George Martinez

Client walks in. 68 years old. $2.8M net worth. House is paid off. Worth $950K. She's living on $38K a year from Social Security. Tell me how that makes sense. She brings coupons to restaurants. Buys the cheapest everything. "I'm not taking money from my retirement accounts. I need that for emergencies." What emergency costs $2.8M? You're denying yourself basic comforts at 68. You haven't visited your grandkids in Phoenix in 2 years. Your emergency fund has an emergency fund. She fought me for 8 months. "My parents taught me never to touch principal." Your parents also retired with a pension and died at 74. We finally got her to take distributions last year. $120K annually from her portfolio. Still only a 4.3% withdrawal rate. Now she's flying to Phoenix quarterly. Took her grandkids to Disney. And stopped agonizing over every $12 purchase. She spent 3 years being miserable with $2.8M in the bank. You don't get a prize for dying with the most money.