The Truth About Money and Retirement with Paul Applegate

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County Living presents Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Rich Bennett 0:28
Stressful parts of life. Not because we don't care about it, but because we're never really taught how to manage it the right way. Today's guest Paul Applegate is someone who's made it his mission to change that. As a financial advisor with Edward Jones, Paul helps individuals and families cut through the noise, build real strategies, and feel confident about their financial future. Whether that's planning for retirement, navigate a market uncertainty, or just getting started the right way. So this is one of those conversations where you're going to want to lean in, grab your drink, whether it's coffee, bourbon, soda, whatever, because what you hear today could truly impact your future. So Paul, first of all, welcome there. How's it going? 

Paul Applegate 1:15
you know, I can't complain too much getting ready for the spring. Although I'm tired of getting teased by these 70 

Rich Bennett 1:20
I, 

Paul Applegate 1:20
degrees days, and then it goes back to 40 degrees. 

Rich Bennett 1:23
Oh, I know it should do a good old Maryland weather. 

Paul Applegate 1:25
I gotta love it. 

Rich Bennett 1:26
You know, I wanted to be surprised if we get another snowfall. 

Paul Applegate 1:29
Somebody said it. 

Rich Bennett 1:31
Now 

Paul Applegate 1:31
they, they were saying that it might get want like some, some flurry, but like not going to stick. But I'm just like it was 80 degrees like yesterday, two days 

Rich Bennett 1:39
Two 

Paul Applegate 1:39
ago. 

Rich Bennett 1:39
days, well, two days in a row, like 82, 83 degrees. And because my neighbors are in their shorts. I'm like, no, I'm not going to break them out yet. I was sweating my tail off. 

Paul Applegate 1:51
We were me, me, me and my wife were negotiating yesterday about whether we were turning the air conditioning on or not. And we 

Rich Bennett 1:57
we're 

Paul Applegate 1:57
were like, 

Rich Bennett 1:57
not turning 

Paul Applegate 1:59
back. 

Rich Bennett 1:59
And actually got the grass cut too. 

Paul Applegate 2:03
See I did not do that. I got to do, 

Rich Bennett 2:04
well, I didn't do it. I had a kick on by an ASB. You know, you just kind of got to go ahead. Yeah, go ahead, which saves me a trip. Now I can fertilize it this, 

Paul Applegate 2:14
mm 

Rich Bennett 2:14
no, wait a minute. I think they're calling for me this weekend. 

Paul Applegate 2:17
I think so. 

Rich Bennett 2:18
Oh, God. 

Paul Applegate 2:19
You got to try to get a cut. 

Rich Bennett 2:21
Oh. Ah, well, I'll, I'll get it done eventually. All right. So I want to, I got to ask you this. Would actually made you want to get into the financial advice and in the first place. 

Paul Applegate 2:33
Well, I mean, that's obviously a great question. I do ever think that everything in your life kind of build up to a certain thing. 

Rich Bennett 2:41
Oh, yeah. 

Paul Applegate 2:42
Like I, my family, we were blue collar growing up. We always had enough, but never like any extra. My 

Rich Bennett 2:51
parents 

Paul Applegate 2:51
were great at budgeting, but then didn't really know what to do with it after that, you know. 

Rich Bennett 2:58
Right. They 

Paul Applegate 2:59
knew that to save an and, and, and, and budget, but, you know, they didn't know investing was scary. 

Rich Bennett 3:05
Mm hmm. 

Paul Applegate 3:06
And then when I went into law enforcement, unfortunately a lot, a lot of, a lot of first responders are terrible with money. 

Rich Bennett 3:16
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 3:18
And I was always when I, when I, when I got to, I was, I tried to let them know, like, hey, your pension is not going to be enough. We need to put more aside, you need to budget. You need to have this emergency fund. You need to have all this stuff like because your pension, like, if I, I, I left prior to my, my pension, um, but my pension, I would have been 45 with three kids and my pension would have been 40 grand a year. 

Rich Bennett 3:43
That's not a lot nowadays. 

Paul Applegate 3:45
not, yeah, not a lot. And so I 

Rich Bennett 3:47
No, 

Paul Applegate 3:47
would have had to do 

Rich Bennett 3:48
things. Actually, 

Paul Applegate 3:48
other 

Rich Bennett 3:48
isn't that a part time job now? 

Paul Applegate 3:51
If, 

Rich Bennett 3:52
especially, I mean, Moose, no, no, I'll keep, I keep thinking. They're the minimum. 

Paul Applegate 3:55
It's 

Rich Bennett 3:56
not, they wanted to make 

Paul Applegate 3:57
They're 

Rich Bennett 3:57
it. 

Paul Applegate 3:58
full. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 3:59
I'd 

Paul Applegate 4:00
be good for any small business. 

Rich Bennett 4:01
No. 

Paul Applegate 4:03
But, and then I got PTSD and 

Rich Bennett 4:07
oh, no 

Paul Applegate 4:07
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:07
shit. 

Paul Applegate 4:08
Uh, it was, uh, I've had, you know, I was like, uh, small town. I was, 

Rich Bennett 4:13
I was 

Paul Applegate 4:14
15 years. Um, and had a lot of, uh, I was like first on scene to a few, like violent homicides and some other things. And, um, became not a great person for a little bit. 

Rich Bennett 4:31
yeah, 

Paul Applegate 4:31
Uh, and I take full responsibility for that. Um, but I ended up having to 

Rich Bennett 4:37
you. 

Paul Applegate 4:37
leave 

Rich Bennett 4:38
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 4:38
Yeah. 

for multitude of reasons, but, um, fortunately, like, I had saved, I had planned, I had money put aside, I had a safety fund, I had all of this stuff, um, so I could go and not affect my family and take like a pay cut to find a new job and do all that. 

I just run a lot of money 'cause they can't sit still, because that's when the things fall into your head, um, from everything you've seen and all that, so money just goes out the window. And, like, I, I try to, and like, I really like helping, like, business 

Rich Bennett 5:30
yeah, 

Paul Applegate 5:30
owners and blue collar people, um, put, like, help 'cause they, they, I'm trying to figure out how to say this, but like, a lot of them, maybe they know how to save, or they know they need to put money away, but they don't know how much. They don't- 

Rich Bennett 5:45
right, 

Paul Applegate 5:46
and they don't really understand investing, like, and it's, I just, I, I know what would have happened if I had been stuck there and wasn't able to leave, and it wouldn't be pretty, um, so I try to help people now not be stuck. Like, 

Rich Bennett 6:04
right, 

Paul Applegate 6:05
help them get there, get, in a bad situation, they can leave because they have a safety fund, they have an emergency fund, they have money put aside, um, and I just, I like helping regular people. Now, obviously, if somebody with $10 million wants to work with me, 

Rich Bennett 6:23
I'm 

Paul Applegate 6:24
open to- You know, 

Rich Bennett 6:26
but-

Ah, I bet, 

Paul Applegate 6:29
man. 

Like, I really love, like, helping first responders and veterans, of the PTSD, like, I understand what it can do with finances, because you, you, you, you, you're not yourself, for-

Rich Bennett 6:42
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 6:42
And I'm also a big proponent of therapy, like, I'm open about my struggles. 

Rich Bennett 6:46
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 6:47
Because people need to know that it's not an end. You know, it's, it, it's like a, a middle, and it's a change, but it's not the end, there's life after it, and you can still be a successful, happy person after it, but you just-

Sometimes you gotta get out of that situation, 

Rich Bennett 7:02
Oh, 

Paul Applegate 7:02
and, 

Rich Bennett 7:02
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 7:02
and the easiest way to, to make it easier is having an emergency fund, and having money put aside, and having a plan, and doing all that. And, you know, honestly, I would say 90% of my job right now is, is, is helping people with, with basic 

Rich Bennett 7:17
because-

Paul Applegate 7:17
finance, 

Rich Bennett 7:18
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 7:18
It should anymore. 

Rich Bennett 7:19
No. 

No. 

Paul Applegate 7:20
You know, 

Rich Bennett 7:20
oh, yeah, it's not even taught in school. 

Paul Applegate 7:22
It's not. And like, the first thing I do with a lot of my clients is, is set a budget. 

Rich Bennett 7:27
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 7:28
And I don't, I tell 'em, I'm not gonna judge your budget. I don't care what it is, but I need you to be able to tell me what's on there. 

Because...

Because most people underestimate how much they spend, and they, and they don't understand how, like, what it is. 

Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 7:41
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 7:41
Because if things go bad, we need to know what, what we can cut, and most people are, you know, maybe I spend $400 a month going out to eat, but we put it down on paper, it's a lot more, sometimes. 

Rich Bennett 7:51
The other thing, too, with that, because I know a lot of times people have a heart, like, when I was in car sales, It was commissioned. Only. 

Paul Applegate 7:59
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 7:59
Yeah. 

It's hard to 

Paul Applegate 8:00
budget. 

Rich Bennett 8:00
set a 

Paul Applegate 8:00
Obvo. 

