Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Ep. 13 Unlocking Tax Dollars for Wellness

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Ep. 13 Unlocking Tax Dollars for Wellness · Glovisor Podcast

• JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: What if I told you that every single year you can legally redirect tax dollars back into your business while improving employee health? Today's guest is an ethically driven entrepreneur with a deep foundation built from a decade of hands-on experience inside a Fortune 50 company, where he mastered the inner workings of high level business operations. Since then, he's gone on to build, own, and partner across multiple ventures, wearing the hats of sales leader, marketing strategist, financial operator, and dealmaker, forming a strategic partnership with major organizations along the way. Now helping businesses unlock something most owners don't even realize is possible, turning tax dollars into a corporate wellness strategy. Glovisor welcomes ⁓ Hallums. Nate Hallums: Good morning, Joe. Thanks so much for having me. It's good to be with you. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: It's a pleasure having you. So let's start, Nate, with ⁓ your journey. This is pretty exciting. How do get to where we today? What did working in a Fortune 50 company teach you ⁓ that most entrepreneurs ⁓ never get to see? Nate Hallums: Well, you know, when you work with, essentially it's an institution, right? its culture, all the things that come along that. And so I learned a lot about ⁓ just corporate structure, all the principles of dealing business to business, including etiquette. know, when you're ⁓ a pretty young person, ⁓ walking into a boardroom or ⁓ a CEO's office, learn the etiquette pretty quickly. And was fortunate also to have some great mentors along the way that helped guide me ⁓ and me out of the quicksands so that I was able to continue to move forward and up. But I would say, you know, that was essentially kind of an on the job ⁓ MBA. ⁓ And ⁓ really the opportunity, the responsibility. just the learning experience that I was able to have. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: at what point did you realize that you wanted to step out of that and build something of your own? Nate Hallums: Well, the corporate walls, ⁓ an organization that big, start ⁓ there's a number of paths but the walls for me started to close in a little bit. so where I entrepreneurial ideas, Again, I had great mentors. They allowed me to pursue things I wouldn't otherwise have been able to. But I wanted to try some things on my own. I saw where we were able to help. I'll just say it was IBM I was working for, so I was in sales I saw opportunities to help small businesses and I there might be some other things that I might be able to do. Thinking a little bit beyond what my skills were at the time, ⁓ but ⁓ presented opportunities for me. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: I feel like it's like that Hulk moment, right? Where the entrepreneur is coming out of you, you know, ready to move on to the next stage of your life. you wore multiple hats, ⁓ sales, marketing. Nate Hallums: Yeah, no, you're right. yeah, sales marketing, a little touch of management. when I did have that little touch of management, that's when I understood I needed to take a little bit of a different path that I really wasn't ⁓ going to completely invested for another 10 to 20 years in that corporate I wanted to try to do something on my own and have a little bit more of a direct impact. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: But you don't say that really must have been a great experience for you. Most business owners feel that taxes are just unavoidable. What are they missing? Nate Hallums: Well, there are always opportunities within the tax code to do something a little bit different. And one of the things that ⁓ I've landed on and really embraced and almost have become evangelical about it ⁓ because of ⁓ ⁓ and status ⁓ our health system. in this country. This really provides a greatly needed solution the government is basically saying if you'll invest in that solution you don't have to send that money to us and this started for the country you know maybe 20 years ago. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Wow, so 20 years this has been around and feel that most us have never heard anything about it. So where do you see companies unintentionally leaving money on the table? Nate Hallums: Well, like I say, there are a number of different opportunities and people, business owners probably get called all the time to hear about how they're going to be audited and will provide savings through an audit process of your performance and your procedures. This is a very, very straightforward process where the government has basically said, we understand there's a huge gap between ⁓ providing medical care or medical to insurance and actually getting care through that process. And people can think about their own situation right now. If they're working for a company and they've got a two, three, four, I've even seen $7,000 deductible ⁓ on health insurance plan, how do I even access that? Well, there's a path and the government's provided it. It's just becoming now a wider told story. particular structure was used ⁓ small businesses as much as 10 or 15 years ago. ⁓ ⁓ you're redirecting FICA taxes and those are, you know, payroll taxes. I remember I'm getting my first paycheck. It's like, who's this FICA guy and why has he taken half my money? So. if the business owner understands that they can redirect some of those dollars have it benefit the employee. And that's a lot of times that's the first and primary ⁓ for ⁓ to consider this. But there's a huge financial component as well that they don't want to miss. And that is the tax savings create not only this opportunity for the employee, but also for the employer, since the employer pays the other half of FICA. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Absolutely. What do you think that corporate wellness has traditionally been viewed as an expense instead of an investment? Nate Hallums: Well, it's, you know, like I say, so 20 years ago, we were in a situation, maybe not quite that long, 15 years ago, we were realizing that the workforce was not getting the care that it needed. And so was this big push to preventative medicine. What kinds of things can I provide my employees that would allow them to do things on their own, select their own process and their own resources, but I'll provide them the assets. I'll provide them somehow ⁓ the ability to pursue ⁓ they consider their own wellness. And so that morphed into a lot of different things. ⁓ got yoga plans and gym memberships and how many steps did you do today? And I'll give you a Fitbit watch and all these different things them know that I'm about them. But it has been an expense. I had to write a check for that as a business owner. ⁓ And so as good as my intentions were, wasn't necessarily optimal solution. And because I was a check, There was also some limitation on the resources that I was providing my employees. A lot of the research had to be done by them. We gave them access to portals and different ways to find the resources, but we didn't necessarily deliver those resources. But it became a check the box thing. If I'm a big organization, if I'm 1,000 employees or more, and I don't have a wellness plan, I'm not competitive in the marketplace. No matter how it hits the desk of the employee, I just need to be able to offer that when I'm sitting across from you and you're interviewing. Do you have wellness? What kind of benefits do I get? And so the answer had to be yes in some version or another. this takes it to the next level. And it's not only, yes, I have that for the employee, but I even have a benefit, financial benefit, and a number of other things that happened for the employer. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Sure. break this down for us. How does a company ⁓ redirect the tax ⁓ into employee wellness? Nate Hallums: ⁓ there's a structure. It's a SIMERP, so it's kind of a mouthful, ⁓ but it's a medical reimbursement program. ⁓ And like I it's around for about 15 years. It's taken on a couple different forms along the way. And I one of the things that ⁓ kind of pushed it more to the forefront and accelerated the adoption of it was not only the education and learning more about it could do for the business owner and even the employee, but a lot of times those decisions are being driven by the business owner. And I write a check or do I receive a benefit? Those trade-offs were starting to be made. But with COVID, a lot of bad things came out of COVID. But one of the good things that came out of COVID was the... ability to do what we're doing right now, to be able to work virtually, be able to meet with people that we want to meet with, decision makers. And so ⁓ everyone a lot more versed in being to communicate remotely and it became acceptable. Well, a lot of the care that can be provided can be virtual care. It can be just as productive, just as beneficial to the employee, but it's delivered on a virtual basis. And so telehealth programs started to come about and ⁓ a number of things that you could get on a remote basis. Again, not necessarily delivered in the way that would be, that we feel is important. And that's kind of a concierge style of of the benefits. And to answer your question about the compliance side, I'll call it. That is ⁓ we are belts suspenders in of clients, ⁓ taking all of the different components that are part of ⁓ whole structure. And we make sure we stress test those all along the way. And we've got lawyers and accountants and all the different things that you'd want to have to make sure all that stuff is in place. And so the employer really just has to think about what are the benefits to I want to do this sort of a program. So I can essentially redirect the FICA taxes that I'm paying for you, my employee. I love