Sheri Fitts: Personal Brand vs Corporate Brand | Retiroholics

[0:16] JD: All right, so we will wait on Chad. We won't wait. But Chad Mark will be here shortly. Those little golfing nerds. Why does a podcast say welcome to the podcast? You know the name. Like, I always do that. Welcome to retire Holics. My name is J.D. this is Ro. Guy like this. This is silly. [0:38] Justin: You all know I disagree. [0:40] JD: You all know where you are. You all. You surely know who the we are. Like, I don't need to do anything. [0:45] Justin: What if it's a first time listener, though? [0:47] JD: Ah, that's a good point. That's a great point. [0:49] Sheri Fitts: You know? Yeah. And. And it. People love love rituals. They love to hear your voice. [0:57] JD: Kind of. The repetitive nature of it kind of sets the tone. Okay, I stand corrected. But I will tell you, if you're a new listener tuning in, you might think after nine years that we would kind of be getting a little lazy around here, you know, slacking off a little bit. We probably wouldn't even blame us if. If maybe, you know, things were repetitive and not as good as they could be. But I got news for you. We are the most badass badasses in 401k. And let me. Let me tune you in on something real quick. We are not getting worse. We are getting better. Nay, we are peaking. I believe the retireholics are at their very best at this moment right now. We are like that fine wine. Yes, Samson, reading my mind. We are like that fine wine in your wine cellar. We just keep getting better. And just like wine, Jim Sampson. Just like wine. Retireholics is a phenomenal aphrodisiac. Highly recommended for first dates or if you and your significant other are just trying to re. Spark the old sexual flames, if you know what I mean. Retireholics can help out in that division. Just put us on and light the candles and watch the magic happen. So consider yourself lucky for being here today and witnessing this greatness that you're about to witness. You know what else is great? The. The chat bar. They're also great. They're also sexy. And we are going to have a chat bar champion here tonight. I would like to challenge Chad, Justin, Sherry, myself, and robe guy to make sure that when you pick the person you want to win chat bar champion, you put a lot of energy and thought into it, because this is a serious thing. The leaderboard is in flux, and we want to make sure that we have the right champion. At the end of the year, we're going to kick it old school. Today we will nominate the semifinalist, and then we're Going to kick it right back to you guys like we used to do. You all in the chat bar will actually pick the. The winner tonight. 500 points goes to Hackler for the first comment in the chat bar. And a negative 500 points goes to Brian Brashaw just for showing up. Congrats, Brian. You've got a firm grab on the bottom of the leaderboard. Let me remind you at the bottom. It is the third Thursday of the month. It's an experimental version of Retireholics. For this episode, we're gonna do everything in reverse. Are you ready, Rub guy? So we will. [3:41] Mark: I'm not ready at all. [3:42] JD: We will start with the chat bar champion vote. We will end with headlines. Oh. And we will drink for every word that's not an initialism or an acronym or a whatever. [3:56] Justin: I'm not sure Chad and Mark can handle that. [3:59] JD: No joking. Jk. Jk. Jk. [4:02] Sheri Fitts: Oh. [4:02] JD: Oh. [4:03] Justin: Four. [4:03] JD: Four. Yeah, I'll drink for those. Ha. Damn it. [4:07] Sheri Fitts: One, two, three. I think there were four of those. [4:09] JD: Yeah, I got it. Thanks. Sherry. Don't. You don't need to jump in as the police on this. We do this all the time. [4:15] Sheri Fitts: Sorry, My name's Sheriff Sherry. [4:18] JD: Sheriff Sherry, what we're gonna do is we are gonna drink on this experimental version. We are gonna pray, play acro sin. We are going to do drunk stock tips. We're gonna kick it old school like I said on LinkedIn, Just because we can. And what do we do on a regular Retire Holly show? Justin, Even though she needs no introduction. I mean, can you say that about anybody but Sherry? We're still going to give her one. Justin, who do the honor of introducing our guest today? [4:50] Justin: I'm not sure if you know this, but my new contract. There's only 12 intros a year, pal. I didn't prepare one. And Sherry doesn't need one. I mean, let's be honest with ourselves. She's everyone's favorite retire holic. Ladies and gentlemen, Sher Fitz. [5:06] Mark: That might have been the best you could have ever. [5:08] Chad: JD just mentioned we're not phoning it in. Way to go, Justin. [5:15] JD: While I take two more sips of vodka to satisfy my. My acro sin. Brandon. Let's do headlines. [5:29] Chad: This sucks. [5:40] JD: Should cut that vodka down on some OJ or something. It's not good. Guess what? We got one headline today. Because the headlines are kind of shitty these days. I just feel like there's not a lot going on recently just in my own opinion. So we got one headline. Attention everyone. Robey and I'll Drink for this, I think. No, my name doesn't count. Jay Dizzle. Roby and Jay dizzle won the 2024 Plan Design Consultants Sales Team Golf Championships at the esteemed Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Coast. And while Chad might be feeling good about himself for doing well in his member guests today, it is a fact that Rogue guy and I kicked the out of him in the troll matter. Oh, stroke. Oh, there's Chad. [6:34] Chad: This is what it looked like. The. If I just made a putt, it wouldn't be that story. Jd, I don't know. [6:43] JD: Roby and I were four under at one point. [6:45] Justin: Is it fair when it's you two against him? [6:51] JD: That was a rip on Devin. Who was the losing team? Chad Johansson and Devin. Wendell and Justin just stated a fact. Chad had to carry Devin on his back through the entire 18 holes. [7:01] Justin: So I thought you were talking about the first round, not the second. I didn't realize that. [7:04] JD: Sorry, Devin, but it was good times. And I can't wait for next year. I think we're gonna, you know, take it to that next level. It was fun. It was fun. [7:13] Chad: It was rory. [7:14] JD: Poor Rory McElroy. He is the joke of the butt of everyone's jokes these days. Let's go straight to a. I saw a funny one, a meme of this little kid carrying a big cup of coffee. He was probably like 4 or 5 years old or maybe less. And his mom's like, it's okay. And he's carrying it, trying to like walk down this hallway. And on the kid is this really bad clip art of Rory McElroy's head and torso. And the mom's saying, it's okay, just be confident. And he spills a little bit of the coffee and she goes, don't look at it. Don't. Don't get afraid. Don't look at it. And he looks at and he dumps it all over the ground. And I thought it was pretty funny. Let's topic, shall we? We're going to talk a bit about branding and marketing today, but I would like to talk about the boogeyman. And when I say boogeyman, who am I referring to? Everybody. [8:02] Chad: Schlichter. [8:03] JD: Yes, Jerry Schlichter. [8:05] Mark: I mean, the actual boogeyman. [8:07] JD: Well, he said [8:10] Mark: like, no, no. Like, don't you remember when you were younger and your parents would say better each coming in? [8:18] Chad: Yeah, they would say, jerry's coming in. [8:19] Justin: Guys, this man is a lawyer. I think we need to start saying allegedly of some sort. [8:24] JD: Allegedly. No, defamation wouldn't that be funny if he came after us. We don't have dude, if we got [8:32] Mark: sued, that'd be cool. That'd be awesome. [8:35] JD: Made the COVID of foreign case. [8:37] Sheri Fitts: Imagine you guys in front of a jury. That would be really bad. [8:42] Mark: They would just tell us that. They'd say, please leave. [8:46] JD: These guys are not acting in a fiduciary capacity. We have 235 videos. [8:51] Mark: What the is a fiduciary? [8:55] JD: He was on as a guest with Brian Anderson on the 401k Specialist podcast. I've got a small clip of like it. When we play audio clips, I like to play Brian asking him a question, him answering, and then we can all discuss. Sound good? [9:09] Mark: No. [9:10] JD: Good. Brandon. It's also been said plan sponsors are going to need to be alert to any additional changes. May have to review all of their existing educational resources to ensure they don't dip into the realm of advice. How serious is this concern? [9:28] Jerry Schlichter: It should be taken very seriously. And there's certainly a tension between pure objective education and advice. And, you know, you can't just. It would not be wise for them to sort of wink, wink, nod, nod. Okay, this is really education. We can call it that. But we're pushing a particular investment or framing the language in a way that turns into really a recommendation or a favoring of a particular investment rather than generic educational materials. [10:10] JD: So Schlichter says, and I forgot to kind of set this up. And this obviously has to do with the new fiduciary rule which goes into effect September 24th. You probably heard, I think we talked about on the show, there's a lot of lawsuits that were trying to stall it out from different groups. I think a lot of them centered around, like insurance brokers or brokerage firms that don't want their insurance agents to be subject to these rules for a lot of obvious reasons. I think we recently saw the Department of Labor responded to that and said, throw this shit out of court. Here's why. Here are the reasons why. I think a lot of smart people are saying, regardless of all these lawsuits and whether this goes to the Supreme Court or not or this or that, September 24th is still the deadline and all this legal stuff will go long beyond that. And so Schlichter saying, hey, plan sponsors, advisors, and the broker dealers or the firms that kind of manage these advisors, you need to get ready for September 24th, and