Podcasts about Rila

This week on the BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire and Berkshire podcast... You might know him from Oxford's Cowley Road.. you might know him from Game of Thrones! Dave's joined by musican and actor Toby Sebastian to hear about his new album 'Eyes Light Up'.. and he plays the title track live in session, watch that on BBC Sounds here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0l3pjwrPlus, Alex takes you behind the scenes at the annual BBC Introducing Maida Vale away day - including a live track from Fiona-Lee... and there's all the latest new music from Oxfordshire and Berkshire.Here's this week's tracklist: • Rila's Edge - Undone Rubberband Girl - Love On The Vine Tom Webber - Taurus CLUCAS - Delphic PLAIINS - Happy Faces Martha and the Fairy - You're What I Want To Be Cactus Parachute - Graduate crysometimes - Harry Junk Whale - Bleeding Out Impression - Can't Let You Down (feat. Stunna) (Jimmy Knees Remix) Spidarfreak - SUPERNOVA Nicole Silva - Guestlist Tom Seth Johnson - Runaway Girl Cizzzla - Let Your Body Go Anton Barbeau - Dig The Light Gene Barton - Live a Little Toby Sebastian - Let's Pretend Toby Sebastian - Eyes Light Up (live acoustic session) Oliver Green - Slow Down (feat. Maxine) Forlorn - The Wailing Oscar Scannell - My Personal Ideology Hyphen - This might be it Fiona-Lee - Nothing Compares to Nineteen [Live at BBC Maida Vale] Mor Dwfn & Ben Undefined - Musique Life Underground - Get Up! • If you're making music in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, send us your tunes with the BBC Introducing Uploader: https://www.bbc.co.uk/introducing/uploader

Semana de muito trabalho, muitas conquistas e também muitas bebedeiras. Na verdade foram só duas, mas deu para a semana inteira. Fica também aqui um desabafo deste que tanto vos quer, para ver se os dias se tornam melhores para a nossa espécie. Até pra semana.Espetáculo Daniel Sloss "X" - https://danielsloss.com/streaming/ Links homeopáticos -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/joaonunogoncalo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sem preciosas perguntas

Diverse et contrastée, Sofia mélange vestiges de l'ère communiste et coins pittoresques. Marion évoque une ville qui surprend par son caractère coloré et culturel, avec des musées variés allant du musée d'histoire naturelle aux plus insolites comme celui des illusions. En famille, ils ont également randonné aux alentours, tirant parti de la proximité de la montagne, pour respirer l'air frais et découvrir la nature environnante.Pour écouter l'épisode en entierRoad trip en famille en BulgarieHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Our guest on this week's episode is Dr. Robert Sroufe, professor of sustainability at the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Supply chains are among the largest users of our world's energy. Yet our industry is one of the most advanced in advocating for sustainability. But as political winds shift dramatically in Washington, many environmental policies may be on the chopping block. Where do our industry's efforts lie going forward? Our guest has some insights and suggestions to better our supply chains while reducing their negative impacts on the environment.The White House termed Wednesday as Liberation Day – the day the administration announced all of the new tariffs. But it seems that supply chain leaders are feeling more shackled than liberated by the tariffs. We report on what leading supply chain groups, researchers, and economists are saying about how the tariffs will affect supply chain operations and world trade.This week the March Logistics Managers' Index report emphasized all the volatility we've been observing in the economy. Economic activity in logistics expanded in March, but at a much slower rate compared to the first two months of the year. We look at the numbers and what trends they may reveal about the health of our supply chain industry.Supply Chain Xchange  also offers a podcast series called Supply Chain in the Fast Lane.  It is co-produced with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. All episodes are available to stream now. Go to your favorite podcast platform to subscribe and to listen to past and future episodes. The podcast is also available at www.thescxchange.com.Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:Falk School of Sustainability & Environment, Chatham University in PittsburghMarket analysts say Trump tariffs spark economic risksLogistics industry growth slowed in MarchVisit Supply Chain XchangeListen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Xchange's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcastSend feedback about this podcast to podcast@agilebme.comPodcast is sponsored by: ID LabelOther linksAbout DC VELOCITYSubscribe to DC VELOCITYSign up for our FREE newslettersAdvertise with DC VELOCITY

Aujourd'hui, on part à la découverte de la Bulgarie avec Marion et sa famille, une tribu aussi cosmopolite qu'aventurière ! Maman est franco-autrichienne, Papa, Turc-Autrichien, ils vivent à Barcelone avec leurs deux enfants, Thais, 7 ans, et Louis, 6 ans. et ont déjà à leur actif, un tour du monde et de nombreuses escapades.Vous allez voir, la Bulgarie, ce ne sont pas seulement les plages de la mer Noire. Ce sont aussi des montagnes majestueuses, des villes historiques pleines de charme et une nature préservée. Marion nous emmène à la découverte de la belle Sofia, du monastère de Rila, des 7 lacs, des vestiges romains de Plovdiv, des bains de boue au lac d'Atanasovsko et du monument de Choumen qui ressemble à un Transformers ! oui, oui.Et le plus beau dans tout ça ? C'est l'accueil chaleureux des Bulgares qui a totalement conquis les enfants. C'est d'ailleurs pour cela qu'ils y sont retournés 2 ans après.Alors, si vous cherchez une destination loin des sentiers battus, entre randonnée, culture et un peu de plage quand même, je vous invite à écouter attentivement cet épisode.Allez, c'est parti pour le carnet de voyage de Marion en Bulgarie.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Stefanie Hoover chats with Khris Hamlin about the specifics on what to expect at the RILA AP conference this year. It's in Washington, DC, from April 27-30, a great location! Khris shares a real "catch" that RILA has pulled off for this RAP. The theme is Defining a Shared Tomorrow; based on the session topics and speakers, retailers should feel supported and have tons of new resources after this conference. We also heard from Khris about his theory for working the Expo and other inside scoops. Don't miss it!

Christine Russo, host and creator of What Just Happened, sits down with Evan Armstrong of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) to discuss the organization's role in shaping retail policy. Evan explains that RILA represents the country's largest and most innovative retailers, focusing on public policy, advocacy, and industry events. He highlights key legislative issues affecting the retail sector, including tariffs, trade policy, and workforce regulations, noting how RILA works proactively to support its members in navigating these challenges.The conversation delves into the evolving landscape of workforce policy, particularly in the wake of shifting government regulations. Armstrong discusses RILA's commitment to advocating for policies that support flexibility and career growth within the retail industry. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a broad and diverse talent pool, touching on initiatives such as tuition assistance, leadership development, and skilled trades programs. He also addresses concerns around AI in the workplace, explaining that while technological disruption is inevitable, it also presents opportunities for efficiency and innovation.Russo and Armstrong also explore broader industry concerns, including retail crime, regulatory challenges, and the impact of emerging players like TikTok Shop and Temu. Evan clarifies the distinction between RILA and the National Retail Federation (NRF), explaining that RILA exclusively represents the largest retailers with aligned policy priorities. He underscores RILA's role as a serious policy player, maintaining bipartisan engagement to ensure retail leaders have a voice in Washington. The discussion concludes with an invitation to keep an eye on RILA's events, research, and ongoing advocacy efforts shaping the future of retail.

TalkLP Podcast host Amber Bradley welcomes Khris Hamlin to the podcast as RILA's Vice President of Asset Protection. Amber and Khris chat about the difference between association vs. retailer life.  They also dive into the Vibrant Communities Initiative (VCI) and how it is tapping into the power of collaboration – bringing together prosecutors, law enforcement, retailers, and tech to find real solutions for tackling organized retail crime, fraud, and theft plaguing the retail industry. Plus, he is gearing up for the RILA Retail Asset Protection Conference (April 27-30). He even drops some nuggets on CAN'T MISS workshops and sessions. Hint: don't leave early and miss what's in store Wednesday! Listen Now! Connect with Khris here and check out the RILA conference to sign up today.

„Nik nie je nastavený na to, aby bojoval a zabíjal iných. To sú nenormálne veci“, rozpráva Anna Mária Romančuk, „dieťa revolúcie“, ako si hovorí. Od začiatku Putinovej vojny organizuje pomoc jej obetiam. V civile je profesionálka krízovej komunikácie. Stojí na čele komunikačného oddelenia jednej z ukrajinských bánk. Organizuje zbierky na vojenské drony, psychologickú pomoc vojnovým invalidom a bola aj v misii na pomoc ženám, ktoré si prešli peklom Irpine a Buče.„Ony vôbec nerozprávali“, reaguje. A len pohybom a v zamyslení mi ukazuje, že sa v podstate s pohľadom, z ktorého sa vytratil život, knísali v tichosti spredu dozadu. „Boli mimo života. Boli živými mŕtvolami“.Približne milión mŕtvych a zranených, nepočítajúc civilné obete. K tomu milióny tých, ktorí museli pre vojnu opustiť domovy či krajinu. Ale aj zničené mestá, dediny, alebo pogromy po ktorých zostali masové hroby v Buči, Irpiňi či Iziume. Doterajšia bilancia Putinovej agresie proti Ukrajine z februára 2022. Práve dnes prekračuje horizont troch rokov. A hoci sa rozbehol kolos mierových rokovaní, Donald Trump paradoxne smerom k napadnutej krajine vyslovil to: „Ukrajina túto vojnu nemala začať“. Jeho emisári pritom začali rokovania s emisármi Putina, od ktorých zas vyvstala aj veta, že „Zelenskyj by si zaslúžil po prstoch“. Ide o slová šéfa Putinovej diplomacie Sergeja Lavrova. Ako sa na to pozerajú samotní Ukrajinci, ktorí vojnu zažívajú na vlastnej koži? Pozrieme sa na to s Annou Máriou Romančuk, ktorá organizuje pomoc napadnutej vlasti. Keď zbraň nahradí aj sekera„Tá vojna sa pre Ukrajincov začala už v roku 2014“, podotýka Anna Mária. „My dobrovoľníci sme to už poznali a vedeli sme preto, že útok príde. Do poslednej chvíle sme však tomu nechceli uveriť“, pokračuje. 24. februára 2022 ju útok zastihol doma vo Ľvove. „Prepuklo to o tretej ráno. Začala som sa baliť. No nie preto, aby som utekala, ale aby som mohla ísť do boja, brániť svoju vlasť“, rozpráva.Nakoľko nemala doma žiadnu zbraň a pociťovala silnú potrebu mať niečo poruke na svoju ochranu, našla ju v sekere.„So známymi sme si volali, že čo ideme robiť, ako sa máme chrániť. Že ideme bojovať“, rozpráva Anna Mária, ktorá je v civilnom živote šéfkou komunikácie v jednej z ukrajinských bánk. Spočiatku našla svoje miesto v organizovaní pomoci. „Z domu, v ktorom žijem, sa stal štáb. Rozhodovali sme tam, ako ďalej. Organizovali sme pochôdzky mestom, informačné kampane na zhromažďovanie finančnej pomoci“, rozpráva Anna Mária. Hovorí pritom, že každý si vybral svoj „front“, na ktorom bojoval. „Bolo to čudné. Ako by sme na tu chvíľu celý život čakali. Som totiž z generácie, ktorá svoje dospievanie prežila akoby v jednej veľkej revolúcii. Som ročník 1981 a hovoríme si Deti revolúcie“, vysvetľuje.Frontová línia – nechce sa ti veriť, čo vidíšKrvavú tvár vojny zažila aj v tesnej blízkosti frontu. Chodila dobrovoľníčiť do Charkova, kam doručovala zásoby munície. Urobila si aj kurz, aby mohla pomáhať pri odmiňovaní. „Celé mi to prijde ako vo filme. Ten s Melom Gibsonom - Statočné srdce. On tam kričal to „freedom“. Prídeš a nechce sa ti veriť, čo vidíš. Umierajúcich ľudí. Explózie riadených striel...A potom ti rozprávajú, že vojny vlastne niet“, hovorí o paradoxoch konfliktu. „Normálny človek tomu uveriť nemôže“, dodáva. „Keď si tam, funguješ ako robot. Nemôžeš dať najavo emócie. Nemôž plakať, rozprávať. Nemôžeš sa na to pozerať ako človek“, opisuje. Vtedy sa podľa Anny Márie počíta len chladná akcia, na konci ktorej je pomoc. Či už raneným, alebo zasiahnutým hrôzami vojny. „City tam musíš jednoducho vypnúť, lebo inak si neporadíš, neprežiješ“,...

„Nik nie je nastavený na to, aby bojoval a zabíjal iných. To sú nenormálne veci“, rozpráva Anna Mária Romančuk, „dieťa revolúcie“, ako si hovorí. Od začiatku Putinovej vojny organizuje pomoc jej obetiam. V civile je profesionálka krízovej komunikácie. Stojí na čele komunikačného oddelenia jednej z ukrajinských bánk. Organizuje zbierky na vojenské drony, psychologickú pomoc vojnovým invalidom a bola aj v misii na pomoc ženám, ktoré si prešli peklom Irpine a Buče.„Ony vôbec nerozprávali“, reaguje. A len pohybom a v zamyslení mi ukazuje, že sa v podstate s pohľadom, z ktorého sa vytratil život, knísali v tichosti spredu dozadu. „Boli mimo života. Boli živými mŕtvolami“.Približne milión mŕtvych a zranených, nepočítajúc civilné obete. K tomu milióny tých, ktorí museli pre vojnu opustiť domovy či krajinu. Ale aj zničené mestá, dediny, alebo pogromy po ktorých zostali masové hroby v Buči, Irpiňi či Iziume. Doterajšia bilancia Putinovej agresie proti Ukrajine z februára 2022. Práve dnes prekračuje horizont troch rokov. A hoci sa rozbehol kolos mierových rokovaní, Donald Trump paradoxne smerom k napadnutej krajine vyslovil to: „Ukrajina túto vojnu nemala začať“. Jeho emisári pritom začali rokovania s emisármi Putina, od ktorých zas vyvstala aj veta, že „Zelenskyj by si zaslúžil po prstoch“. Ide o slová šéfa Putinovej diplomacie Sergeja Lavrova. Ako sa na to pozerajú samotní Ukrajinci, ktorí vojnu zažívajú na vlastnej koži? Pozrieme sa na to s Annou Máriou Romančuk, ktorá organizuje pomoc napadnutej vlasti. Keď zbraň nahradí aj sekera„Tá vojna sa pre Ukrajincov začala už v roku 2014“, podotýka Anna Mária. „My dobrovoľníci sme to už poznali a vedeli sme preto, že útok príde. Do poslednej chvíle sme však tomu nechceli uveriť“, pokračuje. 24. februára 2022 ju útok zastihol doma vo Ľvove. „Prepuklo to o tretej ráno. Začala som sa baliť. No nie preto, aby som utekala, ale aby som mohla ísť do boja, brániť svoju vlasť“, rozpráva.Nakoľko nemala doma žiadnu zbraň a pociťovala silnú potrebu mať niečo poruke na svoju ochranu, našla ju v sekere.„So známymi sme si volali, že čo ideme robiť, ako sa máme chrániť. Že ideme bojovať“, rozpráva Anna Mária, ktorá je v civilnom živote šéfkou komunikácie v jednej z ukrajinských bánk. Spočiatku našla svoje miesto v organizovaní pomoci. „Z domu, v ktorom žijem, sa stal štáb. Rozhodovali sme tam, ako ďalej. Organizovali sme pochôdzky mestom, informačné kampane na zhromažďovanie finančnej pomoci“, rozpráva Anna Mária. Hovorí pritom, že každý si vybral svoj „front“, na ktorom bojoval. „Bolo to čudné. Ako by sme na tu chvíľu celý život čakali. Som totiž z generácie, ktorá svoje dospievanie prežila akoby v jednej veľkej revolúcii. Som ročník 1981 a hovoríme si Deti revolúcie“, vysvetľuje.Frontová línia – nechce sa ti veriť, čo vidíšKrvavú tvár vojny zažila aj v tesnej blízkosti frontu. Chodila dobrovoľníčiť do Charkova, kam doručovala zásoby munície. Urobila si aj kurz, aby mohla pomáhať pri odmiňovaní. „Celé mi to prijde ako vo filme. Ten s Melom Gibsonom - Statočné srdce. On tam kričal to „freedom“. Prídeš a nechce sa ti veriť, čo vidíš. Umierajúcich ľudí. Explózie riadených striel...A potom ti rozprávajú, že vojny vlastne niet“, hovorí o paradoxoch konfliktu. „Normálny človek tomu uveriť nemôže“, dodáva. „Keď si tam, funguješ ako robot. Nemôžeš dať najavo emócie. Nemôž plakať, rozprávať. Nemôžeš sa na to pozerať ako človek“, opisuje. Vtedy sa podľa Anny Márie počíta len chladná akcia, na konci ktorej je pomoc. Či už raneným, alebo zasiahnutým hrôzami vojny. „City tam musíš jednoducho vypnúť, lebo inak si neporadíš,...