Rich Bennett 8:01
Because if you don't 

Paul Applegate 8:02
So 

Rich Bennett 8:02
sell 

Paul Applegate 8:02
anyway. 

Rich Bennett 8:02
anything at month, you don't have anything coming in that month. And, and I think that's where some people mess up under a set a budget. They don't look at that, that time when they may not have anything coming in. 

Paul Applegate 8:16
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:17
So you always got to set it to where, yeah, you don't want to take, like, so much each month of putting it into this budget, because you may not have that next month, but you need that. We call it your "Rainy 

Paul Applegate 8:29
Yeah, the rainy day 

Rich Bennett 8:30
Day Fund."

Paul Applegate 8:30
fund. I emergency fund. 

Rich Bennett 8:31
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 8:32
And, like, with, you know, I work with like, realtors or 

Rich Bennett 8:35
yeah. 

Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 8:35
salesmen that have that fluctuating. 

Rich Bennett 8:37
Okay, 

Paul Applegate 8:38
Incomon. 

Rich Bennett 8:38
good. 

Paul Applegate 8:39
Like, usually, we try to tell people, like, the general rule of thumb is three to six months. 

Rich Bennett 8:43
Right. 

Paul Applegate 8:44
Of money in an emergency fund. If things go bad. Now, a more consistent income, we can maybe go lower to the three, but like, somebody with like, a up and down 

Rich Bennett 8:56
Yes. 

Paul Applegate 8:56
income where they might not, you know, like, like, realtors around here. Like, they might make 30 grand one month, because they have two or three closes. But then they might not make another sale for three months. You know, and there's no money coming in. So we like to... We like to, you know, work them up to a longer, a bigger emergency fund, because that way... And that's why a budget's important, because we need to know, if things go bad, how much money do you need every month? And then we figure that out, and we three to six months of that goes aside, and we don't... That's not invested, that's just in, like, an interest 

Rich Bennett 9:36
account. 

Paul Applegate 9:37
bearing 

Rich Bennett 9:37
And we leave 

Paul Applegate 9:37
that because we don't want that being risky. 

Rich Bennett 9:41
Right. 

Paul Applegate 9:41
... that 

Rich Bennett 9:42
Right. 

Paul Applegate 9:42
needs to be there, and that, that way, if things go bad, or you don't make a sale or do something, it's there. And also, like, what, what they say, like, the average American can't handle a thousand dollar expense right now in a pocket. 

Rich Bennett 9:54
Wow. 

Paul Applegate 10:09
I feel like they've, they, they somehow make more money because they know where it's going or they know if they want to do something where that money needs to come from and put it aside for. 

Rich Bennett 10:17
Right. 

Paul Applegate 10:17
Just when you don't pay attention. And, and it's tough, like life, like, as we were talking before, like life is busy. 

Rich Bennett 10:27
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 10:29
And that's like, where I come in is I'm that unemotional, a third party accountability buddy that helps you stay on track because 

Rich Bennett 10:40
emotion. 

Paul Applegate 10:40
money's 

Rich Bennett 10:41
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 10:42
You know, you know, I, like, I've got three kids. Like, running around, keeping them occupied and 

Rich Bennett 10:49
things. 

Paul Applegate 10:49
doing 

Rich Bennett 10:49
Kids are cheap neither. 

Paul Applegate 10:53
And it's, I swear, that my Costco membership paid for itself just in diapers, wipes, and formula for years. 

Rich Bennett 11:01
God. 

Paul Applegate 11:02
But, yeah, like, helping them be intentional with the money. To me, it's like weight loss 

Rich Bennett 11:08
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 11:09
discipline and time. It'll work. The majority of it. Now it's better that the earlier you start the start, obviously. And the less money you actually have to put in because the market. know, 

Rich Bennett 11:20
Yeah. You 

Paul Applegate 11:21
despite current conditions, the market. You know, if you, if you zoom out it typically, you know, it averaged since the great depression, something like 10% a year. So it's just now some years it might be up 30, some years it might be down 15%. But, 

Rich Bennett 11:36
yeah. If 

Paul Applegate 11:37
you take out the, the big, you know, big picture, it usually trends up. 

Rich Bennett 11:43
two things. 

Paul Applegate 11:44
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 11:44
First of all, and first responders don't hear this enough. But I want to thank you for your service. Second thing, this could, this would be a whole nother podcast. But it made me think about this when you're talking about your time 

Paul Applegate 11:57
Two, 

Rich Bennett 11:57
in law enforcement and the PTSD. Yeah. Me being a military veteran we 

Paul Applegate 12:02
had. 

Rich Bennett 12:04
Is there anything like that for first responders? that you know, 

Paul Applegate 12:08
Really? No, 

Rich Bennett 12:09
really? 

Paul Applegate 12:10
Like, I think there's a push now, like there used to be that big stigma that you it was a weakness. You know, like you couldn't bring it up. But it's silly in my mind. 

Rich Bennett 12:18
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 12:18
Like it's like saying your week for breaking your leg. Like it's the same thing. And, and like, 

Rich Bennett 12:25
but for, to me, 

Paul Applegate 12:26
first and foremost 

Rich Bennett 12:27
honesty, 

Paul Applegate 12:27
first responders. 

Rich Bennett 12:29
Should have either, if not the same, at least almost. Military veterans, because you guys are put. 

Paul Applegate 12:38
On 

Rich Bennett 12:39
every day here in the States. like, 

Paul Applegate 12:42
Now, 

Rich Bennett 12:42
like I said, that's a whole other podcast, but that's just the way I feel. I was 

Paul Applegate 12:46
in a small agency. I was in a smaller agency. Like the bigger agencies like say police. 

Rich Bennett 12:50
Yeah. The 

Paul Applegate 12:51
state agencies are the bigger agencies. They have like a disability 

Rich Bennett 12:55
Okay. 

Paul Applegate 12:55
benefit. So like, if I was in a bigger agency, I probably could have went that route but I was in a smaller agency. So it was basically leave and take cash out what I could out of my pension and move on to the next one and move on to the next thing. 

Rich Bennett 13:11
Maybe I found something new to advocate for now. 

Paul Applegate 13:14
It's tough because. 

Rich Bennett 13:16
Because of all the different levels. 

Paul Applegate 13:18
Yeah. Yeah, because if you if you're a small town agency, like that kind of stuff is very expensive. 

Rich Bennett 13:24
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And VA's federal. 

Paul Applegate 13:28
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:29
Yeah, I guess. 

Paul Applegate 13:29
It's 

Rich Bennett 13:29
Okay. 

Paul Applegate 13:30
very like it. It's very expensive. 

Rich Bennett 13:33
Okay. All right, never mind 

Paul Applegate 13:35
Listen, 

Rich Bennett 13:35
them. 

Paul Applegate 13:36
if we can figure out a way to do it, 

Rich Bennett 13:37
I think it'd be great. I mean, I think it's well deserved without a doubt. So, all right. So when somebody comes to you the first time, you know, what are they usually feeling and what do they really need even if they don't realize? 

Paul Applegate 13:53
Now like everybody comes in for different reasons, but a lot of times recently, it's like times like these were people like, okay, my 401k is growing. But now markets down and like 

Rich Bennett 14:06
right. 

Paul Applegate 14:07
All of a sudden their plan they're not as confident in the plan as they originally were 

Rich Bennett 14:11
when. 

Paul Applegate 14:13
The last three years the market was up 20 some percent each year like. Yeah, it's growing great. Now it's down, I think 5% something like that. 

Rich Bennett 14:20
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 14:20
Since the beginning of the year and it's like, oh, now I'm not as confident. Or they've they realize they don't have the time to do it or they don't really want to do it or they don't have they don't have the knowledge to do it. 

Or like this, it wasn't even like really a segment of the job, 10, 15 years ago but now nobody says it's the same job anymore. 

Rich Bennett 14:43
That's true. 

Paul Applegate 14:44
Some people have three or four or one K's out there, 

Rich Bennett 14:47
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 14:47
The losing track of them, we can help consolidate it and bring them all into one roof and 

Rich Bennett 14:53
never thought about that. 

Paul Applegate 14:54
Because like, I, like one guy came to me and was like, well I worked at this job 10 years ago. I said, alright let's try to it, you know what I mean. 

Rich Bennett 15:01
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 15:01
Still, like, we're still looking for it. Hopefully we find it at some point, but it gets tougher the longer out. Especially if you move, because they're supposed to spend segments, but if you move or change email addresses and because everybody, you know, 

Rich Bennett 15:13
well, and the other thing too, because this happened to me. The one company I worked for, they merged and then they went bankrupt. 

Paul Applegate 15:20
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:20
So we couldn't take our four or one K out. Everything was on hold. 

Paul Applegate 15:24
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:24
Well, how many people forgot about that after they fan their job? 

Paul Applegate 15:27
And then when it goes bankrupt, it switches to a different platform 

Rich Bennett 15:30
because 

Paul Applegate 15:30
before one K providers that specialize in taking over bankrupted company 401ks, but then you got to find out which one it is and track it down. And there's no real great way to do it other than basically calling up a bunch of 401K record keepers and asking, okay, is is my 401k here? 

