A hearty welcome to Grandma’s Wealth Wisdom with your hospitable hosts, Brandon and Amanda Neely. This is the only podcast for strategies to grow your wealth simply and sustainably like grandma used to. Without further ado here are your hosts.
Amanda: Hi, I'm Amanda and welcome to Grandma's Wealth Wisdom where we work with you to build wealth grandma would be proud of.
Brandon: Hey, I'm Brandon and this is Episode 31 where we interview one of our good friends that we met at a networking event, Glenn Hahn who is a expert when it comes to medical insurance. Right, medical and all that fun stuff. I got to tell you, we actually had to take a test on medical that insurance side is where we do a lot on the life side, and I felt overwhelmed whenever I went through that whole thing. [0:01:06.9]
I felt like I had to have a degree, just the test alone was crazy. Not to mention I felt bad for a lot of people like who are going through the process, maybe they're 65, 67 and they have to figure this stuff out and you have to have a bachelor's or master's or doctorate or something to figure out medical insurance.
Amanda: I had a little jumpstart because I had to help my mom figure out Medicare when she turned 65, and so I felt like I knew a little bit more going into studying for this test, but you are starting from scratch and I think you got more confused the more you studied. Right?
Brandon: Yeah, and I'm like, man, no wonder we're all messed up and broken and whenever we think about health care, our eyes glaze over because mine wasn't, I had to learn it.
Amanda: Yeah. What I like about Glenn, the person we're interviewing today, is that he knows a lot about the healthcare industry, about health insurance, all those things, and he's actively trying to change the situation. [0:02:07.6]
The part of what's gotten wrong about health care is that the insurance companies are the doctors and nurses and hospitals, like that's who they cater to because that's who's going to pay them, rather than you as a patient. As a patient you're not their customer, the insurance company is. I love that Glenn is trying to get the focus back on the patient, and I'm excited for him to share a little bit about how he does that and how he helps people navigate the system that's been created today.
Brandon: Yes. So do you want to read a little bio about him, or do you want him to read it?
Amanda: I think we recapped it.
Brandon: Alright. then hey Glenn, welcome, and I'm glad that you're on here to share your expertise that we definitely, I mean I'm knowledgeable about but I definitely don't want to be in that industry, and I'm really glad you are to really fight for these clients. [0:03:01.3]
Glenn: It's good to be here, thanks for having me on.
Amanda: Great. So Glenn, we're going to ask you some background questions so that our audience can get to know you better. You know, we feel like we know you a little bit, but maybe we'll get to know you better too, and then we'll dig into that area of expertise that you have around the healthcare industry and medical things in general. So here's a first question for you. What was money like for you growing up?
Glenn: My parents did well, I did not grow up wanting, however, my dad was also very clear that his money with his money, and that if I wanted money I had to go get my own. I, as a kid, did the usual, you know, cut the grass stuff and hire out for more elderly people who needed help around the house. Then when I turned 16 I started working at a gas station. I've worked ever since.
Amanda: Awesome. I love that your dad said, "This money is mine, go find your own." and you had to figure that out. [0:04:01.4]
Glenn: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. How did your story with money change as you got older?
Glenn: My relationship with money is an interesting one. It's attracted to me and I'm attracted to it, and then I get attracted to women who spend it all. That works out; it's like a continuing cycle of discovery and improvement.
Brandon: So you make the money, they spend the money, is that how?
Glenn: Well, they make some, but yeah, it works out a little bit different, I need to improve my selection process.
Brandon: We actually just did a podcast on that, like whenever it comes to couples and thinking about these kind of things, when you deal with couples, one, they want to fix their financial problems or situation, and the other one doesn't want to make a change because they're the spender.
Glenn: Right, the crab in the bucket.
Amanda: So as you've made little tweaks here and there with your relationship with money, like what have some of those been, and what are some of the lessons you've learned along the way? [0:05:10.0]
Glenn: Two things that I think are really important. One is actually spend some time thinking about it and develop a plan, and if you don't have the knowledge or the breath of the experience, seek out somebody who does and just talk to them. Your eyes will get opened, your mind will expand, you will understand things in a different way, and that's a good thing. And then the other thing that I think my dad, the most important thing my dad taught me in regards to money was never be afraid to pay too much for something you really want, and I've only done that once because I really wanted it.
Amanda: Can we ask what it was?
Glenn: Yeah, it's a little goofy, but sure. It was a 1972 Checker Marathon automobile. [0:06:01.7]
It was privately owned, the gentleman had lost his driver's license through the cataracts, he was 96 years old, he had had the car since new. It had about 10,000 miles on it. It was pristine, it was unique, it was way cool and I believe I paid him more than he paid for it when it was new.
Amanda: Wow. Do you still have it?
