“5 Things Retirees Say They Wish They Were Told Before They Began Retirement”, with Steven Zelin
An Interview With Beau Henderson
Your spouse doesn’t want you at home. When you have a scenario where one spouse is working outside the home at the office during the day for many years and the other spouse is at home during the day, it can be a big change for them to both be at home all day after the working spouse retires from the job. They may love each other very much but it can still be a big change so I would encourage some planning of activities for both spouses, especially the retiring spouse regarding what they plan to do during the day.
As a part of my series about the “5 Things Retirees Say They Wish They Were Told Before They Began Retirement” I had the pleasure of interviewing Steven Zelin CPA. He is Managing Member at Zelin & Associates CPA, a boutique accounting firm based in New York City. He supervises a team of CPAs and accountants and bookkeepers to ensure the highest quality of client service. He is a CPA with over 20 years of experience who also has an MBA in Marketing and Finance and holds Securities licenses Series 6,7,66, and 67.
Thank you so much for doing this with us, Steven! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
I love singing and I love CPAing.
I graduated at the top of my class with an Accounting degree from Alfred University and I also took lots of music classes including guitar, piano and voice lessons.
In college I knew I wanted to study business but I wasn’t quite sure which area. The required accounting classes were enjoyable and I noticed that a lot of people were struggling and were dropping out. My accounting professor Dr. Acton encouraged me to consider majoring in accounting. I looked into accounting careers and it seemed like a good field to go into because of the opportunity to grow and understand different businesses, manage the financial aspects of companies and also the ability to branch out into different fields.
After graduating, I worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where I got my CPA license. While at PwC I worked on a credit derivatives consulting project for J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM). The folks at JPM liked the work I was doing so they recruited me. After about a year of working at JPM, I looked back on my career at the time and I liked the variety of projects and constant learning at PwC better than what I was doing at JPM, which was somewhat routine but had better working hours. I came up with a good compromise and took a job at French investment bank Société Générale (SG) where I worked in the internal audit department for six years. As an internal auditor I would go do many different areas in the bank (including Canada, Panama and Mexico) and the working hours were very good. In addition, I took free French lessons and they also paid for my part-time MBA at Fordham University (which included classes that brought me to China and the UK).
In college I took a lot of music classes (voice lessons, guitar lessons, piano lessons) which rounded out my curriculum, and I started writing songs, mostly about how expensive it is to live in New York City. When I started working at PwC the accounting started creeping into my songwriting and by the time I was working at SG I had written over hundreds songs; many of them were funny songs about accounting and taxes.
After graduating with my MBA, I decided that I wanted to try to make it as the Singing CPA. In 2008 I quit my job and I put together marketing materials and wrote letters to CPA societies to be considered to be an entertainer at their conferences. I even applied for a featured spot to sing in the NYC subway (yes, they really have an application and audition process). I didn’t get the subway gig but I have been featured on ABC Nightline, National Public Radio (NPR), the front page of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. I even landed a great gig at a CPA conference in Las Vegas. But there weren’t too many other good paying gigs coming my way. So I started marketing my CPA services. It was just me at the time and now I have a firm with 12 full-time employees and around a thousand clients. I still sing a bunch, especially at the firm holiday party.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
In 2008 I heard about a nonprofit organization that had a fundraiser where they invited musicians from the financial industry to perform. Since I considered myself to be a musician, I asked the organization if I could perform and they said yes. I didn’t quite understand how the fundraiser worked so I asked them how much they would pay me to perform at their benefit. They said that since the goal was to raise money for the Organization they were not able to pay the musicians. However, they said there would be a video of the performance and that they would be happy to give me a video of my performance at BB King’s in Times Square. That sounded good to me so I agreed to do it. The event was a lot of fun and it was for a good cause and I got to learn more about the organization which gives prosthetic limbs to children in poor countries. About a week after the event I contacted the organization to thank them for including me in their event and to see if they had that video. They said they would get back to me after the video company finishes their editing. They didn’t get back to me right away so I followed up about two weeks later. They took my name and number and said they would get back to me. After I didn’t hear from them for a month I called once again and the executive director explained to me that the they looked into it and it turns out that the video company had been changing tapes (remember this is 2008 when they used tapes) during my performance so they would not be able to give me a copy of my performance. I said, “I totally understand. That’s fine. And if you ever need an accountant, please give me a call.” A week later they called and I’ve been their accountant ever since.
Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?
I had a client who worked full-time as a nurse and wanted help with her taxes. She was a smart lady and worked very hard and very long hours, so I was surprised when she came to me with her tax documents, which included a new real estate business where she had no income and over $100,000 in expenses. I asked her about her business plan and how much time she devoted to her business and how things were going with her business. She said that she was working with Donald Trump and had graduated from Trump University. She showed me a picture of herself with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump. She was not able to articulate much of a plan and many of the expenses were for the training program and for “coaching.” I expressed my deep concern with the training program and the coaches since it didn’t sound like she was getting much benefit and direction, and it didn’t seem like she had the intention or time to create and carry out a strategy. I also told her that the IRS doesn’t look kindly on businesses that have zero income and many expenses, noting that there are rules about capitalizing startup expenses until a business is operational. She wouldn’t hear any of it and walked out saying “you don’t believe in me.”
A year later she contacted me and told me she had gone to a neighborhood tax-preparation office and her tax returns were selected for audit. The tax preparer she went to would not help her with the audit and she asked me for help. I helped her through the audit and I was able to get a favorable result for her.
However, I learned that I need to make sure that I am able to communicate to the client about sensitive topics but also help them understand that I’m on their side. I consider my role to be to do the best thing for the client. But if they think I don’t believe in them, I won’t be able to do the best thing for them.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My Aunt Eileen helped me to get where I am. She had been a public school teacher for many years and she always encouraged me to do my best and never give up. She said “if you aim for 100 and you fall short, you’re still in a good place. However, if you aim for 65 and you fall short, you’re in trouble.” I brought that encouragement and enthusiasm to college and I graduated with the highest GPA in my class. I also bring that passion for quality and success to my work for clients.