Rich Bennett 15:50
Wow. 

Paul Applegate 15:50
Yeah, there's no great. There's something 

Rich Bennett 15:52
individual like me when you think about that. 

Paul Applegate 15:55
And that's why we, like, we, when you leave, like, it's easier to roll it all in. 

Rich Bennett 16:01
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 16:03
So it's just, then you just got to track one down instead of like, you know, like corporate America now, you don't get promoted unless you switch jobs. And especially like with APG right here, 

Rich Bennett 16:12
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 16:12
like all the government contractors, if your contract ends, sometimes you got to find a new company to work for. Sometimes a new company takes over that contract and takes over your job. And now you got to go to a different for, you know, 401k provider. And it's, it can be a lot for people who are already busy. 

Rich Bennett 16:29
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 16:29
And life. And then like if they have like three or four different ones, sometimes they're differently or contradictory to each other or, you know, not invested as, you know, with their proper risk tolerance in mind. And it's, it's a 

Rich Bennett 16:44
sea salt. 

Paul Applegate 16:45
Yeah. It's, it's, it for a normal person who doesn't think about this stuff, it can be overwhelming. 

Rich Bennett 16:51
Wow. I never even thought about all that. Or even, and you hear, like, unclaimed goods all the time. How much is that money? How many people were missing money that somebody had passed or left 

Paul Applegate 17:03
home? 

Rich Bennett 17:04
And they don't even know about it. 

Paul Applegate 17:06
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:06
Yeah. Or don't even bother to claim it because he didn't really have nothing. 

Paul Applegate 17:10
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:11
Wow. Mate, I never thought about this. All right. So 401k, we knew that switching jobs a lot, which 

Paul Applegate 17:18
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:18
you're seeing that a lot. 

Paul Applegate 17:19
a lot, 

Rich Bennett 17:19
And 

Paul Applegate 17:19
it's, it's a big part of the industry now. 

Rich Bennett 17:21
Yeah. I think that the daily pay really messed that up. So what are some of other big financial mistakes you see people making? 

Paul Applegate 17:33
I mean, waiting is the big one. Like, 

Rich Bennett 17:35
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 17:36
People always, and like, it's also like, I can understand it. Like, oh, I want to do this, but I want to get my finances in order first. Or 

Rich Bennett 17:46
to, 

Paul Applegate 17:46
I want 

Rich Bennett 17:47
you 

Paul Applegate 17:47
know, I'm saving for a house. So I'm doing this. And then all of a sudden you forget about it. And it's 10 years down the line. And now you got to put a lot more money in 

Rich Bennett 17:58
there 

Paul Applegate 17:59
to catch up. Like, the, the greatest confidence vote that I think I've gotten is like the people I work with who are in their 50s and 60s. And they are behind. And they we're working with them to catch them up. When that kids turn 21, they say you come talk to this guy 

Rich Bennett 18:15
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 18:15
and and start and listen to what he says. And because, you know, it has a great joke that, you know, people say that love is the greatest gift that God gave us. 

Rich Bennett 18:28
Right. 

Paul Applegate 18:29
It's not its compound interest because it's like magic. If, you know, we have a flyer that we put out with ever Jones that like $100 a month over 40 years at 10%, which is the average since like the Great Depression. 

Rich Bennett 18:49
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 18:51
Is $580 some thousand dollars at the end of 40 years. But if you just do it for 20 years, it's 70, $5, 000 or something that. That might be 10 years. It might be 20 years. I can't quite remember. But it's, it's very drastic. 

Rich Bennett 19:09
yeah, 

Paul Applegate 19:09
Yeah. And like, on average, the market doubles every seven years on average. 

Rich Bennett 19:15
Wow. 

Paul Applegate 19:15
But it doesn't, you know, people think doubling is, you know, two, four, six, eight, it's not. It's two, two to four, four to eight, eight to 16. So the longer you can put that money in the, the, 

Rich Bennett 19:28
the, 

Paul Applegate 19:29
the exponential growth, as long as, you know, like I said, short term markets. Oh, wacky. 

Rich Bennett 19:35
Right. 

Paul Applegate 19:36
and they're emotional. But the longer you look out, the trend is very consistent. Now, that's, you know, clients get certainly get upset when like right now like, oh, I'm down. I'm like, yes, yes, you are down. This is an emotional 

Rich Bennett 19:52
reaction 

Paul Applegate 19:53
to what's going on right now. And it's, it's certainly something, but you're not retiring for 30 years. Like you're, you're, you're, you're, this is going to be a distant memory, 

Rich Bennett 20:04
um, 

Paul Applegate 20:06
or if you are retire, or if you are retired, or you're retiring soon, then it's up to me to make sure that you're already invested in a, a portfolio that will match your risk tolerance. It should be much more conservative if you're living off that money already. 

Rich Bennett 20:20
Right. 

Paul Applegate 20:21
So where the markets don't affect it as much. that's 

Rich Bennett 20:25
But 

Paul Applegate 20:25
part of the planning thing of it. 

Rich Bennett 20:28
Alright. So somebody that basically when it comes to, um, investing a lot of people feel overwhelmed. 

Paul Applegate 20:39
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:39
Um, 

Paul Applegate 20:39
I do it. 

Rich Bennett 20:40
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 20:41
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:41
So where should someone actually start if they feel like they're left behind? 

Paul Applegate 20:49
Well, I mean, 

Rich Bennett 20:50
besides calling you, 

Paul Applegate 20:51
besides 

Rich Bennett 20:51
of 

Paul Applegate 20:51
for 

Rich Bennett 20:51
course. 

Paul Applegate 20:51
calling me, 

Rich Bennett 20:52
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 20:52
yeah, I mean, I got, I can't not say that. 

It's, I mean, most people have workplace plans. Um, a lot of these places like 401k is four or three b's all. 

Rich Bennett 21:04
Yeah. four 

Paul Applegate 21:06
or three b, that's for like nonprofits. 

Rich Bennett 21:08
Oh, okay. 

Paul Applegate 21:08
It's a very similar, just slightly different. 

Rich Bennett 21:12
Okay. 

Paul Applegate 21:13
But 

Rich Bennett 21:13
I knew that. I was just touching you. 

Paul Applegate 21:15
oh, yes. I mean, obviously if you have a workplace plan, put that 

Rich Bennett 21:20
in. Yeah. Um, 

Paul Applegate 21:23
and if there's a match, go, go minimum, go to the match. That's free money. 

Rich Bennett 21:28
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 21:29
That's free money. And it's tough. And the hardest, hardest thing is to start. You can, like most people will adjust after a few months of missing that money. The hardest thing is to start. And then like what I did when I was in police work, um, we got step raises every year negotiated through our collective bargaining. 

Rich Bennett 21:49
Right. 

Paul Applegate 21:50
I had it set every year at my anniversary date, an extra $50 a pay went into my 457, because you don't feel it then. 

Rich Bennett 22:01
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 22:02
You still get the raise, because it's not, that's not the full raise, but you, I need to put more in a way. And I just had, like every time you get a raise whether just keep adding to it so you don't, um, so you, you just keep growing 

Rich Bennett 22:17
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 22:17
it. 

Rich Bennett 22:17
Makes 

Paul Applegate 22:18
Also, big family, like budgets, intentionality. 

Rich Bennett 22:20
sense. 

Paul Applegate 22:20
Like 

Rich Bennett 22:20
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 22:21
people don't, 

nobody does a budget anymore. It's like it used to be one of those standard things. Like everybody talked about like a balancing the checkbook, but like nobody does that anymore, but nobody even has a checkbook anymore. 

Rich Bennett 22:34
One of the things I 

Paul Applegate 22:36
I 

Rich Bennett 22:37
was always told live within your means, and you're seeing a lot of people that aren't doing that anymore. 

Paul Applegate 22:42
Everybody lives on credit. 

Rich Bennett 22:46
Yeah. Yeah, that, well, 

Paul Applegate 22:47
and I don't hate credit. I'm not like, I 

Rich Bennett 22:49
don't, I mean, you got to have credit if you want to get like a house or a car. 

Paul Applegate 22:53
Yeah. Like it's crazy. My buddy, uh, this is, this is probably 15 years ago now. 

Rich Bennett 22:57
Mm-hmm. 

Paul Applegate 22:58
But like made good money, makes good money, had good money in the bank. Uh, couldn't get a car loan because he didn't have any 

Rich Bennett 23:04
Never. 

Paul Applegate 23:05
credit. 

Rich Bennett 23:05
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 23:05
He had to like put it on a credit card and then pay it off. Like, 

Rich Bennett 23:09
mm-hmm. 

Paul Applegate 23:10
Yeah. In just a refinance. Like he's like, they wouldn't give him, they wouldn't give him a decent car loan because he didn't have any credit. He's like, I got, I can pay it off. If I like, I was money in the bank that I, 

Rich Bennett 23:20
yeah, I 

Paul Applegate 23:20
get off. But they don't care about 

Rich Bennett 23:23
No. 

