Welcome to the Seed or Harvest Show. This is one of our law enforcement additions. I’m super excited to introduce one of our co-hosts. Officer Ty, long time 18 year law enforcement veteran here in Arizona. He’s got all the same concerns that you do. We’re going to start peeling it back, folks. This is episode one of a long line of future conversations of what you have access to and what you don’t know.

Please.

Welcome. The Seed or Harvest law enforcement edition. Our primary mission is to help law enforcement officers understand their government benefits to the fullest extent possible, while also learning about the financial tools to help you and your family. This is an educational podcast where we will bring a variety of financial professionals, pension professionals, and every day law enforcement officers like Officer Ty here.

So, our goal is to have an open conversation that simplifies the learning process. currently sitting here with a co-host officer Ty and currently an Arizona law enforcement officer. So welcome back. Thank you. All right. It’s weird. Right? It’s weird. Yeah. It’s very different. So, I know this is kind of a change of pace for you from what you normally do every day.

I don’t normally sit in front of people. Yeah. You’re used to putting out the spotlight now. Being in the spotlight right now. Right. So now here you are. Yeah, I was. So how long have you been doing what you’re doing? So October will be 18 years. All in Arizona. So basically, why I moved to Arizona was becoming a police officer, so.

Yeah. 18th October. Wow. 18 years. All right, well, you know, we’ve kind of got to know each other through the circles of life. And, you know, it’s interesting how, I’ve got a law and law, a lot of families that are they’re immuno. Almost all of my dad’s family is somehow involved in law enforcement. Yeah.

I personally never have been, but I feel like I have been because I’ve just been surrounded by, you know, federal officers and state officers, county and municipal officers. So it’s just kind of just in our blood. Yeah. my grand my, those are my I think it was my great, great great grandfather was, county sheriff way back in the day, back in the old West days.

So, I mean, our involvement in law enforcement is like, it’s generational. Okay. So I’ve always had a kind of a passion for understanding that community because I’ve just grown up with that community. Right. Those are my cousins and family. It’s just just kind of, just what they do. I, on the other hand, I’ve always kind of pursued a self-employment path and, and with the degree in finance, I’ve always still been intrigued with money and money management and, and it’s always been very intriguing to me how the government pensions and, all the different benefits that, attract.

I would assume that that’s why a lot of people get into these government positions. It’s funny because that’s not really not to go too deep. Please go deep. I didn’t grow up wanting to be a police officer. I have nobody in my family that was in law enforcement either side of the family. It was really nine.

11 is what kind of directed me in that path. Really? Yeah. So 911 happened. I was kind of. I was kind of at a point in my life I didn’t really know what to do or what I wanted to do. Like, I went to college thinking I wanted to do marketing and then I started doing it in college.

I was like, nah, I don’t really like this. So I was kind of, I don’t know, I know what the best term is, but I just, I really had no direction in what I wanted to do. So then 911 happened. My initial thought was to join the military. That’s what I wanted to do right away. But at the time, I had kidney disease.

kidney disorder that’s since been resolved. But at the time, I had a kidney disorder. So nobody I couldn’t, none of the branches would take me. Disqualified. Qualified. Yeah. Well, that’s and that’s crazy because they’re pretty much taking everybody. So shows you how I didn’t, you know, I, I’ve known one other person that’s encountered something like that.

It seemed like it was something trivial to them, but it was a big deal. Then it was you in it and it was still. And the thing that really kind of, I mean, looking back is even more irritating about it is I really got really, really focused on diet and exercise and pretty much solved the problem myself. And like to this day I have no, no remnants of it.

There’s nothing. It doesn’t affect me anymore. I was just like, you know, probably for years, like a couple like last year in high school and then a couple years. Sounds like Nighthawk to me. Yeah. They knock, fix it or create it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they got to get rid of Nighthawk. I have some suspicions about what it was, and I think it was.

You know, I played football. I played all the sports, but I played football, and we used to pop ibuprofen, like they were Tic Tacs, like during football. And ibuprofen is horrible for your kidneys. so I think it has something to do with that, because. But I don’t know that for a fact, but. Sure. So that’s what took me down that path.

And then I was still back home, and then I moved to Nebraska to live with my aunt, to finish college with the intention of going federal, like FBI or something like that. That’s what I wanted to do, and I was bartending at the time and one of the local PD guys came in and we were just shooting the shit like we are right now.

And he was like, well, have you ever thought about doing like a local PD? And I had at that point and, and my one hesitation with the federal side of things was always like, it’s going to be really hard to have a family, or at least like a normal family life, because a lot of the time, especially FBI or some of the things I wanted to do, they travel a lot.

