Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Kai Walker of Bank of America shares importance of starting early for retirement savings

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Kai Walker of Bank of America shares importance of starting early for retirement savings · Cyrus Webb's tracks

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  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your host,
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  Speaker 1: Cyrus Webb. Glad you all could join us once again
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  Speaker 1: for a radio audience tuning in in Mississippi, WYED 94.1
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  Speaker 1: FM and WYEDonline.com. We're glad that you all can be
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  Speaker 1: with us. Also, join us online worldwide via our podcast
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  Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio and Amazon Music, as well as through Conversations
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  Speaker 1: Radio Network. We're glad you all could be with us
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  Speaker 1: as well. But I don't have to tell you that
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  Speaker 1: for many, we're living in challenging economic times. And that
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  Speaker 1: means that a lot of people are concerned about cost
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  Speaker 1: of living and also the challenges when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: financial security. But there is a reason to be able
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  Speaker 1: to have hope, especially when it comes to our younger generation.
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  Speaker 1: A new generation of employees is changing how it approaches money,
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  Speaker 1: according to Bank of America's 2026 Workplace Benefits Report. Gen
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  Speaker 1: Z employees are starting to save for retirement at age 24,
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  Speaker 1: a full decade earlier than boomers. This gives us a
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  Speaker 1: lot of hope. And here to talk to us more
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  Speaker 1: about this and why it's so important for Gen Z
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  Speaker 1: to know about what they can know about saving, but
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  Speaker 1: also what employers can know, we're excited to welcome Kai
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  Speaker 1: Walker to our broadcast today. Kai is the Managing Director
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  Speaker 1: of Workplace Benefits Research and Inclusion Transformation at Bank of America. Kai,
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  Speaker 1: thank you again for stopping by. I really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, my pleasure, Cyrus. Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is exciting news. We take all the good
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  Speaker 1: news we can, Kai, these days. So I'm excited about
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  Speaker 1: this news, especially when it comes to Gen Z. So
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  Speaker 1: what's driving Gen Z to start saving for retirement earlier
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  Speaker 1: than previous generations?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's a few important things to recognize here.
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  Speaker 2: So one, Gen Z is the first generation to be
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  Speaker 2: born as digital natives. So they've always been connected online.
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  Speaker 2: And I think because of that, they have greater access
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  Speaker 2: at their fingertips compared to their boomer counterparts to things
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  Speaker 2: such as online tools and calculators, educational resources, including social media.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, 63% of Gen Z and millennials told us
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  Speaker 2: that they get much of their information on financial wellness
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  Speaker 2: topics through social media. And so I think having that
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  Speaker 2: type of access has made them more aware of these
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  Speaker 2: financial situations that they're encountering. I also believe that they're
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  Speaker 2: also becoming more financially resilient, kind of looking at the
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  Speaker 2: generations that preceded them and understanding that they're going to
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  Speaker 2: be more self-reliant. And therefore, they're taking action steps to
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  Speaker 2: improve their financial situation. It might be through the means
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  Speaker 2: of lowering their debt. It might be through saving more.
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  Speaker 2: And certainly, it's through the workplace, looking at the benefits
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  Speaker 2: available to them and and trying to maximize those benefits
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  Speaker 2: as much as possible, including contributions to their retirement program.
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  Speaker 1: It's great information, Kai, and something for our audience to
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  Speaker 1: think about. So if they're not already doing this, or
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  Speaker 1: maybe if they have not really thought about it, what
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  Speaker 1: advice do you have for people looking to build their
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  Speaker 1: retirement savings today?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no matter your age, I would say it's never
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  Speaker 2: too late to get started. Even if it's starting with
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  Speaker 2: a small amount, that small amount can still grow over time.
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  Speaker 2: I would also say... Many people sometimes will do a
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  Speaker 2: set it and forget it. Let's say you're contributing to
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  Speaker 2: your employer's 401k plan. Maybe you're contributing at 2%. Well,
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  Speaker 2: evaluate that 2% each and every year. Maybe you can
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  Speaker 2: stretch it to 3% or 4% as you get raises.
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  Speaker 2: The other thing to be cognizant of is many employers
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  Speaker 2: will actually offer a matching contribution. So let's say your
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  Speaker 2: employer will match 6%. You're only contributing 4. Well, you're
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  Speaker 2: leaving 2% of free money on the table. So make
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  Speaker 2: sure you're researching that, evaluating it, and trying to maximize
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  Speaker 2: the contributions that your employer would make on your behalf.
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  Speaker 2: And again, it's never too late to get started. Start small.