"Saint Peter was a humble, devout and peace-loving man, unlike his father, Tsar Symeon the Warrior (d. 927), during whose reign there had been perpetual warfare. By contrast, Peter's long reign was peaceful, and notable for the restoration of good relations with Byzantium and with the West. Peter married Maria, the grand-daughter of the Emperor Romanus Lecapenus, who recognized him as basileus (tsar or king), and he obtained independence from Constantinople for the Bulgarian Church with its own Patriarch. He had a great love for Saint John of Rila (19 Oct.), whom he would often consult, and he kept in touch with renowned ascetics of the time like Saint Paul of Latros (15 Dec.). The King acted energetically against the Bogomil heresy, an offshoot of Manicheism, by which some of his people, lacking sufficient instruction in the faith, were being misled. He called a council in order to condemn the heresy and reassert Christian principles. Nevertheless, the infection was to remain active for many years in Bulgaria. Following the invasion of the north of his Kingdom by Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev in 969, Peter abdicated and became a monk. He died in the following year, having consecrated his final days to God alone." (Synaxarion)   A note on the Bogomils: The Bogomils flourished in the Eastern Europe as an organized church from the 10th to the 15th century. In theology they were dualistic, incorporating some Manichean and Gnostic ideas from the Paulicians. They were nationalistic and gained much support through their opposition to Byzantine dominance over the Slavic peoples. They disappeared as an organized body around the fifteenth century, but elements of their beliefs persisted in popular thinking for many centuries afterward.

Kilravock - Incompatibility ][ Working Class HeroKata Hay - Western WitchAntonio Liranzo – Body Heat Blindness & Light – Mersey Bell Mad Nad Bo – Hello, My Old Friend rainer ild - out of touchColm Warren - Thinking Of YouBobby Helms feat. Sonith – Jingle Bell Rock (English – French Version)Jess Yaffa - Just For One NightTristan Roberson - Girl A.D.D'nAlternative Influence - Come On In & Join The Party!Lorna Reid - Sweet Baby BluesFelece Tillman - Just When i Thought Felece Tillman - I Can't Forget Dj Phill - Close your eyesAlex Banelli – Ho bisogno di teGina Palmieri – VivereZoresia – Come Bruce LeeS. A Vents -IslandAl Shalliker - Six White Horses Larusta & The Dead Dogs - King of Your Fall (Album Mix) Boris van der Ham - Year's End MODNA – GIRO VERTICALE Bobby Helms feat. Swanee – Jingle Bell Rock (English Version)Christine Clifford – You Cant Say Flowtek and Azagaia - Block QueenRich Chambers – Cherry Cherry Simply Noise – AnybodyBabsi Cute – Tell Me I Love You Caro – c u around INGER - UpSean T MacLeod – Light Up The SunSkyCall – Are You Ready Now? Rila's Edge - Pimlico RoadGabriel Contè - Christmas shop

Martyrs - The View From A Memorial Bench Antonio Liranzo – Body Heat Blindness & Light – Mersey Bell Abby London - Stay HolyMike Rimbaud - We're All Living in the Upside DownMad Nad Bo – Hello, My Old Friend rainer ild - out of touchColm Warren - Thinking Of YouBobby Helms feat. Sonith – Jingle Bell Rock (English – French Version)Jess Yaffa - Just For One NightTristan Roberson - Girl A.D.D'nAlternative Influence – Come On In & Join the Party!Lorna Reid – Sweet Baby BluesFelece Tillman - Just When i Thought Felece Tillman - I Can't Forget Dj Phill - Close your eyesAlex Banelli – Ho bisogno di teGina Palmieri – VivereZoresia – Come Bruce LeeS.A. Vents -IslandAl Shalliker - Six White Horses Larusta & The Dead Dogs - King of Your Fall (Album Mix) Boris van der Ham - Year's End MODNA – GIRO VERTICALE Bobby Helms feat. Swanee – Jingle Bell Rock (English Version)Christine Clifford – You Cant Say Flowtek and Azagaia - Block QueenRich Chambers – Cherry Cherry Simply Noise – AnybodyBabsi Cute – Tell Me I Love You Caro – c u around INGER - UpSean T MacLeod – Light Up The SunSkyCall – Are You Ready Now? Rila's Edge - Pimlico Road

Join us as we bring you another amazing guest for our #SLGMeetup! This is Ben Bacal, founder of Revel Real Estate and one of the top real estate agents in the world, with over $4 billion in sales. Ben is also the visionary behind Rila, the innovative platform known as the "Instagram of Real Estate."

Monitoring and maintaining an entire rail network can be costly, slow and, for those working on the track, very dangerous. Specialised trains were developed that could be mounted with sensors for collecting data on track gauging and track condition, however these couldn't be mounted together. In this episode we look into the development of RILA... The post #303 Engineering Matters Awards: Fugro RILA – Health & Safety Champion first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Christine Benz is the director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar. Her new book, "How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement," explores the financial and softer emotional side of retirement.Christine talks about retirement portfolio planning and different income styles for the decumulation phase, the need to think of retirement as a series of stages and not as a hard stop, and how financial professionals can incorporate purpose and values into their conversations with clients.Go to the Morningstar website to learn more about Christine's book See more retirement risk management insights from Allianz ... Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guests or their companies. Any links to the podcast guest's website are being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Annuities can help you meet your long-term retirement goals by offering tax-deferred growth potential, a death benefit during the accumulation phase, and a guaranteed stream of income at retirement.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Dr. Joelle Saad-Lessler is an Industry Professor and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Business at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey. With a specialty in the economics of retirement, she's researched the American retirement savings system and the shortfall in American workers' savings.Dr. Saad-Lessler talks about why Gen Xers are falling behind on retirement readiness, how their situation differs from boomers and millennials, and what financial professionals can do to help them make up the difference.Go to Saad-Lessler's academic profile page See more retirement risk management insights from Allianz...Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guests or their companies. Any links to the podcast guest's website are being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Annuities can help you meet your long-term retirement goals by offering tax-deferred growth potential, a death benefit during the accumulation phase, and a guaranteed stream of income at retirement.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Robert Powell, CFP®, is an award-winning financial journalist whose work appears regularly in USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, and MarketWatch. He is the editor and publisher of TheStreet.com's Retirement Daily and serves as editor-in-chief of the Investments and Wealth Institute's (IWI) Retirement Management Journal.Robert talks about the crisis facing tomorrow's retirees, who aren't preparing well enough to maintain their pre-retirement lifestyle; the ways that financial professionals can help; how an “elder plan” differs from a retirement plan; and why he has “the most depressing job in America.”See Robert on MarketwatchGo to Decoding Retirement podcastSee more retirement risk management insights from Allianz...Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guests or their companies. Any links to the podcast guest's website are being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Annuities can help you meet your long-term retirement goals by offering tax-deferred growth potential, a death benefit during the accumulation phase, and a guaranteed stream of income at retirement.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Po návšteve jedného z najobávanejších členov gangu sátorovcov Kristiána Kádára v leopoldovskej väznici sa reportér Ivan Mego stretol s týmto mužom opäť. Tentokrát bol v obkľúčení piatich ozbrojených kukláčov, ruky aj nohy mal v putách pripevnených reťazou o kožený opasok. Bolo to v utorok 5. novembra 2024, teda len pred pár dňami, na Okresnom súde v Trnave. V relácii V TERÉNE s Ivanom Megom sa dozvieš, ako Kristián Kádár reagoval na Ivana Mega potom, ako v predošlej relácii vyrozprával detaily z návštevy za múrmi väznice v Leopoldove, kde si Kádár odpykáva 25 rokov väzenia. Pre viac videí z kriminálneho a politického prostredia sleduj ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Na Stope s Ivanom Megom.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Professor Philip Schofield sits down with Dr Luciano Rila, from the Department of Maths, to delve into the history of the UK's first university-affiliated Gaysoc, founded by Jamie Gardiner in 1972, at UCL. Dr Rila discovered archival materials in UCL's Special Collections revealing that though the society was initially met with backlash, UCL's liberal tradition prevailed, and the movement gained momentum, slowly leading to nationwide improvements in the lives of queer students. Host: Professor Philip Schofield (Director of the Bentham Project, UCL) Guest: Dr Luciano Rila (Department of Mathematics, UCL) Commissioners: Professor David Docherty OBE & Dr Paul Ayris (Pro-Vice-Provost LCCOS: Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science, UCL) Director: Justin Hardy (IOE - Culture, Communication & Media, UCL) Producer: Stevie Doran Date: 4 November 2024 Duration: 25:22

"I've heard a lot of friends talking about RILAs. Can you explain what they are and how I would know if I need one?" We're answering YOUR questions on this week's Get Ready For The Future Show!  I was planning to retire at the end of the year but lost my husband unexpectedly. Can I still retire? What advice would you give someone wanting to enter the financial planning industry? Does cashing out an Inherited IRA count as income against my Roth IRA income limits?  And if you've got a question you want answered on the show, call or text 501.381.5228! Or email your question to show@getreadyforthefuture.com! Originally aired 9/18/2024

Join Auror leaders from the North American customer team as they discuss the latest insights in loss prevention and law enforcement. As industry advocates with deep experience in LP and law enforcement themselves, they'll dive into the trends and themes they're observing at events and in customer conversations. In this episode, you'll learn about: The challenges and opportunities the retail industry faced in 2024 How Auror's network effect is helping retailers identify and respond to repeat offenders more effectively What the future of retail crime prevention looks like with Auror's next-gen initiatives Jump into the conversation: (00:00) An introduction to the Auror team (03:00) Recent trade shows and Auror's growing presence (04:34) How license plate recognition aids law enforcement  (09:18) Solving organized retail crime through cross-collaboration (13:37) Empowering customers to combat retail crime through data (17:42) Inside Auror's next-gen room at RILA (21:54) The ease of voice-to-text reporting 

On this episode of The Transfix Take On, Jessica Dankert, Vice President of Supply Chain at the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), explores the dynamic intersection of supply chain sustainability, member collaboration, and key trends in the retail space. Jessica tackles into various topics, including retail resilience, consumer behavior shifts, cargo theft, and fraud risk mitigation. She highlights the evolving relationship between shippers and carrier partners and examines the challenges and opportunities in sustainable transportation. Jessica also discusses the impact of stores as nodes on logistics, the customer-centric evolution of the supply chain, the role of data in forecasting and sustainability, and how the retail industry adapts to navigate these challenges. -- Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Transfix, Inc. or any parent companies or affiliates or the companies with which the participants are affiliated, and may have been previously disseminated by them. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are based upon information considered reliable, but neither Transfix, Inc. nor its affiliates, nor the companies with which such participants are affiliated, warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. All such views and opinions are subject to change.

© JPS Archives

This week on the BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire and Berkshire podcast, Dave catches up with Self Help to hear about their excellent upcoming album 'Enrage Engage', and they play the new single 'I Want You All to Myself' live in session - watch that here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0j494dpPlus, Hannah finds out what's next for The Bobo as she releases her upcoming single Too Sad, and there's a big surprise for South Arcade... who will be on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds!Here's this week's tracklist: • Rila's Edge - All In James Walker - As Close As I Can Get Montykeates - PANIC! Saint Boy - Overboard South Arcade - stone cold summer OneDa - Set It Off The Bobo - Too Sad Zerowe - It's Easy When the Lights Go Out BarrelHaus - G.A.D Frannie B - game over Ailsa Scott - Pretend Anduna J - Stand Again P.S. Finn - Rear Wheel Drive Defences - Gold In The Dark Taylor & Girish - All On You Evan Gilio - Resistance Dub Self Help - Make It Stop Self Help - I Want You All To Myself (live session) Big Zé - Ride Emily Fields - Always Be My Almost Mor Dwfn - Temptation Arimea - From the Bottom Twenty06 - Bad Choice • If you're making music in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, send us your tunes with the BBC Introducing Uploader: https://www.bbc.co.uk/introducing/uploader

Erin is the lead for RILA's ESG and corporate responsibility portfolio, encompassing its Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Sustainability, and Responsible Sourcing Committees, and ESG engagement activities. She organizes educational content and convenes and facilitates benchmarking discussions, resource development, and stakeholder engagement for corporate retail issue leads in each of these areas. Erin has been with RILA since 2012, serving in a variety of roles supporting and leading the association's CSR communities. Erin serves on the International Sustainable Standards Board's (ISSB) Technical Reference Group. Prior to joining RILA, Erin interned for two years with the Progress Energy as their EnergyWise (smart grid) Change Management and Business Processes Intern while finishing her undergraduate degrees. Erin holds Bachelors of Arts in Public Policy with Honors and French from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was the recipient of both the Edward Kidder Graham Chancellor's Award and Michael A. Stegman Award for Policy Research and Advocacy as well as an inductee of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Erin Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: How sustainability was embedded into the work at RILA as a trade association RILA's climate action blueprint for member companies The development of RILAs new tool to help measure scope 3 emissions in collaboration with Optera Engaging members in advocacy for climate related initiatives Erin's Final Five Questions Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?  Invest in being a really good listener. I think that a lot of folks go into sustainability because they have a major passion for it, and they want to help other folks see the world and things as they do. But at the end of the day, the best communicators, the best collaborators are really good listeners, really good empathizers.  What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?  I am probably biased working for a trade association, but I feel like we are entering this era of creative and widespread collaboration. We're recognizing which of these challenges are too big for an individual company to take on on their own, any individual player in the space. So it's some of the projects like the DPED database with Optera, that sort of thing where we're hearing creative ideas, we're seeing them and trying to make sure that we're elevating them and giving them space so that as many companies can collaborate in them as one. So this era of collaboration has been really exciting to see,  What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?  I would say first and foremost to read whatever gives you energy and be creative first and foremost. I think that's a big part of staying sane in this space, and I see reading as an outlet to really relax and again, think creatively. I like reading Sci-Fi.  I will say I think that Alison Taylor's Higher Ground that just came out, I haven't finished it yet, but to the point about being a good communicator, there's such a focus on people and such a focus on trust in that book. I think it gets back to that communicator role and us remembering at the at the end of the day that we're trying to collaborate and work with and understand how others think and feel.  What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?  Two structural frameworks that have helped guide my thinking a lot are some of the pillars around design thinking and systems thinking and that question of how might we that a lot of those leverage. I think it's a really good process for again, empathizing with your user so to speak, your end consumer. What do we really want to get to? Who needs to be involved? Who can we ask? And the value of quick iteration on an idea. It's easy to come up with something that we think is going to fix everything or be a silver bullet, and it's really about being willing to adjust so that it gets to where everyone needs it to be. I also think another one that's been interesting for me to learn more about is that my partner is actually a product manager and I've started to find myself adopting some of his processes around how you set up stakeholder engagement and how you really reflect on a project and break down the needs there. So I think borrowing from those other frameworks that well serve any issue set  that structures your thinking to to empathize, think creatively, but also be something that's pretty intuitive when you read about it, it clicks pretty quickly.  Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at RILA?  I would definitely say to check out our website, as you discovered. I love how much we're able to post publicly because we know it'll be beneficial beyond just the retail industry. So certainly the holistic sustainability ESG content that we have on the site and then on LinkedIn as well. I always like to talk about what we're doing there, and that's certainly my favorite way for connecting with folks.

Evan brings in annuities products where you participate in both the upside and downside of the market. Paul and Evan talk about how bizarre this product seems and allows you to choose how much risk you are willing to take and explain where this product fits with Fixed Income Annuities and Variable Annuities. Evan bemoans the fact that somehow insurance companies have figured out how to add market-timing to an annuity product. Later in the episode, Paul shares a gold advertisement and breaks down the strategies being used in it to make misleading claims about gold performance. For more information about what we do or how we can help you, schedule a 15-minute call with us here: paulwinkler.com/call.

