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Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Bill, Hi there. Welcome to biz communication Show. I’m your host, Bill Lampton, the biz communication guy, bringing you tips and strategies that will boost your business. And those tips and strategies come through my conversation with a highly qualified guest. Certainly, today’s guest is highly qualified Bo Henderson. I’m delighted to welcome Bo Henderson to the biz communication show. Among his several prestigious credentials, he’s a retirement income Certified Professional with over 20 years of experience helping individuals navigate their financial futures. Beau brings his extensive perspective to hosting the rich life retirement show on Radio. I’m sure many of you are familiar with that show with a background in psychology and finance from the University of Georgia. Beau brings a distinctive people first approach to retirement planning, inspired by the loss of his father to lung cancer at age 49 Beau is passionate about helping others navigate their financial futures with confidence and clarity. Bo Henderson has helped transform the lives of more than 4000 households over the past two decades through educational classes, books and personalized retirement planning, his insights have been featured in major publications, including the Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and as a best selling author, he contributes regularly to Forbes and other notable publications. I know you will join me in welcoming Bo Henderson, hello, Bo.
Beau Henderson
Dr Bill, I’m so excited to be here with one of a person that’s been very influential and important in my life, so thanks for inviting me on the show to come hang out a little bit and talk. It’s been too long. It
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
has been too long. We both are busy doing our best to bring vital communication and financial planning strategies to as many people as we can It is great to be with you, and I appreciate that compliment that you gave Bo I know, as we just barely mentioned in the introduction, and we know you’re a University of Georgia graduate. However, I don’t know that many people are aware that you were a true Georgia Bulldog. You were a starting defensive end for three years on the Georgia football team. And so one of the questions that seems quite natural to me is, what did you What did your football experience? And you told me you started football very early in life, but thinking particularly about your varsity college experience, university experience. What did football teach you about leadership and teamwork?
Speaker 1
Interesting question. So I started playing football around five years old, and did have the opportunity to play defensive line there at the University of Georgia during my college time. And when I think about, how has that, how did that translate to life, right? One, one that’s pretty straightforward and obvious, I would say, is you learn teamwork. That is a sport that you can’t have just one superstar and and win, right? Normally. So Teamwork was one thing that was I learned there, and then also preparation, right? You didn’t go and learn how to you didn’t show up and hope you were ready on game day. You were preparing all week, right? So those were two things, but, but what’s funny, doctor bill that after that period of time, I was still young, I still my early 20s, after after football, and even though I had those skills and they were related to sports, it’s taken a lot of years for me to truly integrate those into business. Because what happens, I think a lot is you lean in your strengths, just like I did earlier, when I was younger, going through high school and things, I would lean into what I was good at and on the field and kind of try to stand out, to have other opportunities take it to the next level. So what I did with business for a lot of years. Yes, it was just me, right? You remember some years where I was maybe I had had some some administrative support, but it was just me, so I leaned into my strength. But what I learned was eventually, when it’s just you, without building a supporting team around you, that everybody’s working in their strengths, you got the right people in the right position, so to speak, right? Your center is probably not going to be your wide receiver, if we’re going to make a analogy, right? Um, so as I get older, and as I as I mature more into a business owner, I’m really now seeing what I learned in football playing out in my life. Is that, right? Hey, I need, I need a kicker, I need a wide receiver, I need a good offensive line, and then I have, I have a position that I’m really I would say I’m kind of quarterback in this thing at this point. So I think that’s what’s translated. But it was fascinating to me to say it kind of evolved over time, and it’s actually had deeper meaning to me as I get older.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Excellent analogies there, I think of a couple of things on that, and particularly you’re saying that you can’t do it all. Malcolm Gladwell in one of his books, and he’s one of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell says that you could look at rock stars, you could look at Tech moguls. You could look at giants of industry. You could look at great performers in music and theater, and there’s not one single one of them who made it alone. He said, We all need a team. And then, of course, when you talk about preparation, I think one of the one of the wonderful opportunities we have through watching, for example, specials on YouTube. I remember one quarterback which focused on three NFL quarterbacks. It was about a 10 part series. And one of the main things that it saw one, if you haven’t seen that one, I would recommend to anybody to watch that quarterback when Patrick mahomes and Chris cousins and another. And what I what you learn is I saw Patrick mahomes going through all the weight training program that you would have Bo as a defensive lineman, or a tackle, would or a guard? Would? You think? Many people probably presume, oh, quarterback’s just a soft spot. You don’t have to do all that stuff, but with all the hits you take and the stamina you have to have, you have to do it too. Preparation, yes, teamwork, yes. And as you say, many people who think being an entrepreneur means, okay, you never rely on anybody else. We’ll try that for a while. And and you’ll, first of all, your energy will be depleted. And secondly, you won’t know enough, and there’s probably a pretty good chance of burnout, if that’s what it’s going to be. And