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  Speaker 2: Build those savings over time. Also think about, as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: in terms of economic uncertain times, think about your ability
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  Speaker 2: to generate emergency savings as your backup plan to the
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  Speaker 2: extent that you might need to tap into that. So
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  Speaker 2: that would be just a handful of things I would mention.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned a couple of times about the workplace benefits.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think a lot of times people think about that,
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  Speaker 1: what benefits their workplace may offer. What should younger employees
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  Speaker 1: in particular know about annual enrollment and why it's important
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  Speaker 1: to take advantage of those workplace benefits that may be
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  Speaker 1: available to them?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. In fact, as we sit here today, for many companies,
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  Speaker 2: this is the season for open enrollment. I think it's
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  Speaker 2: always a good time to kind of evaluate not only
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  Speaker 2: where you stand in terms of the goals and accomplishments
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  Speaker 2: you want to achieve financially or otherwise, but it's also
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  Speaker 2: a great time to just assess what are the benefits
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  Speaker 2: that are available to you, make sure you're taking advantage
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  Speaker 2: of them to the maximum extent possible, and that you
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  Speaker 2: have just a good awareness and understanding of what those
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  Speaker 2: benefits are. So, for example, many employers offer something called
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  Speaker 2: the Health Savings Account, or HSA, It's a way for
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  Speaker 2: you to save almost like a 401k plan, but for
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  Speaker 2: healthcare needs. And so if you're contributing to an HSA,
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  Speaker 2: monies go in tax-free, they grow tax-free. And when you
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  Speaker 2: withdraw them for purposes of healthcare, they come out tax-free.
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  Speaker 2: So we call that triple tax advantage. Many employers are
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  Speaker 2: offering those. I think as an employee going through open enrollment,
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  Speaker 2: It's a great time to understand, is this a fit
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  Speaker 2: for me, and how can I take advantage of it?
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  Speaker 1: Now, we've been talking about employees, Kai, but we definitely
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  Speaker 1: want to talk about employers as well, because as we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about workplace benefits, that's part of the educational part
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  Speaker 1: I think employers need to be involved in. So what
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  Speaker 1: can employers do to help younger employees in particular get
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  Speaker 1: the most out of their benefits? Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So I think there's a couple of things. First is
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  Speaker 2: around communication. So we're talking about open enrollment. I would
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  Speaker 2: say based upon our research, that's probably the one time
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  Speaker 2: a year that most employers are actually communicating their benefits.
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  Speaker 2: But I think to the extent they can communicate multiple
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  Speaker 2: times a year and create sort of that awareness and
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  Speaker 2: keep benefits front and center for their employees, they're going
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  Speaker 2: to realize that they're creating greater engagement and utilization of
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  Speaker 2: those benefits within their employee population. I think, secondly, we
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  Speaker 2: were talking about employer matching contributions earlier. Promote that benefit
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  Speaker 2: to employees and make sure that they're achieving their financial
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  Speaker 2: wellness through their 401k plan around maximizing those contributions and
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  Speaker 2: taking advantage, full advantage, of that employer matching contribution. And again,
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  Speaker 2: I'll go back to communicate often. Again, through our research,
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  Speaker 2: Most employers are communicating once a year. That's probably not
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  Speaker 2: nearly enough to create that awareness and understanding and appreciation
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  Speaker 2: of those benefits. And I think by doing so more often,
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  Speaker 2: you're going to create not only greater engagement, but a
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  Speaker 2: greater satisfied employee base.
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  Speaker 1: Really important information, and Kai, we're glad to have you
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  Speaker 1: here break down not only information about this report by
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  Speaker 1: Bank of America, but also what our audience should know
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  Speaker 1: no matter what age they are about the importance of
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  Speaker 1: recognizing the benefits available for them Again, everyone, Kai Walker
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  Speaker 1: has been our guest, the Managing Director of Workplace Benefits
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  Speaker 1: Research and Inclusion Transformation at Bank of America, helping us
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  Speaker 1: to better understand the importance of being able to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that we are taking care of ourselves, making sure
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  Speaker 1: we're thinking about the future, especially when it comes to retirement. Kai,
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  Speaker 1: where can our audience go for more information?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly I would say be sure to reach out
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  Speaker 2: to your HR department. Again, lots of tools and resources
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  Speaker 2: that they're making available to you. Beyond that, we also
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  Speaker 2: offer a free resource, which we call BetterMoneyHabits.com. You can
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  Speaker 2: actually go to BetterMoneyHabits.com. It will help you from everything
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  Speaker 2: from how do I get started with creating a savings
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  Speaker 2: account and basic budgeting all the way through how do
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  Speaker 2: I begin thinking about saving towards retirement, investing those assets
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  Speaker 2: for retirement, and even beyond. And so BetterMoneyHabits.com, free resource
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  Speaker 2: from Bank of America that will help you in your
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  Speaker 2: financial journey.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll make sure to link that up as well
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  Speaker 1: for our podcast audience. Kai, thank you again for stopping by.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate the great information and looking forward to
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  Speaker 1: having you back on the program again.
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  Speaker 2: Sounds good. Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: You're more than welcome. And we thank your audience for
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  Speaker 1: tuning in to another great segment of Conversations Live. Until
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  Speaker 1: next time, I'm your host, Cyrus Webster. As always, enjoy
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  Speaker 1: your day, enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for being with us here at Conversations Live. Now let's
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  Speaker 1: go make today amazing. Take care.