With nearly 4.5 million Americans turning 65 in 2024, advisors are navigating four core risks that will impact their portfolios in retirement: longevity, inflation, volatility, and emotions. We will discuss new research by Dr. Wade Pfau, professor at The American College of Financial Services. He did this research on behalf of Equitable to look at how to improve the efficient frontier, enhance risk-adjusted returns and help advisors – and their clients – make the most of their assets through their retirement.The research looks at the role of a registered index linked annuity (RILA) with lifetime income for a portion of a portfolio and the resulting impact on meeting lifetime spending goals, preserving assets and managing volatility as part of an overall retirement plan.Show ResourcesHere is a link to learn more about Wade, Pete and Equitable's offerings:Equitable's retirement guide: https://equitable.com/financial-professionals/annuities/tool-center?utm_source=rgnov23

15th April 2024 The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast EPISODE 351: Andy McGrath — God is Dead SPONSOR: Tern Bicycles HOST: Carlton Reid GUEST: Andy McGrath LINKS: https://www.the-spokesmen.com/ https://www.ternbicycles.com https://twitter.com/CarltonReid https://twitter.com/Andymcgra https://andydoesart.substack.com https://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Dead-Vandenbroucke-Cyclings-Wasted/dp/0552176044/ TRANSCRIPT Carlton Reid 0:12 Welcome to Episode 351 of the Spokesmen cycling podcast. This show was engineered on Monday, April 15 2024. David Bernstein 0:28 The Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern are committed to building bikes that are useful enough to ride every day and dependable enough to carry the people you love. In other words, they make the kind of bikes that they want to ride. Tern has e-bikes for every type of rider. Whether you're commuting, taking your kids to school or even carrying another adult, visit www.ternbicycles.com. That's t e r n bicycles.com to learn more. Carlton Reid 1:04 I'm Carlton Reid. And today's show is the first of two episodes with bike book authors. Later this week, I'll share the chat I had with potholes and pavement author Laura Laker a book so fresh, it's not even out yet. But today, I talk with William Hill award winning author Andy McGrath about his 2022 book, God is dead biography of Frank Vandenbrouke the wunderkind who died a mysterious death in a grungy African hotel room. Liège–Bastogne–Liège has been staged since 1892, the oldest of cycling's five monument races, and this year's race will be staged at the end of the month, Sunday the 21st to be exact. Now, Andy, it's 25 years since a certain famous victory of that particular race. So tell us about that. Andy McGrath 2:10 This was the edition of Liège–Bastogne–Liège where the great Belgian cycling hope Frank Vandenbrouke seemed to be fulfilling his immense potential. And he did it in his own unique way. He told anyone that would listen in the days for the race, you know, teammates, DS's, rivals and other races and media, where he was going to attack to win the race to make it stick, a bit like Muhammad Ali used to do before his heavyweight fight. And he'd went out for a 20 minute puto, a few days before the age best on the age. And it's covered his teammate saw him come back to the hotel, you know, barely a blink of an eye later. And he told him, that's all all I need, I feel good. I'm going to win lift some of the age. And he was in a state of grace that day, he attacked on by ODU, which sounds different course back then. It finished in an industrial suburb over the age. And the Cordilla. Redo was about oh, at 90k from the finish. And he, he he wrote up in the big room, he tacked up in the big green, which is I could barely walk up it when I was researching the book, which is a astonishing and slightly sinister thing when you really get into that era of cycling. And he was already clearly the best, you know, he he accelerated pass the defending champion makayley Bartley like it was nothing and then he just let the rest catch him up, basically. And he did attack, you know, if we're going to split hairs slightly later than he said he would you know, or maybe earlier actually, I think it was early. And he said he would you know, a few 100 metres earlier. Because Carlton Reid 3:55 Because that's in your book, isn't it? Yeah. It's a very detailed book and you you're knocking on doors, and you give the exact door that he actually did attack on and not the one that you said he's going to attack on? Andy McGrath 4:06 Yeah, the thing is, I actually knocked on the door of the house number he said he would attack which was 256. You know, hoping for some kind of journalistic intrigue and it was a little bit disappointing that I think people that answered the door were very nice, but it was someone looking after their elderly parent and they said they didn't like cycling, they didn't know about it. So so so I was like yeah, that's there's that avenue gone in the book. But no abandoned Brook road away from the last remaining rival Michael Burgard on the court to send Nicola outside the edge and road to victory just like he said he would and you know, a country that was already in thrall to him was an even more rapturous, you know, Eddie Merckx was extremely impressed. You know, the Eddie marks the greatest and that was really, I think it was 24 Back then van of work, and it wasn't so normal for providers to break through in their early 20s, which is what he had done. He was the exception. And it seemed like that, you know, the cycling world was gonna fall to him. You know. During the book research, I kind of ascertained that he could probably have won almost anything apart from a grantor, you know, he was a strong climber, but didn't have the consistency or the or the mentality to do it over three weeks, but everything else was, was fair game. But that was a very brief high point, you know, that was that was paradise. And he was soon into purgatory. And then how, you know, within a year, which kind of summed up his his life and his career trajectory. Carlton Reid 5:41 And, and spoiler alert, the kind of the title of your book tells us that Frank is no longer with us. But you did refer a few moments ago, almost to the fact that this is an EPO era. So he's going up in the big ring, that's kind of Superman stuff that, you know, Nietzsche, God is dead stuff. So clearly he was he was deeping, he kind of admitted he was doping. This is the EPO era. But then what everybody was saying at that time was, well, everybody was doping. So we're all equal. Do you buy into that? Are you if everybody's taken EPO at the time, and he's such a wonderful rider? Let's give him those victories, because everybody was on this stuff. person. Andy McGrath 6:27 I mean, they're all saying at the time, and I was partly what bothered him, you know, 5, 10 years later that he felt that he was being scapegoated. What we know now, is that essentially, you know, let's be the what's the word diplomatic here? Legally, most of the bunch, we're, we're doing it, there's been lots of admissions. Do I think that makes it okay, in a level playing field? No, no, I don't think so. That's too simplistic, you know, that comes down to you know, things like science and natural amount of creates and how much room you have to dope, you know, or to get up to the rudimentary UCI testing limit of 50, which it was back then, you know, which was, like a broken speed Camry on a motorway. It barely stopped cheating. If you are caught over the 50, like, image credit limit you are. I think you were given a small fine, and you couldn't race for two weeks? What kind of, you know, what kind of punishment? Is that really what kind of thing to stop? Anyone from having huge gains, really, that can change, change everything? So no, no, it wasn't fair. Like it's not fair. And there are a fair few riders who were probably in, in the minority who chose to be clean, you know, to ride on bread and water, as they say, who didn't make it who had to take other jobs who. And that was the kind of that's always a sad thing about doping in a way, you know, that. I don't think anyone who's has a positive for doping, who's cheated. When they get into cycling, they don't want to put a needle in their arm or have their blood transfused or whatever kind of ghoulish thing hopefully went on, doesn't go on now. But along the line they get, they get sucked into certain culture and you know, you invest so much time and energy and sacrifice into something you love, and you have to love it. That you realise, well, this is the kind of Faustian deal that many of them thought I had to make that they thought that they didn't do this, they would finish in the last group or second class group and they wouldn't, they wouldn't get the contract renewed. They wouldn't even be close to winning, you know, to fulfilling their childhood dreams. And you have an abrupt turn turn pro in 1994, which was really probably the worst the worst possible year to turn pro maybe in cycling, because EPO was, that was the year that it was about to get ramped, and if it wasn't already ramping. Carlton Reid 9:00 And then Cofidis wasn't exactly the cleanest of teams. Andy McGrath 9:04 No. I mean, this is Vandenbrouke. He was on Mapei who were the Italian super team. You may see their products in your local homeware stores you know, they still make I think it's grouting Yeah, ground tiles, tile, yes. tiles. things are still popular. I still smile when I see them and and b&q and all other good stores, but they were the best number one, and they really complimented in hindsight, complimented Vandenbrouke perfectly because often, you know, in in the classics of old classics, he won and he won a fair few, you know, scale the price hit Volk, obviously Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He could be the attacking foil or tactically to say Tom Steels, a sprinter or Johan Museuw, who was a permanent cobbles rider. But anyway, after three, four years, which were the most stable, far and away the most stable years, results wise and maybe mentality wise over his whole career. He has acted in he he wanted to be a contract. He wasn't ever patient with very much ever. And he he chose good to French Team Cofidis for double the money basically. And they gave him he could pick, you know, his friends, his his teammates, so, pick several of those. And it started off well, but yeah, it transpired that they had they had a kind of sleeping pill and drinking culture. And that's not a good combination. You know, even one thing. One of those dumb two accesses is bad, but they'd be on training camps, you know, in winter, this is how Vandenberg got hooked in the winter of 98. You know, they'd be it'd be bored you know, you do your training in the sun somewhere in Spain and then a radical Philip go mom, who I think one gateway will give himself. This strong, strapping Frenchman, you know, said why don't you take this and we'll have some drinks and what happens is you kind of you have a euphoric high. That's beyond you know, extreme drunkenness. You know, often you don't remember what you do when you're on under the influence of still not an alcohol, you know? And they go out partying or they're still the team campervan. And it's kind of thing you wouldn't believe it happened then, let alone now. Carlton Reid 11:28 So what is Stilnoct? It's in your book loads. So just tell us what Stilnoct is. Andy McGrath 11:34 It's a sleeping pill with various different brand names. I actually think Anglophone listeners might know it better as Ambien. I think that's alright. Okay. Yes. Australian kind of version of it. Yes, it's a sleeping pill. And you know, normally, I think it's used for insomniacs. And if you, you take one you wait 20 minutes, and it should pretty much knock you out. But they will take festivals, you know, handfuls at the very least. And if you resist if you fight the urge to sleep with alcohol, then you you push through to this strange blankness and euphoric high. And David Miller also has some stories, I think in his, his autobiography of strange things, and I'm the influence, you know. And, you know, it's kind of a reminder also, that professional cyclists, young freshmen, cyclists are very suggestible. They're, maybe not quite all of them fully formed as adults, you know, when they turn someone like Vandenbroucke turn pro, at 19. He was more brought up in the sporting culture than really, as a human being, as an app was an adult human being it and kind of influenced by that. So they're very fragile. And that's the other thing, you know, we've covered it. So there was a lacking duty of care, you know, in terms of the management and, you know, they seem to know what was going on, but they didn't do much about it really like they, they hired a psychologist to do a to have a talk with with the riders who basically laughed him out of the room. So you know, hindsight is 2020, but it was not a good team for Benbrook to band with a good culture. Carlton Reid 13:21 Andy, let's let's dig into you, because you've written this book. And we will we'll we'll talk about it, tonnes coming up. But this is before your time in effect, certainly before your time as a journalist you've started working from what I can see from your LinkedIn profile. You started working for Cycling Weekly. And then you became the head of Rouleur, which many people wouldn't want men will know both both titles of course. But this is in effect before your time. Was this before your were You were you like a big cycling fan? From a you know, a youth? Andy McGrath 14:00 Yeah, I mean, whenever its heyday was before my time in terms of cycling fandom, I really got into it, you know, the Lance Armstrong years 2002 was the year that I you know, discovered this fantastic and strange and exotic sport. And I you know, I did come across Vanderbrouke but by then he was really really on the down slide you know the downfall. I do remember his 2003 Tour of Flanders at the time you know, I remember it. It being this remarkable comeback story where you know this guy who was ranked outside the top 500 in in the UCI standings came second in the tour Flanders out of nowhere. But you know, he was kind of the figure of fun the kind of the fallen hero then. But yeah, he was kind of trying to see I didn't think much about him when I was at cycling weekly as a staff writer and then you know, joining ruler like, later on I to my first book was about Tom Simpson. I I published back in 2017 lovely kind of mix of contemporary photographs and stories from those who know Thompson best with Rapha, you know, one of their first books. And I was very fortunate that won the sports book of the year prize that year, which was a huge boon. Yes. Carlton Reid 15:22 What did you do with 30 grand Andy? Andy McGrath 15:25 I bought a Colnago Carlton, which possibly wasn't seeing us, I don't like to ride it in, you know, winter, or spring, sometimes autumn. So, you know, in the UK, I don't ride a bike to get too messy. And then that really leaves you two or three good months of cycling. So that was, that was my dream bike, you know, when I was a teenager that that was a bike. But funnily enough, that was a brand that I saw in all the cycling magazines, and I obviously, cycling journalists are not the best paid people in the world, sorry to disappoint their any young listeners. But that was, I mean, that was a life changing amount of money for me. So I did go ahead and bought a Kona Argo. You know, that was the that was the main thing and the rest went boringly in the savings. Carlton Reid 16:11 Now, I kind of threw that in there a to be rude, and see what you say. And so you know, is it wind, wind? And so on? No, it's a bike. Okay, great. But also, that was a big deal to win that, that, yeah, that's a big cash amount. And that's a big deal to win the William Hill sports book of the year well done on on that. You're basically your your, your, your, you've been writing about people who were from a different era, in effect. So these these are these are almost not united to me, Tom Simpson is isn't a contemporary, obviously. But Frank Vandenbroucke is certainly somebody I would be very, very well well aware of when I was, you know, in into, in writing about cycle sport I was, he was around at that point. So you're writing about people in effect from from from history. So you're almost a historian, not just, you know, not just a biographer, you're digging into past history, Andy McGrath 17:13 I never really thought about it like that, that's an interesting way of putting it maybe I should put historian on my LinkedIn profile. It feels like quite recent history, though. Carlton Reid 17:22 It really isn't, you know, when you look at this, this is 25 years, that's a good time away, you know, for for somebody to still be talked about, and for books to be written, etc. That's, that's, that's a federal what it is history. Andy McGrath 17:36 That's also what I like, because, you know, in a way, you know, Vandenbrouke, and Simpson both have, have had books written about them already. But I had the kind of maybe the naive hunch, which I would have told my publishers that I can get new stories, you know, there's more things to be said, by different people, which I which, which I believed in, you know, turned out to be true. You know, there's, there's deeper perspective says revisionism to be done, there's new things to be discovered. And, to be honest, I think I've found with, with slightly older people, you know, when you're talking about the people around Simpson and Vandenberg, and in general, and in cycling there, they've lived long lives, you know, so they have more more stories, more life, experience, more more regrets, you know, more successes. But they also, yeah, that somehow they're just that appeals to me, you know, they, they're certainly more open, generally speaking. You know, compared to, for example, let's say, if I was trying to write the, the biography of Matthew Vanderpool who, who won the Tour, Flanders, you know, very recently, there will be a whole circle of people around him that comparatively, it will be very close, very hard to get close to him. And very hard to get intriguing things now, you know, in 10 years time, maybe it'd be a different story. So I think that plays as a kind of advantage in a way to be going back rather than rather than always working with, you know, present champions, Carlton Reid 19:14 the people you've written about in their books are clearly flawed heroes. So both both legendary, both died, that that kind of helps if you're going to be a biographer, when somebody is no longer here in many respects, but they're both flawed. So So is that something that naturally attracts a biographer because if you if you're floored by de facto you're kind of more interesting. You know, you're you're you're there's there's chinks in that armour. There's the stuff that a journalist stroke historian can get their teeth into. And most sports people tend to be kind of flawed anyway, you know, there's many psychological studies which show that you know that the absolute top achievers have had some sort of formative bad experience in in their earlier life, which is then forced them to become these, these super men in terms of you know, male sport. So is that something that attracts you the fact that these are flawed heroes you can you can really talk about a flawed here and more than somebody who's squeaky clean. Andy McGrath 20:34 Well, firstly, I think we're all flawed. You're no one's perfect. But the Yes, I completely see what you're saying that these these are top athletes are people who push things to the extremes who, you know, can be quite flawed or extremely flawed, you know. And that's more the thing, but it, there was no middle for Vandenbroucke things were either going fantastic or his confidence was 100%. Or it was the opposite, you know, there seem to be, you know, they will see a sixth gear or a neutral with him. And I think we're