you should begin preparing now. And this should be taken very seriously. I thought it was interesting that he's talking about the educational materials and the educational approach to Participants and I want your opinion, but I think he's indirectly referring to, I'm thinking, I'm trying to put myself in his shoes and in his brain. Like what does he look think that he can attack with this new rule? And I think what he's referring to is manage accounts, defaulted target date funds. These things that are, will look like advice in these materials and these presentations in these enrollment books, in these digital spaces. Chad, this is kind of close to your heart. [11:51] Chad: So what I don't, I don't think default is the right word there, J.D. i think if you're defaulted, they feel that you're protected in many ways. But I think if the plan sponsor is choosing managed accounts and the advisor has potentially a conflict of interest in terms of what they're recommending, I think that that's what he's looking at. He's looking at why would you not allow a participant to pick their own portfolio and what are you going to do in replacement if it's not a default to a target day fund or some sort of risk tolerance and you're going to guide them to a decision? Guide being the key word. I believe that that's where he's focused. If you're going to lead them somewhere, that's the issue. [12:35] JD: I think the recent lawsuits around defaults and specifically qualified default investment alternatives have opened the door in the concept of all these things are game. Like I feel like the landscape we stand on is very wobbly now. And I think Schlichter is one of these people who is going to use this new fiduciary rule to say no, no, no, these are improper guidance and advice. I mean, I don't know too far. [13:04] Chad: I, I, here's the way I would respond to that, J.D. when you look at what is being utilized as a QDIA shoot, the vast majority, and I mean the vast majority are something that are endorsed and protected. But it's legislation. [13:22] Mark: The vast or you should the vast, [13:24] Chad: vast majority are protected by legislation. People are not using anything that would get them in trouble, let me put it that way. Anything that would get them in trouble as a, as a qualified default investment alternative. And so I think the issue becomes when there are alternatives that they are recommending, not defaulting to. And I think the recommendation is where the issue lies, not in the default. [13:50] JD: Well, we'll wrap this. I want to get Sherry's thoughts on Mr. Schlichter as a, as a man before we go, but I just want everyone to know he's stating it in plain English that He believes plan sponsors and their advisors need to start investing a lot of time looking at the materials and the education that they're putting in front of plan participants. Because he's going to scrutinize this. He's going to look at it and see where you're kind of pushing and leaning people towards things versus allowing them a decision. Sherry, do you spend any time thinking about Jerry Scher? I know you're kind of more on this marketing and branding side of things, [14:27] Sheri Fitts: but no, I don't spend, I don't spend any time thinking about Schlichter, but, but I did put it in the chat bar. I remember the Sun America ruling about when advice was first, like, allowed. It just is so crazy. So it's very interesting to, to have this discussion about where the bright line in, you know, is between education and advice again. [14:58] JD: Yeah. [14:59] Sheri Fitts: You know, like, again. And I think, I think it's fair [15:03] JD: to bring it up again, though, because just kind of, like, let it slide. Like, I'm not trying to get kind of squishy. [15:09] Sheri Fitts: Yeah. [15:10] JD: Where I was like, oh, that's, that's education. That's education. Okay. But still, it needs to be scrutinized. I feel like. [15:17] Chad: Yeah, but they're not going to go. I don't believe they're going to go after materials. JD I feel like you're leading us towards what are we providing as an industry to these folks versus what are we saying as an industry to these folks? [15:31] JD: Those are his words of, like the, the stuff that you're putting in front of these participants. And so I think I'm just going off what he's saying. [15:41] Chad: And you all know the, the three of you here, we met with a fairly large broker dealer the other day about creating a partnership. And they, they distinguish their advisors into two groups. They distinguish them into generalists and specialists. And a big, I mean, a big part of the conversation that I had with them was, how do we keep our generalists from getting themselves in trouble? [16:03] JD: This is exactly why the lawsuits are there against. [16:06] Chad: Yeah. [16:06] JD: The rule itself. [16:07] Mark: Yeah. [16:08] Chad: And now the broker dealers, the distribution channels are saying, you're right, you cannot. J.D. unless, unless you go back to where we were in 2012, where you say the vast majority of you cannot advise on a retirement plan. You have to send it over to the corner office person. [16:28] JD: Well, that's going to. [16:29] Sheri Fitts: Just when. Now, just when we need to have more people know in the army of advisors helping 401k plans, more quality. [16:37] JD: Good point, Sher. Phenomenal point. [16:40] Chad: We need more. [16:40] Sheri Fitts: Right. [16:41] JD: Yeah, point, that's, that's the best thing we've heard. Yeah, you're right. We've got this massive task in front of us where we need to add to our armed forces, right? We need as many people on the front lines as we can get to help with this coverage gap. And now we're kind of making it more difficult for them and the, and the firms that endorse them and represent them. [17:01] Chad: So what is, what is the outcome of that though, jd, if we make it more difficult for more advisors to be impactful in that space, do we then lean heavier into technology? Is that the outcome? [17:13] JD: But can I, can I also say though that, like, why does it have to be so intimidating to provide fiduciary advice? Like, why is it so difficult to say, look, you're a generalist, okay, Pull up your bootstraps, learn a little bit about your craft and what it is you're doing and make sure that when you're telling someone this is an investment option for them or this is how much they should save, you're actually thinking about whether it's the right or wrong thing for them to do given their certain situation. Why is that so difficult? [17:46] Chad: That won't be difficult as we see more private wealth managers move their way into the retirement plan space. It is difficult when we look at benefit brokers who don't dabble in financial services, making more of an impact in retirement plan space. [18:02] JD: Someone who's taken the Series 6, a kindergartner can pass that shit. So you could, you could literally teach people this stuff. It's not that complicated. Okay, let's move on. We've got Sherry Fitz here. We must talk marketing. I mean, and kudos to you, Sherry. Enough to sit here and kiss your ass. But you have, over years, nay, decades, created a, a reputation for yourself that's well deserved. I mean, I, I guess I am. I've known you for a while and I'm a huge fan of yours for sure. I have little heart shaped stones in my closet that you've given me. But, but in all honesty, she's just got those, like in every pocket every day. She got one of those. In all honesty, I think when a lot of people think about 401k specifically or financial services and marketing, you are kind of the guru. You're the go to. So how about I just give you a few questions and Sherry can start and then we can all kind of chime in as we go. Let's start with branding, and let's define first. Branding versus Marketing. Branding is who you are. Right? The identity and character of your business. While marketing is like how you. How do you share that brand with the world? You know, how do you. How do you get it out there? But both are super important and they probably definitely play off each other. But let's talk about branding and financial services specifically. And I hope I'm not jumping too far ahead. And we discussed. Sherry. The importance of a person's brand versus their employer's brand. And think like Retirement plan advisory Group. You know, an advisor that uses those tools or likes. Likes that logo on their business card or One Digital or Merrill lynch or Morgan Stanley. Like, spit it out, J.D. it's. [19:52] Mark: Ask a question. Jesus. Good. [19:56] JD: Robbie's here, everybody. [20:01] Mark: Oh, can you tee up a question even longer than that? [20:04] JD: How do we balance. [20:05] Sheri Fitts: Well, because J.D. knows that every time I start to answer, there's always a story to it. So then there's the other half of it taking so long. Mark. Continue, J.D. i want. [20:14] JD: That's it. Ro's got it. That's it. How do we balance those two? I mean, what. What's more important that the organization or the person? And how do they kind of dance together? [20:24] Sheri Fitts: Well, when I. When I think about it, I kind of feel like the organization is a. Is the tool chest. It's. It's the, it's the resources, technology, whatever it is. Right. But the, but the individual is the person we let in the door. Right. So. So I, I feel like gone are the days when you say, I work for IBM and everybody bows down and says, come in. You know, bring her up. Marry my son. Right. As an ex. Oh, sorry. [21:00] JD: You can always finish your thought. Remember? [21:02] Sheri Fitts: Okay, good. Whatever. So. [21:05] JD: No, not whatever. You'll be drinking for your penalties. [21:10] Sheri Fitts: Keep track. Keep track. It. It's absolutely, completely different than it was 50 years ago. Correct. [21:19] JD: In that the company more value back [21:23] Chad: then five years ago. [21:25] Sheri Fitts: Indeed. And individuals and what they did and