Matt Harris, Financial Analyst

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Tinley Park, IL
Matt Harris, Financial Analyst

Helping Aviators Grow & Navigate Retirement with Confidence | Financial Strategies for Pilots

Our mission is to empower individuals to achieve financial security and peace of mind by providing educational strategies and guidance. We are dedicated to helping you avoid outliving your income by crafting personalized financial plans tailored to your goals and circumstances, ensuring a stable and fulfilling future.

06/10/2026

Cleaning out our grandpa's storage locker and stumbled across this.

A United Airlines Condensed One Way Fare Table dated December 26, 1947.

It's a reminder of how different commercial aviation used to be. Before computers, fare searches, and mobile apps, this is how people looked up ticket prices.

I'm curious...

Does anyone here remember using fare tables like this, or know when airlines finally stopped printing them?

I'd love to hear the stories from those who were around during that transition.

06/09/2026

I'm afraid you're not your advisor's priority.

That might sound harsh, but after working in this industry, I've seen how many firms operate.

When markets are calm, everyone gets attention.

When markets fall 20%, that's when priorities become obvious.

If an advisor has hundreds of clients, who do you think gets the first phone call?

The client with a $5 million portfolio.....or the retiree with $300,000?

It's rarely personal. It's economics.

Now ask yourself one question:

How confident are you that your advisor would answer your call during the next market downturn. Not based on what they promise, but based on the size of your account?

Every retiree deserves more than a once-a-year meeting and a generic market update.

You deserve proactive communication, annual reviews, and an advisor who treats your retirement like it's their most important client...not their smallest account.

If this made you stop and think, it might be time to ask your advisor a few uncomfortable questions.

06/08/2026

Honored to be part of Rev Agency Syndicate

One of the most ethical and mission driven protection planning masterminds in the industry.

Our focus for 2026:

1 Billion in total issued death benefit.

Every number behind that represents a family that’s been protected, a retirement plan that’s been strengthened, and real people who now have more certainty about their future.

At the end of the day, this isn’t about production. It’s about doing right by clients and making sure families are covered when it matters most.

Grateful to be part of a group that holds that standard every day.

06/05/2026

The person guaranteed to make money from your portfolio may not be you.

Let that sink in.

An airline pilot can do everything right:

✈️ Save consistently
✈️ Max out retirement accounts
✈️ Stay invested for decades
..and still watch millions of dollars leave their retirement plan through fees.

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

Most financial advisors are accumulation specialists.

They are exceptionally good at helping you build a portfolio.

But retirement isn't about building wealth.

It's about converting wealth into income without running out of money.

Those are two completely different jobs.

The conflict starts when an advisor charges an AUM fee.

The more money you keep invested with them, the more they get paid.

Think about that.

If moving some of your assets into principal-protected income strategies reduces their fee revenue, what incentive do they have to recommend it?

Not every advisor acts on that conflict.

But every investor should understand it exists.

The biggest risk for many pilots isn't a market crash.

It's reaching retirement with a plan designed for accumulation while needing a plan designed for distribution.

Before retirement, the question is:

"How big can I grow this portfolio?"

After retirement, the question becomes:

"How much income can this portfolio safely produce?"

Very few advisors make that transition well.

That's why some retirees discover too late that their retirement plan was really just an investment plan.

There's a difference.

06/04/2026

"I don't need a retirement plan yet."

That's one of the most expensive assumptions I hear from airline pilots who are 5–10 years from retirement.

Not because they're behind.

Because most of them have done an excellent job saving.

The problem is that saving for retirement and living off your money in retirement are two completely different skill sets.

The closer retirement gets, the less important accumulation becomes.

Income planning, tax strategy, sequence-of-returns risk, and healthcare costs start to matter a lot more.

I've seen pilots spend years preparing for a flight and only a few hours preparing for a retirement that could last 30 years.

If you're within 5–10 years of retirement, now is exactly when a second opinion becomes valuable.