Paul Applegate 23:23
that. They go strictly on that credit rating. So like I agree with a lot of what Dave Ramsey says, but I think, 

Rich Bennett 23:29
mm-hmm. 

Paul Applegate 23:29
Too far on, on, on, on credit. 

Rich Bennett 23:31
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 23:31
Yeah. Um, but also, understand, like, there's people that can't control themselves. 

Rich Bennett 23:36
Oh, 

Paul Applegate 23:36
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 23:36
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 23:37
You know, but if, if you can control yourself and you can pay that credit card off every month, 

Rich Bennett 23:42
do it. 

Paul Applegate 23:44
If you can. Yeah. Like, 

Rich Bennett 23:45
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 23:46
Because then you get those, you know, the miles or whatever, like, and it's not a huge thing, but, you know, a couple, like a free flight every year. Like, that's a nice little perk. 

Rich Bennett 23:56
Free hotel. Oh, yeah. I know my sister-in-law, um, oh my god, I can't tell you all the different places we've gone to and saved the money because of the miles. 

Paul Applegate 24:05
No, yeah. And I think we like, we get my sister-in-law a gift card to Barnes and Noble every year. And it's to our credit card points, 

Rich Bennett 24:13
like really? 

Paul Applegate 24:14
Like, nothing wrong with 

Rich Bennett 24:17
that. I'm not looking at that. I don't know if I can do it. I never thought of that. 

Paul Applegate 24:20
Yeah. There's a couple of different ways. Like, if you go through the app to redeem your miles, 

Rich Bennett 24:24
yeah, 

Paul Applegate 24:25
ways you can do it, like, yeah, obviously every credit card's different, but 

Rich Bennett 24:29
wow. 

Paul Applegate 24:30
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 24:30
I have to, no, I definitely got a look into that. Um, I'm going to go step back a little bit because 

Paul Applegate 24:36
I'm going to go down rabbit holes. 

Rich Bennett 24:38
Well, no, no, no, so am I. Believe me. People have told me sometimes I should change the name of the podcast. Oh, look, a squirrel. 

Where is I going? Oh yeah so especially with everything that's going on today. How do you help your clients stay calm and focused especially with the way you know the market is and especially way it's up and down. 

Paul Applegate 25:02
Well that's where like the industry used to just be the money you have with me is the only money I care about. 

Rich Bennett 25:10
I 

Paul Applegate 25:11
only invest and talk to you about that money. That is going away and now the industry is moving more toward like full financial planning. 

And honestly like times like these is where it's really important to have a plan. 

Rich Bennett 25:27
Yeah 

Paul Applegate 25:29
because when you work with me we you know it typically starts with figuring out where you're at and then where you want to go. And then we figure out the way for you to get there. And every year we keep adjusting the plan. But when I build a plan like I always have to tell people like we're going to build this plan off of conservative returns. 

Rich Bennett 25:53
Yeah 

Paul Applegate 25:53
because if this plan works and get you to the retirement you want off of conservative like I think some of the things they do is like they base it off like a 6% return which is below and you know the market average. 

Rich Bennett 26:07
Right 

Paul Applegate 26:07
because nobody's ever been mad at us when there's more money in the account only when there's less money in the account. So if we can build a plan that works and get you there at you know at 6% returns then like the last three years when the market's returned 20% even better. And if we're ahead of schedule we can always adjust it. And one of the trainers at Edward Jones has a great saying it's not a transaction that's a relationship. This is a living thing that we're doing and we are meeting at minimum once a year if not more often to get you there. 

And we're scared right now because they know they're putting money aside but they never know when it's not. 

Rich Bennett 26:56
So 

Paul Applegate 26:57
if we have great software that shows what the projection looks like and we plan out to like 91 for men and 93 for women I don't know why Edward Jones I assume pays a lot of money to get those numbers. 

Rich Bennett 27:10
91 years of age. My goal was to make it to at least 

Paul Applegate 27:17
well then we adjust the plan. Well I 

Rich Bennett 27:19
100. 

Paul Applegate 27:19
mean 

Rich Bennett 27:19
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 27:19
that's our standard we can always adjust it that long 

Rich Bennett 27:21
right. 

Paul Applegate 27:22
But like people I ain't going to live that long but what if you do 

Rich Bennett 27:25
yeah 

Paul Applegate 27:26
you know 

Rich Bennett 27:26
you never know 

Paul Applegate 27:27
people you know like if you're 40 you know like I don't know if I'm going to live past 80 of all medical technology is getting better every single day. 

Rich Bennett 27:36
What was the guy open a date for the Orioles do you see the guy 

Paul Applegate 27:39
threw 

Rich Bennett 27:39
that 

Paul Applegate 27:39
it was like 109 

Rich Bennett 27:40
a hundred and nine years 

Paul Applegate 27:41
old. Now I don't know if I want to go that far 

Rich Bennett 27:44
he look good using the wall I had a 

Paul Applegate 27:47
What's 

Rich Bennett 27:47
lady. 

Paul Applegate 27:47
better than me probably 

Rich Bennett 27:48
I had a lady on the show 101 years old and still has a trainer and is still writing. I think that 

Paul Applegate 27:58
my knees are a different age. 

Rich Bennett 28:03
Yeah, my back is too. 

Paul Applegate 28:06
I go Indiana Jones I go 

Rich Bennett 28:09
it's 

Paul Applegate 28:10
not the years is the miles. 

Rich Bennett 28:12
And 

Paul Applegate 28:13
unfortunately my time in law enforcement. I 

Rich Bennett 28:16
put a lot of miles. I 

Paul Applegate 28:17
joke that I'm like a 2018 Honda Honda Civic in 50,000 miles. You know I'll get you there but I ain't going to be pretty and it ain't going to be quick but 

Rich Bennett 28:26
we'll. We'll chuck it all eventually 

Paul Applegate 28:29
maybe I need new tires but 

Rich Bennett 28:31
wait. What year did you start with Edward Jones 

Paul Applegate 28:33
2024? 

Rich Bennett 28:34
Okay so you didn't have to deal with people especially during covid because I'm sure a lot of people didn't know what was going on 

Paul Applegate 28:42
you know it's that. that had to have been a scary time because one the market tanked very 

Rich Bennett 28:50
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 28:50
quickly like 27 or 30% something like that like in in in in a week or two like it was it was crazy. Plus for the first couple weeks nobody knew what the heck was going to happen like just with the pandemic at all like so not only are you your your your market. And you know like your retirement is tanking but then you don't know like what's the new reality of what's going on and unfortunately like things kind of. 

yeah, you know moved in 

Rich Bennett 29:22
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 29:22
a in a in a decent direction the market came back and all that but like during that time but that's again that's why we. That's why having a plan you're confident and somebody that you can call like. The people think in the investment returns is the most important part of our job it's not it's it's honestly I think it's like well the relationship and trust but I'm a financial therapist a lot of times because if I can talk you out of selling at the bottom of one of these and leaving it in for the recovery. I just 

Rich Bennett 29:51
Wow. 

Paul Applegate 29:51
made you more money than any of my fees will ever be because, you know, last year in March, when the market tanked because of Liberation Day or 

Rich Bennett 30:02
right, 

Paul Applegate 30:03
whatever they called it, it was also followed by the second largest single day gain in history. So if you had sold out waiting to see it stabilized, you missed out on that. 

Rich Bennett 30:11
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 30:13
So like, again, 

we're not traders, we're investors, we buy quality companies, quality funds and we let it go and we believe in the plan. If you come to me and say, "I want to turn $10, 000 into a million dollars in the next five weeks," we're working together. 

Rich Bennett 30:34
not right. 

Paul Applegate 30:34
That's We build long-term plans to help you get to retirement. Now if you want to be risky, I'm like, a couple percent of your portfolio, we can talk about that. 

Rich Bennett 30:47
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 30:49
Your retirement should not be risky, 

Rich Bennett 30:51
No. 

Paul Applegate 30:51
at least in my thing like, 

Rich Bennett 30:55
it doesn't have to be, 

Paul Applegate 30:57
because time, time in the market is more important than timing the market. Give yourself, that's why 401K is great, because every paycheck you put a little bit in and it dollar-cost averages every week and it just goes for, you know, and I tell most people, like unless you work for, unless you're in with the federal government or a state government or a job that gives you benefits after retirement, you basically, most people have to work till 65 because that's when Medicare kicks 

Rich Bennett 31:26
in. Right. 

Paul Applegate 31:27
And it, medical, especially for like a person in the 50s or 60s, if you have to buy it on the marketplace, it's not cheap. So most people have to stay working till 65. So like, if you're 40, it's like, "Okay, you have 25 years, like this is a long time." And like, it's always hysterical, when I talk to people who are like 25, I'm so far behind. I'm like, 

Rich Bennett 31:51
it's 

Paul Applegate 31:51
I understand you got to work most likely for 40 more years. Like, you could, you could mess up for the next six years, be 

Rich Bennett 31:59
true. Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 31:59
31 and still have 34 years to work, which most people, from my understanding, would be thrilled with a wonderful 30 year career. Yeah. So like, people don't understand like, this so much time and it's just the, like, the sooner you start, like even just $100 a month, or $100 a pay, something, $25 a pay at 20 and let it run. And every time you get a raise, you keep adding to it. It's just, 

Rich Bennett 32:25
the relationships are really important to you, aren't they? With your 

Paul Applegate 32:30
It's the most 

Rich Bennett 32:30
colleague. 

