promising a bunch of rubbish. So we are seeing our salespeople. Unfortunately, you cannot blame other people that will think when you truly want to help them that think you want to sell them. That is the first impediment, the second challenge I see, because you can sum up retirement planning or financial planning into simple three different ways in a way. Bottom line is, Melissa, spend less than you make. Invest the difference and avoid the freaking debt people. They’re blowing my mind and I go to nice parties and stuff like that, and sometime when I see the amount of multiple I spending, I shouldn’t be thinking like that. I’m thinking in my head, okay, I hope they’re taking care of their future.

I hope they’re not pouring out all this because of a one birthday, one day of a red carpet, 50th birthday or 40th birthday or whatever. People are spending $40,000 or whatever. I want about that sometimes. So if the spend less on the make, I might be like, just don’t look at people. Spend less than you make. Invest the difference and avoid being a slave to people that want to give you money. They want to lend you money. I get, I mean, if I were receive every day I be cashing checks, they keep sending me 25,000 to cash for my business. You don’t need to no approval needed because I know where it’s headed. If once you cash that check, it becomes a loan, then now you have to pay it back. So the key is get out of debt. So the challenge is one, the distrust that the people have, and you cannot blame them because of people there are many are not fiduciaries in this industry where they are really legally bound to work in your best interest. So the case to find an advisor who is a fiduciary and who is a fee-based advisor, it doesn’t matter where you are. So that way when you are making money is only when they’re making money. If you’re losing money, the government wants them to lose money because you’re paying a percentage, like 1% of the portfolio. If it goes up, it’s a percentage of that. So if they’re putting you in some crazy investments, they’re losing money for themselves as well. That is a fiduciary.

Melyssa Barrett:  I love it. So then when you think about strategies that you employ to close the retirement gap, especially for underrepresented communities, because I know there’s a lot of underrepresented communities that don’t necessarily have access to a financial planner like you. So what kind of strategies do you use to bridge the gap and help in that space? I know you do a lot of work both inside and outside of the financial services industry, even in your own community.

Christian Chukwuma:  Whenever I have an opportunity to speak at a company or at a school or it doesn’t matter, I jump on it. I used to volunteer for Kimball teaching accountability with people in Tracy at the time, and at one time I was called at Livermore High School by the principal to talk to the graduating seniors on financial literacy. I’m being approached right now as we speak. They want me to come to West High. However, they’re going to have a lot of schools come there to talk to the 10th and 11th or 12th graders about financial literacy. So I said, I’m open anytime now. These people don’t have enough money to come to me yet. However, when we start changing the mindset of spending less than you make, then investing the difference and managing debt, avoiding the use of credit cards. When we start impacting that kind of stuff into people’s brain and head, we’re giving them a good way to start moving forward.

Then I’ve spoken at our trace African American a few times. I’ve done Zoom meetings. I’ve talked in person about financial, Tracy, about investing 1 0 1, financial planning 1 0 1, and I wish that people would take me up on my offer because it starts truly with their conversation. All I need is a one hour conversation. I don’t care where you are. It doesn’t matter what level you are. Let me hear your story. And that meeting, I may not even invite the person to become a client because I’m very, very selective. However, that meeting could be a life changer because you got to truly understand what your values are because just like the Brother Disney World or what Disney said or Disney, that when your values are clear, your decisions are easy. So I invite them to at least sit down and understand, talk about their goals and their values.

What drives you in life? Why do you want to make money? Why do you want to take care of your parents? Why do you want your kids to not suffer like you suffered? Why are you telling me that you were homeless at one time and you don’t want to see that kind of life again? Why is it important to you? Can I hold you accountable knowing you told me 10 years ago that you don’t want to be homeless again, so why are you buying this Mercedes or Lamborghini because your mom died. You got some big money. You feel, oh, I can go buy and pay $120,000 cash for a car. No, you have not earned the right When you earn the right to go buy those kind of cars. In my practice, I’ll tell you yes, you’ve earned the right, let’s go do it. As a matter of fact, I’ve taken my clients to go buy brand new cars, but we’re talking about somebody who is 71 years old, house is paid for, the children are out of home, they’re done. They’re getting IRE retirement over 14, 15,000 bucks per month, and they have over $30 million with me. If they have that kind of money, why should I prevent them from buying a car that’s 85,000 we can pay cash for. They’ve earned the right to do that. If you haven’t earned the right, don’t get there. Don’t go there.

