Ed Dressel: 0:09

Welcome again to another podcast with RetireReady Solutions and Grow RetireReady Clients where we're focused on helping advisors engage and move their clients forward toward successful retirement. I'm excited today. I've had a chance to talk with Galen Mizuguchi, from Hawaii. And he has joined us. Welcome, Galen. Great to have you.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 0:27

Aloha. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Ed Dressel: 0:30

We had a bit of a conversation before. I was really impressed. I'm excited for the next few moments as we talk. Tell us a little bit about your agency and Hawaii and a little bit what you do?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 0:41

Well, with Hawaii Benefit Partners, we specialize in retirement, medicare, and any kind of tax favorable options. We pivoted to the teachers recently.

Ed Dressel: 0:51

And what does that look like?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 0:53

Well, we do a lot of consultations with them. We adopted Calendly to set up the appointments, and we just

Ed Dressel: 1:00

And why did you select teachers? consult them and find out what--overall what we can help them with.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 1:08

There are several reasons why I targeted teachers, is because one of them is my wife is a retired school teacher. I did consult with the teachers, help the teachers with their retirement about 27-28 years ago. I stopped. But then the teachers needed help. When my wife retired in 2019, teachers were calling her up and asking what options did she take, why she took this option, and all of that. So when the pandemic hit, that's my pivot over to the teachers. Just to give back what, you know, they gave all of us.

Ed Dressel: 1:42

Pivoting during the pandemic--we've heard a lot of that some of it went well, some of it didn't. So just before we get into the COVID situation, what obstacles did you find in business?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 1:53

Well, I guess setting appointments, getting people to sit down and listen to you and finding the right niche on how to get them interested in what you have.

Ed Dressel: 2:03

But the virus changed a lot. And it only made that more difficult. How did you pivot to working with teachers during the virus and help that be successful?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 2:13

Well, before the virus hit, I was working with a company that does supplemental insurance and I was providing food for the companies just to have them sit down and listen to me. So I bring lunch or buffet . With the virus hitting, I wanted to do the same thing for the teachers to give back to the teachers for all the things that they did for a community. So instead of buffet or sandwiches, we created this, I call it Appreciation Bento. So it's a lunch box that we provide to the teachers. They come, pick up the lunch box. We use Google Forms to see if they want a bento or not. And also we asked for pages they didn't having a review over their projection for retirement system.

Ed Dressel: 2:57

So let's pull this apart a little bit. Appreciation Bento. You got teachers interested in joining you for a lunch?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 3:06

Yeah, so with a pandemic, it was very difficult to have them in a group. So what we did was we provided a bento, we set it outside the cafeteria, outside the hallway, or even in a basketball courts. And they would come six feet apart picking up the bento. And we just check the name off and saying they got the bento and if they wanted a presentation.

Ed Dressel: 3:30

So using Appreciation Bento to share them about their retirement projections? How do you how do you transition them?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 3:38

So, you know, everybody, not only teachers, they want to feel appreciated, and we couldn't find another way to show appreciation to them. I could make gift bags or anything like that, but it was too time consuming. So I partnered up with a couple of restaurants in the Big Island in Hilo. And they decided to give me a discount for a bento which cost $5. And if the school has 60 people, 60 teachers, we provide a sixty bentos and then an option to either op out or op in to setting an appointment with us. And in the beginning it was slow because of the trust factor, the relationship factor. But it picked up all of a sudden.

Ed Dressel: 4:22

So you're developing a relationship through a bento and expressing your appreciation for the teacher and the opportunity to tell them about retirement.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 4:32

Right.

Ed Dressel: 4:33

What have some of your reaction has been?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 4:36

That I was crazy. Because giving away this$5 bento to 60 teachers. I put it on Instagram, I put it on social media, and I got messages coming back to me like, is this for real? You know, what's the catch? I said? There's no catch. I mean, this is one way of showing appreciation for what they're doing during this pandemic. I mean I felt sorry for that they have to go to work with all these things happening. They are teaching our leaders of our future. So that's what it is that their first reaction was that I'm crazy and doing this. Eventually they understood that it comes from the heart. It's just we want to just give back. And in return, we did a projection, and we helped them along the way with their retirement as well.

Ed Dressel: 5:23

So you get them in a room, six feet apart. They're sitting there eating their bento, what do you talk about? What do you, what--what's the engagement piece?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 5:33

Okay, so let me rephrase. We set out a Google form, to get their name, email address, telephone number, Appreciation Bento, yes or no. And if they want a free, no obligation, consultation regarding the projection. The bento--they pick it up, they go back to the room. And that's it. So it was kind of like, I didn't have the opportunity to sit down with them because of this pandemic. So they went back to the room and everybody ate lunch on their own. So it was just a minute or not even a minute, maybe 30 seconds I have with them. And I just have to improvise at that time.