Paul Applegate 32:30
important thing. 

Rich Bennett 32:31
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 32:33
It's, because if you don't trust me, 

Rich Bennett 32:36
yeah, 

Paul Applegate 32:36
I'm an advisor. You know, ultimately, I give you advice. If you don't trust me enough take it, why are we working 

Rich Bennett 32:43
together? 

Paul Applegate 32:44
Now I hope, now I'm obviously Hartford County, conservative County, being x law enforcement has helped breach a lot of fear of financial, because what's 

Rich Bennett 32:57
that 

Paul Applegate 32:57
the biggest fear of financial advisors that they're going to rip you off? 

has helped me overcome a lot of that pretty quickly. But if you don't, I tell people, like, this is what I'd like you to do. I never say, yes or no. I say, good idea, bad idea, and it's what 

Rich Bennett 33:12
That 

Paul Applegate 33:12
it's going to do, but it's ultimately it's your money. If you want to do it, I'm going to document the heck out of it and say, hey, I gave this advice, did that, but ultimately they said, it's my money. I want to do this. 

Rich Bennett 33:24
Tell me, say, you're a coach 

Paul Applegate 33:27
in a way. Yeah, absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 33:29
Man, that's softball's really coming through, isn't 

Paul Applegate 33:32
it? You know, 

Rich Bennett 33:35
people are... what? So what's a good financial plan actually look like for someone in today's... 

Paul Applegate 33:43
Each person is so different. know, it's crazy. I have clients that have like $300, 000 that are in better financial shape 

Rich Bennett 33:54
You 

Paul Applegate 33:54
in retirement than some people with like, six to seven hundred thousand because, you know, they spend two grand a month, Social Security covers most of that, and they need, you know, $500 a month, 500 goes into 200 grand, a lot of times. Then you got the people who have like, 800 grand save, but they're spending $15, 000 a month. 

Rich Bennett 34:12
It 

Paul Applegate 34:14
happens. 

Rich Bennett 34:14
Oh, I know. 

Paul Applegate 34:17
And Social Security does not cover anywhere close to that. 

Rich Bennett 34:21
Nope. 

Paul Applegate 34:22
And they just, they run through it. But each part, like, I think I covered this earlier, each person is so different, but like part of our process is figuring out where you are, 

Rich Bennett 34:36
but like, 

Paul Applegate 34:36
right now, figuring out where you want to be. Like, when we, when we do discovery meetings, it's, what do you, and obviously asking a 25-year-old, they don't know what retirement's going to be, but as you get to the 40s or 50s, you have a better idea of what you want your retirement to be. Like, well, what do you want to do? Do you want to travel? Do you want to move to the beach? Or do you want to, you know, what is retirement looked to you? And a lot of times people are like, well, I don't even know. 

Rich Bennett 35:01
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 35:01
But then we got to be like, well, we need to have some idea 'cause we need, we need to know this, to know what you want, and how to get you there, um, and they just take some time sometimes, but, you know, like me, I was told my wife, I need enough money to play golf twice a day, uh, it's to retire, because otherwise she'd probably get sick of me, so I need to be busy. Well, like some people were like, okay, we want to take, uh, we want to take a, a cruise every year. Okay, cool. So right now, we're probably five to eight grand a year, but with inflation it goes up when we plan for that, and 

Rich Bennett 35:37
this is orange cheap neither. 

Paul Applegate 35:38
Like, hey, do you want to help your kids pay for college? Do you want to help pay for a wedding or a down payment for a house? Like, like, what do you want it to be? And then we build the plan out of that, and then we figure out how to get you there. How to get you as close as possible, and we, we build that plan. And if you like it, we move forward and we keep every year at minimum, we keep into it. 

Rich Bennett 35:58
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 35:58
Yeah. And it's, it's for a normal, every person who works every day, 40 hours a week. It's tough to be able to do that without help. 

Rich Bennett 36:10
What about solar pernorse? Because I mean, we talked about like a lot of businesses will have the 401k's and all that. So pernorse, 

Paul Applegate 36:18
there's a lot of great plans for that. 

Rich Bennett 36:20
Okay, 

Paul Applegate 36:21
but like, I love, like again, I love working with small business owners because my dad, my dad was in, uh, did, like was a stone mason for a long time. 

Rich Bennett 36:30
Really? Wow. 

Paul Applegate 36:32
Was, but he ended up leaving because he's like, I was tired of lobster in the summertime and beans and rice in the, uh, in the winter. Because 

Rich Bennett 36:43
eating 

Paul Applegate 36:47
he was too busy working and he worked hard. You like, your body comes home and you hurt. So you don't want to be like, oh, let me cut back and you don't, you 

Rich Bennett 36:54
want to? 

Paul Applegate 36:54
You want to do all that and you know, especially with small business owners. It's very important that we help them build like an emergency fund, um, especially construction, like, you got to make it through your winners. 

Rich Bennett 37:08
like, um, yeah, 

Paul Applegate 37:08
You got to have the money to make through it. Also, I've seen, I've seen business owners who do great for a couple of years, but they never put any money away. 

Rich Bennett 37:17
no, 

Paul Applegate 37:17
And then when the business goes down, they don't have anything to show for it. And there's a lot of ways like this. There's, there's retirement plans specifically for small business owners, but a lot of times they're too busy running their business to think about it. 

Rich Bennett 37:30
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 37:30
So 

that's like, again, that's what we come in. Like, we help you build and plan for the future and be like, Hey, pay yourself first. You know, don't, don't spend all of it. Figure and like the plant like the jacquo willing quote of disciplinical's freedom. 

Rich Bennett 37:49
Wow, 

Paul Applegate 37:50
disciplinical's freedom. Like, I tell people, we can, we're going to build this plan. We're going to figure out how much to put in your emergency fund and how much to put in your retirement. Spend the rest of the money. After we know that your retirement and your emergency fund is taking care, but if you want to spend every dime after that. Go ahead as long as we have these things going. And then hey, I need a new car in a couple months. Okay, cool. Let's build a fund for that. And then you can spend all the money after that. Like, it gives you the freedom to do what you want to do, because then you know, you know, 

Rich Bennett 38:22
have 

Paul Applegate 38:22
how much you 

Rich Bennett 38:22
there. 

Paul Applegate 38:23
Like, oh, I want to take a vacation every year. And I want it to be five grand. Okay, cool. Then we need to put for a little over $400 a month away into this vacation fund. And then we have it paid off. Like, when you, when you take it. 

Rich Bennett 38:38
I wish I had a bell right now, because over 10 years of doing this. You're the first one. I'm pretty sure you are the first one to ever mention jacquo. 

Paul Applegate 38:47
Like, 

Rich Bennett 38:48
freaking love him. 

Paul Applegate 38:50
Some of the things he has said on his podcast. changing, but like discipline equals freedom. When you're disciplined in, when you are disciplined in certain aspects of your life, it gives you the freedom 

Rich Bennett 39:03
Life 

Paul Applegate 39:03
to do and to do anything you want, really. And like, even what I brought up in the earlier one where I never want anybody to be stuck. But having what if you're in debt and you don't have any money saved and you hate your job, you're pretty stuck. 

Rich Bennett 39:21
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 39:21
If you have an emergency fund. If you have retirement savings put aside, then you can, you have the ability if you're in a miserable situation to go and find something better. 

And it's, you know, I told somebody a couple months ago. job was not treating them great. Let's put it that way. 

Rich Bennett 39:43
Right. The 

Paul Applegate 39:44
But we did the plan. We built it and we said, I said, Hey, you've done a great job. Like you, you've done a great job saving. You could leave today if you want to. Now it's going, your retirement is not going to be as robust, as if you stay another five or six years. But you hit all your goals. And you still have money left as per our plan. So if the job? Pisses you off, you could leave it lunch and not come back. Um, I believe he let us company know that. Hey, I'm not stuck here. I can go. Uh, 

Rich Bennett 40:16
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 40:18
and surprisingly, the, the treating them slightly better now. 

Rich Bennett 40:20
you 

Paul Applegate 40:20
'Cause 

Rich Bennett 40:20
gotta speak up. 

Paul Applegate 40:21
'Cause when they, when they think they got you under the thumb, 

Rich Bennett 40:26
then they're gonna keep you under their 

Paul Applegate 40:27
Uh-huh, but when they know that you have the ability to, to go, 

Rich Bennett 40:30
thumb, huh? 

Paul Applegate 40:31
it's, it's freeing. And they're like, oh, maybe we can't treat this guy like that because he could leave. And he knows he 

Rich Bennett 40:39
can leave, yeah. 