Speaker 1
Bill, as you’re describing that it’s my mind’s going through and thinking through some points you’re making me bubble up to the surface here is right. I think maybe early on for business owners, in a lot of cases, we do this because we’re trying to generate income for ourselves our family, right? So there’s a money component to it. As business develops, as business owners develop, over time, there’s going to be a shift for a lot of people to now that i i have income coming in, and I’ve solved that, what kind of impact can I have with the work I do? And just as you were describing my income, My impact is limited only by the team I can build around me that buys into that vision of the impact I want to have in this world. So again, if it’s bigger impact as a business owner. And again, you know, we talk a lot about living a fulfilling, rich life, right? A lot of that is looking back saying, hey, you know what, my life’s work here actually made a difference and helped some people
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
out. You, you cued me for my next question there, when you mentioned the rich life your long time running radio show the rich life show, which I had the privilege many times of CO hosting with you, your seminars that you hold, your videos and books and articles, your message is about living the rich life. To many people, when they first hear that, they think, oh, Beau’s going to teach me how to become a millionaire, but Bo’s going to show me how to fill my bank account. Well, those things might be a part of it, but elaborate. What? Bo what really the rich life concept has meant for you right from the beginning?
Speaker 1
Yes. And first, I want to make clear, there is no issue. This isn’t picking one or the other. I hope everybody has millions of dollars in the bank if that’s their goal, because with that, you can have bigger impact and have more options and choices. So money is important, and we all have to deal with it. So we need to be good stewards, be competent and have good planning and strategy around that. So that’s one piece. Yes, that is necessary. But if we get to the root of the matter, if we get to the core of everything, and this is me, listening to people paying attention, seeing it firsthand for over 25 years now, 1000s of conversations. Really your definition of a rich life is going if we went through a process and talked through this, it’s going to revolve around what makes you what makes your life rich, what lights you up, what makes you happy, what makes you fulfilled. It’s going to revolve around more time with the people you care about, because once that’s gone, you’d pay anything to have it back. Your health, because once that’s gone, you’d pay anything to have it back. And then it’s those memories and experiences that we create that we can share and talk about over and over again, right? So relationships, health, experiences, that’s core, and sometimes I find as humans, we’re just kind of as busy people. We’re busy with life, families, careers, and we’re kind of sleepwalking through life, reacting and responding. But if we can get clear on what that life looks like to us, specifically to me, specifically to you, there’s no there’s no right answer, cookie cutter approach to any of this, then and only then do we, really, I believe, have the proper context to take the puzzle pieces of your financial life and create a strategy using your assets as a tool to move towards that best life for you and your family, right? So it’s basically, when I say a person first approach, I need to get clear on you as a person. And let’s get clarity on you and what that looks like for you. And then let’s do the very good work and good planning and good strategy around how do we create that with this outer in my mind, I’m doing this bill because the outer circle is your financial planning, all the things that need to be working together you’re going to need in retirement. Specifically, you’re going to need income plan, investment plan, health care planning, tax planning, Legacy planning, and I believe, also behavior planning, behavior coaching and planning. So that’s the outer circle, but there in that core is those three components, right? That’s what is that rich life look like? What is what are we going to do to address healthier life, better relationships, creating intentionally memories and experiences, facilitating those things. And then we go back to the outer circle to make sure that we’re doing what we can to make that happen. That’s through slife financial planning. And that’s the way I find that nobody just says, If you really get deep enough under the surface, nobody just really wants ten million they’re really thinking in their mind, if I had $2 million I’d be able to do this. I’d have the options to do this, the freedom to do this. So if we can get straight to the to the point of, what is it you really want to accomplish, and then just start really working directly towards that, that’s your definition of rich life,
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
wonderful definition and a wonderful approach. You. You and I have known each other for 20 or so years, and you see my post on Facebook, you know how valuable My daughters are to me and my grandchildren, and I know your daughter is a an absolutely top priority, And so building wealth and building security goes back to your experience you had when you lost your father. He was he was only 49 years old, and you saw then that families need a security plan, and it’s not a selfish plan, it’s a benevolent plan, because you’re taking care of the ones you love, and when you you get to talking about what is wealth? Wealth, to me, was this weekend, when I was with both of my daughters, right their children. And wealth, to you, is when you’re with your daughter and your friends and others who are close. So I’ve I’ve loved right from the start, all those years ago, I’ve loved your definition of the rich life. Rich life, to many people, means somebody miserly, somebody penny pinching, somebody who’s doing it all for themselves, but thank you for shattering that definition, right?