who they worked for, they would always really speak to. I'm here. And this is this. And it's almost like we had completely different relationships with those companies as well. And we don't have that anymore. We're. We're really in a very kind of side hustle economy for everybody, which I like. Right. So do I. Except for that people still think that when they're employed that they're safe and they're not because it's a gig economy. And when the employer needs to make a move, regardless of whether they love you or not. Bye. Bye. So having spending time and energy on Your own brand allows you to be able to carry that from place to place and carry that reputation from place to place and use that to your advantage. [22:29] JD: Well, sure. So that's great advice for your. Go ahead, John. [22:33] Chad: When you started this Sherry, I immediately went, yes, I'm with you. And, and even Brian said that like she made me realize my brand's not tied to my company or my role, like, it's me. My immediate thought was, yep, I'm with you. I agree. While I struggle with that, I do very much so. I look and say my identity is very much so through plan design and retireholics. In terms of the atmosphere that I, I touch on LinkedIn and, and on social and I don't ever intend for that to change. So I don't feel like I have an individual identity because I don't plan to take it anywhere else. Does that change that thought at all? [23:20] Sheri Fitts: I feel like even as retireaholics has kind of continued and matured as an organization and as a go to place for all of us in the industry. [23:29] Mark: Did you say mature? [23:30] Sheri Fitts: Matured. I'll say matured. Like when you're really mature, you're matured. [23:35] Mark: You have to mature. Yeah. [23:37] JD: Gary, I wish I could show you my desk. I wish I could show you my desk right now. I just spilled Guinness beer all over it and I'm wondering whether I should mop it up with my shirt because I have nothing on hand and spill on my feet. [23:50] Chad: Yeah, but go on. [23:51] JD: You were saying matured. [23:53] Sheri Fitts: Well, and what I have seen is that each one of you has leaned more into your unique voice than when you first started. You have. [24:07] JD: Fair enough. [24:08] Sheri Fitts: I know you might think yet, Justin, [24:12] Chad: you still, he still is a doctor. [24:18] JD: I want to hit on a couple other points here, but that's totally fair because I, I agree. Let's. Let's expand on and bring it more into like a sales environment, which is something I always like to do. So instead of Sherry saying, hey, about your whole career, which obviously is great advice is like you should have value in your own personal brand. I don't think anyone could really argue with that. It's surely not going to do any harm and it's going to do a lot of good. But if you think about a point of sale, I have to think that in today's day and age, people are buying from Chad Roby Devin, not from the plan design consultants logo and brand. And so the personal brand of Chad, whether he's in that zoom or Mark going to that actual. I love that one Brandon, apparently we need a troll one now. But the point is that person is going to be much more into Robe Guy's personal brand then you know, his vibe, his attitude, his passion for things. Sure, maybe even the quarter zip he's wearing or the dark jeans he's got on. But the whole vibe, the whole thing is I think would be more important than the plan design consultants brochure that he's bringing with him. Surely you have to agree with that, right, Sheri? [25:34] Mark: We have brochures. [25:36] Sheri Fitts: Yeah, yeah, I mean I agree with it wholeheartedly. And what I think is really cool, JD is that in creating this platform, you've all created a platform and each, in, each one of you have different relationships with the folks in your territories or whatnot that have sprung up because of who you are and what you share on the show. But beyond that even how you show up for them because you could do this all day long, you could be fabulous here. But if you show up and you half ass it when you walk in the door, then that's going to change things. And you know, each one of you [26:14] Justin: take, I do, the inverse of that. [26:16] Chad: Yeah, he doesn't have it. He just doesn't say anything. [26:19] JD: Not far from the truth. Silent. [26:22] Chad: Not far from right in, in, in connection to our industry. Sherry Then if I'm an advisor and I sit back and go, well, I'm, I don't need to be represented by my broker, dealer or my distribution channel that I'm a part of. I need to create my own voice. Do, do they feel restricted by the parent company that they're a part of? Because I feel, and let me give you my two cents because I know you know far better than I do. I feel that many of them sit back and go, I can't have my own voice. I can't have my own presence on social media. I can't have my own ethos here because I'm so restricted in terms of being myself that I have to follow suit with what everybody else my distribution channel is doing. [27:13] Sheri Fitts: Well, there's a, there's a broker dealer that has a cool little western vibe to it of, you know, horses pulling a carriage or something like that. And they're, they just discovered that LinkedIn was available to their advisors probably about, I don't know, five years ago and it's been around since 2005. And they even, they, which you would think is, was never going to happen, have now opened up an independent RAA channel because they were seeing the exodus of advisors going to other Firms that offer more flexibility, so. Oh, there's two. Okay. [27:54] JD: Yeah, you. [27:55] Sheri Fitts: Anyway. Yeah, yeah. [27:56] JD: So you're right. Social is one thing, and of course, Chad and this will change over time. But yes, people are handcuffed as it. [28:04] Chad: As. [28:05] JD: As it. When we talk about social media and stuff. But that same person, no matter what broker dealer they're with or what firm, still walks into a meeting or jumps on a zoom and has their own personality and their own passion for things. And I just want to say personally, like, if there's a takeaway here, Devin's been taking me on little golf outings with financial advisors, and this has been my first kind of exposure to, like, real people in our industry in quite some time. I've been. I've been locked away in my basement drinking vodka for several years. And so I'm meeting these people for the first time. Wholesalers, advisors, different people define contributions. I've been drinking a lot of vodka in my free time. [28:51] Mark: It's my favorite button to piss. [28:54] JD: Meeting two types of people. If I could put them into two camps, which would be unfair of me, but let's do this for fun. And it's the ones that I go, oh, wow, they're following the same typical format or template that I knew 15, 20 years ago. Like, that is what I assumed that role to be, that type of person. And here they are still playing that. That character, if you will. And then I meet other people that really resonate with me and kind of stay in my brain that I'm like, wow, this person's an outlier. They have a passion for this area or this area, or they're really excited about where they're going to take business on the next level or what they can do for their clients. And their ideas, by the way, don't have to be impressive or novel or earth shattering. It could be the same old things. It's just the passion that they bring to those things. And I just want to stay for the record, I'm meeting those people and it's very clear which one's one and which one's the other. And I think that the ones that are in that outlier category are the ones that I would put my money on to crush it versus the ones that are just following the standardized template. [30:01] Sheri Fitts: Well, there's a. There's a fair amount of people that are able to. This is going to sound mean, but hide in corporate America. [30:14] JD: No, Great. Perfect. [30:15] Sheri Fitts: Right? [30:16] Chad: Yeah. [30:17] Sheri Fitts: Fair amount of people. And it works for them. [30:19] JD: Yeah. Not be. And just kind of get by. Yeah, yeah. [30:23] Sheri Fitts: Yeah, yeah. And they, and, and perhaps they are not aware of what's available to them. [30:30] JD: And you know what, Sherry too, if that's what you want to do and that works for you, I mean, I, I guess I shouldn't judge it like, okay, fine, if you can get your salary and pay your family and get the job done in an adequate way, then who am I to. [30:43] Chad: But those aren't the people we're talking about. Those are not the folks trying to create a presence, trying to create an image. [30:52] JD: I think everyone's got a personal brand though, Chad, whether they want to or realize. [30:57] Chad: And I guess my, my fault there, in the way I position this to share you originally is that the personal brand to me was forward facing from what is out there that's not verbal, like what is social, what are your websites, what are you putting out an activity? And the truth, jd, what you're saying is it's not necessarily that. It's how you speak to your partners. It's how you spend your time in a point of sale. It's what you're delivering in all of your communications, not just what you put out in a club public forum. And I, I struggled to connect those two things. To be honest. [31:34] JD: I would venture to guess, Chad, and we've, I think we've executed this as a company before. Your, your corporate brand, your sales collaterals, your color palette, your logo, your slogan, your whatever that could suck. And if you have a powerful personal brand, you'll, that's way more important. Meaning like you could sell the shit out of stuff and. [31:58] Chad: Yeah. [31:59] JD: And win people over and do well with really crappy stuff behind you if you're really good at. So I guess I answered my own question like which one's more important? The personal, the corporate? I don't, I don't