Melyssa Barrett:  Yeah. Interesting. So I know you also do work with the Tri-Valley Estate Planning Council.

Christian Chukwuma:  Yes.

Melyssa Barrett:  And how do you see the role of estate planning in advancing financial equity, especially for those who maybe historically haven’t had access to those kinds of resources?

Christian Chukwuma:  Well, thank you. Thank you. That’s a very good body of HR attorneys, financial planners, CPAs and stuff here, and I was happy to solve on their board for two years because they bring a lot of resources to the game that help me help my customers. Particularly when it comes to protection of families. There are so many families right now that don’t have a trust. They don’t even have a will, and the worst thing to do is to die in the state. If you die without your will, the trust, then your properties and everything, your assets go through probate. It takes anywhere from six months to four years, depending on the situation, to actually have your assets, your case touch, your assets. So why have your assets go to probate? The price you pay to lawyers to do that is too crazy. So being a holistic planner or going to holistic planner, whatever you are, you don’t have to come to me.

They’re going to start guiding you towards putting your financial house in order, getting your financial roadmap to understand, okay, what’s important? The six documents, for instance, you need to have before you die, what to put in place, your will, your trust, your directive, healthcare directives. If anything happens to you, dementia, whatever, you can no longer make health, make financial decisions. Who will do that for you? Then what about leaving a legacy? So when I work with them, I I’m able to put together, basically you are in the middle. I don’t give tax advice. Okay? I’m not a CPA. I don’t give legal advice either. We’re not allowed to do that. However, A CPA will only prepare your taxes. They don’t understand tax strategies When you go to tax strategy, that’s, I come in as a tax strategist, so to speak. That’s why I do tax consulting.

When I look at somebody’s 2023 tax return, I have the tools to analyze it, to find out are there loopholes, are there gaps that the CPA can be cognizant of for next year to control the taxation? Do they need to need to do a rough conversion? Do they need to put money into a taxable bucket? What about tax deferred bucket? What about tax free buckets? Is there a good diversification of that portfolio? That is where working with this estate attorneys and CPAs, that’s where you come in where the client is in the middle, and I’m hoping that people can take advantage of the knowledge in that body that I can tap into because I’m a wealth advisor. I’m not a money manager, but I’m the CEO of putting your financial roadmap in order, bringing all the professionals that are needed. What I say, CPA or your tax attorney, Hey, go to this person.

Even something as simple as things I don’t even do where I’m making you money, but you’re losing money because you have an autopilot. Some old homeowners insurance you’ve been paying every single year. A simple question, when was the last time you looked into your homeowner’s insurance call? Two other agents. To give you a quote, there’s somebody had dropped $1,200 per year to nine 50 per year on the homeowner’s insurance. What can you do with the extra cash if you don’t know what to do with that, give that to charity. Call Salvation Army, call Travel Haven. Call any domestic health center or whatever. Give it away or put that into managing debt or towards your case college, whatever. That’s why they comment.

Melyssa Barrett:  That’s good. If somebody is just starting out, let’s just say, and they might be at the beginning of their financial journey or maybe they’re facing challenges in their own financial planning, what kind of advice would you give to help people start building that future?

Christian Chukwuma:  Well, thank you. Thank you for asking that question. Well, when it comes to retirement planning, it comes in different stages, so to speak, and so when you enter the workforce to begin with, if you have a good mentor or a good parent, that’s where you need to actually start read books about investing. So at that time, even reading some little books on financial planning, oneone or managing debt or whatever, those can come in very handy even before you go to an advisor if you like. Then once you start, you’re going to make sure that immediately as quickly as possible start putting money into your company’s retirement plan. Let’s assume they have one, and most people have 4 0 1 Ks, whether they’re matching or not, it’s a different ball game. If they’re matching, sometimes every dollar you put in, they match 50 cents or they match a dollar. It depends on the company, and I tell people, why are you bringing me money where you’re not even putting not enough money to get the most match at your company? It makes no sense. If I’m not a fiduciary, I’ll just take their money. But no, go and fund that 401k, at least get the most company match. Find out what it is. Call your hr, find out what it is. Find out if that company has a Roth 401k.