Ed Dressel: 6:13

And what did you say in the 30 seconds?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 6:16

I noticed that you didn't check off you want a free projection. All we are doing is providing your free projection so you know what you're going to retire at. So it's not a surprise, because you don't want any surprises when it comes down to retirement. And you may have to work another five, six years to be financially set when you retire.

Ed Dressel: 6:35

Now, when most people think of getting a retirement projection, they kind of roll their eyes going, this is going to be too complex for me to understand. They're going to talk, they'll be pushing product. How did you make that a meaningful event?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 6:47

I printed out the RetireReady final projection, as an example. I'd have it on the table. So they looked at it and said, "Wow, this is really easy to understand." And I say yeah, it's simple and I'll explain it. And the RetireReady also has explanation on each how it works. And I just covered it step by step by step. And I guess we gained the trust by using the RetireReady.

Ed Dressel: 7:14

You know your story, I appreciate it. And I didn't know exactly where this was going. We called our company Trust Builders for a long time, because by keeping it simple and meaningful, it engages an individual towards retirement success. But people thought we were a legal trust or trust as an on top of your house. So we changed our name to RetireReady Solutions. But what you're saying is typical of what we've seen. Once they saw their projection how did you, what did you move them to?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 7:41

Well, the information we gathered was like what they want to do upon retirement. They want to travel, they want to do this. Everything is going up in prices. So they know they will need a lot more than what they think they need. But once they saw their retirement projection, they--I would say a lot of them got surprised. They thought it would be enough, but it wasn't enough. So if there wasn't putting away money in a 403(b) we would present the 403(b) to give them an extra income upon retirement to help them financially.

Ed Dressel: 8:15

So the bentos--if we go back to that in your handout, the bentos. How many people said I'll do the one on one meeting?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 8:22

I would say in the beginning, like about 3%.

Ed Dressel: 8:26

Oh.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 8:27

Yeah, it was really scary at first. The second time we went back to school, the numbers went up to about 20%, then just kept on rising. Now. What we do is we see a school once a year. In the beginning, we saw the school sometimes two or three times a year. But yeah, the percentage is going up. And it's awesome, because I have been having appointments from schools I did six months ago. Finally it is, I guess people talk. The teachers just keep on talking to each other. Because when I noticed that I went to school six months ago, and they finally clicked the button and set up the appointment. The first thing I asked them is what took you so long? And they--I guess they feel apologetic. And they say, you know, I didn't know if this was legit and everything. And I talked to another teacher and they said you should try it. And I was still hesitant because I waited so long, but then they're glad to do that.

Ed Dressel: 9:26

So showing somebody a picture of retirement. The retirement years chart, is that the one you use and what's their reaction when they see their pension system, social security and maybe some 403(b) money IRA money? How do they respond to

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 9:40

They don't actually have a response. Not a that?"wow" or anything like that. It's--I guess they are absorbing everything in and they finally see the real picture on what it's going to look like. So they kind of accept it until we come on and say is this going to be enough? You may need to increase your 403(b) if you want to get more. So I guess there's no big reaction when they see the whole picture with the 403(b). Without the 403(b), it's kind of like is that all I'm gonna get?

Ed Dressel: 10:13

A little bit of shock?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 10:15

Yeah. One statement I make is, there's two types of people that retire. One of them is they can pay for utilities, they can pay for expenses and everything, but they cannot go nowhere. And the other type is, they can do all of that. But they still can travel, they can see their grandkids and all of that. So which one do you want to be? In a nutshell, if they don't say anything, I said, are you willing to spend three months or six months in jail? And they look at me like, what am I talking about? And I just say, just think about it. If you just could be able to pay for your expenses, you cannot go nowhere. It's just like sitting in jail. I mean, the jail will give you food, housing, everything. But you can not leave. So they kind of understand the concept. Why do you need more?

Ed Dressel: 11:00

So for the listeners sake, if you're new to RetireReady Solutions, you haven't looked at our solution or pension plans. We illustrate over 700 public pension plans across the country. We have the survivor benefit options. Showing them their Survivor Benefit Options, does that provide confusion to them? Or do they like seeing that? What do they do when you go, Hey, here's your pension plan.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 11:21

So I keep it real simple. I say, does your spouse need any kind of income, if you should pass away, and if they need, this is the option you need to select. However, if the spouse passes away, before you do, the money won't go to anybody else. However, Hawaii has a pop up option. So they go back to the maximum option. So they understand that, and there's a lot of opportunities to have life insurance all in the same same situation.

Ed Dressel: 11:49

I appreciate your passion and how you're working with teachers. What I hear a lot is it's worked for people that are getting closer to retirement. But there's a lot of young teachers out there. Does this resonate with the younger teachers? Or are they disengaged in the subject?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 12:04

In the beginning, there was disengagement. Totally. I would say for every 20 teachers I met one, if any, was under 10 years of service. The rest is all, you know, closer to retirement. Today, it's a little bit different. Because now the younger teachers are realizing that they need to think about it and do something about it. So when I meet the young teachers, a lot of them don't have a 403(b), and they just started a 403(b) with us right away.