I mean, you know, you’re it’s going to be hard. It’s not impossible, but it’s going to make things more difficult that you have a family. But then the local PD was interesting because then you’re set in one place, like you pick a department and you’re there. As long as you stay there, that’s where you’re at, and they’re not going to be transferring you to other states or wherever.

So my dad was transferred to make sure in Arizona, and that’s and that was the thing when I was really looking into this, you know, the FBI was the number one thing I was looking at. And I don’t know if it’s changed. I’m sure it hasn’t changed much, but it was like, you go to the Quantico and once you’re done there, you’re either going to New York or L.A. right away and then it’s going to, you know, if you want to get back to someplace other than those two places, it’s going to take you probably eight years to do it.

Like so you got to live there, worked there for, you know, eight years or whatever. And then if you want to go somewhere else, it’s not going to be right away. So you can get sent overseas. That was one of the other, one of the other careers I was looking at was one where you’re like, you’re probably going to go somewhere other than the U.S. and it’s going to be extended for a while.

So just be aware that that’s the route you want to take. Yeah, that makes it hard on a family. Yeah. You want to have a family. Exactly. And that’s kind of why I was like, you know, do I want to be missed or single my whole life or do I want to have a family?

So that makes sense and why? A lot of my family have chosen career paths. They have, you know, because a lot of them stayed local. Yeah, primarily the Pinal County area. Yeah. And and and it really I don’t understand why some I think I mean a lot of my federal law enforcement family it’s all in the immigration, you know, like a which is sort of i.n.s..

But now Homeland Security. Yeah. But, you know, I just never realized how people chose one branch over another. Why go county over city? You know, I just assumed, personally, being an outsider, I just kind of didn’t know what the logic path was there. What went into their decision may other than maybe having an in to get the job, seeing that I don’t and I, I guess I don’t know how to answer that either because I didn’t really have I knew nothing about law enforcement like not a thing.

So I didn’t have a reason that I picked. Like when I was applying for departments, I wanted to work for a bigger department. I wanted to work for a department that wasn’t in the snow. So I looked at, you know, I applied to Dallas, I applied to San Diego, I applied here, I actually applied to Scottsdale first, and initially I didn’t. I didn’t understand that Phoenix was a big city.

I thought it was Tempe because I had no idea. I knew nothing about Arizona other than the Grand Canyon. So when I was applying, I thought Tempe was the big city. So people in Wisconsin think that temp is the big city. Yeah, well, I don’t know. I didn’t know, I knew literally the Phoenix Suns and ASU in the Grand Canyon.

That’s all I knew. I didn’t know anything else about me. Yeah, but I’ve been to San Diego and like I looked at some of the really big departments like New York and LAPD, but I also did kind of a cost analysis thing and were like, this is what they get paid, this is how much it cost to live there.

And it wasn’t very good. And actually, that’s why San Diego, I kind of trailed off on that one because it was kind of the same thing. It was like they don’t get paid the best starting and it’s still pretty hard, you know, pretty high cost of living. But when I was applying for Phoenix, based on what you started making and how much it cost to live here, same thing with Dallas.

We’re actually very good, like you made good money starting off and it was not very expensive to live here. I mean, Grannis got in more, so now it’s harder. Like if you’re starting now, it’s a lot different than when I started, but and and I blinked and it’s 18 years. Yeah. Pretty overall. Pretty happy with the job.

Are you? Yeah. And pretty been a good happy pass I mean there’s frustrations with it. But overall yes I mean I’ve enjoyed it and I still enjoy it. And like I like to, I like catching bad guys. So I still enjoy the job. Well it sure seems like cops have taken a beating publicly with all the public scrutiny.

I commend you for sticking with it. I don’t know how you are. So maybe you guys stay with it when people are talking so much shit as they do. Yeah. It’s, especially coming from a family that’s generations of law enforcement and seeing that these are all really good, hard working dudes. And not to say that any.

I mean, what what, profession out there doesn’t have people doing wrong. Yeah. You know, it’s not just like cops do it wrong. It’s just. But it seems like they really kind of take one. Yeah. No, it’s just fun. Yeah. And made you guys look like bad guys. And you know damn well 99.9% are good human beings.

Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, here you are. 18 years later, we started talking, a little bit when you found out that I was kind of in the financial space and, and helped people with different things and, and what I did with my girls pertaining to most people who are very unfamiliar with the financial world, period.

Yeah. they definitely don’t understand the various financial tools. And then you go throwing in anything that’s, government, you know, related. Then it just makes it extremely more complex. Yeah. And so there’s a whole different set of rules and regulations and, and so there’s professionals that are out there and I know you guys have, I’ve actually spoken with the, the, the company who’s been tasked with training, the police, Arizona Police Department, police officers, whatever.

