Adam Torres and Bruce Elfenbein discuss The PIPEs Conference.
Subscribe: iTunes / Spotify
Apply to be a guest on our podcast here
Show Notes:
Listen to The PIPEs Conference coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Eric Majors, Expert Trader at Passive Crypto Fund. Explore Expert Trader at Passive Crypto Fund and The PIPEs Conference.
Watch Full Interview:
About Bruce Elfenbein
As a financial professional driven by self-actualizing purpose and a commitment to independence, I have dedicated my career to serving our community through straightforward planning and a solid work ethic.
Bruce’s journey began after graduating from the University of Maryland, where he found success in sales and marketing for a national franchise. Guiding numerous entrepreneurs to success was deeply fulfilling, sparking his passion for positively impacting lives. Bruce’s path shifted towards financial services, where he excelled as a top agent nationwide.
It was here that he discovered the profound difference financial planning could make in people’s lives, and he fell in love with the industry. Recognizing the limitations of big box firms, he launched his independent practice to better meet his clients’ needs. This independence allows me to leverage diverse strategies effectively, maximizing outcomes for those he serves.
In retirement, it’s all about income. They can increase your income by 25% (or more), while lowering your risk, without changing any of your investments. However, his career faced a significant challenge with a cancer diagnosis in 2007. Overcoming this battle renewed my commitment, leading him back to the career he cherished. Bruce has since reopened his private practice, driven by a desire to give back as an educator—a dream fulfilled.
He believe in doing right by my clients. His mission is to ensure they enjoy a guaranteed income well beyond their working years, enabling them to live the retirement they envision. Every day, he is grateful for the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the financial security and futures of those he serve. Ready to secure your financial future with confidence? Let’s start planning your retirement journey together. Reach out today to schedule a consultation and discover how they can achieve your retirement goals.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and today I am at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida at the Pipes Conference. The Deal Flow guys, our events guys are putting on an amazing conference. And, and one of my good buddies, I’ve done many virtual interviews, but this is the first in person interviews with Bruce Elfenbein who made an appearance.
Man, Bruce. Finally, great to do this in person, man. Well, you know, we’re on separate coasts. So, you know, I see all the gatherings that you guys put on and I wish I could be there, but you know, it’s only a couple of thousand miles away and it’s a little bit more of a drive for me than Well, hey, for the record now.
We’re doing more on this coast, more in Florida. Now I’m plugged in. Now I know where you’re at. I’m like, oh my man. I’ll be back every time you’re here. I’ll come in and say hello. I’m happy to do it. Yeah. And I understand that you’re doing a bunch of events too, and you’ve been doing a lot of speaking lately.
So I want to get into that, but I guess first for the, for the newer audience that maybe haven’t caught some of our previous episodes, maybe tell us a little bit more about what you do in the retirement co. All right. Well, I’m a master certified financial fiduciary. People usually come to me because they either need me to fix something or they just need somebody that has their back and will look out for their best interest, which any certified financial fiduciary will do.
Not just me, there’s about a thousand of us around the country. So I will give a plug out. So if anybody if you’re wondering who’s going to look after you, find a certified financial fiduciary, they will take care of you. I promise the people that have this certification. They worked hard to get it. It means a lot to them and it means a lot to the people we work with.
So, so tell us a little bit more about the company and like what, how you’re helping people. Well, the retirement company, you know, it’s funny. I was at a meeting at the chamber of commerce. You know, my clients range in age from five up to 102. Wow. That’s the record for today. 102. 102, man. And you know, we have comprehensive services for retirement.
Obviously a strategy on a five year old is different than a strategy on someone that’s 60 or 70 or 80 or 102. Yeah. But we’re all about helping people grow the money for retirement. Make sure they never run out of it during retirement. Yeah. That involves, you know, not just growing the money, but making them tax efficient.
And making sure that they don’t lose money, which is a big one, because people like to make money. But you know something? They really hate to lose money. Yeah. We make sure that never happens. Hmm. How long you been in this business, Bruce? Fairly new. I’ve only been doing it for about 21 years. Mm hmm.
What’s one of your favorite things about helping people with retirement and security? Well, it’s one of the most gratifying things I can think of, Adam. Every night. You know, when I look in the mirror, I can smile, not just because I normally smile, but because I made a positive difference in people’s lives that I really helped them out.
And a week doesn’t go by where I won’t have someone that I work with call me out of the blue and say, Hey, Bruce, I just want to call you. I wanted to for what you’ve done. Give you an example. One of my clients, he was a teacher up in Palm Beach County, and we put together a program for him about. 10 or 12 years ago and the last year he called me.
He said Bruce. He says, you know, I retired two years ago He says I am living the retirement that I’ve always dreamed of. He says the plan you put together has worked exactly the way you said it was gonna work everything you said would happen happen and It’s worked out great. He says I just he says I wanted to call him.