If there’s no Roth 401k, then we can open up a Roth IRA because it makes a tremendous difference to start becoming tax diversified immediately. All your twenties, you get a new job. Then once you get to 40, things will start changing. That’s when you go into what is called the pre retirement years and that different areas, different strategies as you continue from the accumulation phase, which continues until you leave the workforce. So even if you get to 40, you are still in the accumulation phase, but now you’re going into what is called the pre-retirement phase. Make sure you’re funding that 401k, make sure you have a Roth ira. If you qualify to put into a Roth, I then start looking to put money for a down payment in a spread account. So there’s many things in different phases, and that can go on and along.

Melyssa Barrett:  You could, but you should at least tell people what a war off IRA is. For those that don’t know.

Christian Chukwuma:  Oh, well, thank you. Well, Roth IRA basically is a tax-free account. So think of your traditional IRA of 401k for your 401k and traditional ira. You’re putting money in there. It is not taxed. Initially, the money is going in there with no, you’re not paying any taxes to the government to IRS. In a Roth ira, you’ve paid money. You paid taxes already before the money goes into the account. But here’s the good news. The investments in those accounts could be identically same. They could be identical in your traditional IR or 401k or Roth or Roth ira. The good news for the Roth ira, it is growing tax deferred when the money comes out at distribution, when you take the money out, it is completely tax free. And here’s the good news, Melissa, not only is the money tax free, it doesn’t factor into what is called a required minimum distribution.

That’s Adam D or required minimum distribution that you must start taking. Before it was 70 and a half years, it went to 72. Now at 72 and 75, it depends on your age. If you are born before 1949 for instance or after or before 1959, you must take your required minimum distribution from those 4 0 1 Ks, five seven plans, 4 0 3 Bs, your traditional IS that you’ve deferred money into, you have not paid in the taxes. You must start paying the taxes because IRS, once you turn 73, they think you’re going to die. Guess what? They have not gotten their money yet. So they want you to stop paying that money back, take a minimum distribution from that Roth traditional area, then continue, and it could be heavy. It could range anywhere from about 4%, and it goes up from there until you die in a Roth. You don’t have to pay that. That money is tax free. No RMDs. You can pass it on to your children and children’s children. Children completely tax free. That’s why a Roth I is huge. If you, you’re qualified to do it. If you don’t think about what is called a Roth conversion, you can do that too. Anybody can do a Roth conversion. Not everybody can contribute to an IRA because of ankle limitations.

Melyssa Barrett:  Right, right. Okay. Well, that’s good. So then now tell me a little bit about creating legacy. I know you specifically and your own personal values connect to the legacy that you want to leave, but you’re so passionate about financial planning and wealth that you really kind of link them all together. It’s like if you have a value where you want to leave a particular legacy to your kids, whatever that is, you’re very focused on how do I create the money that you want in order to do what you want to do with it. So how does that all connect based on how you walk people through it?

Christian Chukwuma:  Well, thank you for asking that question. Legacy is a big deal for every family leaving something for your children. But one thing I tell people, Melissa is the last time I checked, there are no loans for retirement. So you want to leave a legacy, however, not at the expense of your retirement because you may try to leave a legacy, but you’re leaving a heavy burden for your family because you love them. So even if you love your family, you want to leave a legacy, and it’s actually in the Bible that if you don’t take care of your immediate household, you are worse than a non-believer. So you need to protect in so many ways. You need to have life insurance as an example. Why would you want to die without a life insurance when there’s a huge mortgage that can expose your loved ones to be danger or being homeless if you passed away?