Glenn: I divested myself from that a while back, but I got more money for it when I sold it than I bought it for.
Amanda: Awesome. That's good.
Glenn: It worked out really well.
Amanda: Yeah, nice. So I know you're a grandpa, congratulations on that.
Glenn: Thank you.
Amanda: What would you say are some of the major lessons that you'd want to pass on to your grandchildren?
Glenn: Start early and develop that discipline early. I mean it's never too late to start, but boy, it sure is easier when you're first out of school or into the trades or whatever, to develop that discipline, that lifestyle, that habit of taking X% and just investing, socking it away, whatever it is you do, whatever your plan is, and then have fidelity to that plan. That's the key. Slow and steady wins this race. [0:07:17.2]
Amanda: Absolutely. That sounds like true grandparent wisdom right there.
Brandon: I really like it used said there because just our last interview from our Podcast Factory producer, he said that, he has a kid, he doesn't have grandkids yet, but his kid is about six or seven years old, somewhere in there, and he said discipline is really important in how he disciplines and has certain money set aside, and that discipline is actual freedom. The reality is our culture wants us to say freedom, you know, you have to Chase Freedom card, so you have freedom because you can put it on your Chase Freedom card and buy whatever the heck you want without a cost. [0:08:04.3]
The discipline is savings for the future, not spending what's beyond, and that you actually have more freedom because you're disciplined.
Amanda: Yeah, you can buy that antique automobile when it comes along because you've had that money stashed aside and saved and you can spend where it's really important to you.
Glenn: Right. If you're diligent in your habits and your savings or investing habits, you can get so much nicer stuff later on than you can when you're starting out. It's well worth the wait.
Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. As you think about your future with money, what are some of the things you think about that will help you build more wealth, more financial security that your grandma would be proud of?
Glenn: I am 58 years old, and I got maybe 20 years left of earning, anyway, good earning. [0:09:03.0]
My focus is to actually shift a little better away from me, and now more toward my children and my grandchild. I'm going to have more grandchildren allegedly, and so I'm looking at ways to assist them in getting a good start, as opposed to, you know, I have goals of what I want, but mine are shorter term and I'm scaling back. It's not mine or readily obtainable, but seeing that my grandchildren will have the option, perhaps attending a university, would be important. Or using that money to start their own business or go into trades, or whatever they end up deciding to do, but having a good basis, and hopefully be intelligent about it. That's kind of where my focus is. [0:10:01.2]
Grandma always said, “Eat your vegetables.” She loved making home-cooked meals with healthy food and from-scratch desserts. Would you create a diet of fast food or cookie cutter financial products that made you fat and bloated with fees or would you like wholesome time-honored wealth strategies served with balance and trust. Get started with your healthy money planning by downloading wholesome wealthy recipes; your moola cookbook is waiting for you at grandmaswealth.com.
Brandon: I hear that as younger people we're building up our wealth or are building up something for the house or for, I don't know, whatever we want in early life, and then as we get older we start realizing it's not all about all the stuff, it's more about, maybe legacy or started realizing our own mortality in that.
Glenn: A lot of it is experiential, right? You want to have nice memories. [0:11:04.5]
It's not always about stuff or purchasing stuff. Sometimes it's about can I put us, kids and grandchild, in an environment that will create a memory that will outlive me, that type of thing.
Amanda: Thanks for sharing that little bit of history. Is there anything else you think we should know about you before we start talking about health stuff?
Glenn: I'm a Taurus, I like walks on the beach.
Amanda: You're currently single.
Glenn: Yeah. I'm not looking, though.
Amanda: Sorry, ladies.
Glenn: My good friends have threatened me with imminent death, they're like, "No, you go do this instead." I'm like, "Alright, I'll do that." Works out better.
Brandon: I would add on, as we met at this networking event, knowing a little bit of background on the health side and knowing you as a person, you have a lot character that most life insurance or life people, not life, health insurance people, I feel like they're very boring and very, I don't know, you kind of want to avoid them. [0:12:16.6]
You're very entertaining. I listened to your presentation about insurance and health insurance, I actually took away a lot and I was entertained at the same time, I felt like I was watching the Tonight Show comedian act or something.
Glenn: My background is diverse and varied. I bring a little more to the table than your average career insurance guy, I'm relatively new into the pure insurance business, going on four years, but I have 34 years in health care industry, I've built provider networks, I've built networks of occupational house centers, I was a CIO of an intercity safety net hospital, I work with consulting firms on the IT side, I've done business turnarounds of medical providers. [0:13:12.5]
I have wealth of experience, and all those things have in common are they're intangible services and you have to deal with people and be able to communicate difficult and complicated concepts relatively easily, so that decision makers, who aren't an expert in the field have enough information and are confident and comfortable in the decisions they make. I bring that to the mess that is health insurance.