Speaker 1
And that’s a great point. You can have a richer life focusing on those core things we talked about than somebody with with 10 times the assets you have, right? It’s really the philosophy and the intentionality behind you creating this. And to me, what. Be a better world than everybody living in their their best version of themselves, doing what they do, what lights them up?
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Yes, and Bo, we’re going to come back in a minute and few seconds, and we’re going to talk about your radio show. We mentioned that, so I want to highlight that right after this brief message,
Announcer
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Bill Lampton Ph.D.
we’re back with Bo Henderson on the biz communication show. I mentioned just before that short break that we want Bo to tell us about his radio show. Bo, what prompted you to get started in radio? How long have you done it? What are you accomplishing by it? And how can we access it?
Speaker 1
The original, there’s been variations, and like you mentioned earlier, Bill, for a long period of time here locally, we co host and got to work together on the show around 2010 I was talking to a salesperson, asking about doing advertising on a local radio station here, right? And I had heard of some guys in financial planning having a radio show. Didn’t really know anything about it, so 2010 was that 14 years ago, right? And I just brought up, I said, Hey, you have any kind of a spot, a program, to where I have an idea about this? This talking about financial planning. Yes, we can get into the rules of the Roth IRA contribution limits, or the stuff everybody talks about. But also want to talk about a bigger picture of that, that living a good life, that definition of a rich life. So I kind of pitched the concept back in 2010 and at the time they said, No, we don’t really do really do that kind of thing. We don’t do extra shows. And a couple weeks later, I have, I had a call, and they said, Well, something shifted, some show left. Do you want to do the show? And I was thrown into it. I came in to look at the studio, and I said, Well, what? When are we going to start doing the show? And they said, well, 20 minutes. So my first show, I just basically walked into the studio and scared to death of, how in the world am I going to talk about something, anything, for an hour?
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
We can talk. We can call that spontaneous, can’t we? Right? So I have that, I
Speaker 1
have that somewhere which, which I have to dig that up because it’s, it’s very funny. And now, especially when the two of us get together, we could talk for four hours straight, right, because time and but that was the start of the rich life show. And over time, I realized to align it with our work. As we were growing the retirement planning firm, I really got focused on the specific transitions and the specific goals of people going from their working life and into retirement. So now the show is rich life retirement, and you can find it on in Atlanta and locally here in Gainesville, Georgia, and rich life advisors.com you can access the podcast on all your your iTunes, Spotify all that. And really a lot of the things we’re talking about is it’s part living well, we get into some stuff about traveling better, traveling more, traveling like a millionaire, even when you don’t have a million dollars, some of the things people care about. Then we’re also talking about dynamic distribution for tax efficiency, right? But I can’t talk about that all the time because that would, that would bore me. So, so we kind of blended in. What’s important to you, what’s exciting, what’s fun, but what do you need to know the rules that apply to you in your household that’s going to help you navigate this life in a way that you’re successful or get the results you’re looking
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
for? Well, of course, I had the privilege of sitting beside you on the mic for quite a number of years, and I saw the impact that you were having educating not only this community, but listeners elsewhere as well. Beau, have time for just one more question. Sure that is many, many couples, many, many families are so reluctant to discuss their financial situation. How do you get them through that? And I know you hold all these seminars. Do you have? Do you have couples attending? Do you have just one spouse or how is it you get. Families to really discuss their financial future.