Is that income insured? Is that mortgage insured? What if you die? Can the mortgage be offloaded? One of my colleagues, the client, his client has a six and 4-year-old kids at that time, that was about 12 or 14 years ago in Dublin and accident coming down from San Jose, the guy died. Now, it is not joyful to lose somebody. However, when it’s all said and done, they came into my colleague’s office and guess what? After the barrier which he attended, which we have to attend, unfortunately sometimes handed them $1 million, check the mortgage, 600,000 and change was offloaded. If you can offload that mortgage, what a heavy burden. You can walk at McDonald’s and still survive. So you want to leave that legacy. Whenever you can build a legacy, and there are so many things to live in a legacy, what can you do to avoid the taxation of that legacy?

If you have a life insurance, for instance, that’s a hybrid that has long-term care embedded, do you want to tap into the long-term care money or do you want to use your IRA to fund the long-term care at that time? It depends. Sometimes if it’s a terminal illness, you might as well use part of your Roth ira, traditional ira, because since the law change in 2020 on taxes, any IRA that your case inherit must be liquidated actually taken out of that account and pay taxes within 10 years. So you have to decide, if I’m leaving them that legacy and they’re in 35% tax bracket and they get $1 million, what does that mean? All they’re getting is $650,000. How do I protect that legacy from taxation? That is why we go into tax containment strategies and give you a printout you can take to your CPA to help you start aligning these things so that when you leave a legacy, it makes sense, whether it’s life insurance or not being a burden, or to avoid taxation for your family, where do you leave the legacy and how? Then that’s where we’re come into play.

Melyssa Barrett:  Yeah, I love that. I think, and I try to encourage people wherever they are in life, but hopefully if you’re starting early, get a financial planner early. Don’t wait till late. It’s just like when you think about life insurance or doing a living trust, do it before your spouse gets sick or before you have healthcare issues or whatever. Do it early so that you don’t have to worry about it, and I find that when you start out your advice to people when they start out and it’s like maximize whatever you can give as early as possible, because I think a lot of people wait for some reason, whatever reason, because it’s never a good to take money out of your check, especially if you’re living check to check already, but I find that even if it’s whatever small amount you can spare, just start with something because you will realize how significant it would be over 40 years when you start. So that’s my little advice as well.

Christian Chukwuma:  That is so true, and people, when I tell people how easy Melissa it is to be a millionaire, some people don’t get it. I break it down. It’s really easy If you start early, just to give you an example, okay? If you don’t worry about too much, oh, by the way, if it’s not automatic, it never happens.

And I tell people, if you are waiting until you have the money to go invest or to fund your 401k, it ain’t going to happen. Or a 5 2 9 college fund. You set this up when the kid is born, so that way by the time they’re 18, they have the money for college. You’re not scratching your head. So these are things you need to stop planning once you get married. Why would you get married? Have a first baby, no life insurance. Why would you get married? Have the first baby, no, 5 2 9 college fund. Then when the time comes, you start scratching your head. Yeah. Even if your company doesn’t have, for instance, like a Roth 401k that you can contribute into, you do what is called a lump, a life insurance retirement plan, which gives you, not only does it give you death benefit, but that money is completely tax free like a Roth ira.

But here’s the deal. If you put away 10 grand from age 25, your first job, let’s say 30, you get married and you and your husband, you together, you are putting together 8 33 combined per month. That is about $417 per month per person. That is $10,000 per year combined. If you guys are making a hundred thousand, one 50, whatever, and you cannot put away $10,000, that’s a problem. Guess what? If you do that consistently, let it leave your paycheck. You get used to leaving on the balance, it leaves your paycheck before you even see the deposit into your account, the money is gone. If you save that 10 grand every single year for the next 30 years, you have 55, you have over $1 million in that account, Melissa.

Without even knowing it. That’s how easy, because of the compound effect of the dividends and capital gains, which is one of the best things I think that happened in this industry, the compound interest, just Google compound interest and Google what is called the rule of 72. When you divide 72 by the interest rate you get anywhere in the world, the result is how long it takes to double that money. So if you’re getting only 1% in any account, it takes 72 years to double. Why would you want to leave your money in a savings account at a regular bank at 0.0%?