Ed Dressel: 12:33

So they even the younger teachers find it a meaningful profit.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 12:36

Right, right. Especially with this pandemic, because I mean, a lot of teachers talking about retirement, a lot of teachers talking about getting out of the system, should we stay in a system? What are the benefits of staying? What are the benefits of leaving? And you know, I downloaded the state of Florida retirement system. It is very, very good. I mean, I don't think any company would give them as much as the state of Hawaii is on a private sector.

Ed Dressel: 13:01

So do you have any recent stories from a teacher you met with and the difference that made for them?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 13:06

A lot of teachers just come out and say they're glad they met with us because nobody explained anything to us. And, fellas, that's common. I mean, that's the common factor. I guess what one impact was, a teacher said, I need to let all my friends know what just happened. And yeah, that's what happening right now. It's all mostly not the referral asking for but the referral that they just sent in to me.

Ed Dressel: 13:32

You're not having to ask, they're wanting to give they're wanting--they appreciate the value you're bringing to the table. And from what I'm hearing from you TRAK Software, our product, really helps you bring a differentiator engagement solution to the table. Am I misstating that?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 13:48

No, that's correct, because in the state of Hawaii, you're gonna get a projection unless you're six months ready to retire. So yeah, so my wife went through this whole situation where she's thinking about retirement in 2018. She couldn't get a projection and she had to wait six months before, I think it was in August of 2019 when she finally went to see the ERS to sit down and say she can retire at the end of the year. And I think on August, September, October, she got a projection and it was--just wasn't even explained to her. It was just, here's the numbers. So I went and explained to her what each number meant. And I felt sorry for the teachers after that when they start asking my wife, which option you took? Why did you take that? What is your income and how many years you had? And I mean, it was crazy.

Ed Dressel: 14:47

Wow. Has any teacher come up with you and compared you to a prior advisor they've worked with?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 14:53

Well I asked them point blank, did you, you know, participate in your 403(b) already in putting away $100 a paycheck. What I asked them is how did they come up with the number? And they just said it just was suggested. And I said, do you know how much you can get into retirement for the state? And he said, no. I said, well, how can you actually set up a 403(b) not knowing if that's the right amount. I told him, I'm not afraid to tell you what's the right amount. And it's up to you whether you can afford the right amount, or we need to start small and grow it bigger. You know, increase the contribution as we go along. So they appreciate that personalization on each employee, each teacher,

Ed Dressel: 15:38

That's awesome. We look at, you know, think of social distancing. And hopefully, we're in the waning days of COVID. You've come up with an efficient way to meet with teachers, develop a relationship with them. And it didn't happen immediately. It's not like you dropped a stick but you stayed persistent. And hey, let's do another bento in the same school. So how has this impacted your bottom line in your business?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 16:01

So the bottom line, I absorb 100% of the cost of the bento. And I just want to help the teachers. The main thing is helping the teachers realize and understand that what they want to get at retirement, how the retirement options work, all the medical benefits. I just want to help them out because without the teachers, I wouldn't be here today. And that's what I explained to the teachers. It's not about my bottom line or anything like that right now. And other agents, I helped other agents, I'm 62 years old. And I just want to pass the baton on to somebody who's younger, and they can just take it from here and also support them on the side. That's my ultimate goal. And I want them to stick with the teachers or the state and county employees because of the system, the retire ready system.

Ed Dressel: 16:52

And I appreciate your passion. It's really fun to listen to. I love the way you like to help teachers. You're doing it. You're not focused on the bottom line. You're making a difference. Just to put it succinctly, what would you say you bring to the table to differentiate yourself from other advisors.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 17:09

I'm willing to give a lot to the teachers and show appreciation to the teachers before I ask for the business. And just through consulting and partnering up with other agencies, other agents, because I cannot wear all the hats. And I try to partner up with agents that area a lot younger than I just to assure the teacher that when they retire, there's going to be somebody alive, to take care, you know, to take care of their finances and help them along the way because we don't just provide something and walk away. We asked them when is the last time you saw your agent providing you the 403(b) and a lot of times they say seven years ago when I when I first enrolled, you know. And it's been years and we don't want to be like that. So every year, minimum, we try to meet with them virtually and go over what they have.

Ed Dressel: 18:06

So this has been fun. Gaylen I sincerely appreciate you taking the time today to sit down with me and talk. Any closing comments from you?

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 18:16

No, I'm just willing to help anybody who can help and without the RetireReady I wouldn't be doing this.

Ed Dressel: 18:23

Your words are kind and our passion is to help advisors help individuals alleviate poverty in retirement. We call ourselves in the poverty alleviation business. We're helping you help them and we are passionate about it too. It's always fun to work alongside with people who have a passion in the same direction we have. So thank you for taking your time. I appreciate it. Absolutely wish you the best. Keep us in touch with how the Appreciation Bento evolves and my best wishes to you. Thank you Gaylen.

Gaylen Mizuguchi: 18:52

Thank you and stay safe!