you, you're doing a great job. I want to reward you. It'd be nice because things are kind of tight for me as a business owner, particularly if I've got 100, 200 people working for me. I want to do the best thing I can at each individual desk of the people that are out there working. So I'm able to create, this program, use the structure that's in the and create a kind of like a 401k is. It's actually under the same umbrella. of being able to take the deduction of a 401k and I won't get the parlance of the but people have heard of cafeteria plans as an example. So this would be an element of a cafeteria plan and it'd be a line item that would make it deductible. And I think just like ⁓ with 401k, so the 401k, you're probably too young for this Joe, but back in the 70s, the 401k a brand new vehicle. And when people were, when it was being introduced into the marketplace, we were moving out of a pension world and was becoming unsustainable, just like our medical insurance is becoming ⁓ unsustainable terms of delivering what we want it to deliver. In that case of the pensions, the companies numbered of that ⁓ the world was beginning to crumble. And so we moved into a self-directed retirement. and we provided an incentive with a tax deduction for that contribution to my own retirement. So I'm taking the burden off of the company, maybe even off the government and putting it more on I need to take action to do that. In this case, the business owner needs to take action to do that, but it works in a similar way. So that becomes a deductible line item. That deduction creates tax savings. And those tax savings for the employee are able to be spent on our wellness plan. While the other half of those tax savings, the employer benefits from because pays half of ⁓ So there's a small ⁓ fee that the employer pays, but ⁓ rest of the money just drops to the bottom line and they can use it however they want. They can expand their employee base. They provide more benefits. ⁓ They could provide a lower deductible. There's any number of different things. There's no requirement as to what it is that they do with those savings. But the bottom line is they drop to the bottom line. And that averages about $650 a year per employee just on the FICA savings. But there's a number of other areas that you can save money as well. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Now, looking at that, are there minimums and maximums per employee? Nate Hallums: Oh yeah, good question. It's actually kind of a standard deduction for each employee, but for it to work, the employee has to be making a certain amount of money to get that standard deduction. And so it's not onerous. It's about $27,000 a year. So that's roughly $20 to $25 an hour, depending on how many hours that employee is working. They've got to be a full-time employee. And there has to be a existing medical plan in place. could be a giant one like Aetna or Cigna or those folks, or it could be something you purchased from your local broker that they were able to cobble together for you that you were happy with. And the number of employees, the absolute minimum 10. And there's a number of different reasons for that. ⁓ We'd love to just two or one, but we've got to have 10 just for kind of the economies of scale. And that's a pretty accessible number for most small businesses. And there's no cap on the top. We're right now and we're enrolling our seventh state, 56,000 employees. That's gonna take a while to roll out, but there's no cap on the top in our ability to scale up and ⁓ serve large body of employees. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Sounds great, Is there a max of a deduction a business can take? Nate Hallums: Well, it's really just kind of driven by this FICA deduction. There is an allowance creates about $300 worth of savings. so it actually impacts each employee a little bit differently depending on where they are in the whole FICA structure. At some point, you stop paying part of FICA. And so if you're a more highly compensated person, ⁓ you'll receive less percentage-wise, less of the benefit of the plan. But we take all that information into account on a census. plans are available for the whole family. So if you're fortunate enough to work with a company that offers this sort of a plan, and you've got five or six kids, ⁓ ⁓ got other people, your spouse obviously, is to be able to take advantage of this. There's life insurance as one of the pieces of ⁓ a cash value permanent life insurance policy. And one of the unique pieces of that. Folks have been using life insurance for a long time to act not only as a protection for their income and their family, but also as an investment ⁓ vehicle. And so if you have a cash value that's building up, can become a significant component of your financial plan. So all of that can be contained within these tax benefits that are generated. ⁓ And the they pay for the plan. And then there's money left over that can either drop to their bottom line, to their personal bottom line as