Melyssa Barrett:  Do they even have savings accounts at regular bank? No, I’m just kidding.

Christian Chukwuma:  Don’t get me started with all these banks, man. It is crazy what as people do, it scares me and I worry for people, and I wish that people can get it. Anywhere you are, go see a fiduciary advisor to guide you, to guide you or just have the conversation that’s free, that one of our consultation could be a life changer. Go talk to them anywhere you are.

Melyssa Barrett:  Yeah, no, that’s awesome. Well, while we’re here then how can people contact you and learn more about what you’re doing? Because I know Chuck WMA Financial is your website spelled C-H-U-K-W-U-M-A financial.com, but are there other ways that people can connect with you?

Christian Chukwuma:  Yeah, I’m still kind of old school. They can simply make a phone call to my office at (925) 443-2800 and simply set up a free conversation. And Melissa, when I say that, like I said, like I told you, the impediment unfortunately for people is that without their own, I mean, it’s not their own fault. They perceive financial planners, even fiduciaries as salespeople go to that meeting. That is a get to know meeting. It is not a better switch. It is not. I may not even ask you to become a, if I don’t feel there’s a connection, there’s no chemistry. If there’s no chemistry, we’ll finish it. We use, I use what is called a financial roadmap. It says 17 by one two page paper like this. Yeah, so that is where I try to understand your goals and what’s most important to you, so understand your values, and that is where you want to bring your spouse. If you have one, never go to any meeting, any advisor without your spouse, at least for the hiring decision.

So understand their goals, find out what’s important to them. Once you understand the values, then find out how far they’ve come. Then find out if there’s chemistry to work together. If there’s no chemistry, why take them on as customers? It doesn’t work for both of you. However, that meeting, understanding their values to help them make critical decisions in understanding what their goals are and putting them actually in writing, it makes a big difference. So that’s the frustrating to start, at least have a values conversation to see if there’s a chemistry for you and the advisor to work together. Ask them all the questions. How much do you charge? When can I know about my investments? What have you done for other people? Ask them questions. You have the right to do that. Very, very important.

Melyssa Barrett:  Well, and Christian, you’re probably kind of like a marriage counselor as well. No, I’m just kidding. Sometimes you bring your husband and it’s like, wait, y’all are not on the same page.

Christian Chukwuma:  No. Sometimes I feel like that, and I’ll tell you, one of my clients say, listen, if you understand what you build. For instance, I have my clients there. I tell you, I said, listen, I have one right now too. They’re heading to Australia and New Zealand. One came back from Costa Rica. I have some from South America, South Africa. I mean, people are having fun traveling, Dubai, all kinds of stuff. So why not keep that enjoyment going? Why do you want to die early? So sometimes people think a nutritionist or whatever, I’m not. It’s just that there’s so much in financial planning. Something as simple as changing the freaking oil in your car is part of my financial planning. Change the oil in your car every three months or look at the dashboard when it tells you, change the oil, because if you don’t change the oil, it breaks down.

Now we have to go buy a new car. Look at your home, look at water heater, flush it out every six months. If not, boom, $500 or 1000. We have to replace that service, your AC unit. These are all things I bring into my financial plan and people think, are you an AC guy? Are you a water heater guy? Are you a mechanic? No, but these are things that play into the equation of managing your debt and helping you put away money all the time because it’s going to happen. What about taxation? How are you being taxed? What are you doing to diversify the investments? What do you do when you are 20, 25, 40? What do you do in your sixties? What do you do in your seventies? What do you do when you go to over 80 years old? What I call the no-go years. There are different stages and different things to do in those areas to manage your taxation, build a good legacy, and plan to live on TH 100. Unfortunately, because of healthcare improvements, we’re living longer and there’s no more pension. Companies don’t pay patient when they pay patient. The lifespan expectancy of men was 66 and a half years old, so if you take your pension at 65, they know you’re going to die at 66. That’s why they paid pension. Now over 50% don’t pay pension. What are you going to do about it?