Because you’re different, what is the different pension system you’re part of? It’s a good question. So it’s Arizona law. Is it law enforcement? in Salt Lake City, it’s Arizona public safety. I forget the name sheep. It’s like the guy PSP, I think, or the way. Either way, it’s been interesting to learn.

It’s the one thing that’s been consistent with a lot of my conversations with my family. Yeah, there’s only been like 1 or 2 who really kind of felt like they had a clear handle on their retirement, right on their plan. How this pension worked out. You know, I have heard a lot of things like, you know, I’m part of the old system versus the new system.

Yeah. You know, so that’s kind of what I that’s me. I’m part of the old, like, when you get hired today, you’re in the 25 year track, but I’m in the grandfather to the 20 year and it’s a more pension style now. It’s a more 401 K style for the people that are getting hired now. I think it was like 22,009 when they switched it.

So I’m like, that seems like I’ve heard the people are really thrilled about that. They like the old style pension better. I’ve heard, but I don’t know if that’s accurate. And that’s just kind of what I’ve heard. I mean, I think that it’s hard to say. I think that the system that I’m under is better. Yeah, it’s better, but things like people from that’s it seems like I mean, you know, you can stop earlier but also the drop program I’m pretty I mean, I don’t know, I’m pretty positive new hires are not allowed to do the job program, which is a good benefit for us.

Like it? That’s my position, like it is still on the 20 track. I can leave at 20, but you can do the drop program, which I don’t think new hires like are I want to say 2019. Maybe it wasn’t that long ago where they switched it to the 25 year, 401 K style, and I’m almost positive you can’t.

You’re not allowed to drop in that track that you’re in. It’s like a tier. I think we’re tier one. And then I think they’re tier three. I think this is how they term it in the retirement system. Well, that’s one of the things with this podcast. Over time, I look forward to kind of peeling back and getting better, you know, we hope to kind of help bring some clarity.

Yeah. Because if there’s again, it seems like most police officers I’ve run into issues are just law enforcement officers. they’re really kind of confused. They know that they’ve got that 20 year mark to get to or 25 year mark. but they really don’t understand what happens post retirement, right? Yeah. What happens to these benefits? How do they really affect you?

It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of, I don’t know what I argue corporate wise. The cooler talk, you know, or you sitting around the cooler talking, and you got all these people who have a financial advisor this and that. And, I don’t hear that from any of my family. It doesn’t seem like it seems like everybody’s just kind of looking to the government H.R.

Platform to be their financial advisor. And, and so they ultimately retire by like, oh, this is what I get. And they didn’t really stop asking and start asking the question back. 1015 yeah. When they should have. That’s why I think I fall into that. I probably should have been more diligent with understanding this stuff more. And I still don’t really.

I mean, not as close as I am to retirement when I can retire. I should probably know more about this stuff than I do. And it does seem like. And it’s funny because the guys that seem you have two sets, you have the newer people and some of the people that are, you know, maybe ten years, ten years or less, they don’t talk about any of the stuff, you know, for because for them, their eyes, they still got 15 years before they can worry about it forever.

And that’s kind of how I was like it. I should have been more on it probably ten years ago. Like really started to think about this stuff. And I know one thing that I regret not doing was our deferred comp that we have is not pumping more money into that at the very beginning. But then you talk to guys who are in my level of getting close to retirement, like that’s just like all the talk about like, okay, and like I work with guys now all they talk about is working overtime shifts to get their pension raised up.

So they’re, you know, when they leave at 20, they’re, you know, they want to hit certain numbers as far as what they take home, you know, and they can track that on the, on our pension website, like where you’re at, like because they do the high three stuff and they can track where, you know, if I make this much this year, if I have to, if I have to make this much because like one, for example, one guy, my squad is like that where he has it tracked out that if he works however many hours it is of overtime, it factors out to this amount of money which will put his pension that he will

get at this level and that’s where he’s trying to get to. So that’s right. Now that’s his focus is like, okay, I need to hit this many hours a week in overtime or supplemental shifts to hit this number. That’ll put me at retirement. At this number. Is that because he’s paying more in, or is that just because they take the last year of highest three earning years, so they take action like that?

I don’t know. They take high three consecutive. It’s funny because that switch to like when I started it was the high three years consecutively. And then for a while there it was just high three. So they would just take your high three years and be like, okay then they are all 20. Yeah, all 20. But then they switched it back to the consecutive.

So it’s been three consecutive years. Your highest average. And then they average it. So obviously working more you know getting more overtime. And we call a supplemental some of the fill in because we’re so short staffed. Like we have to fill in shifts for squads who don’t have enough people. But doing that then in turn raises your high three number.