an employee and increase their paycheck, not by much, but 150 maybe dollars. Or they can redirect those dollars into things like this life insurance plan or a catastrophic care plan or cancer plan. And these are the life insurance component is guaranteed issue. And so and it's portable. So guaranteed issue means that no matter the only question we can ask is how old you are and do you smoke? Those are the only two questions that we can ask. So even if you've got a terminal disease, you can get this life insurance So all of that has to come as part of this group ⁓ offering ⁓ and non-discrimination and all the different things that ⁓ come with the structure so that we can be compliant. So when I leave the company or I retire, if I've done this life insurance policy, I've had this paycheck by paycheck build up. I've had the additional protection for my family. And now I have an additional financial asset that I can walk out the door with and the company can't hold it. Most plans, even part of a wellness plan, but most companies, if they offer life insurance, it's a group plan. ⁓ ⁓ you leave, you're longer part of the group. And so goes away and now five or 10 or 15, 20 years older, you've got more issues. And if you go out to the commercial marketplace, that same level of insurance is going to cost a whole lot more coming out of your pocket for your particular health profile that you are that much older and whatever else has happened to you along the way. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Sure. So it sounds like it's a win not only for the employer, but for the employee as well. What changes have you seen in companies that implement this strategy, culture, retention, productivity? Nate Hallums: Yeah, great question, it's an easy discussion to have on the side. But when you ⁓ start talking about the impact of lives ⁓ at that employee's people, I mean, they would tell you there are employees who would say this program has saved my life because we offer the ozempic type GLP-1 ⁓ drugs at 10, 20 % of what is available in the marketplace out there. In fact, that's all part of a larger pharmacy offering that is part of this package. Pharmacy, dental, and vision are all part of the package. And we've had companies move just because we offer those three things all within this same single container. But on the health side, people that have lost 100 pounds, 150 pounds, that are no longer diabetic, They're no longer having cholesterol issues. ⁓ They're off half the medication that they were on that had all these other side effects that they didn't want to have. So that has been a huge, huge boon to the folks that are participating in this. And because we offer what I call a concierge style of service, you can actually use us as your primary care doctor. So we want you to be first call no matter what doctor you're going to use. We want you to call us first and we will learn everything we can about your particular plan that you don't even know. So who's in network, who's out of network. So the Cigna, the Aetna, the Anthem, whatever plan that you've got and you're trying to navigate, we'll take some of that navigation off plate and we will help deliver that care coming from that network to you. And it does a number of different things. so many and benefits of this. But ⁓ if think about it, every time I call, even telehealth, so I have some people, the pushback is, well, we already have telehealth. Well, in reality, it's not the vehicle and the way it's being delivered, it's how it's being delivered. So in our case, we can actually be a primary care doctor for you. You can have the same person. and have access to them in probably a quarter to a third of the time that you would normally have to wait to get into your doctor that you use today. what you decrease in terms of the impact on the company is their with touching the So if I use my normal telehealth or I go see my doctor, that's an impact that is part of the of how much your health insurance is going to go up next year. So you call us, there's no impact. That's not called an experiential rating. There's no impact there. You're able to talk to a 10 year plus board certified real doctor, same person each time if you want to talk to them so you're not getting the typical telehealth sort of level of response. And then that doctor. will give you the proper referral. So if you think about just a, so I had a knee issue. can ⁓ my doctor, wait my two or three weeks to see my doctor because it wasn't just a physical or regular maintenance visit, maybe even longer. I get to that doctor, I pay my copay. I'm only going there because I have a knee problem. He doesn't do knees, he's a regular internist. So he refers me to the ⁓ specialist. who then refers me to the technician to do the analysis to come back to him to get the treatment. So all of those are copays. So if you just think about it as an individual employee in a plan, and I can cut out 12 copays during the year because I get a direct referral, then now you tell me what your copay is, 30, 40, $50 a visit. And so now I've saved personally, above and beyond the plan, anything else that's happening, I have personally saved three, four, $500. And there are so many examples of that kind of delivery as we go along here. So the ideal delivery is with this kind of a concierge style, full service. ⁓ emergency service. have urgent care as well as being able to talk to your regular doctor if you want to choose us as your regular doctor besides all of the other benefits of the system. But we can help minimize the impact and therefore the cost of utilizing your existing major medical insurance. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: do you have a or an example of a business that had a major transformation by instituting your program? Nate Hallums: as I think about the cultural impact, part of it is I have the stress. is kind ⁓ of the secret killer of virtually everyone who doesn't ⁓ address it. the two pieces that have had the most popularity are I mentioned the GLP-1 side and the weight loss. Not only do you get access to the medication, but you get a coach, you get a nutritionist, a dietitian, someone who's going to help you with exercise, planning. All of those things are ⁓ all of that package. So it's a true health experience, wellness experience in going through that process. ⁓ and addressing a significant major medical need in your life. The other piece that we don't deal with as often it's just not, one there's a little bit of a stigma, less and ⁓ as time on here, but it's the mental health side. And we have 14,000 health counselors available to you. And again, you can ⁓ have the same one time or you can just take whoever comes first. So I'll give you an example of an impact of a local business here in Cincinnati. It's an HVAC company, well established, well followed, great reputation. And started to talk to ⁓ some in the ownership about this program. And they weren't opposed to the quarter of a million dollars a year that they were going to receive, but it wasn't really moving the needle for them. They were focused on some other things. Well, the owner is a veteran and the owner said, you know, probably 70 % of my tax are, but he makes it a point to try to hire veterans. So 70 % of his tax are Iraq, Afghanistan era veterans. And for him, he said, you know, if I can have my guys pull their truck over to the side of the road and make a phone call, And whether it's an audio call or a video call, they're able to talk to somebody just soften the blow, round out their day, lessen the stress, deal with a particular issue that's heightened for them at that particular moment. Then that becomes a huge, huge boon for him as a business owner because he's able to provide what in his case, and he understands it better than most, a real benefit. for somebody who needs it right now. that has been probably, those are the two areas that are probably the most impacting and present, present in terms of the benefits ⁓ for employees. other stuff like I'm still at my desk, I'm able to talk to my doctor while I'm at my desk, I don't have to leave. or my child needs care, I don't have to leave the office to go pick up my child to then go to the doctor. So I lost a day or half a day, the employee as well as the employer lost that day. And one way or another, I might have to take PTO. So it cost me double to have to go do those sort of things. So the convenience of it all, the level of service and We've just taken what has been acceptable in the industry taken it several notches up in terms of the quality of the care, the professionalism that you receive, the services that we provide to just that whole portal into your health and being able to provide deliverable solutions kind of on demand, retention is higher. ⁓ Just because a lot of my stress, the friction of the workplace related to managing my family or my health has also been reduced significantly. And then when I'm able to sit down with somebody that I'm trying to hire, I have real benefits that I can offer. It's not a check the box wellness plan. I've got an active, engaged, ⁓ delivered to your desk wellness plan. And so I can talk about that as an employer in a real sense. That can be a difference maker in somebody making a decision ⁓ where they want to go. And right now it's a big deal because ⁓ candidates in a lot of different industries are pretty rare right now. And they're ⁓ ⁓ bus, ⁓ the employer. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: I really like your example there, the veteran storyline, because really proves that there's tremendous value beyond just the money. And ⁓ key, that we can do the right thing and make money at the same time. ⁓ is the ideal company for this? ⁓ size, the structure, the mindset? Nate Hallums: Well, mindset's probably the most important thing. And that is that I don't necessarily want to, as a business owner, I want to provide real benefits to my employees. And for me to do that, I might need to think a little bit outside the box that I've normally worked in. And, you here's the list of things that I can choose from, and all I could do is choose a different color. In this case, I can ⁓ choose a different structure. that helps me and my employees simultaneously. Improves the value of my company, improves my own cash flow. I'm able to pour that back into my employees or hire new people. had situations where we've created enough, know, people, the company was doing. extremely well, but they needed to of ramp up their marketing and sales and they didn't have the capital to do it. Well, this became the capital to do that. So kind of a triple whammy in that situation for them to be able to grow their business. As I mentioned before, we need at least 10, I say 15, because two people won't accept it and another person won't qualify. And so we'd still need to have that 10. But if we start at 15, we're pretty safe on being able to get there. And an owner who is really trying to look for real benefits, proven benefits, and not necessarily to check the box. but to really deliver that to their employees. it's okay to be selfish as a business owner. That's kind of why you went into business, ⁓ to do some things for yourself, your family, and then maybe the community at large. So in this case, ⁓ able to pick up savings the tax savings. because of the way it works, you have to check with your accountant, but workers comp can also be reduced 20 to 30%. That can actually be more than the ⁓ savings. If you're self-insured, and a lot of the companies that are already offering these GLP-1s ⁓ and of the other programs that are out there, It's cheaper for them to actually write a check for that. They want to provide the benefit. So it's cheaper for them to write a check for that. that's being self-insured. I'm taking on that risk. I'm writing that check. And less for me to do that than for me to pay Aetna or for me to pay somebody else to provide that same benefit. So now if I have all those benefits coming from my wellness plan that I actually get paid to put in place, it's a double whammy. ⁓ I off the cost of that program that I was writing a check for and actually receive the cash flow from having installed the plan. So we've seen savings in the area of $2,500 to $3,000 a year per employee every year because they were able to kind of reorganize the way they delivered benefits, the kind of benefits that they were delivering. And then on top of all that, or maybe starting with the tax savings, we're able to pile these other things top. And why I say a thousand dollars a year, because ⁓ one or another, copays, the moving whole sets of benefits like dental, vision, and pharmacy into a plan that's paying me ends up creating additional savings above and beyond just the tax savings alone. So someone who's open, they have at least 15 employees. you have 50 employees, as you know, you have to have some sort of major medical plan. But if you're below 50, We've got an option for you as well. employee doesn't have the same option of being able to drop any money to their personal bottom line because they would have to use the balance of those funds to buy a, we still need to have the major medical plan in place. And so we can provide a low cost version of that that keeps us compliant, meets the needs, ⁓ basic needs, you're not going to get hospitalization and care. but it'll meet 90 % of what a major medical plan has. And then we lay our wellness on top of that. And so we're able to serve the under 50 market and then over 50. You have to have that other plan in place. We can still provide you some competitive looks on that piece, but the wellness plan slips right into that structure very, very well. And if you think about it, I work with business brokers, work with accountants, fractional executives, that's, know, fractional executive is probably serving a company that's 50 to 250, maybe 300 employees before they fill that position full time. So those folks are trying to have an immediate positive effect on their client, and they want to provide more added value than the next guy. And so for them, we're to, you think about it, I mean, just using round numbers, if I have a hundred employees and I have a hundred thousand dollars dropping to my bottom line each and every year, and I never needed to make an investment do that. And by the way, that cashflow starts month one. So we allow those savings to build up and then we build you after you already have that money in the bank and that will bill you ⁓ for the at that point. if you think about it like that, that now is worth four, five, $600,000 out in the marketplace. So if I'm thinking, concerned at all about my enterprise value, if I'm a broker trying to help someone sell their business, here's a tool for me to put in place that's going to increase my client's valuation. And then again, selfishly, I get a larger fee because they're worth more. ⁓ But even more so, I serve my client and 95 % of that increase in valuation drops to their bottom line on the exit strategy and their spouse will be very happy