Speaker 1
There’s a blend a more generalized, like, if we’re talking about how to get the most out of your Social Security or tax planning strategy or retirement, I’ll get a blend of individuals and couples coming coming into those we will do specifically, like a vision and values exercise specifically for couples sometimes. And of course, that’s going to attract couples. But it comes back to this whole idea is money is important, and especially when we get a retirement we’re talking about our life savings and the rest of our life and our family, our beneficiaries and all of that. So we need to just start having conversations, because sometimes, because our parents didn’t talk about it. We haven’t talked about it. It’s just something that’s a new a new muscle we’ve got to build. But we can realize this is important for me and the people I care about the most. And what we do a lot of times at rich life advisors, we just create the space to help facilitate those conversations. Because some people are like, Well, where do we start? What’s the order of things we should talk through right? And when we have conversations, and they can start with, what are the concerns you have, what are the priorities? And just opening it up to where it’s okay to talk about money, it’s okay to talk about fears and concerns, and a lot of times, once that conversation starts, there’s a lot of relief, because then we can start getting certainty. Okay, here’s the idea of retiring at 65 that you have that’s really not viable, but we can make it happen at 66 even though that might not be what you initially thought you’d want to do. The clarity around building a plan to something that will work is very helpful, and also a lot of times real quick, I’d like to talk about something that’s very important when you’re talking about couples, Bill, what happens when a spouse dies again? We’re busy. We’re going through life with careers, kids, grandkids, all the things we talked about, and often just like I got into this business when my dad passed away at 49 years old, my parents hadn’t had all the planning and discussion that ideally would have happened, right and get around to it. And I can tell you this when I talk to most couples, and this is completely normal. It’s not bad or wrong, it’s just, it’s just what it’s normal, right? Now, I most couples 90% plus when I ask, what is your plan for when one of you dies, because there’s 100% certainty we’ll die, right? So what’s your plan for one of you dies? It’s just like, uh, we haven’t got around to it yet, right? So the problem with that is we need to have awareness on a couple little things, and then we can move on. Is when one of you dies, the surviving spouse is going to be typically less with left with around a third less income, on average across the board. The second thing that happens is there’s almost a penalty, a widow penalty, you’ll hear a survival a survival penalty is your tax burden goes up so you lose a chunk of income. Your tax burden goes up because you drop from the most favorable tax bracket to the least, and your standard deduction just got cut, right? So if we haven’t thought through that and left that person with a plan, what I’m left dealing with, that I know people didn’t intend to do is getting a call from that surviving spouse one day, they just lost their person. They’re scared. They’re vulnerable, and now we have less options to solve this thing with, whereas a few conversations like we’re talking about proactively ahead of time to say, Okay, what is our plan for when one of us dies? Because it’s inevitable, Bill, it’s going to happen one day. We can prevent a lot of that from happening. So that’s just one of those things for couples especially, get on this. And another thing that happens a lot of times. There’s one point person that handles the finances and also having those conversation facilitates that other person, at least, has a good idea of what’s going on and where things are.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
It shouldn’t be, I’ve got a secret, right, right? And because
Speaker 1
basically it’s like, Okay, now that, now that I’m gone, I’m leaving you to figure it out and find everything you know that’s not. Most people don’t intend to leave their their person in that position. They just don’t get around to it. Two
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
factors to mention quickly. One is that many people don’t take into account the vast difference now of life longevity. 40 years ago, if somebody was doing financial planning, they might have been thinking about death at age 70. Well, you and I know people in their late 90s. I know quite a few. So if your planning was only for your mid to late 60s or your early 70s, you’ve got another 20 or 25 years to think about. And then the other factor, which we’ll have to close with, how Bo Does, does a parent you have a daughter? Right? How does a pair? How and when does a parent start teaching a child financial responsibility without being overbearing about it?
Speaker 1
Well, I believe it’s the same thing. A lot of times it doesn’t happen because we didn’t have that from our parents or their parent. You know, it kind of cycles. I. I think it’s huge if you can find age appropriate ways to teach your kids money lessons, right? It’s like with Gwendolyn. She has a little debit card at United Community Bank here in town, and I have her do a do a checklist of you do your chores, and we can go to town, and you can use that instead of just expecting dad to buy everything you want, right? You can do so when they’re a little older, you can start teaching a little more about investing, about about separating into savings, investing and and money you spend. So I think it’s finding age appropriate ways. And there’s some resources, and there’s some books out there, and it’s a book I would like to one day, and it’s on on the long term plan to to facilitate and make available to the public. And I actually would love to the vision, as I’d love to have in our school systems, is that just look for those resources, and sometimes the resources, I think could be utilized to be a really nice thing for parents and kids to do together, as far as just an activity of, hey, what would be better than me looking back one day and remembering dad on those Saturday afternoons, taking me through this thing that’s helped me avoid so many pitfalls I’ve seen some of my colleagues go through because he took the time, or she took the time to do that. So I think it’s just like we talked about with the couples having conversations is no one of the best things you can do is not necessarily leave your kids millions of dollars one day, is to give them the skills so that if they had millions of dollars, or earn millions of dollars, they could keep it and grow it
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
so well said, I think I think back to my childhood. There was nothing very sophisticated, but many of the kids in my small town had piggy banks. You would save quarters, dimes, nickels, and after a while, you You saw how that added up. You learned the value of saving. And even something that simple is better than nothing, isn’t it?
