IAM1338 – Author Writes a Book on How to Retire with Purpose, Passion and Plan

Gary Sirak is a 40-year veteran of the financial services industry and owner of Sirak Financial Services in Canton, Ohio. Gary is the author of 3 books. He has been a guest on over 50 nationally syndicated radio shows, a frequent podcast guest, and a featured speaker at numerous industry events. He has worked with hundreds of clients advising and preparing them for the financial side of retirement. Listening to their stories and experiences, Gary realized retirement is not just about the financial side of things, which led to him authoring his newest book, “How to Retire and not die, the 3 P's that will keep you young”

• CEO Story: Gary got a teacher's degree but was not cut out with it. Ended up joining the family business by accident. It led his path with Gary’s father started in 1957 and took over the reign a few years ago.
• Business Service: Helping people prepare for the financial side of retirement.
  From the book: How to Retire and Not Die, the 3 P's – Purpose(what you do for others), Passion (what you do for yourself), Plan (how you implement)
• Secret Sauce: The purpose and the passion to help other people make their lives better.
• CEO Hack: Book mentioned; Think and Grow Rich. Having retirement and business mentors
• CEO Nugget: Start writing the wishlist earlier. It also figures out if you want to work less or take more time off.
• CEO Defined: Being the head of the team. Treat them with all respect.

Website: garysirak.com

Book: How-Retire-Not-Die-Young , American-Dream-Revisited-Ordinary-Extraordinary , Your-Money-Talked-Secrets-Would

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00:23 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:50 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, Hello, Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Gary Cerec of Cerec Financial Services. Gary, super excited to have you on the show.

01:00 – Gary Sirak

Very excited to be here.

01:02 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, excited about all the awesome things you're doing. We had such great conversations and super excited to have this 1 record is that we can hear about all those awesome things. But of course, before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Gary so you can hear about some of those awesome things he's been doing. Gary is a 40-year veteran of the financial services industry and owner of Sarek Financial Services in Canton, Ohio. Gary is the author of 3 books.

He has been a guest on over 50 nationally syndicated radio shows, frequent podcast guests, and a frequent speaker at numerous industry events. He has worked with hundreds of clients, advising and preparing them for the financial side of retirement. And listening to their stories and experiences, Gary realized retirement is not just about the financial side of things, which led him to author his newest book, How to Retire and Not Die, The 3 P's that will keep you young. Gary, excited again, my friend, to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:54 – Gary Sirak

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I'm excited also.

01:57 – Gresham Harkless

Well, let's make it happen then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

02:04 – Gary Sirak

Well, I have a degree in English from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. So I did that a long time ago. And when I got out, I realized that I wasn't cut out to be a teacher. Therefore I had to figure out something else to do. And after doing some other things, the family had a business and I ended up entering the family business totally by accident. Happened on a golf course on a 10th hole and somehow I said yes to something and the next thing I knew I was in the business.

So it was funny how that works and now we're third generation which is pretty cool. But the the business led me down the path and my father was there he started in 1957 and I took over the reins quite a while ago. So that's really how we got to this place.

02:50 – Gresham Harkless

Nice, absolutely love that. And of course, I'm an English major as well too. We talked a little bit offline about, you know, the writing, creating, and all those things. So it's, it's, it's, it's phenomenal to see how English majors are doing something completely different at the end of the day.

03:02 – Gary Sirak

Totally outside of my boundaries. Yeah, it's kind of fun though.

03:07 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more about how you're serving your clients, how you're working with them, and of course more about your book and everything we can find there.

03:16 – Gary Sirak

Well, what's happened is my clientele has evolved, as you would expect the longer I'm in, they're getting older. And I made a promise to them when I got started, I said, Listen, when you get to retirement, I'm going to help you figure that out. Now, you know, I don't think I don't know 40 years ago, who knows what I was saying, but next thing you know, I'm there. And so I made a promise and I keep my promises, so I said, I will make sure that I'm there to help you solve these problems because there's gonna be a bunch of them and lots of things are going to come at you.

And I will have had the experience to help you. Little did I know that came true the way I said, and that's really what's occurred. So the last 20 years, I've spent probably 60% of my time helping people figure out retirement. And that's how I got into this space so tightly and learned so much about it and learned so much of it wasn't what people thought it was. That's fascinating in itself.

04:11 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I would love to hear more about that. And I imagine that's covered in your book as well too of what some of the, I guess, misconceptions or maybe even fallacies that people have around, you know, retirement and what it is and what it looks like.

04:23 – Gary Sirak

We have a chapter in the book, about what you get from work because people blow off work like it's the worst thing in the world. And But it's not. I mean, besides the fact that you get a paycheck, which is very important, you get a social life, you get a purpose, you have a schedule. I mean, there's a lot of work that comes out that's pretty positive. And that's why so many of my clients, I said, why don't we just figure out how you work less, not stop, but let's gradually work our way into retirement?