all drawn to, to people who push limits that regular human beings wouldn't normally you know, push. Who wouldn't, you know, we we wouldn't want to take you know, 10 sleeping pills, and then down some glasses of wine on a night out, but so there's a kind of, I think there's a slightly vicarious fascination sometimes. But Vanderburgh was also I wouldn't say he was escaping from something, you know, a kind of traumatic incident in his childhood, but it's definitely worth noting that his father was his uncle. He was part of a second dynasty. So his uncle was dubbed the John Louis mercs as Frank would be. Sean Luke, that's right. Race for Persia had some great results. Never quite lived up to that moniker, who Ken and his father who was older than John Luke. So John's brother, John Jack. He was on the cusp of being a pro site because he just signed his his contract. When hit, their father died and he became guardian to John Luke, and John Paul. His brothers, his younger brothers, so his history was snatched away from him before he could do anything about it, and he had to he had to sell off his his father's Frank's grandfather's his basins and toilets and sinks because he was a kind of plumber handyman to shut down the business. So there was a kind of element of his Frank's Father John Jack being being a real driving force for positive and for negative through his formative years, you know, he pushed him so hard, you know, he would, he would follow training with a stopwatch praise was kind of few and far between shows of shows of kind of love work, not not regular at all. And, you know, Frank felt that sometimes you've treated too much as a cyclist and not enough as a son you know, as a as a person. And they had, you know, they had fallings out throughout Frank's life. And, you know, there was also a depression that John Jack had. Or John Paul, maybe it was actually his younger brother. And Frank had that too. So there's a kind of there's a, there's a kind of site genetic, I think, vulnerability to two of, you know, mental health problems that was on show here. So there's that extreme too. And this is what I kind of also find fascinating about not just pro cyclists, but people in general, athletes in general, that when we see them, just seeing when we see them in the Tour de France or tour Flanders, whatever, we're seeing 1% of their life, you know. And for Frank, you know, when he was on the bike, that was a kind of safe place, really, when things are going well. That was his refuge. And it was really like when he wasn't on the bike when he was by himself. And you know, he couldn't be by himself, really, he loved being around people need to be around people to be supervised sometimes. But when he was alone, that was when the problem started, when he had time to think or to do certain misdemeanours or wrong things. That was a problem. And people don't think about that, you know that. Everything really needs to be going well, and in the 99% of your life outside of the bike pace for the bike race to go well. Carlton Reid 24:46 So you mentioned father, son relationship stuff there, which can reminded me that when I was looking at the emails of when we've interacted before, and when you were editor of Rouleur, you actually published I'm getting more into you about, you actually published a ride of my son of coming back from China, in Rouleur, and this is now four or five years back when he did that ride and you, you, you published an account of that ride. But you were with Rouleur for about five years, four years editor? Andy McGrath 25:23 yeah, yeah, every year for nine years and I was here to for five years, you know, which was that was a dream. That was a dream, you know, I was in my mid 20s When I became editor, and I just loved hearing their stories where I'd actually been at cycle sport, which is part of cycling weekly part a part of that IPC Media Group, you know, 15 years ago, that was where I was kind of under under the wing of Ed Pickering, who, who's now the Rouleur editor, you know, I was around all these great writers like Lionel Birnie, and, you know, just learning from them, you know, either by by osmosis or by asking stupid questions, which is a kind of great way to learn. But I've really found I was drawn to longer form storytelling, you know, articles, over 2000 words, long interviews, you know, two, three hours sometimes or, you know, spending a whole day or, or, you know, to with a pro cyclist to really, truly get under their skin, you know, because that's also the media landscape in increasingly at the moment, sometimes, you're given 20 minutes, 25 minutes in a hotel lobby, to write a long feature that's supposed to you know, be chapter and verse about the cyclist. And that's not you know, that's not sufficient. I really was kinda like an entry kind of opened the doors you know, ruler when you said you with ruler that kind of had a special effect, they knew you were gonna do a very thorough, well researched, well written job, which I think really helped. And this is also the last landscape we're in that was, you know, I joined over 10 years ago, and slightly magazines, were more plentiful, were more more profitable. And I still read paper, by the way, I'd never read a Kindle course. And I'm, I'm kind of 35 going on 65 I just like, you know, I'm looking at a bookcase with about 200 books right now. And the same goes for magazines, I just, I'm a magazine guy. And I don't see that changing. And I'm kind of proud of that, because I'm slightly scared that in even in 10 years, Time Magazine might go the way of a vine on and be a collector's item when it really shouldn't be Carlton Reid 27:42 well, Cycling Weekly is older than Liège–Bastogne–Liège. So that was that was 1891. So that presumably, has has a place in the market, almost guaranteed a lot of the other magazines, maybe not so much, and ruler has a place in that is long form. It is something that, you know, the pro riders as well as cycle sport fans will love and look up to because it does go into immense detail and great care, and the quality of the paper, all that kind of stuff. So it's I guess, it's the magazines, in the middle, that that fall between those two kind of different models that are going to suffer. Andy McGrath 28:28 Perhaps, you know, the Rouleur owner told me a few years ago that there was there was going to be survival of the fittest and you know, he's turned out to be right. I think it's also the care you know, the photography and in rural areas, you know, top top notch I think people like that baby surprise, you know, sometimes have little feedback I got as editor, you know, that I could just see the, you know, often the subscription numbers rising and you see the sales figures and I like to think there's a very happy silent majority. And maybe the numbers pull that out that, you know, some people on social media will either go on there to say how fantastic something is, or how appalling it is or that their magazine never arrived, you know, and that's fine, you know, but that's, that's the world we live in. But I'm not even sure about cycling weekly, I've got a huge attachment to that magazine sentimentally. But it could be that that ends up being being an online only presence in 10 years time or you know five years time and I really hope that isn't the case. But that more and more people are reading things on their phones or their tablets. So you know, papers printed so as a find its its place you know, but realised yet definitely one for the connoisseur. Um, and we do crazy thing crazy fun things. You know, I remember taking a crew of photographers and writers to Paris-Roubaix, which is my favourite race. Because Because I said next year we're going to do a whole edition of Rouleur just around Paris-Roubaix. And we designed it with a kind of cobblestone font. And we kind of you know, each story was a sector basically and we did it you know, we were there for a week. We worked bloomin hard. And I think we saw six sectors on the day, which for goes from south to north, took some driving that pushed the limits of the highway code. But it was you know, we, we just had carte blanche to do pretty wild things like you know, we had a Gonzo writer called Mort not bow, who was Danish, who, who who divided opinion, you know, but I've never seen anyone write like that in cycling media, let alone sports media like and he always got the interview, he always ingratiated himself with the biggest names in cycling, you know, and that's what I loved was like different styles make make a magazine, for example, you know, Morton was meant to Morton and Jakob, who we call the crazy Danes is right of geography in a combo for several years, so we're meant to spend two hours with Lance Armstrong in the height of his, you know, scandalous air, I think was 2013 2014. And they ended up spending two or three days I played golf with him, you know, and it was just, yeah, like, the one thing about Rouleur that we wanted to change was that to make it not seem so stuffy or serious, because because we were having a lot of fun making it and we all love cycling, and there's a lot of, you know, humour to be had with it. You know, you might look at the black and white photographs. And you know, think it's been ernest but you know, we tried to change that every now and then. It's Carlton Reid 32:01 clearly it was it was founded in a party in a Guy Andrews but partly with Simon Mottram of a Rapha, so it's like, A, in some ways, like a Rapha, journal it had that certain had that, you know, in the early days, certainly had that Rapha you know, aesthetic. And, and power to its elbow for having that aesthetic, because Simon, you know, absolutely went in it, I can say this into the veins of cycling at that time with with with, you know, a very beautiful magazine. Andy McGrath 32:40 Yeah, he was, you know, he was pivotal to its founding like, along with Guy who, who was the founder, you know, they they saw they saw something different. And they, you know, they put in the money in the effort fearing that no one would buy that first issue which now goes for hundreds on eBay. And, you know, in many ways, it was similar to I think Jacque Waterlase courir magazine in the 50s and 60s, you know, that style and that aesthetic and you know, Guy didn't want any reviews. He wanted to show the cycling that you know, that he loved that also a child with the Rapha aesthetic and their values. And basically, the Rouleur blueprint that he laid out in those first issues is still what Rouleur is, you know, it's you know, in depth interviews, it's photography with a difference. And you ever heard is actually coming up for nearly 20 years. I think it'll be in a couple of years time. And Carlton Reid 33:42 Rapha is 20 years old this year. So that makes me feel old. Because now, I was the first person to report on Rapha's founding on in would have been, it would have been online, I would I probably did a story on bikebiz.com on this, you know, strange aesthetics based, cycled clothing manufacturer, you know, coming in from the advertising world. So I broke the story of Rapha coming in into cycling, and then now it's that 20 years or so their current PR you know, emails me and says, Oh, would you like to do a story on on Rapha being 20 It's like, oh my god, they're 20 and I did a story on them, you know, and it doesn't feel 20 years away. So it's history, as well. So we're kind of coming full circle on on history there. Now on on LinkedIn, you actually say you're one of your career highlights is actually writing for Bicycling. So what why was that a career highlight highlight? Andy McGrath 34:50 Did I say that? Oh, that's good. I just I just wanted to write for you know, one of the tops like a magazine. I've been seeing it all my life. You know, when I went freelance two years ago, that was basically my chance to write for whoever I wanted. And yeah, I'm a fellow fellow news. Now fellow went online. So I just saw this kind of this prestige of writing for for an American publication who, who I always thought, you know, did some really good journalism. And they do. I mean, it's most rigorous fact checking process I've ever had, and they did some beautiful photography, it was a long profile of Peter Sagan in his retirement. Yeah, and I went to Slovakia to see, you know, his family with old friends. And I went to Spain to interview him. And it kind of felt like old school journalism, you know, also that they back you to do that, you know, both in terms of time, word count, and paying expenses. Carlton Reid 35:56 And paying, because that's why I like writing for American magazines is they pay five times more than any British magazine. Andy McGrath 36:06 Yeah, I'm not sure if we should be advertising that this is true. Yeah, saying the Americans taking out lucrative stores. But no, absolutely. Like, that's the thing that I'm not sure why it's five times more. So I understand, you know, the, the kind of living costs, generally speaking, in the US in cycling friendly pockets is probably higher. So, so they were charging more, but five times more. You know, word rates for journalists, and in cycling identity have changed for 20 years, you know, since Rapha's inception, which is kind of sad. It's more of a labour of love than it ever was, and it was still a labour of love 20 years ago. But yeah, like the bicycling and you know, writing for cycling class I've written for basically every Anglophone cycling title in my not so young career now I'm 35. And it's just a pleasure, you know, that something that you know, the teenage me will be super proud of, and you know, that, don't me, it's, it's still proud of, you know, it's something really nice to go in my bookshelf. And it's always new stories and new angles, and well, not new sci fi magazines, really. But I kind of live in hope that I can keep doing that mainly around cycling, but I am you know, one slightly sad thing is that I'm trying to diversify slightly and you know, write about different sports, as well as cycling. Carlton Reid 37:39 I see you on art substack. So that's really diversifying. Andy McGrath 37:45 That's not That's not for profit. That's just for me. I just wanted to ride this is, this is something that I started this year, just going to local galleries and doing short, short reviews, you know, with just to learn about art, and to see what I like what I don't like, you know, I always, you know, I've kind of thought that modern art is a bit pretentious, but I've never really been to see that much. So I thought it could be fun. And it's proven to be fun. But the irony is that my my work deadlines are kind of impinging on my art reviews to the point that I haven't posted anything in about two months, but I will soon for my 20 substack followers. No, it's just fine. You know, you can live in deadlines. And with a bit of stress for so long that it's a nice kind of thing to try to do to, you know, flex some different writing muscles, but also learn about something totally away from sport, which is really the thing that I love. Carlton Reid 38:49 So I want to dig further into that level of cycling and into God is dead, your book. But right now I'd like to go across to my colleague David, who will give us a short ad break. David Bernstein 39:06 This podcast is brought to you by Tern Bicycles. Like you, the folks at Tern are always up for a good outdoor adventure by bike— whether that's fishing, camping, or taking a quick detour to hit the trails before picking up the kids from school. 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Carlton Reid 40:24 So we are back with Andy McGrath and Andy is the well as he's been telling us in the the before the ad break that he's been telling us about his career trajectory through cycling into into now doing an art substack even for the for the fun of it and the hell of it and the learning of it. Which Which sounds fantastic, because I should do that too. I should learn new stuff. But the thing we started this podcast with was with the the anniversary coming up to 25 years since since Frank Vandenbroucke and we can we call him VDB Do you think we can we can really Yeah. Yeah. Or should we say Frank goes to Frank because really it is it's like it's a it is actually an unknown nickname for other people in Belgium isn't is not not just something that's pertinent to him. Andy McGrath 41:23 That's right. There's lots of bands you know something? Yeah, Vanda Carlton Reid 41:27 something. Okay. So VDB we can we can go with that, as we kind of use a shorthand gumming up. So your book 2002. This came out, and he and it's the rise and fall of Frank Vandenbroucke cycling's great wasted talent is the subhead to God is dead. Now God is dead is clearly a Nietzsche reference. Also a reference to when he was coming up when when Frank was coming up through the sport, lots of people treated him as a god. And then in his autobiography, he talks about not being a god, but the very fact that he's saying he's not a God means kind of other people were saying he was a god. So that's, that's a hell of a provocative title for a book. Andy Yeah, absolutely. Andy McGrath 42:25 I just correct you there. It came out in 2022. If it came out in 2002, I would have been 14 and Carlton Reid 42:33 I'm sorry, sorry. 