think it's a fair fight. [32:11] Sheri Fitts: Well, and if we look at as an example, just like next gen individuals and how they've been raised and that digital has been around for them for most of their lives and that the, you know, influencer or those micro influencers that have kind of risen up on YouTube and other platforms, they, they're used to having a relationship with an individual person versus having a relationship with a company. They don't necessarily, you know. [32:42] JD: Sure, yeah. [32:44] Sheri Fitts: You know, they, you know, Gucci, possibly, but you know, perhaps maybe language. [32:51] JD: Now you're talking about language. Sher, let's talk about some Gucci. [32:55] Sheri Fitts: Right. So I mean, there are some, but it's, but it's mostly, you know, how they adorn Themselves. I, I just really feel like this is the other thing that kind of gets me is that one of the, you know, one of the most crucial things that an individual can do is really pay attention to their personal brand. Because again, we live in a gig economy and the rug can get pulled out from underneath you. And there's the challenge. And usually what happens is that those individuals then are sent to me to help them get their LinkedIn up to date and get their resume going and do this and that. And I just want to shake them and go where. [33:35] JD: That's good to hear. [33:38] Sheri Fitts: Right? [33:39] JD: That's good to hear from us, because we're naive to that. We all have, like, phenomenal job security and never worry about that. As Chad said earlier, we'll be together for life. So. Well, we're safe until some. And tonight, until some private equity firm can really show me some dough. Talk about it. No, no. Chad, you get one more quick point, but I got another segment I got to go to. [34:05] Chad: I'd like, I'd like to ask the question of Sherry and J.D. honestly, of you too. If you look at the wholesaling community inside our industry and even the third party administrators, even the advisors, what. What percentage of business do you think is sold on the relationship versus the brand? [34:24] JD: Oh, interesting. And we're gonna talk specifically, like, record super high, right? [34:28] Chad: No. [34:29] Justin: Oh, that's fine. [34:30] Chad: Go ahead and go. Record keeping, I think it's higher in every other aspect than it is record keeping. [34:36] JD: Okay. [34:37] Chad: But I think record keeping is the lowest. But I think it's still gonna blow people's mind of how high it is. [34:40] JD: I think you're fairly. You're further proving the point. I would think in that example, the company would have a lot of clout because people like certain products, certain investment lineups, certain things. But I think to Heidi's point in the chat bar, which I think she's saying 90% wholesaler, but I think the deals actually get done on the hard work in the backs of the wholesalers in spite of their brand. So. Great example. [35:06] Sheri Fitts: Yeah. [35:06] Chad: So that's, that's a, that's a toot to your horn, right, Sherry? If we're saying, and I would agree with that percentage, I might even take it up a little bit, that if business is being closed on the relationship versus the, the, the company brand, meaning the, the business they work for, that's gotta be eye opening to many people who are sitting back and going, oh, my broker dealer's got my marketing. [35:32] Sheri Fitts: Well, the other piece that here, that kind of Gets me is that there are organizations who protect their name and their brand very, you know, vigorously. And, and so usually what happens is when we see individuals who, who work for those organizations, there they are to your point, Chad, hamstrung from perhaps maybe showing up online with a specific opinion or really truly who they are. What is very interesting is even the stats show that when an individual carries the water on social, they get up to about 50% more play more eyeballs, more engagement, everything else than when a company does. [36:19] JD: Of course that's interesting because no one gives a. About what corporations say on social media. [36:24] Chad: Yeah, but that's not what we're doing as an industry. Right, JD People are sharing what the corporate pushes out. [36:31] Sheri Fitts: Yeah. And that's really a bummer. [36:33] Chad: Yeah. [36:34] JD: Okay. [36:34] Sheri Fitts: Yeah. Because it, it doesn't, doesn't really do them any good. But marketing can check it off as that they. [36:43] JD: Well, I would also, I would also argue that the large corporations, and I'm not just trying to be a hater here, they're really horrible at like content creation. Like they, they, they stay so within the lines of safety that they have no choice. They never create anything that's, that's impactful. You say they have no choice, but there's firms that try. And I'm seeing more stuff come out where even financial firms like, try to do a little more kind of rebellious. It doesn't have to be rebellious. I hate always saying that as a retireholic, like, it just creative works. It doesn't have to be counterculture. But you see more of that. I, I gotta, we gotta go back. We gotta move on to another segment. By the way, just so everyone knows. I don't know how many ounces are in these Guinnesses, but I've had three of them so far, so I'm on my fourth. [37:27] Justin: How many are on the table, though? [37:29] JD: What? How many are on the table? And to Justin's point, my shorts are soaked in beer, as is the bottom half of my T shirt. Okay, let's go to an old segment. Not an old segment. It's A segment is dope, but no, not the one you're thinking. Sorry to mislead you, but we've done it before and we're going to do it again. I used to call it Spotlight, but it's actually called Flashlight Last. [37:54] Chad: I like Spotlight. [37:55] JD: And Brandon, we are bringing up Jennifer Rayner. Brandon, Jennifer Rayner is coming up. [38:05] Chad: Jennifer is my chat bar champ as of right now. [38:08] JD: Oh, nice. Very nice. Jennifer is a, is the entrepreneur and founder of Tech Entrepreneur called Money. Well, M O N I W E L L, which is a text based solution that integrates mental health strategies into financial wellness. Hopefully I'm not doing her dirty right now doing this right. But Roby, have you ever seen apps like NOOM for weight loss? Are you familiar with that? [38:43] Mark: Why, why are you asking me? You should probably drop a few pounds. Hey, hold on. Wait, J.D. no. [39:00] JD: Well, basically these, these apps, as far as I can understand, are kind of attacking the mental side or the psychology side of weight loss. Like, okay, yeah, you're gonna go have pizza at 1am that's maybe a no. No, but why are you going to have pizza at 1am? Like what, what are your emotions that are attached to that? You know? And, and it's a bit of know [39:23] Mark: why I'm having taco bell 2am ever. Nobody. [39:26] JD: Taco bell 2am It's a bit of a stretch, but I feel like, I feel like Jennifer and Money will are kind of heading down that same kind of path with financial wellness. But she's here now. She's in the screen. So I'm gonna stop doing her job. How much of that did I get close to or Jennifer, take this moment right here to kind of let everybody know what exactly is this thing that you created and. Yeah, tell us about it. Yeah, great. [39:53] Speaker G: Thanks for having me back. It's been only like two years. I feel like you forgot about me completely. [40:00] Chad: No, no, we definitely didn't. Nope, never. Nice to meet you, Jennifer. [40:05] Speaker G: Nobody loves me. [40:06] Justin: This isn't awkward. [40:08] JD: All right, Brandon, you can cut her feed now. Send her out. [40:14] Sheri Fitts: So, yeah, you got it. [40:15] Chad: Close. [40:17] Speaker G: I think we've. In the beginning, I think the last time I was here, I talked a lot about the emotions of money. Right? When you start with the emotions instead of the solutions, you get better results. Right? And Sherry's shaking her head, but she goes in, in marketing, right? It's a push strategy versus a pull strategy, right? We use a push strategy in the financial wellness or all financial solutions which says the shoulda coulda would as you should have done this, you could have done that. It's like this. You really need to be doing this. But what actually that does is creates like this fear and shame around what they have or haven't done in. Or a fomo. Like you're supposed to be doing this instead of a pull strategy, right? Which a pull strategy says you, you need to create an emotional connection, get people to really feel like you care about them. And there's that, that undeniable pull. I Like to use Apple. Apple's a great example of this. Apple pulls people in with this feeling that they're, they're tied to that company. Right. It's an emotional connection, the reason why they buy those products. But I think that's what we're missing. We're missing a pull strategy in the financial wellness solution or in all financial solutions. Right. Being able to pull people in, get them to feel like they're engaged for a reason, that's personal. So what we've done is we've basically said we need to redesign completely the financial wellness journey. So first we are, by doing this, by creating this emotional connection with people and addressing the emotions behind money, we have figured out a way to get to reach the plan participants that most people would have considered were unreachable. It's those people that we never can seem to get to engage in anything by auto enrolling them in a texted platform, texted money journeys that are science backed. So again, the psychology of money is where the content is focused. We're getting employee engagement and overall well being because we're more likely to get people to engaged if they are connected emotionally. And that you're addressing the emotions of money. And we text because I know this is shocking, but email campaigns don't cut it. [42:34] JD: I'm sure