In Episode 4 of The What If Show, host Mike Langford sits down with Thomas Gold Solutions co-founders Brooke Thomas and Steve Goldstein to make the case that a monthly expense plan isn't just a budgeting exercise — it's the cornerstone of every great retirement strategy.
Fresh off their 86-person Scottsdale Bootcamp, Brooke and Steve explain why "klumping" a client's expenses into one round number — even with a reasonable inflation rate attached — produces a fundamentally less accurate plan than itemizing the components. The difference isn't academic: it can shift a plan outcome by more than a million dollars at age 100. Critically, doing the work often allows clients to spend more in retirement, not less.
The conversation covers how Retirement Analyzer handles mortgage P&I separately from taxes and insurance, why healthcare inflates at a far faster rate than clothing or life insurance premiums, and how to model the go-go, slow-go, and no-go phases of retirement spending with RA's stairstep expense feature. Brooke recommends advisors explore item-level inflation data from BLS.gov to build inflation assumptions that actually reflect real-world costs — right down to bacon.
Steve introduces the concept of "fluff" — the gap between a client's net income and their actual tracked expenses — and explains why that number is one of the most powerful leverage points in the entire planning process.
The episode wraps with the Retirement BS segment, where Brooke and Steve tackle the long-standing rule of thumb that retirees only need 70–80% of their pre-retirement income — and explain why it's a shortcut that can lead well-meaning advisors in the wrong direction.
Resources & Links:
- 🎯 Try Retirement Analyzer free for 14 days: RetirementAnalyzer.com
- 🌐 Thomas Gold Solutions: ThomasGold.com
- 💼 Thomas Gold on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/96812430
- 💼 Brooke Thomas on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brooke-thomas-91185218
- 📊 BLS.gov CPI data by item category: bls.gov/cpi
- 🥓 BLS Average Price data for Bacon: data.bls.gov/timeseries/APU0000FD1101
- 📍 Nashville Bootcamp — October 6–8, 2025: RetirementAnalyzer.com
Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome to The What If Show
00:45 - Scottsdale Bootcamp Recap
02:15 - Nashville Bootcamp Announcement (Oct 6–8)
03:30 - What Advisors Discover at Bootcamp (New: Scenario Track) ← was 04:00
06:00 - Why a Monthly Expense Plan Changes Everything
08:00 - Klumping vs. Itemizing: The Million-Dollar Difference
11:00 - Breaking Down the Key Expense Categories ← was 11:30
13:00 - Why Each Expense Has Its Own Inflation Rate
15:00 - How RA Helps Clients Engage With Their Own Plan
17:00 - Go-Go, Slow-Go & No-Go: Planning for How Retirement Actually Feels
19:00 - The "Fluff" Factor: Finding Hidden Savings
21:30 - Personal Inflation & Expenses That Didn't Exist Yet
23:00 - Using BLS.gov to Build Smarter Inflation Assumptions ← was 23:30
26:00 - The Real Cost of a Basket of Goods
29:00 - 🥓 The Bacon Inflation Tangent (You're Welcome)
32:00 - ⚠️ RETIREMENT BS: The 70-80% Income Rule — Fact or Fiction?
36:00 - Why Top RA Advisors Make Expense Plans Non-Negotiable ← was 35:30
36:15 - Audience Question & Closing ← was 36:30
The What If Show
What if your next client appointment was your best one yet?
The What If Show is the podcast for financial advisors and financial planners who want to show up to every client meeting with confidence, clarity, and a plan that actually answers the hard questions. Hosted by Brooke Thomas and Steve Goldstein and powered by the team at Thomas Gold Solutions the company behind Retirement Analyzer... each episode explores the strategies, tools, and mindset shifts that help advisors deliver better retirement planning outcomes for their clients.
Because in retirement planning, every client walks in with the same unspoken question: Am I going to be okay? The best advisors don't just answer that question — they answer every "what if" that comes with it.
From debunking retirement planning myths in the Retirement BS segment to deep dives with industry experts, practitioners, and the people behind one of the most advisor-trusted planning platforms in the country, The What If Show gives you the insights and inspiration to become the advisor your clients can't stop referring.
New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe now and start answering the what ifs with confidence.
Brooke Thomas is the co-founder of Thomas Gold Solutions and one of the most experienced voices in retirement planning software in the financial services industry. Her story with Retirement Analyzer starts at the very beginning — she was the first person recruited by RA's original creator, Chuck Cravens, to test whether the platform could work for someone brand new to the business. At 23 years old, fresh out of college, with zero sales experience, Brooke went out and proved it could, turning over $150,000 in commissions in her first year.
That experience — knowing firsthand what it feels like to sit across from a client and need the right answer right now — shapes everything about how Thomas Gold operates today. Brooke oversees training, customer support, and product development with one guiding principle: advisors deserve a partner who actually picks up the phone.
Steve Goldstein spent 22 years as a trader on Wall Street before the market changed and he decided it was time to change with it. He became a financial advisor in the early 2000s — and quickly discovered that what he loved most about the work wasn't the products. It was the teaching. The moment a client actually understood their financial picture. The aha.
That obsession with clarity led him to Retirement Analyzer, and eventually to co-founding Thomas Gold Solutions with Brooke Thomas in 2010. Today the company serves more than 6,000 financial advisors and Steve is still the one who answers the phone on a Saturday morning from the aisle at Costco if that's what it takes. He travels the country leading bootcamps and training sessions with one mission: helping advisors become the most confident, capable version of themselves in every client appointment.