Paul Applegate 40:39
Um, and like that's the, that's my favorite part, is like, uh, when you give those people, like, "Hey, you can do this. You can do it. You can, oh you can, or you can take a, a, a voluntary demotion to relieve some stress and you're still on plan, or you can switch to a different job. You can leave the job that's killing you and go to a job that's gonna make you happy, even though it's less pay, because we have done the work and, and built it up. 

Rich Bennett 41:06
You really love doing this, don't 

Paul Applegate 41:07
you? It's, 

it's awesome. 

Rich Bennett 41:12
I could, I could just tell you to you, I could see the passion you have for it. 

Paul Applegate 41:16
You know, like, I, I, I went into law enforcement to help people. You know, the old, I 

Rich Bennett 41:20
people. 

Paul Applegate 41:20
want to help 

Rich Bennett 41:20
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 41:21
Um, and I had to leave before I was finished with that. Like, I still, like, helping people, like, it's, it's, it's, it's an amazing feeling. When you tell people, like, hey, you're good. And like, 

Rich Bennett 41:33
yeah, 

Paul Applegate 41:33
the fact, like, I've had people come back and say, we were nervous. We feel so much better now that we've talked to you. And we know that we're, we're on pace and that, like, we'll be able to leave our son. A, a decent inheritance and still live, you know, in retire, like, it's, there's no better feeling, like, 

Rich Bennett 41:51
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 41:52
And 

I always joke, like, in law enforcement, we help people, but nobody, like, the people I help now actually appreciate it. 

Rich Bennett 42:00
yes, Yeah, that's true. boy, 

Paul Applegate 42:03
Um, 

Rich Bennett 42:04
that's how I mentioned earlier. I think you, thank you for your service. How many of you guys hear that? 

Paul Applegate 42:09
Uh, 

Rich Bennett 42:10
it's not hurt. We, military veterans. We hear it all the time. as first responders, you don't hear a lot. It's, I want to say it's almost expected of you. The job is, 

Paul Applegate 42:22
But 

Rich Bennett 42:22
but that, then you have other people that don't want you there. But you're, you're helping, yeah, you're helping people now and you, the passion shows, 

Paul Applegate 42:33
even, like, 

Rich Bennett 42:34
probably less stressful too. 

Paul Applegate 42:35
Uh, you know, I joke all the time. Nobody spit on me since I switched jobs. I mean, the market's not great right now. So I'm not ruling it out. 

Rich Bennett 42:45
Um, 

Paul Applegate 42:46
yeah, nobody 

Rich Bennett 42:48
spit on me. 

Paul Applegate 42:49
Nobody, yeah. And, uh, you know, it's, I could do this. Like I, I, I, I'll do this till I'm 70. Like, I, I enjoy this. 

Rich Bennett 42:59
No, no, no, no, Paul. 

Paul Applegate 43:00
What? 

Rich Bennett 43:01
I think you have the same goal as me. You'll be 100 and still doing this. I'm going to be podcasting 100. 

Paul Applegate 43:06
I'm 

Rich Bennett 43:06
So 

Paul Applegate 43:06
hoping to have left this to my children. 

Rich Bennett 43:08
Okay, to 

Paul Applegate 43:09
buy that time, 

Rich Bennett 43:10
I don't think none of my, my son may take this over. I don't see my daughter doing. 

Paul Applegate 43:14
I'm hoping by 70, I have enough money to play golf twice a day. Um, but also I might into an Italian family. So I have three daughters. So weddings, college, that's going to be on this guy. So, uh, you know, 

Rich Bennett 43:28
yeah, 

Paul Applegate 43:29
but 

Rich Bennett 43:29
weddings are not cheap. 

Paul Applegate 43:30
You know, the last last five years of law enforcement, I was dreaming of other jobs. Just, 

Rich Bennett 43:37
yeah. 

Paul Applegate 43:37
What can I do? Well, like always have these, you know, hair brainstreams to try and be like, I need to eat. I, not anymore. I, like, this is what I, 

Rich Bennett 43:47
Is 

Paul Applegate 43:47
this 

Rich Bennett 43:48
it? 

Paul Applegate 43:48
is what I love doing. 

Rich Bennett 43:49
How did you find out about Edward Jews? 

Paul Applegate 43:51
Um, 

I don't know how this is going to sound, but I always say that if you're a cop who's not a, an asshole, you build an incredibly large network very quickly. 

Rich Bennett 44:04
Okay. 

Paul Applegate 44:04
Um, and there was the Edward Jones guy in town that I was always interested in investing, always 

Rich Bennett 44:10
Right. 

Paul Applegate 44:10
interested in, you know, obviously, like, I was putting money away, building for retirement, doing all that. And we built a great relationship and, um, and I owe him a lot. Like, he's one of the, like, I, I would, I would take a bullet for this man. 

Rich Bennett 44:23
Right. 

Paul Applegate 44:23
he's, and, and when I needed him, he was there. And that's like, I love that. 

Rich Bennett 44:28
Because 

Paul Applegate 44:28
Yeah. And that's what I want to be. Um, but he was always kind of soft recruiting me. Like, hey, when you retire, you'd be awesome at this. Like, you already know 90% of it. The 10% of high level stuff that we do once a year, we could all teach you that. Um, 

Rich Bennett 44:42
I said relationship. 

Paul Applegate 44:43
And so the relationship means like people like you, they trust you. You know, you know the basics, and you know all that. Um, and then one day, I was like, Hey, brother, what if I, uh, what if I can't make it to retirement? Uh, he said, except me the resume. And it was 

Rich Bennett 45:00
Wow. 

Paul Applegate 45:01
great. And like, honestly, the, the proudest moment of police work, um, outside of obviously certain life saving 

Rich Bennett 45:12
Right. 

Paul Applegate 45:12
event. When I reached out to people and said, Hey, I can't do this anymore. It's killing me, I'm not the person I want to be. I had three people come to me like within a week saying hey we want you to work for us. 

Rich Bennett 45:26
Wow. 

Paul Applegate 45:27
Yes. We know that you're a good person, you're a hard worker. And even if you don't have the skill set now, we know that you'll work to learn it. 

Rich Bennett 45:35
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 45:35
Yeah. And that was like, and I called one guy and he was like, I don't have a job for you right now, but the people in the town love you so much they're going to somebody will find you something. 

Rich Bennett 45:46
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 45:48
Yeah. And, you know, discussing with my family about the options Edward Jones was the clear choice. And it's it's been phenomenal. And it's 

Rich Bennett 45:59
Wow. 

Paul Applegate 45:59
it's been awesome. And I say, I still get to help people, I still get to do all this and I I'm a better person than I was like the last couple of years, like, and also, also, like, full disclosure, I've been going to therapy. Like I'm a big proponent of therapy. I think 

Rich Bennett 46:16
I agree. 

Paul Applegate 46:17
And like, when I see police officers now and I talk to them, I tell them like, listen, if you have, if you go on a call and it and you still thinking about it over 24 hours later, go to therapy. 

Rich Bennett 46:27
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 46:27
I'm police work. I compare it to the ocean and the beach. The waves against the sand. The beach will hold up for some time, but the ocean always wins. 

Rich Bennett 46:40
Yeah. So, 

Paul Applegate 46:41
where is it away? And that's what it is. Like, when you're, you're seeing like, even the good people you meet, you're meeting them on the worst day of their lives. Because they've been a victim of a crime or you're there because a loved one just passed away or like my least favorite part of the job was the notifications. 

Rich Bennett 47:02
Because 

Paul Applegate 47:04
you know that you're just about to ruin somebody's 

Rich Bennett 47:06
life. 

Paul Applegate 47:07
If this son or their father or their husband, like, you're about to just ruin their life and you're the person there. And that's, and I always told my guys like, if you don't want to do it, I'll do it. Like, in my life, I was like, I'm already messed up like, I'll take it. And it's like some like, I still hear those voices. Like, I don't know if that'll ever go 

Rich Bennett 47:30
like, 

Paul Applegate 47:30
away because 

Rich Bennett 47:30
yeah. The 

Paul Applegate 47:32
first, when you tell them, there's always the disbelief and there's always the what, what, what, what, what are you telling me? And it's just like, I still hear those. It's 

Rich Bennett 47:39
like, shock right 

Paul Applegate 47:40
away. 

Rich Bennett 47:41
Yeah. God. Wow. 

Paul Applegate 47:43
Yeah. Didn't mean to get a little weepy on that one. 

Rich Bennett 47:46
No, no, no, no, that's already this is why this. 

I think that's why people trust you so much and are willing to, you 

Paul Applegate 48:00
as 

Rich Bennett 48:00
know, their financial advisor, you're real, 

Paul Applegate 48:05
you're 

Rich Bennett 48:05
real bad about it. And you 

Paul Applegate 48:07
care about it. 

Rich Bennett 48:09
And that's something you don't see a lot. Unfortunately, know, especially in today's world, 

Paul Applegate 48:15
you 

Rich Bennett 48:16
but you do. All right. So for someone that's actually listening right now that's putting this off, what's the first step they should take after hearing this episode? 

