Financial mapping
The team at Western & Southern Life specializes in helping clients map out a solid financial today and tomorrow. Here’s how they can help you.
At Western & Southern Life the team focus goes far beyond monitoring a 401(k). This group of professionals is dedicated to personalizing every client’s financial roadmap. Find out how they can help you do more. (Photography: Adrienne Rose)
You wouldn’t want the people in charge of your future acting like a bunch of superheroes … or would you?
The team at Western & Southern Life doesn’t wear leotards or masks, but they do make it their business to try to save the day, every day.
“Financial representatives have the reputation for being all about the numbers, showing clients their wealth strategies in complex charts and reports,” says James Schleicher, who is registered principal and staff manager at the Willoughby, Ohio office of Western & Southern Life. “We dive deeper behind the numbers. We get to know our clients well enough to be able to envision the future they want and help them get there, personalizing a road map to help them plan for a meaningful and fulfilling retirement.”
He says part of their superhero mode is to provide a psychological safe space for people to talk about their personal goals.
Under the guidance of James, the team is made up of financial advisors, registered representatives, and insurance agents. The team includes Gary Caluducan, Patrick Dulzer, Jessica Rrumbullaku, Leo Cronin, Mike Cheslock, Garrett Sparks and Dominic Piunno. The culture here is highly collaborative, with advisors pooling their diverse talents to come up with plans for clients.
“I got into this business 18 years ago,” says James. “My family was taken advantage of by an accountant and advisor we inherited through the purchase of a small business that my mom scraped and clawed for years to get. That’s what drives me—to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Transitioning Your Plan as You Age
James’s team approaches things with a “Lifetime of Value” mentality to wherever the client is in life.
The early years, 20s-30s, is a time to analyze the budget and explore retirement plan options. During the mid-years, 40s-50s, the team looks at integrating a distribution plan for education funds, planning for healthcare liabilities and elder care.
As clients transition to their 60s-70s and beyond, the focus moves to considerations such as funding a passion project, helping clients review Social Security and Medicare, philanthropic endeavors and leaving a lasting legacy.
Leo says health care costs and strategies that help you keep more money, whether you’re healthy or sick, are two major considerations. They help people and their parents enroll and transition to Medicare and pick the best plan or advantage supplement to fit their needs.
“When it comes to reviewing and evaluating our plans, we revisit with clients a lot throughout the year, every year,” says James. “Starting early makes a difference. Retirement is like a snowball that grows as it rolls downhill.”
What’s Your Passion?
“Oftentimes people spend 40 years of their lives grinding away at their jobs with no real focus on what their retirement will look like,” says Patrick. “Our job is to help them vocalize how they want to live after work is over. We discuss clients’ hobbies and interests to see what their spending may look like in retirement. Maybe they pick up something new like pottery or ballroom dancing.”
During strategy sessions, the advisors find out where the client is now and where they want to go from there. Questions the team members ask include the following: What would your younger self be proud of? What would your future self be proud of? What would your future self tell you to start doing and keep doing?
If you’re ready to define your financial resolutions in 2026, this might be the team for the job.
Western & Southern Life is headquartered in Cincinnati and licensed in Ohio and 46 states, with an office in Willoughby. Western & Southern is one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world. This is a paid advertisement.
Western & Southern Life is the marketing name for The Western & Southern Life Insurance Company. Neither Western & Southern Life, nor its agents provide legal or tax advice. The information herein is general and educational in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which can materially impact investment results. Western & Southern Life makes no warranties with regard to such information or results obtained by its use, and disclaims any liability arising out of your use of, or any tax position taken in reliance on, such information. Please consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Securities offered by registered representatives through W&S Brokerage Services, Inc. (“W&SBS”), member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered by financial advisors through W&SBS, a registered investment advisor. All companies are members of Western Southern Financial Group.
Western & Southern Life
4230 State Route 306, Suite 300, Willoughby
Crafting Tax Diversification Strategies
As we enter the first quarter, it’s a good time to consider how strong your tax position is.
Taxes are inevitable, and money lost to taxes won’t do anything to help you build your retirement nest.
The team at Western & Southern Life is trained to orchestrate the optimal plan to structure and diversify your strategy with the goal of minimizing the taxes you pay.
“When discovering a client’s financial goals, we get a sense for how much money they need for right now and how much we can allocate tax efficiently,” says Financial Advisor Patrick Dulzer. “Then we divide their assets into three taxation categories of when the money will be taxed: now, later (tax-deferred/taxed when withdrawn) or never (paid with after-tax dollars and tax-free during accumulation and at withdrawal or payment). Funds in the ‘now’ category include bank accounts, stocks and bonds, and money market accounts. The ‘later’ category consists of retirement accounts, IRAs and annuities. Life insurance, Roth IRAs, municipal bonds and 529 college savings accounts make up the ‘never’ category.”
He adds their goal is to shift as many funds as possible into the later or never category.
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