Mike Milligan is the founder of OneOak Financial, an author, financial strategist, and entrepreneur who has built an Inc. 5000 company with a 30-plus-person team serving clients across the United States. His approach to financial planning emphasizes tax strategy alongside investments and retirement planning.

In this episode, Mike shares how his early experiences with money shaped his career, why taxes can be one of the biggest expenses in retirement, and how better planning can help individuals and business owners keep more of what they earn. He also explores advisor fees, Roth conversions, required minimum distributions, business growth, and the importance of having a financial plan clients can actually understand.

Key Takeaways:

● Make Tax Strategy Part of Retirement Planning: Proactive tax planning can help retirees and business owners identify opportunities to reduce their long-term tax burden.

● Look Beyond Investment Returns: A comprehensive financial plan should address taxes, retirement goals, cash flow, and other financial decisions—not just portfolio performance.

● Understand What You’re Paying For: Knowing how financial firms and advisors earn money can help investors better evaluate the fees and value of the services they receive.

● Turn Your Financial Plan Into a Roadmap: A clearly documented plan can make financial decisions easier to understand and help clients become more informed about their own finances.

● Growth Creates New Business Challenges: As a company expands, overcoming obscurity and maintaining the founder’s original vision become increasingly important leadership priorities.

Connect with Mike:

Website: www.mikemilligan.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mikemilligancfp

Book: www.amazon.com/author/oneofakind

Estate planning is about more than documents—it’s about making sure your assets, advisors, and intentions actually work together.

Chris Carns is a board-certified estate planning and probate attorney and partner at Hessie, Blythe & Carns in Plano, Texas, with roughly 15 years of experience serving families, business owners, and high-net-worth clients. In this episode, Chris breaks down common estate planning mistakes, planning considerations for blended families and business owners, and why coordination among attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors becomes increasingly important as wealth grows.

Key Takeaways:

● Coordinate the Plan and the Assets: Estate planning documents alone aren’t enough; account ownership, beneficiary designations, insurance, IRAs, and other assets need to align with the overall plan.

● Planning Is an Ongoing Process: Changes in family relationships, assets, businesses, and laws can make an outdated estate plan less effective.

● Prepare for Complex Family Dynamics: Blended families, remarriage, children, and grandchildren can require carefully designed trusts and distribution strategies.

● Build a Collaborative Advisory Team: Attorneys, CPAs, and financial advisors can better serve high-net-worth families when recommendations are coordinated rather than made in isolation.

● Plan for the Business Before the Exit: Business owners can benefit from addressing succession, legal documents, deal structure, and tax considerations well before signing a letter of intent or selling the company.

Connect with Chris:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-carns-b0aab22a

With your Guest Host Dana Gibson:

Dana Gibson is a Retirement Diagnostician and Certified Financial Fiduciary known as The Roth Doctor™. His approach was shaped by a life-changing 1995 assault and subsequent financial devastation, which taught him how quickly health, wealth, and financial security can change.

Today, Dana helps pre-retirees identify hidden risks involving taxes, RMDs, Social Security, retirement income, longevity, and wealth preservation. He also developed the Self-Completing Roth Conversion Strategy to help families reduce lifetime retirement taxes.

Dana’s philosophy is simple: every retirement deserves a thorough diagnosis before a financial prescription.

Website: https://taxmitigation.net/tax-readiness-score.html

Joshua Kreitzman, CPA and owner of Kreitzman & Company, brings more than 20 years of experience spanning financial management, nonprofit leadership, entertainment production, and business advisory work. His firm serves hundreds of businesses and individuals, with particular experience working with contractors, construction companies, and family-owned businesses.

In this episode, Joshua joins guest host Peter Florio to discuss his unconventional journey from theater to accounting and how skills like active listening, communication, and collaboration shape his approach to advising business owners. They also explore the changing accounting profession, the impact of AI and virtual work, and why strong professional relationships go far beyond preparing tax returns.

Key Takeaways:

● Listening Is a Business Skill: Joshua explains how his theater background taught him to listen closely, understand what clients really need, and communicate financial information more effectively.

● Keep Financial Decisions Simple: Breaking complex financial concepts into understandable terms helps business owners make more informed decisions and avoid unnecessary confusion.

● Collaboration Creates Better Outcomes: Accountants, financial advisors, insurance professionals, and other specialists can provide greater value when they work together around the client.

● Technology Is Changing Accounting: Virtual meetings, cloud-based tools, and AI are helping smaller accounting firms become more efficient and access sophisticated research capabilities.

● Great Advisors Go Beyond Transactions: Building trust, understanding a client's goals, and supporting long-term growth can turn an accountant into a true business advisor.

Connect with Josh:

Website: www.kreitzmancpas.com

With Guest Host Peter Florio:

Peter F. Florio, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CExP, CLTC is a well-respected financial educator, author, speaker and wealth, tax and financial planner. For nearly 40 years, his advice and expertise have been sought out by high net worth individuals and small business owners to manage their wealth and protect their families and businesses from life’s unforeseen pratfalls.

Peter regularly shares his knowledge of innovative ideas and concepts with CPA’s and attorneys. He serves the needs of over 500 clients located throughout the country with a concentration in the Long Island/New York City area.

Peter is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Florio Wealth Management Group, a financial planning and wealth management firm located in Westbury, NY. He is a lifelong resident of Baldwin, New York, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Baldwin and an active supporter of the Long Island Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Website: https://www.floriowmg.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/florio-wealth-management-group/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floriowmg

Calendly: https://calendly.com/floriowmg