Ben Carlson

That's the hard part.

They're going to say, no, no, no, I want to be on that next level.

I want to have more responsibility.

So that's like the really tricky part is like you think you have this narrowed down, like this is the perfect number.

And then you get there and you go, no way, that's not, no, I need more.

It's got to be more.

That is a problem that I never expected to happen, that you have to force people with money to spend it.

One of our advisors when I first joined the firm 10 years ago said, we have to have conversations with our clients and give them permission to spend their money and enjoy it.

Take that vacation.

Give that money to your child so they can be better off.

And you have to tell them you're going to be okay if you spend this money because people develop habits over 30 or 40 years and it's save, save, save.

Get the nest egg bigger and bigger and bigger.

And when it's time to turn it off and they have no more income left and to spend it down and they see the portfolio value go down in money, like they see their principal eroding, they can't handle it.

So that's actually a huge problem, which, I mean, you know, first world problems, obviously.

But there are a lot of baby boomers out there right now like that who can't force themselves to spend the money and they need permission now.

to do it because they think, what if I outlive the money?

What if something really bad happens and there's a market crash or whatever it is and they need permission?

And that's the hard part is you spend all your life saving and saving and saving.

What's the point of delaying the gratification if you're not going to be gratified at some point?

Well, the pandemic is the biggest one, obviously.