Thank you And, and I appreciate, I think his wife kind of made him do that. Why don’t you call Bruce, you know, you know, yes, but they were great people. And it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to help good folks like that. Yeah. And I’m trying to remember off the top of my head. Cause I know of course, you’re one of our published authors with mission matters.
And I’m trying to like, say what edition, do you recall which edition? I think it may have been edition number three. three. I think so too. So for the newer audience that maybe haven’t caught the books or understand what we do, we published a bestselling this leaders book series and Bruce’s, I mean, he’s a good guy.
He’s featured in, he was one of, in one of the first editions. So if you’re at number three, my, and now we’re up to number 11 is actually coming out this year. Can you believe that? I can’t believe it. Yeah, well, it’s been some years. That would have been at least four years ago, maybe five. Somewhere along that time period.
It was pre COVID, pre all that stuff. So it had to be at least four or five years ago when we published that first book. And what I like about books is that they don’t, they don’t go bad. No. And folks available on Amazon. Yep. Just saying. Yeah, no, it’s great. And it’s been such a journey and we’ve been part of your journey.
You’ve been part of our journey. You’ve been an excellent member of the community. So I just think it’s amazing to finally get to get you in person, get you to see what else is going on. So what’s going on? What’s on the vision for the business side of things? Let’s go a little bit further there. I know that you told me you were doing some speaking engagements at AARP and then like, like give us the lowdown on the speaking side.
Well, I do do a lot of speaking. I’m a speaker for AARP. I also speak for the Foundation for Fiduciary Education. , what are some of the topics? Like what, well, the one I did last night was reducing taxes in retirement. But it really depends on the crowd. I, I’ll be going into some of the schools soon and talking to junior high and high school students and giving them some basic financial education.
You know, we say you go to school, they give you the, the reading, the writing, the arithmetic. You can learn about state capitals and things like that. But they never teach you how to balance a checkbook or how to invest, or, you know, how to grow your money or how to create a retirement in the future. And I give them some basics.
I help them out with that. Now, the stuff I do for AARP is a little bit different. The talk I gave yesterday was on Medicare, how to find the best Medicare program and how to leverage it to your benefit. A lot of the stuff I talk about for my foundation for fiduciary education might be on things like social security.
You know, when’s the best time to take social security? How do you leverage the benefits? We find that a lot of times people say, well, as soon as I am eligible at 62, I’m going to start taking it. Yeah. Okay. Maybe that’s smart. Maybe it’s not. I asked him why. And they’re like, well, I, I understand it grows and folks, if you aren’t aware of it, Every year that we defer our social security, our benefit, turning it on.
It grows in compounds by an 8 percent rate, not counting any cost of living adjustments, which also get added in. So if they start taking it at 62, a lot of times, if they wait until 70, it’s about 70, 75 percent higher, you know? And when I ask him, why do you want to take it so early? And I’m like, well. You know, I know it grows if I wait, but if I get hit by lightning before I’m 70, you know I’m afraid I left all that money on the table and I’m like, okay, I can see that but number one you’re dead You know, what do you care?
I’ve never seen a shroud with pockets, you know They don’t have a Brinks truck pulling up to the grave, you know, I get it. But again, everyone’s different I counsel a lot of government employees Especially folks that work for the V. A. And not too long ago, I had a nurse and she’d been working for the V. A.
For over 30 years. And she said, Bruce, I’ve had it. I can’t do it again. I can’t do it another day. I just Enough’s enough, you know, can I retire? And she had just turned 62 and I was able to look at her and pensions have pretty much disappeared unless you work for the government. She had a pension. She had her TSP, a twist savings plan, which is the government version of a 401k or IRA.
She had her social security and I was able to work it out that. Hey, if you want to go in tomorrow and tell them you’re leaving, you will have enough money to live the rest of your life and maintain your standard of living. And believe me, that was really, really good news for her. Oh yeah. And it’s a different mental if you’re working because you want to.
No, because you have to, you know, it’s a whole different ballgame. Yeah. Well, Bruce, man, I just have to say, it has been a lot of fun. Have you on the show and getting into your head about what you’re doing over at the retirement company? That being said, I want you to look into the camera. If somebody’s listening or watching this and they want to follow up and learn more, connect with you and your team, how do they do it?
Well, there’s a couple of ways on number one, our website is the retirement. co. That’s not C O M, it’s dot C O, the retirement dot C O. You can always write to me, which is Bruce at the retirement dot C O, or call me. My cell number is 786 546 9302. Now one word of caution. That is my only cell. I’m not doing anything illegal.
I don’t need to maintain my, you know, multiple cell phones. So that’s my real number. So do me a favor. Don’t drunk dial me at three o’clock in the morning to tell me you love me or anything like that, you know? So if you have any questions, reach out to me at the retirement. co. Fantastic. And for everybody watching, just so you know, we’ll put the links to the website and all that good stuff in the show notes.
So you can just click on it and head right on over. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with mission matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show each and every day. We’re bringing you new content, new ideas, new stories, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and Bruce again. Thank you so much for coming, man. My pleasure. Good to see you, Adam. Good to see you.