Comment GUIDE and I'll send you a way to better prepare yourself.

06/03/2026

Most airline pilots I've met have heard this one:

"The stock market always recovers in time."

The market has recovered from every downturn.

The question is whether your retirement timeline recovers with it.

When you're 35, a major downturn can be an inconvenience.

When you're 62 and withdrawing income, a major downturn can permanently change your retirement plan.

That's why retirement planning isn't just about chasing average returns.

It's about understanding sequence of returns risk, income planning, taxes, and how much risk you actually need to take.

The goal isn't to die with the biggest account balance.

The goal is to make sure your money lasts as long as you do.

What's the biggest retirement myth you've heard from coworkers in the cockpit?

06/02/2026

Today I turn 34.

As a retirement planner, birthdays are a little weird.

Most people wake up thinking:
"Cool, it's my birthday."

I wake up thinking:
"Statistically, how many more birthdays do I have left?"

The good news is that at 34, the answer is hopefully "a lot."

The bad news is that my kids still think I'm ancient.

What's funny is that the older I get, the less I think about retirement as an age and the more I think about it as a reminder.

A reminder that time is the one asset everyone spends, but nobody knows their balance.

So today I'm taking a break from spreadsheets, market headlines, and retirement projections to appreciate what I've already been given:

A great wife.
Four healthy kids.
Good friends.
Meaningful work.
And another trip around the sun.

Not a bad return for 34 years.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to celebrate the way every mature adult should...

By checking to see if any restaurants still give free birthday desserts.

Happy birthday to me!

06/01/2026

I thought success was simple.

Work hard.
Make money.
Climb the ladder.
Retire someday.

Then I had four kids.

Now success looks a little different.

Sometimes it looks like standing in ankle-deep water while a 2-year-old splashes everyone within reach.

Sometimes it looks like answering 47 questions in a row from a 4-year-old.

Sometimes it looks like watching a 6-year-old gain confidence.

And sometimes it looks like hearing what a 10-year-old thinks about the world.

The funny thing is, none of my kids care what title is on my business card.

They don't care about my degree.

They don't care how many meetings I had this week.

They care if I'm present.

If I'm paying attention.

If I put my phone down.

For a long time, I thought success was something I would achieve someday.

Now I'm starting to realize success might be found in moments like these.

Not because work doesn't matter.

But because if your definition of success costs you the people you're doing it for, it might be time to redefine success.

You only get one life.

And these four remind me of that every day.

05/29/2026

One day, the kids won’t ask you to climb the tree with them anymore.

They won’t ask you to throw the ball, carry them, or “watch this” 47 times in a row.

That’s why I’m learning to say yes more often.

Not because life slows down… but because these moments don’t wait.

Success means a lot less if you miss the people you’re building it for.

05/28/2026

I thought success was simple.

Go to college.
Graduate with honors.
Get a stable job.
Be grateful.

At 21, I became a Certified Veterinary Technician after earning my degree in Veterinary Technology, and I was incredibly proud of it.

But a few years in, something started bothering me.

I looked around and saw people who were burned out, exhausted, and counting the years until retirement.

And quietly, I started asking myself a question I felt guilty for even thinking:

“What if I don’t want this for the next 30 years?”

That thought messed with me for a long time because internally I kept telling myself:

“You should be grateful. Every job sucks.”

But deep down, I realized something bigger:

I wasn’t building a life that matched the way I actually wanted to live.

I wanted freedom.
I wanted ownership.
I wanted to build something that felt like mine.

Starting over felt terrifying. Especially after working so hard for the degree and career path I thought I was supposed to want.

But eventually I realized:

You only get one life.

And sometimes the hardest part isn’t changing careers…

It’s giving yourself permission to evolve into someone different than the version you imagined at 18.

You’re allowed to outgrow the version of success you once chased.

Address

Tinley Park, IL

Telephone

(708)5057686

Website

https://go.redstoneretirement.com/incomeguide

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