20222. Sorry. Yeah. No, that would have been deep military. Yes. Yes. Yes. Sorry, kind of literal, you Andy McGrath 42:39 know, the spoiler alert as you pointed out earlier as sports which makes it a kind of backwards who done it or you know, what happened to his life when you know, beside nd and also, you know, his friend contemporary or when I went on to wrote a song called Cody is dead. So I just thought it was too there are too many, you know, perfect similarities to not have that title. It does, I suppose it you know, catches the eye, as well, as you know, telling you what happened. And it intrigues and it should stop people in their tracks, you know, make them think, you know, who was this? Cyclists because most people most passing people in bookshops, for example, wouldn't have heard of Frank Vandenbrouke, some people at the time, you know, very briefly, he he was on the cover of pro cycling in the UK, for example, he was in the top three of the world rankings, he was going to be the biggest things since sliced bread on 11 speed. And then and this is the thing that half the book is really the rise of a sporting talent, exceptional sporting promise, despite all his problems, you know, that he had the human for example, he was involved in a in a crash with a rally car when he was four years old. Of all things, you know, in the country lanes where he grew up, and that meant that after a long, long recovery, his left leg was always two centimetres shorter and thinner, and the right leg which you would think will be problematic for for a pro cyclist and it proved to be problematic. You know, often during his career, he was always fighting these knee injuries. But anyway, he he rose up at a time when the stars were older, you know, they were 30 Plus, and they were quite bland in comparison to him. You know, we had Indurain, Rominger, Museuw, and Frank Vandenbrouke was this 20 year old counterpoint who said good things to all the Belgian media and was handsome, you know, he was good looking kid. But he raised with such panache. And he won unusually early unusually often. And for someone that yeah, when he was a junior, he won half his races which is ridiculous for someone who who wasn't a great sprinter either, you know, he he had to attack really to win most of the time. Carlton Reid 45:14 So it's an awful lot of is not just legacy but at the time was he just looked so beautiful on a bike I mean there's there's a little bit of you know, homo-eroticism going on there but he's just he just looked wonderful with you know those those as you're saying those those the legs being shorter and thinner. I hadn't actually noticed that but it just it looks so beautiful on a bicycle. He's just like the dream rider. Andy McGrath 45:42 Yeah, and that's the way that we the most of us wish we could you know, pedal that's like pedalling and in a dream. It's that the French word souplesse. It kind of describes the way that he pedalled you know, with, with no, either body barely moved, didn't move when the back was still when he kind of cycled it was like ballerina esque if that is the right word for a male ballerina probably is. And it was so incongreous, too, because his legs was so thin. You know, they were like pipe cleaners. Really. They weren't particularly muscular. But they were tanned and yeah, like it. It is funny about cycling isn't all Pro Cycling that sometimes it we don't just admire the best riders. With my style, we My grace. For example, I still remember this Russian writer called Mikhail Ignatieff who won a few Olympic goals on the track. And he didn't win any anything of any note, you know, in Tour de France, all the all the big leagues of road racing, but his pedal stroke was just gorgeous, just like you know. I imagine there was no human around years of you know, Russian training in the Velodrome but Carlton Reid 46:55 so that you're definitely getting back to that kind of Rapha aesthetic which, which Simon Mottram tapped into, you know that it's not about always winning. It's sometimes about just looking good and being stylish and having panache. You know, that Tom Simpson also taps into that with his suits and his writing style. Andy McGrath 47:17 Yeah, absolutely. Like, it's not about winning always. It's about how you make people feel. It's about how you bring the fans along with you all, all the media. And there's some riders in their 30s. Now, their favourite cyclists was Frank Vandenbrouke. That 999 the age pastorally. Age is the race of their dreams. I think I'll have an arson who's a former Belgian champion, said he watched it 200 times on replay I feel it was your bet. The great Belgian bike racer, idolise Vandenbrouke, that and there's something it wasn't just results like we can all have, well, not all of us, pro cyclists can have a page on Pro Cycling stats or whatever results. Software, you use that, that shows you what you've won, but it doesn't say anything for how you want it, you know, like with, with daring, long range attacks, like Vandenberg sometimes did, or what you said to the media afterwards, you know, giving them great quotes. And that's part of his charm. And you know, why people wrote books about him in Belgium, although that said, you know, if, if he hadn't been a kind of fatal hero, if he hadn't died so young, it would, it would be a happy a different story. Because Carlton Reid 48:37 there is that Amy Winehouse, you kind of mentioned that, you know, that Marilyn Monroe that kind of that here, who's a die young they stay heroes. So there's there's that element of and Africa somewhere else in your book where you talk about how people couldn't have imagined him getting older anyway. You know, there was that that there was almost a fatalism there. That this is somebody who is, you know, the Icarus figure, you know, burning bright climbing high, that will probably come a cropper like almost wasn't a surprise to many people, the way his his life ended. Unknown Speaker 49:15 Absolutely. I think sometimes that's it's not easy to say that, you know, 10 years after he's died when, you know, after the fact. And the problem was that he had all these issues, he had depression briefly and he became addicted to, you know, cocaine and amphetamines. But he will always find a way out of it that I think a lot of people thought that he would eventually find a way out of his problems, you know, the 10 years from the age when the end of his life in 2009 We were just roller coaster teaser kind of cliche like, but he would always drag himself out. So that's the sadness and and they were under a lot of pain. April, he said to me, there was some regret, you know, in the quotes that his agent pulled the gator that said, when it came to his drug addiction that they were, he compared it to a kind of sinking ship and said that, you know, when they were bailing the water out, they should really be plugged in trying to plug the hole which was quite a kind of poignant quote like I thought so and so one more thing, too We, of course it gets into sad tragic territory, but you know, it's not the kind of misery misery fest biography No, and I found them bro was loved by so many people and charmed and joked around with so many people like, he was a great impressionist, he, he was like a bouncy teenager, really, at the age of 35, still, you know, like, messing around with his roommate, and putting toothpaste on the bathroom mirror. And he had this kind of universal boyishness that people found it very hard to be mad at him, even when he did, you know, quite bad things or selfish things or acted vainly, which he could do. So there's, you know, at the core of it, it goes much beyond the cyclists into this human being who could be lovable, but can also be very frustrating and, you know, do some bad things. Carlton Reid 51:26 So the book is, yes, it's not, you're right. It's not all doom and gloom. But there's an awful lot in there. You can't get away from this about addiction, doping clearly. And then mental health care or lack thereof, in in, in not just in cycling, but in probably in society as a whole. Yeah, like, I Unknown Speaker 51:46 kind of think that. If we look back, even 10 years alone, 20 years, the duty of, of care for professional athletes was really lacking. You know, I think it's really sad that there were top level riders not just Vandenberg, who were going to psychologist or psychiatrist, but we're keeping it strong, you know, because it was seen as so shameful, you know. And to me that shy, that taps into the old school soccer mentality of, you know, the way they used to be the way they used to train, you know, do 300k Drink very little, eat very little. Ride harder, don't complain. And that could work for some people. But that is not a caring way to look up to most people. You know, that's, and that can come back to by many athletes, you know, and I think that's what happened. Vandenbrouke's psychologist probably helped to help him to live longer. You know, that's what he said in his his autobiography. Actually, Vandenbrouke Carlton Reid 52:52 That's Jeff Browers? Unknown Speaker 52:54 Yeah, exactly. And, in fact, he was probably an early kind of adopter of this help that he needed, you know, not just for, you know, the cycling was one thing, but they were trying to cure his kind of addiction problems and is show him that he he was loved, you know, even though he felt abandoned often. And that's the crux of it, that, you know, this need to be loved that I kind of thing most of, well, pretty much all all of us have, whether it's conscious or subconscious. And he always felt unloved or abandoned, despite, you know, the obvious legion of fans that he had and everything else. And that was a tragedy, there are human tragedy. Carlton Reid 53:37 So in your in your book, there's a kind of murder mystery, and to the book, murder, mystery, suicide, whatever. So Jeff, Browers was the psychologist about it, he basically told you that he thinks it was it was it was suicide, because he was, as you've just said that he needs people around and he was quite alone in that grubby hotel room in Senegal. But then other people, family obviously blame the people he was with and don't want to have that association. With with suicide, you don't really come you don't come to a conclusion because you can't really come to a conclusion, especially as it happened in Senegal, where it's kind of difficult to come to any conclusion anyway. But there's, there's various people give their their opinions weighing all that up. What's your opinion? Unknown Speaker 54:40 I don't have to give one you know, like, if it isn't clear, factually, and I can't be certain, but I've laid out you know, that's the job of the biography is to talk to everyone that was close to Vandenbrouke around him at the time. He was actually you know, basically there and include what they said Um, but no. I think that there could be something very well and what you have for hours says, you know, the psychologists who, you know, he was a man who spent hours with him and in that in that room I can see why he would say that. But one of the great, one of the great, strange things about this is, is that mystery like that, you know, Vandenbrouke had never even been to Africa, and he decided to go to Senegal, ye. And this filmic ending, you know, where, whereas you say, a prostitute was the last person to see him alive. So maybe he wanted it to be, you know, clouded in some kind of doubt that it could never be be definitive. But either way, you know what, like, whichever way that he died, it was pretty tragic that that he died, you know, and he's not the only one from that era, either. He had Pantani, you had Jose Maria Jimenez, you know, and I think it's, it's partly a kind of symptom of the doping culture that what they were taking to perform in bike races made it much easier to get into recreational drugs. And both of those things, mess with your mind and your body. And probably your, your, your soul, you know, the core of who you really feel you are and what you're doing, you know, whether you think it's cheating or not that moral maze, it, it can't be easy. I'm there must have been a hot a horrible time to be a pro cyclist. Carlton Reid 56:41 People think of these things doping is a black and white issue. Yet, there's a spectrum here, you know, is I mean, the UCI classifies too many coffees, too many espressos as doping. But, you know, four or five, okay. You know, marginal gains, you know, all these things, which which you can legally do, and yet you somehow trip over a line, if you take this other thing. And the other thing is, is meant to be this evil thing. And that's clearly you know, the wrong thing to do. But vitamin supplements and you know, creatine, all of these things are performance enhancing, why did they not get the stigma that EPO get? So it's a spectrum and addicted, it's very difficult to say this as a black and white thing, when there are many things that can make you better on a bike, including EPO, but then you know, just your energy gel makes you better on a bike, should we be adding energy gels, it's there's very little nuance gets into it talking about doping, it's just black and it's white. Yeah, Unknown Speaker 57:57 when really if you're saying is that it's basically shades shades of grey, you know that the modern game does you're in the peloton is ketones, which are not banned, but they seem to be ethically questionable. And my rudimentary understanding of the science around it is also that no one knows how, how it can affect the career in a few years time or five years time that we might be seeing some writers already suffering from not using them in the right way or overusing them. Well, Carlton Reid 58:35 my wife is a is a diabetes doctor. So she knows about ketones, and she knows about insulin, as well. And insulin was, was clearly one of the things that Frank used to basically say he was going to kill himself and he's going to use insulin to do so. So potentially that was, it's very hard to trace insulin as if you're going to kill yourself with insulin. So potentially, that's, that's, yeah, you're gonna kill yourself insulin is a pretty good way of doing it. Andy McGrath 59:11 Yeah. And you know, why would you why would you take that to Senegal? Or how would you source it? You know, what? He wasn't a diabetic, you know, so. Yeah, I won't give away you know, the ending or, you know, what everyone said about the ending, but, you know, several people were pointing towards suicide, certainly in the book, but yeah, like, I just going back to the grey area of crime doping. I just hope it's a bit more nuanced. Now. The way that people regard dope is like I even think that you know, 10 years ago. It it's really hard. It's very hard, isn't it? Because they have cheated. They have done something wrong, and they've done it knowingly, you know, in probably 99% of cases. Despite the numerous They can excuse. Carlton Reid 1:00:02 Yes, there have been quite a few good ones. False twin Unknown Speaker 1:00:10 Yeah, false twin, pigeon pie, weeks from a Colombian grandmother. It's got Carlton Reid 1:00:17 I bought it for my dog. Okay. Unknown Speaker 1:00:20 Yeah, well, that was bingo. So on the one hand, they are not above appropriate, you know, the rider. They are number one, you know, anything that turns up in their body knowingly or unknowingly, if they're positive, that's that's on them, you know, that's how it is. And I totally get that. But on the other hand, it still seems to me that the culture around doping IE, you know, the people that help them or, or facilitate, you know, people like team doctors, team managers, people in the know, people who are still in the sport, you know, nowadays seem to get away with it, pretty much, often quite, quite scot free. And that's not okay. And I've had, you know, cyclists who were pros in the 80s through to, you know, the last decade, you know, saying a similar thing, but that's a thing that needs to be changed that needs to be snuffed out like the right is kind of like the symptom of a wider problem. And of course, if we knew the answer if the UCI or Wilder knew the answer, you know, anti doping foundations famously have much smaller smaller budgets and maybe even the biggest cycling team in the world they're always fighting kind of a chasing battle they're always you know, one step behind maybe against the latest wonder drug or the kind of latest cheats but I think I can save some some confidence Pro Cycling is is cleaner now than it was in Vandenbrouke's heyday. But I also fear that it'll never be totally clean partly because of human nature partly because of the money was going up and up and partly because of this bizarre kind of will to win this drive is addiction Carlton Reid 1:02:13 Yeah, can even amateur races you know, people have been caught doping that will to win Andy McGrath 1:02:22 Yeah, I mean, that's that's sad in my opinion, you know, if you're, if you're doping to win a category three cap for race. What's the point? You know, Carlton Reid 1:02:32 do you race have you written Have you raced Unknown Speaker 1:02:38 I did a few time trials when I was up at university in York. Beautiful place to ride around there Oh, and I did someone's teenager with the Addiscombe in Croydon that's where I'm from. no great shakes, Carlton. I've never meant to be the next Frank Vandenbroucke much better at writing than riding my bike has put it that way. But Carlton Reid 1:03:08 yeah, you're a rider. Not a racer. So that that that that Colnago that you bought is something that you would ride on a nice day with no mud around so what you're writing normally what's what's if you're not running the Colnago what you're writing Andy McGrath 1:03:33 it's a time XRS I'll steel a nice bike from now not a pub bike. Unknown Speaker 1:03:38 It's a decent bike it was just it just keeps going and it gets me around town if I want to ride in the autumn or winter on the road so I'll use Quickstep used to ride it back in the day me 20 years ago you know Palpatine and all that Carlton Reid 1:03:57 which did you pick that up in your in your magazine days then is that was you kind of like you somehow acquired it back then. Andy McGrath 1:04:07 Well, the thing about me is I'm I'm not I'm no techie I'm really good people that would have seen me trying to fix a puncture back in the cycling weekly office 15 years ago would have realised that immediately now I'm there because I like riding my bike. I just to be completely honest, like I don't know much about bike tech and isn't the most interesting thing about cycling for me, you know, I'm the people that ride the bikes, you know, the pros and all their you know, differences and their opinions and personalities. That's much more interesting to me than say this bike weighs eight kilos or this carbon one weigh 7.5 But that's that's just me, you know, each have their own. Yeah, I'd much rather you know ride a bike then. do the legwork for it, you know, which is but actually need to get better at you know mechanics and changing chains and that kind of thing and maybe on a warm summer's day, I'll just practice doing Carlton Reid 1:05:13 that. That's what bike shops are for. That's my opinion. Now I'm with you. I'm with you on the I'm not fussed about technical stuff I've never really been happy writing about the technical stuff doesn't excite me writing about technical stuff or weighing things and yeah, it's the people that is all the stories that are around it that that are from me, personally. A more interesting. Andy McGrath 1:05:40 Yeah, absolutely. Like, I find it hard to rhapsodise about tech, you know, whereas I can. Yeah, like I kind of wish I was more intrigued by it, but I'm just not, that's just my personality. And the funny thing is, as a former tech magazine, Ed editor, you really you do have to slightly balance the editorial side with not keeping advertisers happy, but keeping them onside. And there was a slight tech element with Rila. But we we did it in our own way with basically treating the bike or the other kit, like a like a model, you know, hanging on trees or oversea wall, or all kinds of crazy sheets. Carlton Reid 1:06:29 So if people want to and we're now wrapping up here, Andy, if people want to get your book and be maybe getting in touch with you or find out what you're doing, where do they find you on websites on on social media? Unknown Speaker 1:06:44 They can find me on X formerly known as Twitter before Elon Musk made it even worse. Yeah, at Andy McGrath, that's a n d, why. MC Gra? So, take off the th basically for my surname. Yeah, they want to buy the book, just any online bookseller, really from from Amazon to Waterstones to Blackwell's to whoever, whoever you like, it's on there. And I'll put Carlton Reid 1:07:19 your art stack substack link in in the show notes. So people can also you know, if they're not interested in cycling, they could they could follow you for your, you know, your your opinions on Anthony Conway says Andy McGrath 1:07:31 the next step comes from me being an expert, what's your, what do you think? Carlton Reid 1:07:39 Well, I guess if you're not into the techie side, you know, and you're just looking at maybe just the people behind these things, rather than the art itself? I don't know. Is that do they? Are you looking at the art itself? What's going to interest you? Andy McGrath 1:07:51 I am mainly looking at the art itself being and that ties into their lives and the era they were in. It's a bit of everything really, you know, if it's modern art that I'm likely to question, you know, how did this make me feel? You know, what do I feel? What does this elicit in me kind of understand how much work is took or, you know, the literal art artistry behind it? That's one element. But, you know, I just went to see Frank Howell back. He's at the Courtauld in London. He's basically the last surviving artist from that Lucien Freud. Francis Bacon set in the 1950s. And I thought it was fantastic and but it's only black and white because he didn't have the money for pain in 1950s, which I've become a pain which is also an insight into a different world, you know, that I'm very fortunate to not be in you know, post World War reconstruction. But anyway, we we digress. Any followers are welcome. Carlton Reid 1:09:02 Yes, no, I'll put that link in. For sure. And to your other things. So Andy, thank you so much for for talking to us on me, us. Andy McGrath 1:09:11 Thank you. Absolute pleasure. Carlton Reid 1:09:15 And that's it for today's show. Thanks for listening to Episode 351 of the spokesmen podcast brought to you in association with Tern bicycles, show notes and more can be found at the-spokesmen.com As I mentioned earlier, the next episode, dropping real soon, will be a chat with cycling writer, Laura Laker. But meanwhile, get out there and ride ...