Paul Applegate 48:25
I mean, obviously besides for calling me 

Rich Bennett 48:27
Well, yeah. 

Paul Applegate 48:28
and, you 

Rich Bennett 48:28
that. 

Paul Applegate 48:28
know, doing Again, I'm going to say general things is, if you're not doing a budget, do a budget. Because that's the first step to figuring out you actually are at. 

Rich Bennett 48:43
where 

Paul Applegate 48:44
Because some people, they find out they actually have a decent amount of money that they can do or they find out that they're spending more money than they bring in. And then you build a plan for that. 

Rich Bennett 48:53
Yes, especially you've all the subscription platforms out there nowadays. 

Paul Applegate 48:57
Yeah, I'm like, write them down how many 

Rich Bennett 48:59
that. 

Paul Applegate 48:59
subscriptions of all Like this, this whole industry is that it just work on canceling subscriptions that. 

Heck, forgetting forgetting about a subscription is planning for this entire business model. That's why it's you know, $10 a month, a $15 a month. Like, 

Rich Bennett 49:16
I'm not surprised. 

Paul Applegate 49:17
Like if everybody who signs up for the gym goes, nobody be able to work out. 

Rich Bennett 49:21
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 49:21
Yeah, it's more about the, oh, it's only $10 a month. If I go once a year, it's, you know, you 

Rich Bennett 49:28
look at how many people are probably still subscribed to zoom since COVID and probably don't even use it anymore. 

Paul Applegate 49:35
I'm sure a bunch do. 

Rich Bennett 49:36
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 49:38
Call me. 

Rich Bennett 49:46
That's a good way. 

Paul Applegate 49:49
always try to walk this fine line of not being too salesy. 

Rich Bennett 49:52
Right. 

Paul Applegate 49:52
You 

Rich Bennett 49:52
I 

Paul Applegate 49:52
know, but obviously you can call me the, you know, call Paul at a 410-939-527-0 and my office is in Aberdeen, Maryland, but I'm licensed in like 18, 20 states. And I can be licensed. 

Rich Bennett 50:06
Really? 

Paul Applegate 50:07
Well, the good thing about working for a national company is they, I can be licensed in any state within 20, 24 to 48 hours. You know, with make the payment, do the application, and it's done. 

Rich Bennett 50:21
Thanks to Zoom you could do 

Paul Applegate 50:22
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:22
those what I want to call it. 

Paul Applegate 50:23
I know like people that yeah, they they have lots of clients in other states and that's all through zoom and you know Occasionally, maybe if they're on vacation. They'll they'll meet them face-to-face, but it's a lot of time to do zoom and Technology is great on that thing and that as 

Rich Bennett 50:39
those of you listening through at the country here not other countries that right just United States has 

Paul Applegate 50:44
Yeah, the 

Rich Bennett 50:44
States 

Paul Applegate 50:44
United 

Rich Bennett 50:45
just United States. So those of you listening I'll make sure I have the Link to getting in touch with Paul as well in the 

Paul Applegate 50:52
Why 

Rich Bennett 50:53
I didn't realize that I thought it was like just one state 

Paul Applegate 50:56
No, I mean I I'm an old school guy. I love face-to-face 

Rich Bennett 51:00
Yeah, I 

Paul Applegate 51:01
prefer it because There's there's the connection that you get. 

Rich Bennett 51:05
Yeah But 

Paul Applegate 51:07
I'm also, you know Not gonna turn somebody 

Rich Bennett 51:10
down 

Paul Applegate 51:11
now. Well, like like I go to a lot of conventions like I I I try to really help first responders and veterans like That's my passion. Yeah Also like I said small business owners are like obviously anybody I I work jobs that this is the first job I ever worked where I go home in the same amount of pain that I went in to work with so like I I can work a lot of hours I can help a lot of people But like I go down to the Fireman's convention in Ocean City and they're 

Rich Bennett 51:44
Okay, 

Paul Applegate 51:44
like would you work with me? I'm like first of all Maryland's not that big of a state is not like where in Texas where it's like a 30 hour 

Rich Bennett 51:50
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 51:52
I'll help any like any any of these people I go to the VFW Convention to help them as well like I like I want to help like I can be I 

Rich Bennett 52:03
Do you go out and talk to different groups whether like rotary clubs lines clubs and stuff like that? 

Paul Applegate 52:08
I try to 

Rich Bennett 52:09
Okay, 

Paul Applegate 52:09
if they're willing to have me. I'll talk. 

Rich Bennett 52:11
Oh, I definitely have to have you to our line's club. 

Paul Applegate 52:14
Yeah, that'd be great 

Rich Bennett 52:15
I mean not a lot of members, but still you got people anywhere between Was my youngest 18 19-20 whatever to Scrooge is probably a hundred you never know all right. So anything you like that before I get to my last question 

Paul Applegate 52:33
I mean think about that for a second 

Like I said That there's this the I was at a Confucius proverb or know like the the best time to plan a tree was 20 years ago the next best time is today 

If you haven't started even if you don't want to work with me, just go to your workplace plan and Start putting something in something And then every time you get a raise grow it or as you adjust and you figure out, hey, I'm budgeting now I have a little more money just keep doing it nobody's really been mad about having too much money 

Rich Bennett 53:10
Yeah 

Paul Applegate 53:10
in return. And like I don't think Social Security will be gone, but who knows what form it will be in 

Rich Bennett 53:18
That's true, too 

Paul Applegate 53:19
because you know, it's an act of Congress that gets rid of Social Security What's Congress's number one goal? You know in my mind to get reelected 

Rich Bennett 53:27
yeah 

Paul Applegate 53:27
What's the number one way to not get reelected 

Rich Bennett 53:31
get rid of Social Security 

Paul Applegate 53:33
so it I don't think it'll be gone, but who knows 

Rich Bennett 53:36
Just needs to be it needs to be improved though 

Paul Applegate 53:38
like yeah, but that's 

Rich Bennett 53:40
Everything does 

Paul Applegate 53:41
you know what did Ronald Reagan say there's nothing scarier than hearing we're here from the government and we're here to help 

like just 

Rich Bennett 53:53
Actually met 

Paul Applegate 53:54
him oh wow Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 53:55
when I was in the Marine Corps He actually came of course, we had to be locked and popped Attention and he came buying Some of our hands I was fortunate enough. My definitely one of my favorite 

Paul Applegate 54:10
presidents. Oh, that's awesome 

Rich Bennett 54:12
man. Yeah Haven't 

Paul Applegate 54:15
started 

Rich Bennett 54:15
yeah 

Paul Applegate 54:15
start Perfection is the enemy of good Like I said most 401k's they have a QDIA, which is like I think a qualified 

I forget the exact what it stands for but it's basically if you don't if you put money in and don't Put a portfolio together. It's what they automatically put you in 

Rich Bennett 54:36
Okay, 

Paul Applegate 54:36
and they usually decent. It's better than nothing like right better than nothing. You just if you put it into your workplace plan Just just just and don't look at the market every day. That's the easiest I look at my retirement plan like my former like the IRA that I rolled over from the pension. I look at that Every maybe every month. Maybe every two months because I know I don't need it. 

Rich Bennett 54:58
Right 

Paul Applegate 54:58
I'm not retiring anytime soon Because that's like I've had clients. Oh, it's down $5 today. 

Rich Bennett 55:06
So be back up 10 tomorrow 

Paul Applegate 55:07
Yeah, well, what was it yesterday like don't look like look at it monthly or quarterly or something because you can to drive yourself And again, we're not traders. We're investors 

Rich Bennett 55:17
Big difference 

Paul Applegate 55:18
big difference. We are not here to trade every day. We're here to buy quality companies quality funds ..and, and build a plan, like I said, my plan is, is, is my goal is to build you a plan that that works on even modern 

Rich Bennett 55:33
return. 

Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 55:34
Um, obviously, I'd love for everybody to get 25% returns every year, but it's just, it's, it's, it's not, it's not feasible because...

Rich Bennett 55:42
Yeah. ..and 

Paul Applegate 55:43
if somebody, if somebody tells you that they are gonna beat the market consistently every... 

Rich Bennett 55:48
..this year, 

Paul Applegate 55:49
there's two possibilities. First possibility, which is the most reasonable, they're lying to you. 

Rich Bennett 55:54
Uh-huh. 

Paul Applegate 55:54
The second possibility is they actually can beat the market, and they'll be your financial advisor for about three months before they're in New York City and you need $25 million to even get a meeting with them. Uh, 'cause they're all people that can do it. 

Rich Bennett 56:05
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 56:07
You know, uh, they, they work with exclusively high level millionaires and billionaires because they get paid quite a bit of money. Um, like Steve Cohen, I'm a Mets fan, don't, don't hold it against me. He's one of those guys. This company does it every year, um, but he's not talking to me. He's not talking to you. 

Rich Bennett 56:26
Huh? 

Huh, hmm, hmm, guys. 

Paul Applegate 56:29
No. 