there's a lot more innovative or not innovative. There's a lot more things that you're doing differently. I mean there's a lot of wellness tools out there. But I feel like the text version is pretty unique to you and it might seem very simple, like oh duh, like okay, tax, like we're all trying to do this through apps and notifications and emails and all these things. But I kind of like your play on let's just text message these people. So is that fair to say that that's a big cornerstone of what you guys are trying to do? [43:08] Speaker G: We haven't really found anybody out there that's texting money journeys. So again, this isn't texting reminders. Don't think about it as texting people, hey, you have this benefit or this financial solution available to you, but think about it as texting a money journey. Right? So putting people on a journey that addresses how they feel and then over time when they're ready. Because not everybody has the same starting point, providing them the resources that the financial advisor is offering, that the employer is offering. So yeah, I have, we haven't really seen anybody out there texting in that way. But one of the unique pieces of it as well is we Realize. Auto enroll. Auto enroll works across the board in participation and plans. Right. So we use the employer based platform to auto enroll every employee in the texted money journeys. So now all eyes and only probably, I'm going to say 80 to 95% of people are still getting the text after a year and 68% are engaging in the things that we're putting in front of. [44:16] JD: 68% are engaging. And I'm assuming they're allowed to like when they get the text to kind of decline it and opt out. [44:23] Speaker G: Yeah, no, they can opt out at any time. [44:25] Chad: I, I will say, and I had this experience this past week when I'm taking the kids to a dermatologist and they send me an email and says, fill out these forms. I don't do it. When they send me a text, I take action because I don't get text from any other aspect of, of my life. But when we're talking about defaulting people, why, why do we feel or want action? We don't necessarily want action in that scenario. Right. They're being defaulted into the plan. They're being defaulted into a deferral rate. They're being defaulted into participation. What is the thought there? And needing some sort of action from them. [45:05] JD: But this is, this is wellness now, Chad. So now we're going outside of the. Right. Jennifer, you're not just. [45:11] Chad: Yeah, but JD they're defaulted for a purpose. They're defaulted because they're not taking any sort of action in this endeavor. [45:19] JD: Sure, but you didn't. [45:21] Mark: That's not, you can't call that wellness, J.D. that. No, no, no, no, no, no. [45:26] JD: I think you're missing the point, Jennifer. Hang on. You're going to get this right here. Jennifer's not just using this shit for 401k stuff. She's going to use it for. Outside of that, do you have a college savings? Are you, do you have an emergency savings account? Do you, are you paying the right amount on your mortgage or your car? Am I right, Jennifer? [45:45] Speaker G: Yes. We start with the mental health aspects of providing resources around how, you know, financial anxiety is real. Here's three tips to deal with that. Right? So you're, you're giving them supportive resources right out the gate without expecting them to do anything. Because most people aren't ready to take action, Chad, to your point. And the idea here is to get them in a, in a money journey that is focused on things that, that are making them feel like they're supported in their money journey before you actually ask them to do anything. So now it's tied to the employer's resources or the record keeping resources, the advisors resources. And it's now dripping those things inside that journey and saying, oh, by the way, did you know getting a visibility. Because to your point, people see. Well, you may not realize this, but 95% of texts are opened and read in the first three minutes of delivery. [46:39] JD: Not mine. [46:40] Speaker G: So here we are. The idea here is the journey. The journey allows people to like four months later. It allows people to get used to getting these texts and like them. So that once there is a delivery of a resource, they're seeing it. [46:58] JD: That can't be overlooked. The whole, why are you getting Taco bell delivered at 2am versus hey, don't eat. Taco Bell at 2am can obviously be applied for sure. You're shaving. [47:11] Justin: Just think about it like how we. [47:13] Mark: What else are you gonna get at 2am? Nothing else is open. [47:16] JD: All right. [47:17] Justin: Mark, you know how often you fail at getting his Taco Bell at 2am Still? [47:20] Chad: A lot often. [47:21] Mark: Yeah, because I put the wrong address in doordash. It happens, dude. [47:27] JD: Go ahead, Justin. [47:28] Justin: No, what I like so much about this is, it's, I think why apps fail so much is because it's so easy to be out of sight, out of mind. You're not logging into them every day. When you log in, there's a notifications tab that you're not going to go into. And this is constantly reminding you and not letting you forget about it. So the more I feel like the more you get those texts, even as annoying as they are, you're eventually likely, if you don't opt out, going to take action. [47:50] Speaker G: What was, what do we do when we get something from somebody and it's like two months later and we're like, I'm pretty sure JD sent me that information. [47:59] JD: It's like your own little Rolodex of [48:01] Speaker G: the stuff you remember. You saw it and now you have a place to go right back to it. [48:05] Justin: Because we know it's important. We just want to ignore it as long as we can. [48:09] JD: But what's. [48:11] Mark: Let me ask you this. Deleting an email or not reading it's very easy to do. I can delete a text even easier. So what's the difference? But I feel, I feel like, I [48:23] Justin: don't know in my experience with text messages, if it's something that's important that's just nagging in the back of my brain that I need to get to, I'm eventually going to get to it. [48:31] Speaker G: And it's all Remember, they're not opting out. So there's going to be another opportunity down the line to capture their attention with something that came through. It is if they, if they don't want to see it. It's just like those political attacks. You know exactly how to make it stop. [48:47] Chad: Right. [48:49] Mark: I feel those immediately. [48:53] Chad: I'm sure Jennifer has the statistics for it. Yeah, and I'm sure you have the statistics for it. But Mark, other than the political text, I never say no, don't send me a text. I don't delete them. I just avoid it. Like I just, I just let it fall down the text line. And, and I do personally, and I'm speaking from someone that may be a consumer. I take action from text message that may get diluted at some point. But right now email has been diluted and text messages has not. [49:26] JD: I also want to be clear. I think, I don't think Jennifer's entire business model is all hinge on text. She's just using a different lure to get [49:37] Speaker G: seems so sore I'm pushing instead of pulling a different methodology. So I'm going to give you another reason or give you some examples of why employers are like, yes, is the non desk worker. Many of them don't have a corporate email. How are they supposed to reach them? They've got no plan, they've got no strategy. They're going back to flyers, they're going. Now some of these things are helpful or they're imploring their, the, the, the lead person that's talking to the guys that are going about on the construction site, right. And they're going, you need to get them to do this here. You put it in front of them. That's the, that's how they're having to get the attention of people that don't sit behind a desk. And so now they realize, oh well, I should be texting them. [50:33] JD: In terms of, I had, I had visions and dreams of asking you about your current success. I know you've got some investors. I feel like, by the way, you didn't just start this yesterday. You and I talked about this several years ago. I feel like it's really gaining speed and traction. All this kind of back and forth about tax and about financial wellness and what is and what isn't. I think where you've really knocked it out of the park and where I think people need to kind of stop and pay attention is, is my analogy to these apps like Noom and stuff for weight loss. I think your real genius moment is why shouldn't we apply this to financial services or financial wellness? I think you're 100. Right. I think a lot of people out there are, are feel bad about their credit score, feel bad about their, their lack of savings, feel bad about their salary, where they stand in the world and therefore they're embarrassed to go talk to someone about it. And I think that you're right. That's where we need to start, is to kind of help them start to feel more comfortable about it so they can start their, as you say, their journey towards being better about their finances. And so I think you're destined for major success by simply choosing that to be your battle. And so it makes a lot of sense to me. [51:53] Speaker G: Appreciate it. [51:53] JD: Yeah, yeah. [51:54] Speaker G: That's why we call it the Money Confident program. [51:56] JD: And let's, well, let's be clear. A lot of products that come on here for this, this Flashlight segment, I give plenty of them, plenty of, you know, and tell them when I think their business model is flawed or doesn't make a lot of sense. I wish I had more time to talk about the distribution and all that kind of stuff. I see. So go to the website, Everybody. Again, it's MoneyWell. M O N I W E L L there. If you go to like the partners and stuff, I'm probably botching the tab. But she's working with advisors, she's working with