with you. it's such a great valuation enhancer, employee benefits enhancer. and just a true peace of mind delivery tool that allows people to know that they've got the care at their fingertips. They can call at two or three in the morning and get their kids issue taken care of. I down to we had a tick bite. I'm from California, so that's a new thing for me. We got on the phone, showed the tick bite. They said, yeah, that's a tick bite. And got the medication delivered to a pharmacy two blocks away. Otherwise, we'd have been waiting to go in. And all the damages of what a tick bite can possibly do if I'm going to get Lyme disease, by the time I get to my doctor, if I don't go to urgent care, I don't go to the emergency room, then I've already got all the issues of Lyme disease. If I do go to urgent care or I do go to the emergency room, then now I'm out 500 bucks for a tick bite. So, you know, it kind of works at both ends of the spectrum. You know, it can save my life because it helped me lose 150 pounds and I can save my knees and, you know, get off the insulin. Or I can deal with a tick bite that I don't have to go in for. you know, it's, and I feel like I've got more control. over my life. All of those things are big stress reducers. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Absolutely of all of it. But let's just say that I have a team of 15 people working for me. I'm not offering health insurance, but now I hear this episode and I said, you know, I have to talk to Nate. Would I be able to contact you you would be able to guide me as to ⁓ the health insurance to be able to input your program as well Nate Hallums: Mm-hmm. Right. Absolutely. And we can do it on a turnkey basis so that you're not having to look at 20 different proposals and do the different shopping. There's a lot brain damage in just making health insurance decisions. so what's interesting is the smaller the business, and I hope large business owners don't ⁓ take this the way, but the smaller the business, I mean, I know if I've got 15 people working for me, I know ⁓ you know what size shoe their teenage son wears. I mean, there's a lot of detail and personal contact. I'm going to soccer games with my employees. I'm connected with them on a personal basis more so than I might be if I've got 100 employees. so they really want to provide something for their employees. It's just so even if I have 50 employees, it's so darn expensive. ⁓ the real shame of the health insurance world ⁓ ⁓ and this is where we started, is access to that plan. So even if I've got this more scaled back plan as a below 50 employer, or I'm above that and I have to have a plan, it's my employees use it? Is it a real benefit to them? And ⁓ goes employers that have people. ⁓ My wife works a large employer here in town. And we've got to go through a $4,000 $5,000 deductible before we actually get into the insurance benefit, so to speak. So you have to put all these other trappings around it. Deductibles are getting raised every year. Average premium increase over the last couple of years has all been double digits, some as much as 20%, 25%. It's just becoming so onerous that even though I have it in place, it's unreachable. And so this makes healthcare more reachable, delivered directly to the family, to the home, to the desk. And don't have to worry about all the other pieces that are negative impacts to me because I've got immediate access to a high level, like I say, board certified set of doctors that I can tap into with a phone call. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Right. Well, if someone's listening to this episode right now and they're thinking, this sounds just too good to be true, what would you say to them? Nate Hallums: Yeah, it's it's and that's why I use the 401k analogy because people were saying exactly the same thing. the four yeah, this is to this is magic. It's deductible and I can save it. I don't have to pay taxes on each year. So this is it's just a new story. The code has been in place for over 10 years. ⁓ All pieces of it have been in place for over 10 years. But it was mostly being used by high net worth small businesses that had great who really dug into the code to find out what sort of benefits were available to their clients. And now because the market is really asking for something else ⁓ and there's so much pressure the healthcare system and health insurance programming and products that this has become much more of a mainstream ⁓ So you'll hear about this, you'll probably adopt it, you'll probably be part of it if you're part of a company. ⁓ At some point in time, just how much money will you ⁓ save or will you lose ⁓ you don't take advantage of it? And we're glad to answer. I've had calls with boards of directors. I've had calls with outside counsel, outside accountants, as well the C-suite where we, ⁓ you know, We'll bring in the right specialist to talk the language at the level that is needed. But we've got one of the largest law firms as a client. And so we went through