Rich Bennett 56:30
(laughing) 

Paul Applegate 56:30
I mean, if somehow ramble into $200 million, they will. But, (laughing) 

Rich Bennett 56:36
I, that's another thing too, um, I mentioned this the other day with somebody. People that hit the lottery. They should be calling you right away because how many of these people you see within a certain amount of time are bankrupt? 

Paul Applegate 56:49
Uh, I think it's, the percentages are crazy. 

Rich Bennett 56:51
Oh, it's 

Paul Applegate 56:51
And 

Rich Bennett 56:51
not. 

Paul Applegate 56:52
like, oh, if you get it in, like, to most people, like, what do you think life changing money is? 

Rich Bennett 56:58
What I think life 

Paul Applegate 56:59
changing money is? It's like to, to the average American. 

Rich Bennett 57:01
Money that you no longer have, to me, would be life changing. 

Paul Applegate 57:04
But like, in my mind, $50, 000 is life changing money to a lot of people. Because 

Rich Bennett 57:09
Yeah. 

Paul Applegate 57:10
that can hopefully get them out of consumer debt or credit, or even give them emergency fund, would actually have some breathing room. But like, if you get an inheritance that's 50 grand or more, that's life changing money and 

Rich Bennett 57:22
like, yeah, 

Paul Applegate 57:22
if you don't want to waste it, like, 

Rich Bennett 57:26
like, invest it. 

Paul Applegate 57:26
Yeah. Well, at least figure out what the 

Rich Bennett 57:29
portfolio is. 

Paul Applegate 57:30
Figure out what the best options offer. 

Rich Bennett 57:31
Right. 

Paul Applegate 57:31
The best options might be to pay off debt. It might not be, but it. You know, we give, like, at least I, like, no cost, no obligation, consultations. Typically, I'll meet you up to, like, two or three 

Rich Bennett 57:45
like, 

Paul Applegate 57:45
times 

Rich Bennett 57:45
hmm. 

Paul Applegate 57:46
before we, 

Rich Bennett 57:47
Settle 

Paul Applegate 57:47
we meet. 

Settle 

Rich Bennett 57:48
on 

Paul Applegate 57:48
on it. 

Every, like, I get paid when I start managing money. If I don't manage your money, everything I do is free. 

Rich Bennett 57:55
It's 

Paul Applegate 57:55
Mm-hmm. 

Rich Bennett 57:55
free. 

Paul Applegate 57:56
And at minimum, after our two or three meetings, I feel like, even if we don't work together, you'll have a better idea of where you're at. Yeah. 

Which is great. Obviously, I'd love it with me, but even if I can just help some people just get a better idea where 

Rich Bennett 58:14
of 

Paul Applegate 58:15
they are. I can just find somebody you trust, the trust, trust, and like, and we'll listen to and just get started. 

Rich Bennett 58:26
Yeah. All right, you ready 

Paul Applegate 58:28
for it? Now, let me 

Rich Bennett 58:29
explain to you how this works. 

Paul Applegate 58:31
All right? 

Rich Bennett 58:32
So I have 100 different questions here. I have no idea what all these questions are. And there are five blocks. So I need you to pick a number between one, and somehow another, I want to say, over 90% of the time, it aligns with what we've been talking about. 

Paul Applegate 58:51
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 58:51
So I need you to pick a number between one and five 

Paul Applegate 58:53
Four. 

Rich Bennett 58:53
first. So, man, that was quick. 

Paul Applegate 58:55
That's a good number for me. 

Rich Bennett 58:58
Okay. You know what I'm sharing? 

Paul Applegate 59:01
Why? 

Sure. I was born on the 4th of December, so 12-four. You know, 

Rich Bennett 59:09
You 

Paul Applegate 59:09
it's 

Rich Bennett 59:09
thought you 

Paul Applegate 59:09
divisible. 

Rich Bennett 59:10
were going to tell me 4th of July for a minute there. 

Paul Applegate 59:12
you know, four, and like, four, you know, 12 divided over four. 

Rich Bennett 59:16
No, 

Paul Applegate 59:16
My wife was born in April. Two of my kids were born in April, which is the fourth month. 

Rich Bennett 59:21
Oh, wow. 

Paul Applegate 59:22
Just, I like four comes up a decent amount. 

Rich Bennett 59:25
Okay. What the looking at it out for an angel number is now. All right. Now six, pick a number between 61 and 80. 

76. 

76. Two hundred, 50th anniversary? Okay. That works. 

Paul Applegate 59:43
Some, you know, pretty patriotic? 

Rich Bennett 59:44
Yeah. 

Okay. If you could experience, if you could experience one moment of pure wonder again. What would it be? 

Paul Applegate 1:00:00
Pure 

Rich Bennett 1:00:01
wonder. Yeah. Wow. That's a first. 

Paul Applegate 1:00:08
Hmm. Wonder. I'm going to go off on a little bit of a tangent here. Like, my mom always chose the first, she said she had our first dance picked out at the wedding. It was, I hope you dance, which is, you know, one of the lines that I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. Unfortunately, life beats that out of you. A lot of times. You know, I guess I would have to go, you know, I'm not gonna pick switching jobs because that was a incredibly stressful time 

Rich Bennett 1:00:37
right. 

Paul Applegate 1:00:37
but full of wonder as well. I'd probably start go you know when my first child was 

Rich Bennett 1:00:43
Yeah, 

Paul Applegate 1:00:43
born because you just have no clue and it's just life is beginning and change like beginning for them changing for you and you just you don't know what's going to happen and it's just it's a great time and 

Rich Bennett 1:00:59
yeah 

Paul Applegate 1:01:00
you know obviously we enjoyed it because we had two more I like to think I'm attractive but I'm not that attractive to where 

Rich Bennett 1:01:09
thank 

Paul Applegate 1:01:12
so like we 

Rich Bennett 1:01:13
God my kids are like their mothers 

but 

Paul Applegate 1:01:18
like that's gotta be it I would um 

Rich Bennett 1:01:20
yeah 

Paul Applegate 1:01:22
you know 

Rich Bennett 1:01:22
yeah I would say the same thing 

Paul Applegate 1:01:24
like yeah just pure wonder and like yeah like that's 

Rich Bennett 1:01:28
it's just when you watch the birth of a child especially when it's your own it is it's like it's so surreal it's 

Paul Applegate 1:01:38
let me tell you you watch it too because it's 

Rich Bennett 1:01:39
it's 

Paul Applegate 1:01:39
not 

Rich Bennett 1:01:39
oh 

Paul Applegate 1:01:39
like 

Rich Bennett 1:01:40
yeah 

Paul Applegate 1:01:40
TV it's not like TV 

Rich Bennett 1:01:41
yeah I 

Paul Applegate 1:01:42
was the I you first time I was like oh it's cool I'm going to stand at the head give encouragement yeah like hey Han you're doing a great job there everything's awesome uh no hey grab a leg what 

Rich Bennett 1:01:52
uh huh 

Paul Applegate 1:01:53
oh like okay I guess yeah you're much more involved 

Rich Bennett 1:01:57
yeah you 

Paul Applegate 1:01:58
TV lets you let you believe 

Rich Bennett 1:02:01
are oh 

Paul Applegate 1:02:01
um 

Rich Bennett 1:02:02
it was 

god oh that's a whole another episode 

Paul Applegate 1:02:07
it is um 

Rich Bennett 1:02:07
then 

Paul Applegate 1:02:09
it's something 

Rich Bennett 1:02:10
it is it is Paul I want to thank you so much man it's been an honor to those of you listening 

and again I'll have the links and don't not go sposter's 

Paul Applegate 1:02:21
Paul 

Rich Bennett 1:02:22
Paul Applegate and I'll make sure I have the link in the shirt to his website so you can of course go there and give the phone number one more time 

Paul Applegate 1:02:31
uh I'll give phone number an email phone number is 4 or 9 39 5 2 7 0 this is the average old office and abody and of course I'd love if you ask for me also um my email is Paul dot applegate at Edward Jones dot com very simple I like that um and like I said any questions anything I'm I'm here I like I like helping uh obviously I want to make a little money as well but uh 

Rich Bennett 1:02:56
well you have to live 

Paul Applegate 1:02:57
yeah also please if if you're struggling with anything therapy is not a weakness um therapy is not a weakness uh it's it's it's it's it's it's probably made the most life changing difference uh you know in my entire life is having and cuz like you don't want to burden your life with 

Rich Bennett 1:03:14
yeah 

Paul Applegate 1:03:14
it yeah I like it just because they are a paid unbiased person that has to listen to me bitch every every so often 

Rich Bennett 1:03:23
I I want to say going to therapy is strength and I think most people don't do it because they are weak to do it they look at it as a weakness and it's not it's a strength to do it 

Paul Applegate 1:03:38
it's like it's like it's like saying I broke my leg I'm such a weak person I don't 

Rich Bennett 1:03:41
mm-hmm 

Paul Applegate 1:03:41
I shouldn't go to the doctor to get it fixed because I'm going to judge me it's 

Rich Bennett 1:03:44
not

Paul Applegate 1:03:44
it's