Amanda: That's awesome. Thanks for sharing that background, I don't think I knew all of those things that you did previously.
Glenn: Yeah, and more.
Amanda: Yeah? I hope that helps the people listening to know like you're legit, what you're about to share comes from that 34 year history and various different sectors within the healthcare industry and being a CIO of an intercity health services provider. [0:14:10.8]
That's the one that stuck out to me, is like I want to hear more about that for sure. So maybe that's on something we could talk about offline.
Brandon: I would add, like for us doing what we do, what I find interesting is actually running a business and starting a business where there's other pieces that were not related, hugely related to building wealth or leverage or whatever, that we had to figure out. Again, part of with health insurance side, Amanda knows quite a bit because unfortunately we've had to go through that process with her mom, and some of those things that are not the black and white of your resume but the in-between are super important, and what actually brings more value to your clients. [0:15:00.9]
For me, like I don't have a business degree, however I only launched a business and sold it, I don't know. Maybe that's worth something.
Glenn: That's worth a lot, that's worth a lot. I've been on every side of health insurance. I have purchased as a consumer, I have utilized it as an employee with a company-sponsored plan. The companies I've run I've actually purchased it for my employees. I've fixed billing systems that providers utilize, I've done reinsurance, and so when I started on my health insurance career, my peers and associates and friends all looked at me like, "What are you doing? Why are you selling insurance?" I told them, "I'm not selling insurance, I'm going to change the face about insurance in the United States. So sit back and watch this."
Brandon: Can you say that again? What are you doing?
Glenn: I'm changing the face of health insurance in the United States. [0:16:03.0]
Brandon: Wow.
Glenn: I'm going to fix, me and other like-minded people are going to fix this mess.
Amanda: So you're going to do something that Congress hasn't been able to do yet?
Glenn: Come on, Congress hasn't been able to do anything except make things worse. Yeah, I can make things worse too, I just don't have the power. The fix does not come from that. Never has, never will.
Amanda: Everybody knows now, the fix is coming from Glenn.
Glenn: Glenn of like-minded....
Brandon: It comes from within. I feel like there's a lot of our clients that they want to find outside help or whatever, and it has to come intrinsic and you have to actually, like you're saying, go and learn, educate yourself, and then implement. So finding those guides along the way, whether it's life, health, whether it's starting your own business, any of that stuff, it comes from within, and you have the power to change those things. [0:17:03.7]
Glenn: Right, exactly.
Brandon: That was a great first part of the interview with Glenn, our health insurance expert who knows all things about insurance, and I really loved just his thoughts on his own money story, his grandma knowledge, and all that kind of stuff, and I can't wait for the next piece.
Amanda: With that 34 year history in the health care sector, of course, we know what's coming next, we know that in the next episode, in the next half of the interview he drops some great value bombs about how to cover your cost of health care, including some options that are not your typical health insurance. You mention he's a health insurance expert, I would say he's an expert at covering the cost of health care, whether it's through insurance or not. [0:18:01.1]
We're going to totally be talking about that. For this first part, as Glenn was sharing some of his background, I thought a couple things really stuck out to me. He said it's his dad taught him, that his dad's money was his dad's money, and that if he wanted money he had to go and get it on his own. I thought that was a good point, and his point about like start early and develop discipline early. I think discipline's like a muscle. If you want that muscle to develop you have to start exercising that muscle, and it might start really small, it might start with a step in the right direction, like a baby step, but over time you learn how to walk and then you learn how to run. Sometimes you can start running like right away, but really like starting to develop that discipline muscle often starts with a tiny baby step.
Brandon: Yeah, I found it very interesting that him and our past interview that we just did, they don't know each other, they didn't know that we were going to talk about any of this stuff, and they both brought it about discipline and the idea of discipline, bringing more power and ignorance usually brings powerlessness is what I got from him, is like being ignorant of a problem or a situation it's going to bring about powerlessness. [0:19:24.6]
Amanda: Yeah, so I guess what that means is this next episode we're going to be bringing in some power and some knowledge of how to figure this out, and especially he's going to talk about if you already have, you know your employer has an employer-based plans, some of what he shares is going to be helpful to you as well, and then it's super, super, duper helpful if you have to figure out your health care coverage on your own. So be sure to tune into the next episode where we continue this interview with Glenn, and he is going to talk about the six different way is that you can cover your health care. [0:20:03.2]
Brandon: So until next time keep your wealth simply unsustainable and for your own future and the future of our grandchildren's generation.
The topics presented in this podcast are for general information only and not for the purposes of providing legal, accounting or investment advice. On such matters please consult a professional who knows your specific situation.
This is ThePodcastFactory.com