record keepers, she's working with plan sponsors. So there's a way for you to get involved if you think this could up your business model. And for full disclosure, Jennifer did pay to be on this show here today. She owes me two very high end old fashions at the next conference I see her at. And I'm talking, I'm talking whistle peg fucking shit. You know, this is gonna. [52:49] Speaker G: Got it. [52:51] JD: Oh, seriously. Maybe we can get you back since we've ignored you for several years and we can talk a little more about the distribution, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Thank you for being here. [53:03] Speaker G: Thank you. Bye, guys. [53:05] Justin: See you, Jennifer. [53:09] Chad: Stay tuned, Jennifer, because nobody's shining in the chat bar and you still have my vote. [53:13] Speaker G: Okay, thanks. [53:16] Chad: J.D. [53:17] Justin: do you and Tracy have a hot date tonight? I remember seeing you so regimented on a schedule. [53:21] JD: Yeah, I'm just trying to keep it along. [53:23] Chad: His hair. It's the hair. [53:25] Justin: It looks like a faux hawk going or something. [53:27] JD: So it's not doing it justice, bro. It's, it's. Yeah. Anyways, okay. [53:33] Mark: It's not, it's not good, I'll say that. [53:36] JD: Oh no, it's definitely not good. It's Chia Pat in that awkward stage. Before you get it flowing, it's gonna be an awkward. [53:42] Mark: You don't know. You don't know what to do with it at this point. [53:45] JD: Yeah, Sherry, you like making money? [53:50] Sheri Fitts: Yeah. [53:50] JD: I mean, you gotta, you gotta put some coin in your pocket to pay that hairdresser to give you those tight bangs, right? You gotta make some cash. [54:00] Sheri Fitts: Yeah, sure. [54:01] JD: You can disagree. [54:03] Chad: Yeah, yeah, sure. [54:09] JD: That's where I. We're about to serve you up some drunk stock tips. [54:15] Sheri Fitts: Yes, please. [54:19] Mark: Audio less since. Yeah, since that has no audio. Jd you're for sure losing a thousand dollars on Cheesecake Factory. That. [54:28] JD: I was gonna about to bring that up. I was about to bring that up. [54:31] Mark: That's going. That's, that's going. I'm very self conscious about that. I check it every day. Stock is just. Stock is just skyrocketing. I've thought about doing something that like reflects really badly upon them just to bring it down, but I can't think of anything that's legal. [54:49] JD: Don't worry, I have plans. I have plans. We're gonna go pick it out in front of them. Say that they use like rats. What Robey is referring to is Robey always crushes it. He does really well with the percentage of stocks that he picks correctly in terms of which ones you should buy and which ones you should sell. I have a thousand dollar bet with an old guest of ours that was on the show. He said that cake Cheesecake Factory was gonna crush it and do well. And I said he's crazy. I sided with rogue guy who said, you know, it's not gonna do well. And my brother even made me feel better about that choice because he said you definitely short a stock where you wouldn't take someone a first date on, you know, you would not take someone a first date. The Cheesecake Factory. I don't think it'd be a bad call. So short that stock. Well, the stock was at 33. I think today it finished at 40 or something. So it was a six month bet. So everyone cross your fingers. I. I'm not worried. [55:48] Mark: Hey, yeah, you know, you win some, you lose some. [55:50] JD: No, no, no, we're gonna be just fine. We're gonna be just fine. But let's see. I got a new stock for you. Oh, there we go. [56:01] Chad: What could it be? [56:04] JD: Got a new stock for you. 2020 and the COVID crash. Can I call it that? It was, it was quick, it was short lived, but there was a little crash that happened. This stock had a low of $566 per share today. Are you ready, Roby? Today it's not a 566. It's at $3,214. And drama surrounds it around a recent stock split and some claiming that the portions that they are serving to their clients are smaller. It's got an Nice. It's got an annual revenue just under 10,116, 000 employees, and you don't care. But it's got a PE ratio of 80. Robe guy. It's Chipotle. I will drink for the price of earnings. [56:53] Chad: That's a tough one. [56:55] Mark: Oh, wrong guy. [56:57] JD: There you go. [57:00] Chad: Okay. [57:01] Mark: So, I mean, I could keep this real, real simple and real easy for everybody and just say if you're hungry and you need something that you know is going to be fresh, and you can watch the people build it for you. And you know that, like, all right, I'm gonna enjoy this when I put this in my belly. You're gonna go to Chipotle? Yeah. [57:37] JD: What do you. [57:38] Chad: What do you. [57:39] Mark: You trying to speed me up, Justin? [57:40] Justin: Taking some time. [57:41] Mark: Yeah. [57:43] Chad: There's no way. I am. [57:45] Mark: I. I'm. [57:46] Justin: I had it for lunch today. It was great. [57:48] JD: We're saying Chipotle's good. [57:49] Mark: No, no. Chipotle. Chipotle. Is that that unfortunate circumstance which, by the way, we've all encountered. You go there and you're like, wow, they really did not give me much. That has happened at Subway and any other place where you're watching someone make something because you don't know who that other person is making your burrito or sandwich. They might be new to the job where they're like, I have to abide by these corporate rules and only give so much. But after a while, they recognize, hold on. This company makes billions of dollars. I can go ahead and give a little extra to these, you know, paying customers. So I just don't. I get it. I know that we all have experienced, like, the lackluster serving sizes, which, by the way, everybody. Portion control. Probably a good thing. [58:47] Justin: Maybe they're giving you a hint at Chipotle. [58:50] Chad: But, Mark, Chipotle is amazing. We know that. We love it. It's at $3,215. [59:00] Justin: Yeah. [59:01] JD: Sherry, you're shaking your head no. Sherry, really? You're not a Chipotle fan? No. [59:08] Sheri Fitts: Okay. Because they don't have a drive through. [59:10] Chad: From a stock perspective. [59:12] JD: Don't have drive through. [59:13] Mark: They got. They got Chad. Chad. Do you think I care about a stuff. Stock perspective. I care about tasty treats. [59:21] Chad: Hey, would you buy GameStop back when it was at its high? No, because it skyrocketed. Chipotle skyrocketed. [59:31] JD: They aren't your. [59:33] Sheri Fitts: Look at what I'm learning about Chipotle right now. [59:35] Mark: But they're convenient. They have a great mobile app. You can mobile order it. You can do all these customizations. Like, yeah, dude, you, you buy. And it's not going to be a game changer for your portfolio. It's going to be your, your Disney Apple. It's going to be your, your, your Amazon. It's, it's one you sort of have. [59:55] Justin: You don't see Mark get it wrong too often, but. [59:57] JD: Oh, Chad, you want to throw a grand on it? You want to throw a grand on it? [1:00:01] Mark: Yeah. [1:00:02] Chad: J.D. you covering for me? [1:00:05] Mark: No. [1:00:05] JD: All right, you heard it here. Robbie says bye on Chipotle. And. And then after you've had Chipotle for lunch, order your Taco Bell at 2am Back it up, burrito to burrito. Sherry, I, I attended a conference. I don't know when it was. My memory is horrible. It was your conference. It was called Sway. It was down in San Diego. It was a, an emotional experience. A group of people got together and really connected on lots of different levels, not just business, but also personal. And you were continuing again with your. Do we call it second annual? I don't know. It's. Yeah. [1:00:45] Sheri Fitts: Second. Yep. Yeah. [1:00:47] JD: And it's in Palm Springs. And take it away like, this is your, this is your plug moment. This is your plug moment. And take your time. [1:00:57] Sheri Fitts: It was very remarkable, wasn't it, J.D. it was super fun and. Yeah. And I think so. It started out as a conference focused on purpose driven personal brands and really figuring out how to fuel those with thought leadership. And it's kind of, you know, if Daniella were here, but she's getting a facial so, you know, she'll look great tomorrow. But she, you know, she articulates it more as a leadership and development and wellness and all the other things kind of wrapped into it. I'm excited about what's going to happen this year. I think this year we're starting off Sunday with, with an improv class. JD so learning about improv mindset. [1:01:43] JD: That sounds like Sway. That sounds like Sway. I don't scare people, but I think Sway is definitely something you go to where you're like, okay, someone's going to push you to like, do you know? [1:01:56] Sheri Fitts: Yeah. Yeah. So, so that is, is kind of Sunday night and then Monday is all about the purpose part of your, of who you are, what you bring to the world, what, what you want your message to be, storytelling, you know, that kind of stuff. All of the inside work. Imposter syndrome. Katie Boyer's gonna do a really cool. If you know me, if you really, really know me, kind of icebreaker or ice melter. So that's Monday and then Tuesday is all the stuff about, you know, if you think about branding is the messaging and the mission and the vision and all that kind of stuff, then marketing is how you get what you say out into the world. And so that's how it's going to break down this year. And I'm pushing for a hundred people. I am. We've already over sold the tickets that we sold last year, so I'm excited. I'm celebrating that for sure. And I put a cool thing it. We're picking up steam, you guys. It's really quite fabulous. I put a sweet little coupon code into the chat. If you register in the next 24 hours and you're one of the first 10 people who use it, if you do sway 401, you'll actually save $401 on your registration, whichever registration you decide to pick. So. [1:03:21] Chad: Nice. [1:03:22] Sheri Fitts: Yeah, yeah. Thanks, J.D. it was. [1:03:24] JD: No, no, no. I feel like we have a lot of. We have a lot of industry conferences that tend to. And I'm not saying this in a negative way, but they tend to kind of follow the same topics and format. And so obviously there's more to us all as entrepreneurs than just the new fiduciary rule and target date funds and all the. And we get plenty of that type of education. So it's nice to go somewhere where we can talk more about branding and marketing and authenticity and business models. And I, from the first one, what I noticed was just a lot of people being very, somehow Sherry, with her little. Her little hearts and her very kind of, dare I say, hippie vibe, motivated this very open, transparent type of conversation. And so there was. There's a lot more audience engagement and kind of back and forth. And so it wasn't like we were just hearing from the presenter, we were hearing from everyone that was there in attendance. Maybe a little more difficult to do with 100 people, but I'm sure that that vibe will live on in these Sway events. [1:04:33] Chad: And my belief is that there's content to be getting gotten online in these different communications and different webinars. But if you want to go and grow individually and you want to grow internally, that you need to be in person. And I think that what you're doing, Sherry, is just that you're saying, let's, let's get together as a collective and let's grow together as a collective. [1:04:57] Sheri Fitts: Yep. [1:04:58] Chad: I don't feel like anybody else is [1:04:59] Sheri Fitts: doing, you know, Chad, that's the biggest thing is, is that what I'm working to do is create a platform for other people. My, my true desire is to the diversity we see in the industry. I, I really want to raise up voices of different people and, and, and bring, you know, so Brian's like, oh, you got to hear me speak. No, I, I, I pointed at Brian and I'm, you're like, speaking, and this is what you're going to be talking about. Daniela, I'm like, you're, like, speaking and, and Jay Washington and Rosalyn and a variety of different people who I want to raise up their voices and, you know, give them a chance. And it's just been, I want this to not be mine. I want this to be ours. And it's, it's turning into that really quickly. It's really cool. Yeah. [1:05:51] JD: Perfect. Okay. Well, we'll try to mention a few more times as we approach August, but it sway. It's happening in Palm Springs the beginning of August. So you got a discount code, but get there and be part of something not new, but on the way up and building, which I think is kind of exciting and different and super different. And I feel like I kiss ass tonight. I tell Jennifer her product's so cool and innovative. I tell Sherry, you guys know me. I'm an. [1:06:24] Mark: And you tell me to lose weight. Yeah. [1:06:27] Chad: And you tell Marchipotle going up at 3215 is terrible. So you're balancing yourself out, J.D. [1:06:34] JD: fair enough. I feel like it should be more. There's no, there's no restraints on how long we take the show. So I'd like to go, I'd like to play a game before we go to Chat Bar champion. And it's everybody's favorite game. It's not the lamer game game. It's the no dope game. Is Brandon ready? [1:06:59] Sheri Fitts: This is my favorite one, Jade. [1:07:02] JD: Yeah, everybody's favorite. [1:07:03] Justin: What about the wheel? JD Just gloss right over that. The wheel. [1:07:07] Mark: Hey, hey, hey, hey. [1:07:08] JD: Justin, shut up. Yeah, I did. Justin. [1:07:13] Mark: Oh, oh, hey, Justin, shut up. [1:07:17] Chad: Yeah, buddy. [1:07:18] JD: Okay. Sherry, you're not the only one that's the favorite game. This is everyone's favorite game. We'll get to it quickly. Sherry, I'm going to go to you on no or dope. I'm seeing a Lot of ads on Instagram, on tv, about shoes that you can step into. You don't have to tie them. You know, they're. They're built in such a way that you can just kind of slip your foot in and clickety clack, and put your heel down and. And you're in. Are you. [1:07:49] Chad: Nope. [1:07:49] JD: Or dope on this trend? [1:07:51] Sheri Fitts: I'm dope. [1:07:53] JD: Why are you dope? [1:07:54] Sheri Fitts: I'm dope. Well, I mean, I. Because I. I wear mules all the time. Right. [1:08:00] JD: I don't know what those are. [1:08:02] Sheri Fitts: The mules are the shoes without the back to them. But you're just talking about, like, tennis shoes or. Right. That you can have a heel. [1:08:11] JD: They've got a heel. [1:08:12] Sheri Fitts: Yeah. They have a back to them. [1:08:13] JD: You don't have to lean over your lazy, fat ass. Entire tennis shoes. [1:08:17] Sheri Fitts: This is such a hilarious Portland thing. But I found a really. [1:08:20] Justin: I think he was talking to you [1:08:21] Sheri Fitts: when I was on a walk, and. And I put them in the washer. And now I've got these cool shoes, and what I want to try to do is figure out how to lace them up so that I can just step into them. [1:08:33] JD: Okay. [1:08:34] Sheri Fitts: I was on YouTube just. Just last night, farting around with shoelaces. [1:08:39] JD: I do want to hear what Rovi thinks about these. Are you. Are you. No. Per. Dope on these? First. [1:08:45] Mark: First off, are you talking about Crocs? [1:08:48] Justin: No. [1:08:48] Mark: God, no. [1:08:49] Speaker G: No. [1:08:49] JD: No heel on these shoes. I think Skechers. I think there's some. [1:08:56] Mark: Yeah. [1:08:57] JD: There's even some golf shoes. [1:09:00] Mark: Yeah. Nah, nah. They're usually not my style, so I'll just say no. [1:09:06] JD: No, tie your shoelaces. I feel like this is a play on the. [1:09:11] Mark: Hold on, J.D. wait, let me be clear. I'm still not going to tie my shoelaces, but I'm going to still get my foot in my shoe without having to retie them. So it's the same. [1:09:22] Justin: Same. [1:09:23] JD: Just like. [1:09:23] Mark: They're just cooler shoes. [1:09:24] Justin: You got a bow or you don't? [1:09:25] JD: I feel like, just, like, variable annuities. This is a play to take advantage of the elderly. Okay, let's move on to the next one. I can't believe we've never talked about this, but I'm pretty sure we haven't. And, Sherry, we always go to you first because that's how I invented this game. You know, a loaf of bread. You know a loaf of bread? [1:09:47] Sheri Fitts: Yeah, A butt. [1:09:49] JD: The butt of the bread. Last little piece at the end. Are you. No. For dope on this thing? Like, should it exist? [1:09:57] Sheri Fitts: Oh, I am dope. That's the best one for toast. [1:10:01] JD: You love it. [1:10:02] Chad: Yeah. [1:10:03] Sheri Fitts: The crust. [1:10:03] Justin: You're not wrong on that. Yeah, that's a good. [1:10:06] Sheri Fitts: Buried with. With butter and peanut butter and honey is the best part. [1:10:11] JD: Okay, you sound like you're in agreement. [1:10:14] Chad: You. [1:10:14] Justin: You are for everything. [1:10:16] JD: You are a buttman. You're a butt man is what you're. [1:10:20] Justin: I don't know why I keep picking up my mic tonight. This is dumb. [1:10:24] Mark: You sound so much better when you do. [1:10:27] Justin: I. [1:10:27] Chad: You know I am. I do. Like. [1:10:29] Justin: Yeah, okay, that's a good point. For everything but toast, I'm a nope. [1:10:38] Sheri Fitts: Well, yeah, it's dry or otherwise. Yeah, you try to do it in a sandwich. Don't try to flip it around the opposite way and hide it from me. [1:10:45] Justin: Can't do it. [1:10:45] Sheri Fitts: I don't like that part. [1:10:46] JD: I'm not against it on a sandwich. I. I want to be totally honest again. I'm not making this up. There's many times when I'll be making a sandwich and I'm a big sandwich guy. I like sandwiches. And I will say to myself, I'm going to use the butt and I will use it even though there's other slices still in there. I will. [1:11:06] Mark: Do you go JD butt to butt, huh? [1:11:10] JD: Never. Never, Never. But I will now. [1:11:13] Mark: No problem. [1:11:14] JD: I will now. [1:11:15] Mark: I will now not go butt to butt. If you're making a sandwich. [1:11:19] JD: I will now. Wait, no, you don't go butts in though. You go butts out, right? Like a nice little P.E. or what? [1:11:25] Mark: Yeah, yeah. [1:11:26] JD: Okay. Oh, yeah. [1:11:27] Sheri Fitts: Okay. [1:11:28] Mark: Yeah, yeah. [1:11:29] Sheri Fitts: Okay. [1:11:29] JD: Last one is stop saying odd on Sirius xm. And I think I'm gonna drink for that. [1:11:41] Chad: I don't know. [1:11:44] Justin: Do it anyways. [1:11:45] JD: There is a 24.7Taylor Swift channel. [1:11:49] Mark: We've done this before. [1:11:51] JD: Well, I just want to say it's dope. Okay, let's do chap our champion, shall we? And we're gonna do it old school way extended module finalists and the audience themselves are going to pick the winner. And I want everyone to know Brandon and I have are kicking around some phenomenal ideas for the. The winner this season. Okay. Like really cool. And they will far exceed. Like, I'll drink for this. FINRA's like rules in terms of what you could get if you're. If a financial advisor wins. But Brandon is such a smart guy. We actually have a workaround to that. Well, you can still get this very expensive prize and not violate any of your. Your rules that you need to follow. So everyone needs to really Gun for this. This thing. I can't tell you what it is. We'll reveal it when we get to the end. But here we go. Silent J, your vote for chopper champion. [1:12:50] Justin: I'm going Greg. Tonight. His comment on the boogeyman being a douche. Sherry just really at least sent it home for me. [1:12:59] JD: That's. That's GG Yep. [1:13:02] Justin: Drink for that too. [1:13:04] JD: All right, Brandon, we got great Greenville. Let's just take it down the. Down the road. Chad, you're next. [1:13:11] Chad: Oh, I'm still trying to chew my chips. I've had way too much to drink today. I need some food. I'm still going Rainer. Jennifer's