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Understanding Annuities and the Characteristics of Successful Leaders · The Perfect RIA

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  Amber Kuhn: Hello, TPR Nation. This is Amber Kuhn. Thank you
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  for joining me on today's Follow up Friday, where I'll be
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  recapping this week's episode highlights in action items on
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  Monday, Matt was joined by Tracy Lownsberry from Annuity Giants.
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  Tracy shared that he's super niche annuity side, and he
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  focuses on making sure that agents and advisors are trained
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  the right way. Tracy pointed out that there are a lot of advisors
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  who are anti annuities, which he said could come from having a
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  bad experience. Also that 95, same with 95% of the people
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  selling them. So Tracy is working with consumers and
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  advisors in the space, which stems from him realizing that
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  there are so many foundational details that are missed that
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  advisors and agents just don't understand. So he started a
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  community and a training program, and he said that it's
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  addicting for him to be able to sit down with someone and watch
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  them really start to understand some examples that he shared
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  where people have this epiphany, are related carriers and
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  anything related to performance, he recommended starting to
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  second guess the worst and best case scenarios for your client.
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  He set the expectations that advisors and agents have are
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  clouded because they're trying to push sales through with both
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  Matt and Tracy saying that there's a lot of bad products
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  out there. It's important to understand how they work, and
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  you need to be aware of the options that are on the table.
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  As far as adding this as a part of your toolbox, Tracy said he
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  typically sees advisors who will partner with someone or he said
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  you can charge a flat fee and to make sure that you're talking
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  with your BD or following through with compliance. Matt
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  and Tracy brought up that it's important to find the best
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  solution for your client. You can't just not make a
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  recommendation for someone simply because they get a
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  commission, and that commission doesn't make you a bad person.
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  Someone is going to do the right or the wrong thing either way,
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  and that isn't dependent on how they get paid. Tracy said it's
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  important to set the right expectations with any product,
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  and that ignorance is an offense. And he believes
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  education is important to understand all the pros and cons
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  and tools available and ultimately provide options to a
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  client. Tracy said when you get to the point where you want to
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  have the annuities conversation, or that your clients want to he
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  recommends seeing the guarantees, and that if the
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  contractual guarantees are far from someone's expectation, then
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  that's a problem, and you really need to start asking questions.
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  If that performance element is the driving force behind the
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  product, then he said you should run let's get into action items.
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  Tracy recommended two books, Mindset by Dr Carol Dweck and
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  Positive Words, Powerful Results by Hal Urban, which we have
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  linked in Monday's show notes. And to learn more about Tracy,
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  you can connect with him on LinkedIn or visit him at the
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  annuitygiants.com where anyone can come and learn. On Thursday,
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  Jamie was talking about rising above challenges and the
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  difference between those who are successful versus those who
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  think they can wish themselves into success. This conversation
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  grew from this thought that people who are successful are
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  smarter, faster or better than others, but Jamie said there are
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  two characteristics in people who are successful versus those
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  who dream about it, and that's optimism and grit. And with
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  being optimistic, it's about believing in the possibility of
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  things. But that belief isn't enough again, because you can't
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  just wish something into happening. You need to have a
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  plan and work towards achieving your goals. Jamie talked about
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  how this applies with employees and hiring as well. For the most
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  part, people aren't rock stars straight out of the gate. They
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  need to be trained, and you need to believe that your team can
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  succeed, and you need to show them that it's possible to
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  achieve more. This doesn't mean you need to be catering to your
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  team members with all their needs. Their needs and wants,
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  but she believes it's important to have radical and constructive
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  criticism. Jamie said when you look at her organization, she
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  pointed out that you can be both optimistic and critical, but
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  that a lot of leaders have really struggled with this. She
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  said a leader who's there to guide others needs to point out
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  when someone gets things wrong, even for herself, she accepts
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  her own mistakes as a natural part of her dame. She believes
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  that problems are meant to be solved and not saddened, and she
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  applies this with her team, so they always know to come to her
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  with a solution to a problem first, even if Jamie may not end
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  up agreeing with it. Jamie said too many leaders are concerned
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  about hurting their employees feelings and that they aren't
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  responsible for giving feedback that then creates someone who
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  isn't growing or learning. Your employees don't need you to be
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  their friend. They need you to be the leader of the
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  organization. This doesn't come naturally to everyone. It's
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  something that you need to enter way into if it doesn't Now, the
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  other part of this is the grit and the discipline. Jamie shared
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  a quote from Tony Robbins that people are praised in public for
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  what they've practiced for hours in private, you have to
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  prioritize the things that are going to prepare you for that
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  you want. And this was Jamie's big question for you our
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  listeners, what are you doing when you wake up and are you
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  reacting instead of being proactive to set yourself up for
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  success? There will be little fires to put out, but Jamie said
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  you need to find the space to handle that versus letting that
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  be the start of your day, you can't spend your day playing
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  office, which is just pretending to work, where you're spending
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  so much time on any one task. When you catch yourself doing
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  that, you need to stop, walk away, and then come back to
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  focus on the things you need to get done. So when you think
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  about discipline, you need to think about what it is you want.
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  What are you willing to sacrifice to get there, and what
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  are the steps that you're going to take? Jamie wrapped up by
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  showing that success looks so easy and tangible today that you
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  forget about the sacrifice that it takes to get there. That
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  wraps up this week's recaps. TPR Nation, if you're looking for
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  more resources, or if you have a question, be sure to email us at
• 6:18
  lifestyle@theperfectria.com thank you for joining me. Please
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  share this or any of our episodes with another advisor or
• 6:25
  team member who you think are better for listening. And be
• 6:28
  sure to subscribe to The Perfect RIA Podcast so you don't miss an
• 6:32
  episode. Until next time. Happy Planning!