The LPRC team goes to RILA next week! This week our hosts discuss some of the newest and latest trends, technology, and LPRC news! On this episode, our hosts discuss the changes with self-checkout, the LPRC's upcoming tour of the SaferPlaces Lab with the local police department, analysis of stolen goods from self-checkout, an international look at loss prevention, the solar eclipse's conspiracy theories, and a discussion of the Supply Chain Protection Summit. Listen in to stay updated on hot topics in the industry and more!

The LPRC team goes to RILA next week! This week our hosts discuss some of the newest and latest trends, technology, and LPRC news! On this episode, our hosts discuss […] The post CrimeScience – The Weekly Review – Episode 181 appeared first on LPRC.

Listen in as LPM's Stefanie Hoover talks with RILA's Lisa LaBruno and Khris Hamlin about the upcoming AP Conference in Dallas, Texas April 14-17. Appropriately themed "Unite," Lisa and Khris tell us all about the what's new at this year's conference (spoiler alert!) where RILA's team will continue to shake up the status quo. RILA, joining forces with CLEAR for the first time, is bringing district attorneys, law enforcement, and retailers together under one roof in the Vibrant Communities Pavilion. Hear all about Vibrant Communities, how to have a successful conference, and more in this podcast.

Our guest on this week's episode is Eric Fullerton, senior director of product marketing at project44. Transportation networks continue to be disrupted by the ongoing militia attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. To counter it, most ocean carriers are rerouting goods away from the Suez Canal and extending their ocean miles by sailing around the horn of Africa. We discuss the latest and what shippers can and should be doing to counteract the effects of these ongoing supply chain constraints. New research into demand for same-day delivery shows that it's not just hype – consumers still want fast service, and it can actually add up to higher revenue for companies that provide it. That's according to a report published this week by crowdsourced delivery platform Roadie. Retailers gathered in Dallas this past week for the Retail Industry Leaders Association annual meeting. We report on two large retailers, Nordstrom and Walmart, and what they are doing to enhance their customers' delivery experiences.Supply Chain Xchange  also offers a podcast series called Supply Chain in the Fast Lane.  It is co-produced with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.  A new series on Supply Chain Jobs of Tomorrow  starts this week, as all eight episodes drop this Tuesday.  Go to your favorite podcast platform to subscribe and to listen to past and future episodes.Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:project44Report: Retailers say same-day delivery drives higher revenue. Nordstrom juggles multiple goals to give shoppers an emotional experienceWalmart highlights its multi-capability assetsGet episode transcriptsVisit Supply Chain XchangeListen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Xchange's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcastSend feedback about this podcast to podcast@agilebme.comPodcast is sponsored by: ApteanOther linksAbout DC VELOCITYSubscribe to DC VELOCITYSign up for our FREE newslettersAdvertise with DC VELOCITYTop 10 Supply Chain Management Podcasts

Summary   In this episode of That Annuity Show, Paul Tyler and Tisa Rabun-Marshall interview Marshall Heitzman, VP of Advanced Planning Consulting at TruStage. They discuss the role of annuities in comprehensive planning and the importance of understanding clients' values and goals. Marshall shares his personal experience with behavioral finance techniques and how they can help advisors connect with clients on a deeper level. They also explore the evolution of annuity products and the benefits of including adult children in financial conversations. The episode concludes with recommendations for further reading and ways to reach out for assistance.   Takeaways   Understanding clients' values and goals is crucial in comprehensive planning with annuities. Behavioral finance techniques can help advisors connect with clients on a deeper level and engage them in the planning process. Including adult children in financial conversations can strengthen relationships and ensure continuity of the client-advisor relationship. Simplifying the planning process and focusing on clients' values can lead to better client retention and referrals.   Chapters   00:00 Introduction and Background 01:18 Marshall's Career and Skills 02:15 Case Design and Solution Design for Annuities 03:35 Types of Advisors Working with Annuities 04:57 Overcoming Objections and Regulatory Changes 05:21 Behavioral Finance Techniques for Advisors 06:11 Time Objections and Building Relationships 07:49 Coaching Time-Pressed Advisors 08:18 Slowing Down and Having Conversations 09:47 Annuities as Estate Planning Tools 11:31 Evolution of Annuity Products 13:26 Behavioral Finance Conversation Techniques 14:08 Personal Story and Connecting with Clients 16:47 Communicating with Women in the Household 19:37 Better Client Retention and Referrals 24:39 Changing Advisor Mindset and Approach 26:11 Simplifying the Planning Process 30:09 Recommendations and Conclusion       Paul Tyler (00:00.154) Hi, this is Paul Tyler and welcome to another episode of That Annuity Show. Tisa, how are you?   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (00:08.246) Doing good, Paul. Good morning.   Paul Tyler (00:10.578) It's good to see you and we've got another great guest today on our show, Mr. Marshall Heitzman, okay, who is the, an advanced planning consultant, vice president at TruStage. Marshall, did I introduce you correctly?   Marshall Heitzman (00:27.793) That's it. Yeah, good morning.   Paul Tyler (00:29.486) All right, well, for our listeners, I think we'll have some interesting conversation that a lot of our listeners will find useful. Do you wanna just sort of tell us, you know, who are you and, you know, what do you do at TruStage?   Marshall Heitzman (00:42.568) Yeah, thanks. Marshall Heitzman, I am, as you said, VP of Advanced Planning Consulting at TruStage. I'm actually dedicated to their annuity distribution channel. So I'm doing advanced planning just on our annuity opportunities. And I think of it this way. I brought in as the strategy that leads to investment solutions. And so I'm kind of building out that strategy, talking the talk for.   those who are maybe leaning more towards the planning side of the business.   Paul Tyler (01:18.238) Well, excellent. And just maybe by way of background, you know, you've had a very interesting, you know, career, I think, working at a variety of different types of companies, right? I think you've worked at some fraternals. I know, I think you were at a large planning firm. Yeah, I guess, what, you know, skills do you bring to a role like this?   Marshall Heitzman (01:45.216) Yeah, I would say that I've had kind of a diverse career a little bit a lot of sales support But I have done some roles in supervision and compliance And now back into sales support again, and like I said directly Dedicated to annuities at this moment, even though in the past I've done investment advisory and been on The the full investment planning comprehensive planning side of the business in the past   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (02:15.586) So Marshall, can you speak a little bit about, I guess, either the case design or the solution design that you're working on as it relates to annuities? It sounds like you've either been brought in or come in recently to rethink the tools, right, and the solutions that the agents are offering. So can you just speak a little bit about, you know, what it is you're working on?   Marshall Heitzman (02:37.856) Sure, as we've expanded our distribution primarily to independent advisors, bank advisors, in addition to our long history working with credit union advisors, we've realized there's approaches that are diverse, they're different depending on how, especially in the independent space, how an advisor wants to create their business. And we know that many are   Doing more comprehensive planning, more what I would consider to be goals-based planning, and maybe it's taking just one step back from that annuity or investment solution and analyzing what are the objectives of the client, what are the goals, what are we really trying to solve here, and making sure that our solutions that we would recommend actually fit and advance them towards that goal.   Paul Tyler (03:35.866) Maybe talk to us a little bit about the types of advisors you're working with. We talked about this just before the show started, but maybe give us your segmentation of the people you're working with to help sell or help introduce and make successful in the annuity space.   Marshall Heitzman (03:54.824) Yeah, you know, you've seen it, our industry is changing before our very eyes, right? There used to be some clear delineations between those who used insurance products and those who didn't. And now, maybe regulatory changes, maybe we're just becoming a little bit more aware of everything else around us. There's many, many more advisors that maybe haven't used annuities so much in the past that are now.   They're recognizing especially if they're doing goals-based planning And I'm gonna say in this best interest regulatory environment They're realizing well if the client says this is what I want Honestly, the best solution is this product and maybe I haven't used that very much in the past But if this is what the client is describing that they want and I know that this is the best solution   I better be prepared to be able to offer that solution, right?   Paul Tyler (04:57.742) Yeah, well you mentioned regulation and when the regulation gets more intense in a particular space, sometimes people don't want to get in. How do you get advisors today who may not necessarily consider annuities to be core to their business to either consider them or start a conversation with a client that leads to the sale of an annuity?   Marshall Heitzman (05:08.125) Mm-hmm.   Marshall Heitzman (05:21.992) Our firm, and I know there's a lot of firms out there, but our firm in particular is very interested in behavioral finance. We've adopted and applied our behavioral finance techniques really across the board. We have every one of our annuity distribution channel employees earn a behavioral finance certification so that we can show advisors what we're talking about, apply it to their...   to their practice, to their goals analysis, and help them dig in to those client relationships. Really find what is most important to the client and are we aligning our financial goals towards those most important values.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (06:11.746) Do you find you hit objections from, Paul was sort of talking about getting agents or advisors to start working with annuities with this goals-based planning that you're describing. Do you find objections around the time? If they're sitting in a bank or just more transactionally focused, it sounds like to me, obviously, to share the level of detail you would need to, to understand goals and motivations and all that. It takes some time. It might be two, three, four appointments building that relationship.   Do you find any objection on that side or is the kind of tool well received, value understood right away? Just curious what you might be hearing from agents or advisors when you're rolling this out.   Marshall Heitzman (06:55.052) No, it's a great question and the answer is yes. We do get that objection a lot. You know, I don't have time for this. I've got a lot of clients. And let's face it, a lot of clients are transactional. That's what they want to be. They don't really want to dig into all the planning. But I guess part of the lesson that we've learned hearing back from advisors who have tried some of the concepts and applied it to their business is that playing that long game   can really pay off. Longer, deeper relationships, not even with those clients, but also with their family. It's a great referral source. And to be honest, it connects with those clients who really would rather go to the dentist than sit down with their financial advisor and talk about their financial plan.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (07:34.134) Right, the referrals.   Paul Tyler (07:49.498) So listen, Marshall, I'm an agent who, actually I'm a financial advisor. Yeah, I'm one of those time-pressed agents that Tisa just talked about. I want to drop a ticket and sort of move on. How do you coach me through the process of slowing down enough to have that conversation? And also tell me how you help me start to use some of these great behavioral finance techniques you have. Well, I want to learn a few tricks.   Marshall Heitzman (08:04.085) Mm-hmm.   Marshall Heitzman (08:18.524) You know, we've got, not tricks, not tricks. You know, this is a relationship business and I know that even our transactional clients, we have some relationship with many of them, right? We know what's going on and at least we're engaging in some small talk with what's going on in their lives and certainly we wanna earn more of their business beyond the one transaction that they walk in with.   Paul Tyler (08:19.798) Not Shrex.   Marshall Heitzman (08:46.768) It's all part about cultivating that relationship, asking them questions. And ultimately, the conversation we wanna get to is that values question. What is most important to you? And if they don't know, we've got exercises that we can introduce that helps them discover what their most important values are. And I'm going to add that a lot of advisors listening right now are probably saying, well, I already do that, I just ask them.   A lot of times what we're hearing from advisors is that they go through these exercises and their clients kind of self-discover for themselves one or two most important values that they didn't really think about or working with their spouse. They realize something new about their spouse and how they're working together and what's their top values collectively that maybe they weren't feeding into or designing their financial plan.   to deliver on.   Paul Tyler (09:47.862) Well, so just pushing a little bit more on the plan. You know, sometimes you don't really... People don't really think of annuities as estate planning, but they can be. And we see that with, you know, some of our customers. And Marshall, I think of our products in buckets, and I'd say we've worked hard to try to get a product in a lot of these categories. My category... When I think about annuities from an estate planning perspective, I think, first of all, you're going in...   You're starting, you're almost approaching those retirement years. You don't really know what's going to happen. You know, we need more money. I think the, uh, some of these growth annuities have played a very good role to sort of accelerate the building that nest egg. Um, uh, some products I see have, I would almost describe them as the Swiss army knives of early estate planning. Oh, you didn't have insurance or you didn't, you'd like a little more death.   coverage. Okay, we've got enhanced death benefits. You don't have long-term care insurance like most people. We've got a long-term care rider. Oh, and there's some liquidity in case some emergencies come up and you need an emergency fund. And then you kind of get all the way out at the end. And I've seen these bonus annuities really take off as people said, you know, I bought annuity 10 years ago, but I'd really like some of the features. I like some of the withdrawal benefits, some of the lifetime income benefits. Let's sort of...   move over to something and take advantage of these new class of products. Where do you see... did I miss a category? And where do you see some of the evolution taking place on the product side here to help for those conversations?   Marshall Heitzman (11:31.476) Exactly what you've described, you know, there's that variety of products. There's been a lot of evolution in product design, especially recently, I would say, in the annuity space. So the challenge, I think, is for firms to keep it simple. And we've got products that have a lot of those features that you described, and how do you offer something that's sophisticated and advanced.   but also keeping it simple enough for not only advisors to understand, but also to be able to explain to their clients. I think that's the real challenge. We are in that RILA space. And even though we've seen a lot of movement towards fixed annuities with interest rates rising so quickly, long-term, like I said, we play the long game. We think the...   the advantage of having the RILA space, a little bit more growth potential, is what we're hearing most clients need. They want the protection, of course, but many of them, in order to reach those goals, need more growth than what our fairly flat interest rates have been delivering over, let's say, probably two decades.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (12:56.778) Marshall, kind of going back to the behavioral finance concept, you talked about discovering new values or new goals. I'm just curious if you could share a couple of like, it's a two-part question. One is, is that a fully guided conversation by the advisor? Is there any sort of pre or individual kind of self-assessment work leading into the conversation that the client would do? And then just an example of a question or two   to sort of tap into or discover those new values. I'm just curious what that talk track might sound like.   Marshall Heitzman (13:37.364) Yeah, we've created some scripting, or at least like an outline. And those familiar with planning, they're going to recognize that a lot of the scripting and the leading questions and so forth, are gonna kind of follow that financial planning model. In our pre-conversations, you guys invited me to share stories. So if you want me to share a very personal story about what really convinced me this works, I will.   Paul Tyler (14:02.847) Absolutely.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (14:03.746) Sure.   Marshall Heitzman (14:08.101) It's my wife, so I'll say up front, I have full permission to share this story. I do often, she's pretty proud of it. But connecting with those clients who really don't like to handle their finances and just kind of want to get it over with in the meeting, do what they have to do, and move on with their lives. I would say that's my wife. I'm in this space, I understand what we're talking about. I'm the technician.   mathematics degree, this is how I think, right? Numbers, goals, progress. My wife is the opposite. She's a creative, she's an artistic. And so the numbers are kind of meaningless to her. The way she thinks about our future retirement is the dreams, the concepts. Tell me what I can do. That's what...   behavioral finance opened up. I was preparing our own behavioral finance presentations. I practice on her. She's a great test audience. And I presented a behavioral finance presentation just to her. And it really connected. More than just evaluating my performance. She's digging into, in fact, she stole my laptop. She turned it around. She's...   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (15:31.059) Yes.   Marshall Heitzman (15:31.884) paging through the slides and the notes, and she's saying, this is really good. And what really convinced me that this was effective was she said, if we had an advisor who talked to me this way, I would become more involved. Well, that was the moment, literally, that sold me on this concept as a way to connect with those clients who'd...   really don't wanna do this, right? They're doing what they have to do. But it connected with her. And I don't think she's very different than probably half the population out there. And if it connects with her, if it pulls her into the planning process, obviously she's gonna be more invested, she's going to be more committed to keeping that plan and following through with that plan if we just put it in terms that she can relate to. She doesn't care about the numbers or returns.   or budgets, she doesn't care to see that zero-based budget. What she wants to know is, what does my retirement look like? What am I gonna be able to do? Put it in those terms for me, and she's engaged.   Paul Tyler (16:47.722) So I'm really curious, thank you for sharing that story. What was it that really hooked her in? My wife, sorry, I'm not very, she, she's just, she kind of dials, she turns, she has a volume knob that kind of turns off, so Marshall, I should take a lesson from you here. So what was it that really was the hook? Was it a question, was it a picture, was it a story?   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (16:57.634) Do you have permission, Paul? That's the first question.   Paul Tyler (17:15.758) that pulled her into the presentation you're making.   Marshall Heitzman (17:20.956) It was the description of the approach and the style. The fact that we were getting away from hard facts, hard numbers appealed to her. The conversation around having, and no sales in that entire first meeting. We're talking about engaging with somebody, peeling the onion, what is most important to you? How do we design your finances to   help you live those most important values. What is most important to you? How do you see yourself living it? And then we design your plan to deliver on that. That connected with her. She understood the.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (18:07.218) Yeah, I like the story too because I think it's a pretty known fact that who decision makers tend to be in households are often ignored in the meeting with the couple.   Paul Tyler (18:22.978) You can say it. Go ahead, Tisa. You can say it.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (18:29.638) We hold the decision power in many households, meaning women in a traditional household of a marriage between a man and a woman. And often that style, the thinking, and just purely engaging and connecting with that woman in that setting, it just doesn't happen, right? So I mean, I hear success for men and women thinking, dreaming, values, but I do think it appeals.   generally speaking, a little more to whether it's the creative mind or just a profile of person who thinks that way, which I think generally maybe women more often. I'm generalizing here, so I'm giving lots of caveats. So I could see the success not only that as a connect and get the couple to dream and think differently and speak differently about retirement, but there's success for the advisor.   because ultimately once they leave that meeting, who's making the decision in the car ride home, right, is, has been sparked, has been activated. So I just.   Paul Tyler (19:37.55) So Marshall, does this open up better communications with the women in the household? I don't want to, again, don't want to suggest that this is, you know, primarily for women.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (19:49.666) That was a much more direct way of asking Paul thanks. Ha ha ha.   Paul Tyler (19:52.598) Yeah. Yeah, does it give me a better chance of retaining a client after, you know, if I've had a relationship with a man in the house, does it give me a better chance to retain that relationship when he dies and his spouse now controls all the money?   Marshall Heitzman (19:54.216) Yeah.   Marshall Heitzman (20:07.892) We think absolutely, yeah. And I'll clear the air and just make sure that everybody understands this is not a gender thing. But Tisa, you're right. We know that the person who's actually the decision maker is probably not the one doing all the talking in the meeting, right? It's in the car ride home. So we get that. And to be honest, it's a way of connecting with both, getting them to...   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (20:17.111) Right.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (20:26.89) Mm-hmm.   Marshall Heitzman (20:37.104) at the start, make sure that they're in alignment with one another. We hear from advisors a lot of times that start down this path and they're working with a couple, the spouses kind of have one or two eye-opening moments just between themselves about what's most important to them collectively. But it is about engaging both because Paul, you're right. We know at some point one of them is going to pass away.   And are you connected with the surviving spouse well enough to continue that relationship? And are you connected with them well enough where they wanna bring the kids in and make sure that they understand what mom and dad's plan is and what's most important to them? We think that it's absolutely great for connecting with the next generation and what happens when these clients are not around anymore.   I also think it's great for referrals because my wife walks out of one of those meetings and guess what she's saying? That's the best financial planning meeting I've ever had. And who's she telling? She's telling all of her creative friends, look, it doesn't have to be that bad. I've got an advisor who relates to me and values what I value and designs our plan around what I want to hear. You got to meet.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (21:46.882) Mm-hmm.   Marshall Heitzman (22:05.052) him or her, right? We think there's tremendous value in that.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (22:07.53) Yeah.   The generational comment is interesting to me, Marshall, because often, for whatever reason, parents might be reluctant to share the hard numbers with their children, but including adult children in the conversations about values and dreams, softer, easier, and so I'll share a personal story, which is, I think it was a little bit, maybe it wasn't fully intentional, but it happened a little bit more.   organically, my dad's advisor built a relationship with my brother and I. We didn't necessarily go to financial meetings with my dad, but we certainly socialized. He made some points of reaching out for some community events and unfortunately when my dad did pass a few years ago, he was well poised, right, to explain to us what was going to happen with our dad's assets, but both my brother and I now work with him.   And it's because we already knew him. We did not meet him when my dad passed. We met him several years ahead of time and had some rapport. So it's kind of just connecting for me, thinking, hmm, that's a conversation you could include adult children versus the math side of things. It might be a little bit more private for whatever reason. So another use case there.   Marshall Heitzman (23:07.392) Yeah.   Marshall Heitzman (23:30.732) I love hearing stories like that. And we get them every so often as well from our advisors who maybe didn't even know the kids, but they had organized their clients so well, even with simple little worksheets about where everything is, all of the key documents, the key contact information, keeping that all in one place. We've got some resources that we provide to our advisors if they wanna use them. And then we get stories back about   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (23:46.86) Hmm.   Marshall Heitzman (24:00.044) the next generation finding that single sheet of paper that had the treasure map, if you will, to all of the documents, all the legal documents, all the insurance documents, who to call, for what, and they win clients that way. We've had beneficiaries say, look, any advisor who works with their clients the way you worked with my dad.   That's an advisor that I want to work with. I know where everything is when dad passed away. Thanks to you. Love hearing those stories.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (24:34.443) Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah. Big moment of truth, for sure.   Marshall Heitzman (24:39.039) Yeah.   Paul Tyler (24:39.994) Right. I think Marshall, a lot of us in this business tend to be right-brain thinkers, and we want to start with the spreadsheet, not the conversation when it really should be the reverse. So listen, I'm a spreadsheet addict. I love this. Excel is me. Break me, Marshall. And what's the 12-step process or whatever it is to get me to rethink and have those type of conversations that Tisa mentioned? That your wife...   Marshall Heitzman (24:46.303) Mm-hmm.   Paul Tyler (25:08.77) said she loved.   Marshall Heitzman (25:11.728) Yeah, we try not to make it too complicated. And a lot of advisors who hear this process say, yeah, I kind of do something like that. And it's worked for me. So I don't really want to pivot too hard into doing that much differently. But we do get plenty of advisors who say, OK, there's some great ideas in here that are really easy to implement. Taking one step back and just having that values conversation.   It might take the whole first meeting. We might not talk about any business that first meeting, and that's a tough hurdle for a lot of advisors to get over. But play the long game, right? Invest that time with those clients. Those clients are going to be stickier. They're going to want to bring their other business needs to you as well. And they're going to want to bring their other relations in to talk to you as well.   just because you take the time to understand who they are as people and what kind of values driven relationship can we have together? To me that's the way you just kick the whole thing off. You know after that we've got we've got a lot of scripting and ideas and leading questions that we can provide but it plays really well into that planning process that the planning model that exists and is out there right now.   but it makes it simple. Simple questions, simple answers to common questions that your clients are gonna ask you. Ways to put those clients' mind at ease because everybody's nervous about something, right? There's always something that they're nervous about. And the whole process is about delivering to your clients the idea that, look, no matter what happens, we've got it covered.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (26:57.634) Mm-hmm.   Marshall Heitzman (27:11.444) Right, we've got the plan. Somebody passes away earlier than we expect, we've got a plan for that. Somebody becomes disabled, we've got a plan for that. The markets don't cooperate the way we think, we've got a plan for that. Right, no matter what happens, we know where you're gonna get income, we're in the retirement planning business. We know where we can get income for you no matter what happens. We've got a plan built around that.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (27:37.166) I would also think too it's like a little bit of like Paul thinking like growth mindset for the advisors because it's not fully this or that, right? It's sort of like you likely have the analytical spreadsheet type of conversation down, but every client's different, everyone you know, process differently. So why not sort of expand? It's a versatility call to me. You can still work that way if it's working for the client, but if you wanna grow or track new   different markets, maybe try this approach and see how it goes, right? It's an additive skill, being able to walk through this more values-driven conversation. You can always flip back to how you do it or how you've done it. So to me, it's more of a growth opportunity than it is like a full, you know, 180 of how you work. So that's how I would think of it if I was in the advisor seat of new skills not changing fully my skills.   Marshall Heitzman (28:34.432) For sure, I can geek out on financial planning software and spreadsheets with the best of them. And I've talked with many advisors in my past who claim this is the way all of my clients want me to work with them. They do the same thing. And I've come around to believe that, well, you are finding the clients who want to work that way with you, but what about all those clients who don't?   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (28:39.975) Hehehehehe   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (28:57.023) Mm-hmm.   Marshall Heitzman (29:01.148) you're missing out on them. If you're saying all of your clients want this type of approach, all the other prospects are not coming to you, right? Because not everybody wants to work this way. So who are you missing out on, was my question for them. And I think this process, the behavioral finance approach helps to uncover that. Who am I missing? Who's being left out? Certainly, my personal example, my wife definitely felt that way.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (29:01.215) Right.   Marshall Heitzman (29:29.408) kind of wrote off the entire industry and just hoped that I would take care of everything because that's what I do. But now she's engaged, she wants to be involved, just because we're simply putting it in terms that she understands and can relate to.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (29:35.118) Mm-hmm.   Tisa Rabun-Marshall (29:46.83) Great.   Paul Tyler (29:47.794) Interesting. Yeah. Well, we're kind of at the top of the hour here. Marshall, any recommendations for good books to read, good podcasts to listen to, as Tisa says, grow a little bit more as an advisor? And then how could people reach out to you for assistance?   Marshall Heitzman (30:09.876) Yeah, you can reach out to any true stage wholesaler you can call our annuity solutions team And they'll get you in touch with me or you can connect with us through true stage comm And connect with our team that way You know, we've done a lot of work I'll recommend Morgan Housel He has written a couple of books in this space. And in fact, we have him on we have like a quarterly webinar that   We'll invite him every so often and give a one hour presentation on what's new. But it relates really well to the whole behavioral financial advisor concept and looking at the values in order to create the goals. That would be my recommendation.   Paul Tyler (31:00.186) Okay, great. Well, Tisa, thank you. Marshall, thanks so much. It was great to meet you, great to have you on here. And if you're listening to the show, tell your friends, give us feedback and join us again next week for another great episode of That Annuity Show. Thanks.   Marshall Heitzman (31:04.712) My pleasure, thank you.    