And that’s what he’s at the end of. He’s got I think next May is when he can retire. So he’s doing everything he can to get that high three number up, which in turn raises his, his take home that he’ll get when he retires, you know. Well it’s I, it’s definitely a complex system. It’s not straightforward.

Yeah. Right. Which makes it really challenging. I’m sure that’s not what you do for a living. Yeah. Right. And so like, you sit around and talk about that stuff. So, again, I look forward to kind of peeling back and helping and working with other and talking with other, law enforcement officers and agencies and these different systems and varying, you guys with financial professionals to have, you know, a little deep dive conversation on, on what, what makes sense because obviously, just because what’s good for you doesn’t mean it’s good for your, your buddies and anybody else.

Everybody has a unique life. Yeah. Some are married, some are, some have kids, some don’t. Right. Yep. Some people have different philosophies. Some people want to leave money. What I’ve seen is not, you know, just from the human standpoint. Some people want to leave money to their kids. Some people don’t. They want to spend every dime. They want their kids to earn their own way, because that’s the way you learn in life.

Yeah. and everybody’s different. I think you and I are like minded in the sense where we really want to help our kids out, right? financially, I mean, why not get them off on the right foot? Yeah. You know, we did end up putting a contract on your daughter. Just the same contract we put on my daughter’s.

And, you know, I, I assume after hearing kind of what the what kind of returns that we were getting on on, Sydney and Natalie’s policies that that kind of was intriguing. No one. And that was that we went into a very conservative what’s called dollar cost averaging strategy. And that’s one of things I was hoping to talk to you about today, but maybe we’ll save that for another day of what we did, how we did the same thing, and why, of starting a life insurance contract on your daughter.

Why did that make sense? You know, you didn’t do it for a death benefit. Yeah, right. You’re not doing it for that purpose. the reality is, it’s a tax play. You know, you at the end of the day, that’s what it was about. Yeah. You know, that’s the primary focus. I would assume that was attractive to you.

Yeah. Of all the things we talked about was to avoid future tax, tax risk, you know, not knowing what our government going to be doing. Yeah. 30, 40, 50 years from now. you know, so it’s, it’s just another tool, right. And that and so I look forward to, you know, I want to I want, I want to help everybody, especially the law enforcement community, understand the difference in these financial tools.

So for some people, a life insurance contract might make sense. Others it won’t make sense. Yeah, right. It’s not for everybody, but it is for a lot of people. And once you kind of understand that, there’s a lot more to it other than death benefit, that’s what I do and what I specialize and what I try to focus on understanding and help manipulate, but also educate because you should be you should be buying it for the the benefits side, not just not just the investment portion.

The investment side is definitely there. compound interest is real. Yeah. You know, and reality is if you can bring in compound interest without losses, interest over interest year after year after year when you fast for 50 years, which seems like forever. But I’m 50 this year, man. It’s crazy. It’s just. Well, you said before that 18 years in the department is so kids.

Yeah. So. Yeah. So, you know, I, I look forward to explaining more of what you’ve done, why you did it and, and also, you know, helping you figure out your pension and helping other people ask questions, hopefully giving people a platform to call and ask questions and get a real layman’s answer. Yeah. Versus hearing it from a financial professional.

Reality is I realize there’s great support through the state. You know, they fired up. Sounds like a pretty good outfit to provide education. And I know that they’re taking proactive steps, but when you’re talking, you know, I, I just think they’re probably good. It’s good to hear multiple things. You know, there’s two sides to every story.

Yeah. you know. Right. Right. I mean, you need to hear other people’s opinions. I would say, yeah. Okay. Would you agree with that? Yeah. And I mean, I think it helps coming from people who aren’t I mean, I guess the people that aren’t necessarily trying to sell you something to like, you know, I feel like I don’t know if that’s the right way to term it, but somebody that’s in their position, you know, and their reasons why they’re doing it.

Like for example, for me, like why I decided to do it because like you said, not everybody, it’s not going to work for everybody. It’s not going to be a fit for everybody. But yeah, maybe somebody well, I think reality is and especially for someone like, I mean, you already have a lot of benefits for yourself. It doesn’t mean those benefits, you know, are there for your family.

Yeah. Right. You know, while you’re here, I realize the pension you could do, like a you can have where spousal, you know, spouse can continue on. But I mean, one is I don’t think it could continue on for your child, nor can you start putting away retirement for your child. Right? I mean, that’s still a transferable wealth conversation that’s worth having a conversation about.

Again, that’s my focus and that’s what I’m going to bring to the table. But I’m more excited to have conversations with other financial professionals to hear how these tools work. Yeah, because I do not know. I’m not a financial advisor. I don’t claim to be, that’s, you know, that’s just being real. Yeah. You know, that’s just kind of what I have.

So.