Let's not just, you know, put a slam on the brakes. The next thing you know, a week later, you're not working because that's a pretty bad train wreck there. So I want them to kind of ease their way in. But the social side of work is huge. I mean, when you go to lunch with people, you talk to people, you know, whatever, you know, the sports you're talking about, or whatever it is you're into, that's critical. And once you're not there, you don't have that.

05:15 – Gresham Harkless

And it sounds like it, you know, creates a strategy, obviously, in addition to the financial piece around that retirement, because I think so many times we can equate or define retirement as reaching this age when we reach this age or this amount of years, then we flip a switch and then we're retired. But it sounds like there's a lot more involved with that. I guess that journey and that adjustment and change that's happening within, you know, people's lives.

05:40 – Gary Sirak

Oh, Gresham hit it right on the head. I mean, I use the 3 P's or purpose, passion, and a plan. And the reason I use those 3 P's, and we wrote about them, is because it takes all 3 to have what I consider a good retirement. If you are lacking any of the 3, and I use passion, what you do for yourself, purpose, what you do for others, and the plan is you got to figure out how to implement that. And so you can do both of those.

And so few people, like 9 out of 10 people who come to see me don't have any clue. Or maybe they have a little bit, oh yeah, I'm gonna do this. I said, what did you do? I don't know. I said, okay, we need all 3 of these blanks filled in because you need to figure out what your first day, your first week, your first month, and your first year going to look like. And that takes planning. It's not an accident.

06:30 – Gresham Harkless

And I love that. And I was just envisioning the kind of 3 legs of a stool. And like you were saying, so well, I think so many times when we look at work, we can kind of equate that with a paycheck. So it's like, okay, well, if I figure out this is the amount that I need to retire, you don't think about, oh, there were those water cooler moments where I got to talk to other people or they did maybe go to work out or something after I came from work. Just all those things that we kind of take for granted, don't realize they're part of the 3 P's it sounds

06:59 – Gary Sirak

like. It's funny, I just had a conversation with someone this weekend. He's 75 years old. He retired at 73 and went back to work at 74. And I asked him, and his name's Vito and I said, Vito, why'd you do that? He said, Gary, he said, I got off work. I thought this was gonna be great. And I realized I didn't know what to do with the rest of my life. He said, you know, I live in Canton, Ohio, so golf is maybe 6 months out of the year, but not 9 or 10 or 12. And he said, and I don't want to move south. And he said, my grandchildren are here, and that's cool.

He said, but I just really missed the people I worked with what I did, and the communications I had. And he said, I just realized that something was lacking in my life. And he said, and I didn't go back for the money. He said, quite frankly, please don't tell my boss but I would have gone back at about half the wages. I just wanted the relationships again. And I thought, you know what? That's pretty much the way it works too. You gotta have it figured out.

07:53 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I was gonna ask you if you're, the friend you were talking to, his name was Tom Brady. I know we had talked a little bit about sports before and how he just went back to everything that he was doing. But I think that makes so much sense, which is why I love that you said, you know, working less and how important that is and understanding like what your plan is going to be and trying to navigate around that. So I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for yourself, the book, the business, or a combination of both but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

08:22 – Gary Sirak

That I care more about what they're going to do than I do their money. I mean realistically there are 50 financial advisors on the street that I work in in Canton, Ohio. I mean, for some reason, I counted them. I'm kind of anal anyway. So I went into how many were on the street. I probably have 9 out of 10 people working with me. And the reason I work with me is not because I'm a financial genius. It's because I care so much about the other stuff. And they know that if I cared that much about that, they're probably going to want me to handle their money.

So that's happened so many times, fresh. It's amazing. And which is very flattering. But That wasn't my point. My point was, let's figure out how to make sure that you have a good result here. I said I'm not worried about me. I tell people I'm skinny, but I eat all my meals and I mostly do and I am skinny. So I, but I don't, you know, it doesn't matter. What matters is, okay, you know, are they gonna have a better life? That makes me feel very good. It gives me purpose. It's my passion.

09:22 – Gresham Harkless

No question. Yeah. And I can imagine that, you know, money becomes, I think a lot of times, and I don't know if you define it, you know, in the same way, but sometimes it's a tool to get to where you want to be our gas. I've even heard people, you know, mention it as, but if you don't have those discussions and ask those questions, you don't end up knowing, you know, those 3 P's and where people want to go with their all those things. And then you figure out how much gas you need to get there?

09:47 – Gary Sirak

Precisely. You hit it right on the head. I've not used the term gas, but you hit it right on the head. That is exactly what we do. And when they give me their equation, oh yeah, I want to move to Florida. I want to spend 6 months in Florida, I said, OK, let's talk about that. And then we go through how that would work, what that would look like, where they're gonna go, why are they gonna go there? Have they spent any time down there? Have you gone down there in August, to see what that's like, cause it's warm down there.