Speaker 1
Right? When you start learning, and I think sometimes, as a parent, it’s a little extra effort to teach a lesson or to teach a principle. But again, when we talk about legacy planning, a lot of times you’re thinking about, what am I leaving in my wills, power, you know, my trust and all those things. I think if we really looked at it and spent another this would be another show, Dr Bill, but if we went through assets that we can leave to our kids, it’s actually the things we can teach them. I think that’s going to be more valuable and serve them more than the money without context. So Right? It’s again, it’s important. It’s like most people want to do things for their kids, leave their kids in better positions. And one of those is just, Hey, maybe I can intentionally take that time, 30 minutes a week, one hour a month, and us have this meeting where we talk about these skills and these principles, and if I don’t know them, I can look for resources and find resources that help me learn, because there’s nothing better. That’s what I do all the time. I’m constantly teaching and sharing, because I’m constantly learning, and how I learn it and ingrain things is I learn it in a way I can distill it to teach it. So it’s a great way to interact and bond and grow and create memories, creating memories, experiences, relationships, all that rich life stuff we’re talking about. It’s a great tool.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Bo, as we close, there’s one item I think we did not mention and that’s where you’re based, the same place I am, Gainesville, Georgia, just north of Atlanta. I think people need to know where you are. That’s right. That’s
Speaker 1
what you find us in Gainesville, Georgia. We do have some presence, a satellite office in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and for most people, easiest way to find out more about what we do already ours. Rich life advisors.com which is our website,
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
yes, though, thank you for that. I I appreciate that that’s your contact information. Rich life advisors.com is that your website? Is that right? That’s it. Okay. Thank you. And now that you have given your contact information. I’m delighted to give mine my YouTube channel where this video and over 500 others appear. My YouTube channel is Bill Lampton, PhD, and I encourage you to go there and subscribe so that you you can have access to great information, such as Bo Henderson, other fantastic guests are providing my website. Since I’m the biz communication guy, quite logically, my website is biz communication guy.com and when you’re on there, notice that there’s a way to subscribe to the podcast. I hope you will do that so that you’ll have multiple opportunities to listen to these fabulous guests who do bring wonderful business communication tips and strategies and one of the one of the reasons I produced. 30 minute podcast is because that’s ideal for traveling and listening. When I used to first started listening to podcasts as a road warrior, one of the items I noticed was I didn’t want to listen to one five to seven minutes long, because I have to stop and get another one. So that’s why these are half hour and they’re they’re very valuable with all the information we get as well. I welcome phone calls to discuss your communication needs and challenges and how I can assist you with them. My number, 678-316-4300,
Bo, I would like to bring this to a close by saying to you, first of all, you have you have been a remarkable resource and guide for many people, getting us through all the financial jargon and helping us overcome our reluctance to even explore finances and face the future. Secondly, it’s been terrific for all these years to partner with you in a variety of ways, and thank you so much for being a guest on the biz communication show and bringing it to a close, you’ve given us some wonderful pointers. How about in 30 seconds, pulling it together for us? Yeah,
Speaker 1
I think the if I could tie it up in a bow, I would say a couple of pieces of advice. Say yes more often. When we try more things, do more things, have more experiences. Good things happen. We learn things and we have things to share and talk about. Say yes, more often. It’s something this year is come up for me a lot. The other thing is just clarity. Is we’re so busy in the current lives we live that step back. Take some time think through, get clarity, and as it pertains to your life and your financial plan, so many people I know could be living more of the life that would really make them happy, fulfilled and be meaningful to them if they had that clarity, get the clarity, and then you have the context to create a financial strategy that’s going to move you toward what you ultimately want. And I’m just going to summarize it. It’s going to, if you, if you need some clues, it’s going to revolve around those three core things. What are some things I can do intentionally to spend more time with the people I care about the most? What can I do to improve my health so that I can enjoy my life as long as possible? And what are memories and experiences that I can intentionally schedule and create. And you start there, and you work, and you build that ideal definition of a rich life for you, and then you have the goal to pull towards and to build a financial plan for so that’s my advice. Little bit of a mind shift from how the industry does things. Marvelous.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Conclusion, I’m so happy we have people of your caliber who can translate the what I call the financial jargon and give us the advice, the counsel and the support that we need. Thank you so much Bo Henderson, the rich life guy, for being our guest today, and thanks to those of you who joined us on YouTube and the podcast. I’m Bill Lampton, the biz communication guy. Look forward to hosting you again for the next biz communication show you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