What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?
It’s important to introduce clients to your team so the team members can be more engaged and have more motivation for connecting with and helping the client achieve their goals. It’s also important for the client to feel comfortable speaking with other team members.
It’s also important to embrace technology and make it easy for the client. If clients are busy and they don’t provide their tax documents timely, we tried to send them reminders by email, phone calls and also text messages. We tried to make it easy for the client to work with us by providing a secure online portal where they can upload documents and also access their tax returns. Clients have found it helpful to be able to pay for our services not only with checks, but with credit cards, Venmo, PayPal, and Zelle.
What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?
Having a daily team huddle and a weekly team meeting provides opportunities for communication and collaboration. I think it’s important for everyone to know what everyone else is working on, what their obstacles are, and what kind of help they need from the team.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Retirement is a dramatic ‘life course transition’ that can impact nearly every aspect of one’s life. Obviously everyone’s experience is different. But In your experience, what are the 5 most common things that people wish someone told them before they retired?
1) Your spouse doesn’t want you at home. When you have a scenario where one spouse is working outside the home at the office during the day for many years and the other spouse is at home during the day, it can be a big change for them to both be at home all day after the working spouse retires from the job. They may love each other very much but it can still be a big change so I would encourage some planning of activities for both spouses, especially the retiring spouse regarding what they plan to do during the day.
2) Build up loyalty with one cruise line — Many people on cruises are retired. The ones that cruise the most find that the loyalty programs of the cruise lines are very good with lots of perks. Therefore, if you stick with one cruise line you will be rewarded with more perks than if you had gone on cruises with different cruise lines.
3) You’re probably not going to be golfing as much as you think. — When people think about retirement they tell me that they plan to play golf every day. My experience is that most clients who are retired say they played golf more often when they were working than in retirement.
Lets zoom in on this a bit. If you had to advise your loved ones about the 3 most important financial issues to keep in mind before they retire, what would you say? Can you give an example or share a story?
Having a number. — You can work with a financial planner to come up with your number. Everyone has a number. The number at which they feel they can retire. One approach is to start with the yearly expenses you will need in retirement to support your lifestyle. You take those annual expenses and consider the approximate number of years of your retirement. This is one way to get to your number. Then you look at how much you have now and make a plan to get to your number.
If you had to advise your loved ones about the 3 most important health issues to keep in mind before they retire, what would you say? Can you give an example or share a story?
Health care proxy, medical powers of attorney, will — these are all important documents that should be put in place before the inevitable happens. Everyone knows that Prince and many others died without a will. This is something we remind each of our clients about every year (and very few take action).
We have a client where we do the taxes for the whole family. We spoke to the son, he said that his father was ill and in the hospital but that it wasn’t serious. We asked the son if if he has a medical power of attorney and if there is a will and if there has been estate planning with the father. The son said that while he is close with his dad these things have not been done. I spoke with the father and stressed the importance of these items including consideration of whether a trust would be helpful. The father understood the importance of getting these things done and got them done. We sent the son a convenient list of items to organize the father’s assets, liabilities, insurance policy information, advisor contact information, executed documents, and the father’s wishes in the event of disability or death. It’s called “Letter to My Loved Ones.” The father and son worked together with us and their other advisors to put in place the necessary documents. The father passed away 6 months later. The family was grateful for our help in preparing for the inevitable.
If you had to advise your loved ones about the 3 most important things to consider before choosing a place to live after they retire, what would you say? Can you give an example or share a story?
Lifestyle-if you are an active city slicker and enjoy theater and movies and restaurants and nightlife, you should try to find a place to live after you retire where you can be active.
Proximity to family — if being close to family and friends is important to you, you may not want to move too far away where it is unlikely that people will visit you (and vice a versa).
Affordability — there are many resources and studies and reports showing the cost of living in different places. These can be helpful when planning where to live.
Access to good doctors — if you have a condition where you need expert care, you should consider a place to live where there are medical resources to help you.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
As a CPA preparing hundreds of tax returns each year I see many clients with unforeseen circumstances having to dip into their traditional retirement accounts before age 59 ½ which means they usually have to pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty on the amount they took out in addition to paying income tax on that amount. I wish that penalty could be reduced or eliminated because it causes additional financial hardship for taxpayers.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho made a significant impact on me since it is about a boy searching for his treasure. I think everyone can relate to the journey through life and searching for treasure. One of the stories from the book I like most is when a shopkeeper sent his son to see the wisest man in the whole world to ask him the secret of happiness. The wise man asked the boy to walk around his property with a teaspoon that held 2 drops of oil and come back in 2 hours without allowing the oil to spill. The boy came back with the oil in the spoon but the boy a couldn’t answer any questions about the castle that he had been walking around because he was focused on not dropping the oil in the spoon. The wise man asks him to walk around again with the spoon of oil and to explore the gardens and the libraries and the furniture; to listen to the music and go into the kitchen to smell the different foods and to come back. When the boy returned he was able to detail the wonders that he saw. The wise man asked what happened to the drops of oil in your spoon. The boy looked down and they were gone. The wise man said that the secret to happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.
For me the story reminds me about the importance of work/life balance and also the need to constantly prioritize.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
My favorite quote is ”in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” There are times when a challenging issue comes across my desk and I find it helpful to collaborate with my team members and other professionals in my network to get their feedback before making a decision.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
https://www.instagram.com/zelinandassociatescpa/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesingingcpa/
https://www.facebook.com/zelinsteven
Thank you for all of these great insights!