Join @benbelack and @zachgoldsmith24 this week for a very special guest on "To Live and Buy in Los Angeles". For our special series of Real Estate Rockstars, we are joined by Ben Bacal. From door knocking to orchestrating $94 million sales, Ben shares the insights and strategies that propelled him to the forefront of the industry. Dive into the tech revolution with Rila, Ben's groundbreaking platform challenging traditional MLS norms. Gain a behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of real estate videos, exploring the shift from long-form to short-form content. Discover survival tactics for thriving in today's market and unlock the secrets to Bacal's success. This interview is a treasure trove of industry insights, offering a glimpse into luxury real estate, tech innovation, and proven strategies for success. Don't miss out—hit play now and elevate your understanding of the ever-evolving real estate landscape!Watch full episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/NGbxWnbr7HAConnect with Ben and Zach on Social Media:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benbelackhttps://www.instagram.com/zachgoldsmith24/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/benbelackhttps://www.facebook.com/zach.goldsmith.98Twitter:https://twitter.com/benbelackTiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@benbelackSubscribe to our Youtube Channel:www.youtube.com/benbelack

"Saint Peter was a humble, devout and peace-loving man, unlike his father, Tsar Symeon the Warrior (d. 927), during whose reign there had been perpetual warfare. By contrast, Peter's long reign was peaceful, and notable for the restoration of good relations with Byzantium and with the West. Peter married Maria, the grand-daughter of the Emperor Romanus Lecapenus, who recognized him as basileus (tsar or king), and he obtained independence from Constantinople for the Bulgarian Church with its own Patriarch. He had a great love for Saint John of Rila (19 Oct.), whom he would often consult, and he kept in touch with renowned ascetics of the time like Saint Paul of Latros (15 Dec.). The King acted energetically against the Bogomil heresy, an offshoot of Manicheism, by which some of his people, lacking sufficient instruction in the faith, were being misled. He called a council in order to condemn the heresy and reassert Christian principles. Nevertheless, the infection was to remain active for many years in Bulgaria. Following the invasion of the north of his Kingdom by Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev in 969, Peter abdicated and became a monk. He died in the following year, having consecrated his final days to God alone." (Synaxarion)   A note on the Bogomils: The Bogomils flourished in the Eastern Europe as an organized church from the 10th to the 15th century. In theology they were dualistic, incorporating some Manichean and Gnostic ideas from the Paulicians. They were nationalistic and gained much support through their opposition to Byzantine dominance over the Slavic peoples. They disappeared as an organized body around the fifteenth century, but elements of their beliefs persisted in popular thinking for many centuries afterward.

"Saint Peter was a humble, devout and peace-loving man, unlike his father, Tsar Symeon the Warrior (d. 927), during whose reign there had been perpetual warfare. By contrast, Peter's long reign was peaceful, and notable for the restoration of good relations with Byzantium and with the West. Peter married Maria, the grand-daughter of the Emperor Romanus Lecapenus, who recognized him as basileus (tsar or king), and he obtained independence from Constantinople for the Bulgarian Church with its own Patriarch. He had a great love for Saint John of Rila (19 Oct.), whom he would often consult, and he kept in touch with renowned ascetics of the time like Saint Paul of Latros (15 Dec.). The King acted energetically against the Bogomil heresy, an offshoot of Manicheism, by which some of his people, lacking sufficient instruction in the faith, were being misled. He called a council in order to condemn the heresy and reassert Christian principles. Nevertheless, the infection was to remain active for many years in Bulgaria. Following the invasion of the north of his Kingdom by Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev in 969, Peter abdicated and became a monk. He died in the following year, having consecrated his final days to God alone." (Synaxarion)   A note on the Bogomils: The Bogomils flourished in the Eastern Europe as an organized church from the 10th to the 15th century. In theology they were dualistic, incorporating some Manichean and Gnostic ideas from the Paulicians. They were nationalistic and gained much support through their opposition to Byzantine dominance over the Slavic peoples. They disappeared as an organized body around the fifteenth century, but elements of their beliefs persisted in popular thinking for many centuries afterward.

