And Eric, I wonder, and I think for a lot of people wondering this question, is every conflict of interest a bad thing?

Yeah, that's a good question.

And I think the short answer is not necessarily.

In fact, I don't think it's really inherently a good or a bad thing, a conflict of interest.

It just exists, right? And it's something that we need to deal with.

And it's going to be present in almost every profession, right? It's something that is a fact of life and something we're going to encounter quite often.

So if we look at an example here, A financial advisor may earn more revenue if a client invests assets rather than leaving money in a savings account.

For folks that are listening to the show, what's kind of the big picture of the bottom line to all of this?

What does fear actually do when it comes to financial decision-making?

Yeah, I think this is probably one of the emotions that CJ and I spend most of our days talking about with clients, especially depending on what the market is doing that day.

But fear is really going to narrow your focus, right? Instead of having that really long-term kind of, you know, wide breadth view of like, you know, what gives my long-term plan the best chance of succeeding? Instead of that, we're saying, how do I make this really uncomfortable feeling stop, right? I just, whatever it takes, I want to do something to make that stop right now.

And what this can do is it can lead an investor to sell during a decline in the market.

But that's kind of the obvious one, right? It appears in other ways too.

you know, a retiree might be afraid to spend even when someone like CJ or I tells them that the level of spending they're doing is sustainable, right? Someone may hold far more cash than they need because, you know, that balance feels safe in the bank even though it's not doing much for them.

Or even another person may refuse to sell a losing investment because, you know, that makes it feel final, makes it feel like, oh man, I made a mistake here, right? And That last tendency is something that some folks will call the disposition effect.

And Eric, overconfidence, that can be tricky for smart folks, can't it?

Well, fair to me, but wealth transfer tools to folks.

Yeah, we spend a lot of time talking about beneficiary designations, not only because they're really simple and they're easy to miss, but because they're really powerful, too.

I think people often get so focused on building their estate plan that they think, gosh, as long as I have you know, this really nicely drafted document like Nate was referencing there, I'm in good shape.

But beneficiary designations, they can transfer certain assets directly to people or organizations without a, you know, extensive estate plan.

And when you coordinate that properly, that can make the transfer process more direct and a lot easier to administer, even compared to like a will or a trust.

Now, common mistakes we see here, not naming a contingent beneficiary, right? So you list the beneficiary who you want to receive your assets, but then you can also list a contingent or secondary beneficiary of who you might want to receive the funds if your primary beneficiary has either passed away or if they just decide and i know this sounds crazy but you will have this especially with spouses that pass away they'll just claim their interest in that asset they'll say i don't want that and it actually then transfers to the contingent beneficiary another mistake we see is leaving a former spouse or a deceased family member on an account I've joked about this on the show before.

More than once, I have seen clients not get that updated and assets be set to go to a former spouse.

What should folks understand about the current rules without getting kind of lost and bogged down with the numbers?

So Eric, why has tax planning become such an important area of focus for retirees?

Yeah, it's a great question.

I think it's because retirement really creates a tremendous amount of tax planning flexibility and opportunity.

You know, when you're no longer receiving a paycheck every couple of weeks, you are not just getting your income from one source and you have options, right? You can decide where you draw your income from if you plan appropriately.

And, you know, as you spend your working years simply kind of accumulating assets, you come to retirement and suddenly you have choices, right? Which account should I withdraw from to meet those cash flow needs? Should I do a Roth conversion? When should I claim my Social Security benefits? Right.

How can I reduce my future required minimum distributions? I think we've done quite a few shows on RMDs, so listen to those.

How do I leave assets to my children efficiently? So the answers to those questions can really impact your taxes for decades.

And what are some of the things, kind of look at some of those areas that you see where you find most commonly see those opportunities for tax alpha, Eric?