Those are the kinds of questions I ask, and I want them to think and not just react. I want them to not just spontaneously do something that doesn't make sense. I had a client of mine sell everything in Canton, Ohio, and move to San Diego because his son lived there. Unfortunately, he thought he was going to spend a ton of time with his son and his family. Well, they all had their own life. And when he's out there for 2 weeks is 1 thing. When you're out there all the time, not so good. And so he found out in 7 weeks that that was a really big mistake he made.

Plus he hated the traffic in San Diego and a lot of other things that were outrageously expensive compared to what he was used to. And he didn't have any friends. And he said, you know, it was the worst decision I ever made. And I said, well, it's funny. I don't think it's the worst decision, but you made the best 1. He said, what's that? He said, you came back here and admitted you made a mistake. That was a good mistake. You made me figure that out.

11:04 – Gresham Harkless

So absolutely don't let that pride, you know, take over and realize that you can course suggest, you know if you realize things aren't going the way you want them to go. So absolutely appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

11:23 – Gary Sirak

I read Think and Grow Rich many, many years ago. I've read that book maybe 10 times. And when I ever get thinking about stuff like that, I will pick that book up again and read it again. It was just really well written. And it's 1 of those things where I've referred back to that. I've bought so many copies and given them away, that I can't even count. But I just thought it was well-written and it resonated with me. And so, you know, that's 1 thing. I would say the other thing is, and tell people this all the time, when I got into business, and even what I'm doing now, I have mentors.

I have retirement mentors, and I've gone to them. I think business mentors are invaluable and I have those. And I look for very bright people who are willing to share and who will just sit and listen and then tell me what to do or how to do it because I don't have all the answers. And if I can find someone that I think is smart and I am doing what they're doing, I'm asking, and then I'm just going to buy them coffee, lunch, whatever it takes to get that information. I think that might be the best thing I do.

12:27 – Gresham Harkless

I love that. Especially when you have those people that you can kind of reach out to and get their expertise. So you might've already touched on this, but I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So it's a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

12:45 – Gary Sirak

I would have told my younger business self to start my wish list earlier. My wish list is something that I wish I'd have done about 40, but what it is is I tell people, and I mentioned this in a book, sit down with a piece of paper as you're doing things and say, boy, if I wasn't working today, I wish I would have been doing that, but I'm working so I can't do that. And I started making a list at about age 50 and writing things down. And then I get so much pleasure crossing those off, Gresh.

13:11 – Gary Sirak

It's just a cool thing. But what it also does is it helps figure out if I want to take off less, you know, work less and take more time off, what would I do with that time? Well, it's on the wish list. Now, some things I wish I could do I can't do anymore, but that's age. Anyway, there's a lot of stuff I can do. So I'll give you a great example. We're going to be traveling and I'm going to knock 3 things off my wishlist in 1 week.

And I've never been to Charleston. I want to do that. Never been to Savannah and Buford. And I want to go to all 3 of those cities and check them out. So we're going to hop over there for a few days and I'll knock 3 off and 1 little stay. So those are the things that I think are important and have been good for me. And I tell my clients, I said, believe me, anytime you write things down on a wishlist, it makes you think about something other than what you're doing.

14:01 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. That makes so much sense. And so I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So Gary, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:12 – Gary Sirak

To me, it's being the head of a team and I consider my company a team. And I try and treat all my team members with a lot of respect because I know quite frankly, the fact that I'm the CEO, we would be nothing without them. And so Gresh, when I talk to my employees and work with them, they're not employees, they're team members, truly team members. And it's just like Brady, he's coming back and he's gonna un-retire.

He's got a team in front of him. And those team members take pride in what Tom Brady does. And without them blocking and catching passes, he isn't that good. So that's how I feel. I know that in my world, I'm only as good as the people around me and I try and emphasize that.

14:56 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. I appreciate that definition. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. What I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get a hold of you, get a copy of your book, find out about all the awesome things that you and your team are working on.

15:13 – Gary Sirak

Cool. GarySyrac.com. And that's 1 easy way. Questions, and you can buy the book there. Any book on that when I sign, obviously Amazon has it, all that stuff. And I think the most important thing is if people are considering looking at retirement. I want to emphasize a retirement mentor is so important. Find somebody who's retired, who's already done this that you admire, you like, you respect, and go find out their secrets because they had a formula for how they did what they did. Maybe it was by accident, maybe it was on purpose, but it's still worth having a conversation. And I'm always kind of impressed by how people have figured this out ahead of time.

15:57 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Gary, truly appreciate you for the work you do. The time you took today, We will have the links and information to show us as well, too, so that everybody can follow up with you. So thank you so much for that. So last point, of course, your time today. And I hope you have a phenomenal day.

16:10 – Gary Sirak

Hey, I had a great time. And anytime you want me back, I'm in. This is fun. You know, there isn't much more. I enjoy having smart people ask me smart questions and then I get to answer them. And you make me look smart, so good.

16:21 – Gresham Harkless

It's a win-win. Hey, you are smart. You are smart. I like having smart people answer questions. So we have a great way of winning. So thank you so much again, my friend.

16:28 – Gary Sirak

Thank you. You have a great

16:30 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Please tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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