comment on JD Taking his shirt off was arguably my favorite. He said, how am I supposed to clean up my booze? Like, am I gonna wipe it down? She said, JD Take her shirt off. [1:13:30] JD: I didn't see that. That's good. [1:13:31] Chad: I loved it. I loved it a lot. Jennifer's my winner. [1:13:34] JD: You guys can't handle the side of my nipples. It's too sexy. Okay, Sherry, you're next. [1:13:39] Sheri Fitts: I'm gonna go for Webby, because all of a sudden, he turned into, like, an insurance agent in the chat bar. Every time I looked over, he was like, I saved 600. They just paid too. I'm not really quite sure what was [1:13:50] Justin: happening, but he saved 600 by switching his insurance to Geico. [1:13:54] Sheri Fitts: Yeah, something like that. [1:13:55] JD: So, yeah, I need insurance now. I'm losing my insurance in California on my house. I gotta find new insurance. People are. Insurance companies are bailing out a rich person's home. Huh? [1:14:06] Justin: That's what happens when you have a rich person's home. [1:14:08] JD: Yeah. Well, you know what we're gonna talk about next time? The new toilets. I bought this last weekend. [1:14:15] Justin: Oh, they got the bidets in them, don't they? [1:14:17] JD: I just spent some money on some toilets, people. It's gonna blow your mind. Okay, my vote. [1:14:23] Chad: I'm trying to play rent. [1:14:24] JD: JD My vote is for Katie. Is Katie still here? Katie Boyer. Because we had like minds a few times during the chat bar where she said the thing I wanted to say, and so I didn't say it. And then one time I said something, and she said the same thing I said, and so I felt like we were best friends. So I'm voting for her. You're up, Roby. [1:14:49] Mark: So my vote right off the bat was for Nate Moody. But then he's starting to butter me up in the chat bar, and I was. I'm not liking it so much, so I don't want him to think that this is, like, Mark me. [1:15:01] JD: Mark, Can I ask you. [1:15:02] Mark: Yeah, yeah. [1:15:04] JD: Don't overlook, like, the Hacklers and the Samsons. I mean, I did those guys, but. Okay, all right. Those guys. I'm sorry, guys. [1:15:14] Mark: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I didn't say it, but yeah. Okay. [1:15:21] Speaker G: All right. [1:15:21] JD: Brandon. Brandon, I'm putting Samson into the finals. [1:15:26] Mark: Nate Moody. Yeah, I like, I like him today. [1:15:29] JD: Nate Moody's in. [1:15:30] Sheri Fitts: He promised me seafood dinner and then ghosting me, so there's that too. [1:15:35] Chad: Whoa, wait, Moody. [1:15:37] Mark: Moody did that, huh? Yeah, but that's not surprising. He seems like that kind of guy. [1:15:42] JD: Yeah, you just knocked him down a lot in this possibility to win tonight. [1:15:47] Sheri Fitts: Brandon, I was thinking that worked really well. [1:15:49] JD: Okay, Brandon, I would like to add Jim Sampson to the semifinalist list. So we've got Greg Greenfield, we've got blah blah and blah blah blah and blah blah, blah. [1:16:02] Justin: Greg wins. [1:16:03] JD: He knows, huh? No, we're gonna put it out to the. To the chat bar now. They're gonna vote. [1:16:08] Justin: Blah, blah, blah, blah. [1:16:10] JD: Here we go. [1:16:11] Justin: Oh, we got it. [1:16:11] JD: Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. [1:16:14] Mark: I hope this 7 74, 000 people watching vote. [1:16:17] JD: Yeah, I love Erisa. [1:16:20] Chad: Ah, we can't vote. Boring. [1:16:23] Sheri Fitts: I know. [1:16:24] Justin: I was like, as you should, Jennifer. [1:16:26] JD: Do you know how many times you've said that in your. [1:16:29] Chad: Yeah, but sometimes Brandon gives us the opportunity. [1:16:33] JD: Nate Moody, you're not faring well. [1:16:36] Chad: Hey, I might have nominated Jennifer, but I kind of felt like Katie Boyer might have deserved that. [1:16:46] JD: Wow, Is she getting. Is she gonna win just because she was on a flashlight? [1:16:52] Justin: Devin says [1:16:55] Chad: no, I, I. Hey, you didn't send us an agenda for tonight, so I had no idea she was gonna be on. She had my vote for the shirt off comment. Okay, well, before you mentioned she was coming. [1:17:05] JD: Share the results. The winner is Jennifer Rayner. Jennifer Rayner, you get a thousand points in the chat bar. [1:17:12] Mark: Nate Mooney got no vote. [1:17:21] Chad: Wow. [1:17:22] Mark: Swinging a miss. [1:17:25] JD: Chad, what was your final score today? [1:17:28] Chad: I shot a 75. [1:17:31] JD: 75. [1:17:31] Speaker G: And that. [1:17:32] JD: That's straight up what you shot like that is. [1:17:35] Chad: Yeah, that was. I, I want. I got into the horse race net 2 under because I'm a 6 handicap. I shot a 75, and then I failed on the third hole of the horse race to continue my endeavor. That's why Mark and I are here. [1:17:50] JD: Can we self. Can we self pat ourselves on the back? Sherry's gonna be so annoyed by this, but tell me, like, we didn't play some pretty good golf in the plan design consultants Sales team challenge. [1:18:03] Justin: Dude, we did had a freaking eagle. Missed the second one by, like two inches. [1:18:07] Chad: Yeah. Inches. Yeah. Devin almost went back to back Eagles. [1:18:10] Mark: You still lost twice. [1:18:13] Justin: Okay. [1:18:15] JD: Hey, Jennifer Raynor backs up her championship with you need slip on golf shoes. Okay. Thank you, Sherry Fitz, for joining us. And to be totally honest, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for you. Being you and all the energy and the good vibes that you put into our industry. I think people are really starting to realize, like, okay, Sherry Fitz is the. And that's based on all the hard work that you've done over the years and. Oh, well, not just hard work. Just starting to realize who you. [1:18:51] Mark: That's. I feel like that was. [1:18:52] Justin: People have always known that. [1:18:53] JD: No, no, when I say starting to realize, I mean, like. Like, oh, she's like, I'll drink for this. But, like, she's a goat. She's like the goat now. [1:19:02] Chad: Like, I said it earlier. [1:19:03] JD: Yeah. [1:19:04] Chad: And I. I will say that. Jd, Sherry, you have been relevant for a long time. You really have. You've been incredible to so many practices. You are the goat. [1:19:15] JD: You're. [1:19:15] Chad: You've earned that recognition that people look to you for what is next, and you continue to deliver. [1:19:22] Mark: Can we always say, too, that there. There would be no retireaholics without Sherry Fitz? Like, that's okay. [1:19:30] JD: That's pushing you now. You're. [1:19:33] Mark: You're no Janie. You're in idiot if you believe what you just said. Come on. [1:19:37] JD: Did you know I was gonna succeed with or without her? [1:19:42] Sheri Fitts: You. But, you guys, I put it in my post. And it's very true [1:19:47] JD: that once you start throwing compliments. [1:19:50] Sheri Fitts: I know. But you do something that not very many people can make happen and that you create community. And we didn't get to talk about the trends in marketing and whatever, but I believe that the trends in marketing is already kind of showing up already. Is that it's not necessarily just to get people to buy something, but people to kind of come together for something. And that's community. And you guys do that all the time. [1:20:12] JD: And. Hackler. Right back at you and everyone here. I don't want to leave anyone out by not saying it, but the. The community goes both ways. Like, it's awesome for us to have y' all as part of our community and see you on these Thursday nights and see you at times in person. And like, I've told everyone, stay tuned for 2025. Looks like I just booked Hawaii for us boys. We're gonna do the conference in November. [1:20:40] Justin: We're Gonna go big this November. [1:20:42] Sheri Fitts: Nice. [1:20:42] Speaker G: No, next November. [1:20:44] JD: We're off this year. We're off this year. [1:20:46] Mark: We're back. [1:20:47] JD: We're off. [1:20:48] Mark: We're so back, man. [1:20:50] JD: Lots are barking. So it's a good time to end it. Sherry, thank you so much. Like I said for you being here. You guys do thank you to the chat bar which we just talked about. We love you guys. You had us at hello. And I would Netflix and chill with you any day of the week. Thank you to Justin, thank you to Chad, thank you to Roby and your shaking no head and your bullshit fill in robe. And Brandon. Thank you to Brandon in production. [1:21:20] Sheri Fitts: Hello. [1:21:21] JD: One last thing. I played golf with a dude two weeks ago or a week ago, I can't remember. And he said, hey, I tuned into your show for the first time. Yes, people still tune in for the first time. And he goes, wow, the production that's happening, the. The memes, the. The logos, the videos, the things like, holy. Like, what's happening there? And I'm like, that's my brother. That's our producer. Yeah, you're right. He's a big part of our show. And so thanks to Brian. [1:21:49] Chad: Thank you, B. [1:21:51] JD: Thank you. All right, all right, Real quick. [1:21:53] Justin: Before you end it, it has come up multiple times. [1:21:55] Chad: I love serum. [1:21:59] Justin: Every time I try to talk. [1:22:01] JD: Go, Jess, go. [1:22:02] Justin: Retireaholics. [1:22:03] JD: Poker attorney. [1:22:05] Justin: I think it's. [1:22:05] JD: Yeah, something man like that. [1:22:08] Chad: Yeah. It's gotta be at an event. [1:22:12] Justin: It's gotta be. It's gotta be. [1:22:15] JD: This too virtual. Oh, interesting. [1:22:18] Justin: Okay, thanks for picking up on what that meant. [1:22:20] Chad: I hadn't thought about that. [1:22:24] JD: Rip to Willie Mays. [1:22:27] Mark: Oh, and coach and. [1:22:29] Justin: And. And Donald Sutherland. [1:22:32] JD: Oh, really? [1:22:33] Justin: What, today? Today? [1:22:34] Chad: Really? [1:22:35] Sheri Fitts: Oh, damn. [1:22:38] JD: We still got Bowie. We still got Bowie. All right, Brandon, play some music. [1:22:43] Sheri Fitts: Happy Solstice, [1:22:54] JD: Grubby. I forgot.