their diligence. And if you don't think we were put through the wringer with those folks. And then like I say, we're on our seventh state. We've done hundreds of counties and cities and the attorneys and accountants for those entities. have to earn their keep, right? They have to figure out some way to either say no or figure out how to shoot holes into something. we've all the issues. So I understand new and risk often a function of information. And so there's absolute and then there's perceived risk. And a lot of times the perceived risk is a function of the information, the source of the information and how well I can understand how it applies to my situation. So we welcome outside advisors. We welcome any scrutiny the process, on the structure, on the delivery, on the longevity, all that stuff ⁓ thought about ⁓ and has been addressed ⁓ spades. And as I say, if you think about, ⁓ got NFL teams, New York Stock Exchange companies. on the plan. So a lot of legal and accounting fees have been spent on your behalf if you're just hearing about this paving the way for you. Do your own due diligence. We're glad to answer all questions, but ⁓ you can also rest a little bit assured to be able to ⁓ think who else has gone before you and if there were any errors to take, they've been taken and we've you made whatever adjustments need to happen. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: So the system has been tried, If you're a new business, you know that someone has already been through it and they can actually show you their experience level. ⁓ And you've already gone through the learning curve there. ⁓ But who should be reaching out to you right now? Nate Hallums: Well, definitely business owners that want to understand more about how to put more money in their pocket. I know it's a tight time for a lot of businesses and ⁓ they've had to navigate different body blows coming from ⁓ ways ⁓ the last year or so. So ⁓ here's a way to soften those body blows, ⁓ least understand. ⁓ suggestion is this, ⁓ about it in more detail. ⁓ do a, it's a very simple census, but we take a census of your employees and then we come back to you with a proposal and then you can see, know, are you going to save $10,000? You're going to save, what's the number? And you can ask all the questions that you want along the way. And there's no, you're not contracted, you're not obligated to stay with the program. I don't know if anyone has left. but there's no, you're bound for 10 years or anything like that. ⁓ So I would say examine it ⁓ in as much detail as you like, but get a proposal so that you understand what it is that you're, what the opportunity is and have a chance to answer all the questions that you have. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Excellent. And where can people connect with you? Nate Hallums: Well, probably the easiest thing to do is to reach out to me on LinkedIn. Most business owners are going to have some sort of a LinkedIn, maybe you would just go there directly. I could send you to my website, but that's not really going to get you if you want more information. Reach out to me, Nate Hollums, on LinkedIn. ⁓ And then we also ⁓ provide some other here ⁓ to your audience. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: we're going to have Nate's contact information and description of the video. let him know you came through so he knows that this was a great interview for him. Nate, thank you so much for your time and it was very informational. Nate Hallums: Absolutely, Joe. Thanks for the questions. we actually got some good information out there. ⁓ We should do this again and ⁓ even go into some more detail. some more kind case studies for you so you can see what sort of decision making processes ⁓ people went through. Let me just say this before we close. So my heart is ⁓ veteran serving organizations. My son is ⁓ an Iraq ⁓ era veteran ⁓ and nonprofits are where my heart is. Most of my business still comes from regular businesses because of my referral partners. nonprofits, particularly I'm getting an email from you or I'm getting a physical mailing from you, ⁓ then you're trying to do something for your year-end gala ⁓ and figuring out how to raise money. I've done plan giving, I've done charitable giving for universities. So I understand that world and the struggles that they're up against, particularly in this environment. So if that's you, then let's talk and let's increase your cash flow and let's do it in a way that you don't have to spend 20 or 30 grand to get people to your gala to buy dinner. Let's just start creating it day one. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: That sounds great. Excellent. I think we should do a whole episode just on that segment. Nate Hallums: Sure, absolutely. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: Great, well, Nate, thank you so much. Nate Hallums: I appreciate you Joe. Let's stay in touch and ⁓ me know what you need. We'll get it to you. JOE ABREU - GLOVISOR: will do. Till the next time.