So these are things that scare me with healthcare costs and retirement. People taking their shared security at 62. I’m like, are you kidding me? Are you out of your mind? I have a guy in my church that did that. He’s not regretting, but they know what you do, but they’re not going to come to you, but they think you’re going to sell something to them or whatever, and they don’t know that when you do that, you just cut down your social security for life. However, if you’re able to refund that money within that first year, you turn on, you are social security. It’s as if nothing happened, and I have somebody, I wanted somebody to do that. Unfortunately, before they came to me, they already turned down their social security at 62. I said, why did you do that? It was about nine or 10 months. I said, can you pay back? They couldn’t. They are stuck with that the rest of their life. If you don’t take it, continue working. If you can even after 65, continue working even after seven, if you can’t work to 70, delay that shared security if you can because you’re going to get 8% every single time added, and when you take that eventually, then you can relax and know with longevity that’s increased due to healthcare. You can sit back and relax and know that you have a comfortable retirement.

Melyssa Barrett:  Okay. Just to be clear, I will not be working when I’m 70.

Christian Chukwuma:  Okay? Okay. Please don’t. I do not blame you. One of people, they want to get the survivor and stop working, which is okay if you have managed your life and manage your assets that way. However, if you can delay a little bit, at least get to your full retirement age, which most people is 67 before you turn on the social security, and don’t touch that saying until you do an analysis at different ages with your spouse to find out what age it makes sense for you, because there could be spousal benefits or survivor benefits. There are many variables. So do the analysis of social security, do the analysis on tax planning, do all these things and find out what bucket of money you should be pulling money from so that way you are having what I call tax containment strategies or what people simply call optimizing distribution in retirement. I could go on and on. I’m sorry I’m taking so long. I just love,

Melyssa Barrett:  No, this is good. I think there’s so much information that is out there. I always like to try to do as much as I can just to put information out there when it comes to financial education, because I just think there’s not enough people. Don’t always listen, but if you listen to even a snippet of some information, maybe it’ll kind of change your mind to move in a different direction. So I just want to thank you for being here, having the conversation. Hopefully it won’t be the last.

Christian Chukwuma:  Thank you so much. And also, I’m on LinkedIn. I’m on Facebook, I’m on Instagram. However, just old phone call or if you go to my website, then look at the number and just call, set up that free consultation. The one hour where you’re going to get the financial, even if we don’t invite you to become client or you get a free financial roadmap, you’re going to get a guide to your taxes and retirement that’s going to show you how to invest in different stages of your stages of your life, even on until 100 on managing taxes in your portfolio. Even though we don’t give tax advice, we can give you a customized report looking at your taxes from last year that you can take to your CPAs and Melissa CPAs. They love when I give them the tax report.

Melyssa Barrett:  I’m sure it makes it easy for them.

Christian Chukwuma:  It makes it easy for them. So the key is just people, whether they see me or anybody, go see somebody. Just go talk to sit down with somebody. If they are fiduciary, that’s better for you because they are legally bound by the government to work in your best interest and make sure they are a fee-based advisor that are not, they don’t have dollar glasses in their eyes trying to grab your money, grab your pocket, don’t even know what the hell is going on in your life. They don’t even know why you’re even investing. They don’t even know your past. You are homeless at some point. They didn’t know your mama. Your mom suffered so much. You spent so much money. Take care of your mom, or you had a dementia mom move in that liquidated everything you have. They have no idea of your story. So ’em, hear your story if they’re not asking to hear your story. Run. Run.

Melyssa Barrett:  Yeah.

Christian Chukwuma:  Sorry. I have to say that my co, they’re going to hate me for saying all these things.

Melyssa Barrett:  No, thanks again for being with us, and I look forward to talking to you more, and I appreciate you being here.

Christian Chukwuma:  Thank you so much. Anytime. Call me anytime. Hopefully, if it’s one person that can go see somebody or they’ll see this from Michigan or New York and go see somebody. Thank you for doing this for people. Thank you so much for that.Melyssa

Melyssa Barrett:  My pleasure. Thanks for joining me on the Jali Podcast. Please subscribe so you won’t miss an episode. See you next week.

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