“208 - Improving the #AnnuityUX in 2024 With David Hanzlik"   Summary   In this episode, Paul Tyler, Ramsey Smith, and Dave Hanzlik discuss the annuity industry and the changes that occurred in 2023. They talk about the rebranding of TruStage, the growth in annuity sales driven by the rate environment, and the success of fixed annuities and fixed indexed annuities. They also explore the potential for growth in niche markets, such as deferred income annuities, and the role of registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) in the industry. The conversation highlights the importance of making annuity sales easier for advisors and the potential impact of AI in the industry. The episode concludes with final thoughts and tips for annuity sales professionals.   Takeaways   The annuity industry experienced significant changes in 2023, including rebranding and growth in sales driven by the rate environment. Fixed annuities and fixed indexed annuities performed well in 2023, with advisors recognizing the value of the guarantees they provide. There is potential for growth in niche markets, such as deferred income annuities and registered index-linked annuities (RILAs). Making annuity sales easier for advisors and improving the ease of use of annuity products should be a focus for the industry. AI has the potential to play a role in improving operational processes and making the industry more efficient.   Chapters   00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:30 Recapping the Holiday Season 01:44 Changes and Rebranding in 2023 03:24 Annuity Sales in 2023 07:27 Growth in Niche Markets 08:08 Renewed Interest in Annuities 09:37 Behavioral Finance and Market Ups and Downs 11:08 Deferred Income Annuities and Income Solutions 12:04 The Role of RILAs in the Annuity Market 13:41 White Space in the Annuity Business 16:33 Expanding the Target Audience for RILAs 20:01 Making Annuity Sales Easier for Advisors 22:29 New Year's Resolutions for the Industry 25:15 The Role of AI in the Industry 27:06 Retire Tech Innovation Event 28:29 Final Thoughts and Advice 30:32 Closing Remarks     Paul Tyler (00:01) Hi, this is Paul Tyler and welcome to another episode of That Annuity Show. Ramsey, good morning.   Ramsey Smith (00:08) Good morning to you. Great to be here as always. Good morning to you.   Paul Tyler (00:11) It is, and we've got a great guest, a returning guest, Mr. Dave Hanzlik Vice President, Annuity and Retirement Solutions at TruStage, formerly known as CUNA Mutual Group. Dave, welcome back.   Dave Hanzlik (00:25) Hey, thanks guys. It's great to be back. How was your holiday?   Paul Tyler (00:30) You know, it was too short, too short. And I'm paying for it now, paying for it now as we get ready for our upcoming sales conference here that I'm looking forward to. Ramsey, yours.   Dave Hanzlik (00:34) Yeah.   Ramsey Smith (00:44) Good holiday. We actually spent some time in New York, which is sort of our historic home, which is fantastic. During the Christmas season, it was so, so busy. Frankly, it's great to see what looks like a really great strong recovery for the city over the course of the last year or so. So it's just great to see that kind of energy in the city. So it was fantastic. And other than that, college applications. So busy.   Paul Tyler (01:09) I don't know. Judging from the sketches on your wall, I don't think you're quite there, Dave.   Dave Hanzlik (01:14) No, not yet, although these are several years old. So, yeah, yeah.   Paul Tyler (01:18) Okay. Yeah. Hey, well, listen, we actually had a chance to catch up in person at the Limerick Annual Conference, which was great. But, Liz, it's hard at the beginning of the year not to look back and then look forward. You know, looking back to 2023, it was a big year in the annuity industry and also, you know, a big year for your company. Do you want to talk about the changes and the new name, maybe?   Dave Hanzlik (01:44) Yeah, yeah. I mean, 2023, as you mentioned.   true stage. We went to market and changed our name and brand in 2023. If anyone has done this before that's listening, they know this is a lot of work and wonderful, wonderful dedication from a bunch of talented folks. But it's really about for us, you know, we had a family of brands and we recognize that we want to over time really connect.   Paul Tyler (02:05) Oh yes.   Dave Hanzlik (02:21) across all the life stages of our customers, the financial services solutions that we can bring in. A huge part of that is our annuity and retirement solutions that help people as they're getting to and living through retirement. So I'm very excited about it and happy that we're through the first phase of it. Brand changes, there's always some things that trail for some period of time, but we think it's going to be a great thing for our annuity business.   true stage business in general.   Ramsey Smith (02:56) Fantastic. So look, we're coming off to Paul's point, a great year in annuities. A lot of that's been driven by the rate profile. And so curious to hear your thoughts, you know, one on sort of what segments you saw doing well and why you think they did well in 2023. And then we can sort of shift gears 2024, what that's like, what that's probably going to look like based on what could be.   higher rates for longer or maybe things sort of pull back a little bit. So tell us a little bit about 2023 for starters.   Dave Hanzlik (03:30) Yeah. And, you know, Paul, you and I saw a lot of this when we were together at the annual meeting. First of all, as we entered into 2023, we're coming off a historic year for the annuity business in general, over 300 billion of sales in 2022. And we're probably going to end up 2023 over 350 billion of sales. So another 20 plus percent year over year growth number. You know, yeah, Ramsey.   and Paul, we heard this, the rate environment is a big, big mover of this. And I think it's, you know, a couple of things we've seen, like one is it's helped, you know, recapture the imagination of advisors recognizing, you know, where annuities can help their clients. And in particular, we've seen the fixed annuity space, the MYGA multi-year guarantee annuity space has done extremely well. And   fixed index news did really well. And those are, I think a lot of that was driven by interest rates and advisors identifying that this was the value proposition was really hard to ignore for their customers. We also see the, what I saw in 2023 was a continuation though of growth and a number of other categories as well. The registered index links annuity space and another year that is over 10% growth.   and probably going to reach 50 billion of sales in 2023. So although it was around rates, I think what we were seeing is just advisors understanding and recognizing that the value of the guarantees that annuities can provide and really bringing it more to their customer base and taking advantage of how the rates and guarantees were showing up.   vis-a-vis what we'd seen in the past decade plus of the low rate environment.   Paul Tyler (05:31) Yeah, it was hard not to have a conversation at LIMRA about rates. And, you know, it was a blessing, it was a curse. I mean, the blessing in that you could sell, you know, the products are able to, we're able to show bigger rates, bigger interest rates, higher cap rates. You know, challenges, it was the speed at which it increased. I think a lot of companies had challenges, you know, repricing those MiGAs. I mean, David, we, you know, we would...   go out thinking we were going to be number one and number two. And by the time the rates hit, we were like in fourth place. It was, it was a crazy, crazy year. And then when the business did come in, did you have enough people in place, uh, to actually process the business? And, and, uh, I think, uh, we as a collectively, as a whole in the industry, I think we did a pretty good job, but I know that, you know, there were, there were service issues along the way.   Dave Hanzlik (06:05) Right, right, right.   Yeah, I think one of the, yes, there was a blessing and curse, you know, helping a lot more people using annuities, but stressing the operational administration framework of the industry. So, but I also think that's going to be a positive as you move forward in 2024 and beyond. I think as an industry, we were recognizing that there are some ways of looking at technology, data and...   the service models that could be advanced to take on spikes in business, more business. And it's just sometimes a crisis forces involvement and advancement. So I think that's something that we're going to see as a major.   And she's continuing to get better at service and administration and processing of business.   Ramsey Smith (07:27) So one of the things you and I talked about a bit, Dave, independently was some other areas that have seen growth that have been sort of smaller markets. So we had talked about Diaz in particular. Is that, and again, it will unlikely ever to be as big a market as FIAs or RILAs, et cetera, but there is a market. Is that an area that you think will continue to see growth and attention? I can say that certainly,   I've received inbound calls on them in a way that I hadn't in the past. So I'm curious if you're seeing any of that in your business sort of profile and if you think that might be part of the future as well.   Dave Hanzlik (08:08) Yeah, I do think, you know, Ramsey, as we move into 2024, there's, you know, there's advisors and clients are going to take a renewed interest and look at annuities in general, not just my guys or fixed index annuities. They recognize like, well, there's value here and that the higher rate environment has kind of been an impetus for looking at. So for example, deferred income annuities.   I think, I think you and I talked, I think part of it was like, hey, look, because of the rate environment, there's could just, this could actually just help people identify that there's, there's a deal here. And you know, there's something that we haven't been able to tap into for a few years because how low rates have been. I think just generally though, like income has been something that in 2022 and 2023, a lot of people weren't focusing on. And, but I think as   the latter parts of 2023, we started to see more interest in it from an industry perspective. And I think you can continue to see that. And if you look at industry data, it hasn't really gone away. It's just the accumulation side has just exploded. And the need's still there. I'd also be curious, Ramsey, and it kind of was adjacent to our discussion, was part of it is...   Ramsey Smith (09:24) 100% Yeah.   Dave Hanzlik (09:37) a number of discussions, plenty of these discussions in 2023 where people are like, well, rates are so great. This is the time we should, there's a deal here. And so, you know, and part of, for me, part of it's like, well, that this is part of what annuities are supposed to help people with, which is help them like not get swayed by ups and downs in markets. So   Ramsey Smith (10:04) Mm-hmm.   Dave Hanzlik (10:05) there is a little bit of a lot watching behavioral finance play out where people like rates look so good. Now I'm going to jump into this, you know, universe. So that is something I think as we move into 2024, you know, again, looking at like, how are people looking at plans, their long-term plans, and, you know, I think a crisis can help people kind of re-examine what their long-term goals are. You know, someone feels like they could be all in equities and then, you know,   markets drop 30%. Maybe they really can't be. But I think that's something that will be a really interesting topic and item to kind of navigate in 2024 is kind of get back to – and partly I think rates are going to level out a bit here. And as they do, now are people going to kind of start looking about what is the financial plans that we're putting in place for our clients?   what are the solutions that can make sense? And income, I think, is one of them.   Ramsey Smith (11:08) Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, it was an interesting discussion I had with this client, ultra high net worth individual. And so liquidity was not an issue. It was really a matter of, so the issue of a deferred income annuities, you essentially have a loss of control of the assets you allocate to it. And so liquidity wasn't an issue for this client. It was very much this idea of creating   some sort of counterpoint, some diversification into a portfolio that otherwise was risk loving, is probably not the way I'd put it, but risk comfortable. It was a very sophisticated investor. And so that's why I thought it was interesting. And to your point, like pricing levels were very attractive, both because of rates and because of appetites relative to longevity risk, you know, at that moment in time. And so I think it worked out well for all parties involved.   Dave Hanzlik (12:04) Yeah, I think, you know, when you look at income today, the industry has, you know, learned a lot of lessons during the Great Recession and, you know, now has deferred income annuity is a great tool, right, Ramsey, for those that don't need the liquidity. But I think the pricing and the creativity around solutions, whether they be in the variable annuity space, the redshift, and the annuity space.   fixed the next news was in the fixed annuity space, which are almost very close. There's fixed annuities with income options that are very close to deferred income annuity except with liquidity, right? So I think there's a lot of great options out there. And I think the industry has done a really good job of setting up the solutions that can be appealing to customers, as well as, you know, we've got...   we have the risk return, risk management piece down really well.   Paul Tyler (13:08) And Dave, I guess, where do you see the biggest white space in the business? I mean, there are ones where if you look at the reports, you say, okay, well, how do we increase penetration in the RA channel? Ramsey, your topic, how do we get more annuity sales in the workplace? The numbers are low, the opportunity is big, but it's also the barriers are really high. I mean, if you sort of think of your CEO of the industry.   Where would you say we should be putting our bets here over the next few years?   Ramsey Smith (13:39) That's a great question.   Dave Hanzlik (13:41) Yeah, I mean, I think those two topics as well as if you think about the topics of, you know, income and retirement plans and the solution that, you know, what's consistent in all of them is the complexity of trying to, you know, have a technology stack and operational stack that can fit within how those marketplaces work.   because they weren't created to accommodate the kind of guarantee solutions. And so I think that's the big challenge to, I think all three of those are really interesting opportunities. But if you're asking me like, okay, Dave, like next few years, where do you think the white space is? I mean, this is no surprise given kind of what our company focuses on. I still think registered index link annuities is a...   wonderful solution because it captures the, you know, addresses the need. Everyone, you know, people are using news because they want downside protection. And then with RILAs, they have the upside potential that they need. And now it's had a lot of discussions and there were discussions at the Limmer meeting, Paul, like, well, you know, because of where rates are, does this mean like RILAs aren't as important? And you still saw...   double-digit growth in RILAs in 2023. And when I talk to my counterparts and other companies, everyone has a RILA or is looking at it, you know, because I think it's just a really creative solution that can kind of bridge a gap of, you know, because people need to continue to grow their asset base, right, but they also, guarantees are a wonderful way of kind of helping them navigate risk and, you know.   of control their behavior risk as well as stabilize the portfolio. And even like, it goes back to Ramsey when you're talking about your higher net worth client that was like part of using like a deferred income annuity, it stabilizes part of their portfolio that allows you and them to work on taking risk in a fashion that makes more sense for their needs. And so,   Ramsey Smith (16:02) Mm-hmm.   Dave Hanzlik (16:13) A lot of, so I really think RILAs are, they'll continue to see them become a bigger and bigger slice of the NUIDI product.   Ramsey Smith (16:21) Can I just sort of extend that a little bit? Just curious, and I have a follow-up comment. So RILAs are interesting. RILAs are registered. So a different, potentially different type of advisor has to sell it, right?   And so I guess my question is like, so is there beyond just the fact that it has practical implications for the customers, does it open up a new target audience? Has it opened up a new target audience for you in terms of advisors that you are or could work with?   Dave Hanzlik (16:33) Right.   Yeah, we've seen it in two fashions, Ramsey. One is, we found that with, you know, it is registered. So, but, you know, some advisors that are registered tend to work with, you know, tend to work with fixed annuities more, fixed index. They tend to work, you know, we found that this has kind of helped them open up, you know, a better way of getting after upside potential with their customers.   Ramsey Smith (17:08) Yeah.   Dave Hanzlik (17:19) with a customer base that tends to be more conservative that they say, oh they want to manage accounts or they want to be in mutual funds, but then as soon as there's a market correction they want to run back into CDs and fixed annuities. So this has been able to help those advisors and have a more logical solution to help their customer base. The other place is, and this is I think, is folks that advisors that just really weren't using annuities, right?   Because they're very comfortable with efficient frontier optimization. And this is something we have many conversations with. We're like, how do you do this? Conversations where we had to kind of like, how does the, how do you, are you sure this makes, you know, advisors are really, maybe have your background, Ramsey, that they really understand how it   how insurance companies construct these solutions. I think it could be something that could help us with the RIA space, traditionally a space that's more focused on just not using guaranteed solutions as much. So those are the two places we've seen as our company, where we've seen some build bridge out into some new space that we weren't seeing before.   Ramsey Smith (18:29) Yeah.   So part of the reason I bring it up is I recently was asked by a family member, a friend actually, to take a look at a portfolio that somebody who was retired had and it was run by sort of a name brand advisor shop or a wirehouse type. And I looked at the asset allocation and 10% of it was allocated into what they called alternatives. But essentially they were structured notes. I looked at the structured notes and it's like...   these structured notes have the same risk profile that a RILA would have. They were really, you know, twin with what are, other than the fact they were written on a bank's paper, as opposed to written on the paper of an insurance company. So I think that sort of the aha moment for me was that, like, there's already use of very similar products already in there. Sometimes they're based on sort of central asset allocations. Some, you know, maybe they're,   made at the company level and the advisors just sort of take what the investment they're supposed to do but it's my way of saying that like there are there are places where things that are close enough to Rila's already exist and are being allocated that might be a business opportunity for you and for others in the space.   Dave Hanzlik (20:00) Right, right.   Paul Tyler (20:01) Interesting. Well, you know, we've had Joe Jordan on a couple of times. I worked with Joe back at MetLife way back when, and Ramsey, well, he always said was, how do you get somebody to do something new as you make it look like something they already do? So, and I think these products that we put out, as much as we think and talk about consumer value, it's, whoever the independent agent, the registered rep, the independent financial advisor,   kind of be, they have to, the product has to be one that they feel comfortable selling it probably as close to the process they've already done. Ramsey, I'm presuming you had probably a relatively easy discussion saying, look, you already own these bank structured notes. Look at this product over here. It's kind of similar and maybe it's a little more efficient.   Ramsey Smith (20:48) Yeah, so I was evaluating, I wasn't selling this. I was just trying to help them understand what they had. But I think it's that balance between pattern recognition, like the advisor understands it well enough, but your offering as TruStage is unique enough that they understand that it's different than the other things that they recognize enough that it's in their comfort zone. And that's the balance that you...   Paul Tyler (20:52) Yeah.   Dave Hanzlik (21:15) Yeah, I really like this question. It does remind me of one of the things that as an industry we really need to continue to focus on, whether it be in new spaces that we have under-penetrated like RIAs or just our current spaces, our current broker-dealer partnerships, how do we continue to make it as easy as possible for the advisor and client to use our solutions because it's a highly regulated...   industry. There's a lot of complexity of just trying to pull sources of funds and all that. And that continues to be, you know, and it's always a topic at our industry conference. There's multiple topics on this and it's something that we continue to focus in on in terms of our investments and the industry in general. And that's one of those things that I, you know, I continue to encourage my peers to like, where are we finding ways of   Ramsey Smith (21:46) Sure. Yeah.   Dave Hanzlik (22:10) collectively trying to make this better for those that we're working with. It's not about, we're trying to just help make this solution more widely available, more easily usable in the different fashions that clients are getting served around their financial and retirement needs.   Ramsey Smith (22:22) Yeah.   Paul Tyler (22:29) So what would you put? It's January. We're still pretty close to the first New Year's resolutions for our insurance industry to do exactly that. They make it easier for advisors to explain these things and communicate the value.   Dave Hanzlik (22:45) Can you say that again, Paul? Sorry.   Paul Tyler (22:46) Well, what would you, you know, if you had a new year's resolution list for the industry, you know, what would make the top of the list there to make it easier to sell products to clients?   Dave Hanzlik (22:59) Yeah, I think it would really be a focus in on working with the distribution partners.   you know, how the solutions are, you know, seen and evaluated. And it kind of goes back to think what you, you know, Paul, you and Ramsey were kind of talking about before, like the pattern recognition and I was really working hard on with our partners, how this is similar to where this is similar to things that they're comfortable with and how do we kind of fit them within that technology and operational and process stack and say, Hey, like it's, it's not the same as what you have. It has some.   advantages, you know, that provided, you know, allow it to be, you know, another arrow in the quiver. So I think the focus on like education of, you know, how this is similar and then how do we make it as easy as possible to kind of fit it within the process. Because I think that's oftentimes what we see in terms of what we get in some pretty specific discussions with our distribution partners. It's like...   lot of it's like they like this when they understand this solution they like it and then it's just like well there's all sorts of things that we all these roadblocks to make it harder you can make it hard for an advisor to potentially use it and it's not to say like a news or that much there's so much more hard harder to use there's always like some like mutual funds management there's always things that can kind of get in the way of using them for a variety of reasons but that's what I would focus in on   Ramsey Smith (24:25) Mm-hmm.   Agreed. Well, I think when you sort of peel back the onion on virtually any financial product, even, and I say this sometimes, that even index funds are, I think, are more complicated than people think. It really ultimately comes down to sort of comfort and familiarity. I think that ultimately is what makes the world move, make this world move. Yeah.   Paul Tyler (24:44) Okay.   All right, so I got a double click on this here, Dave. So, you know, I was there at LIMRA on this platform, this panel talked about   Ramsey Smith (25:10) Uh oh.   Paul Tyler (25:15) AI, general, genera of AI. Boy, great for pattern recognition, great for, is that, what kind of role is that gonna play in 2024 in our industry, do you think?   Dave Hanzlik (25:15) Yeah.   Well, I think every single company in the industry is looking at it and trying to figure out, because I think we've all seen the applications of it. Hey, look, it'll write a term paper in 10 seconds. It'll take a...   create a 40 slide PowerPoint for you in 10 seconds. So, us and our peers are all looking at where are some places that it can be used. But it's one of those things that there's a host of other issues that you have to navigate, because all of our companies are handling very sensitive information. And so, part of what we need to do is make sure we're...   We have it in the right spots and really understand and test through it. But I think for us again, in 2024, I think the industry, it will be more around how can we make operational processes more efficient and then, you know, and then just kind of watching like, okay, are there other places we can extend it and how can we fit that within appropriately within privacy, security, regulatory frameworks? Because again,   This is really, there's definitely sensitive stuff here that we all deal with, and rightfully so.   How about you, Paul? What do you think?   Paul Tyler (27:06) Oh, I'm bullish on it. In fact, don't get me started. No, I, listen, you know, I, everything you say I'm living, living the dream with our internal groups, but we've got some interesting sort of pilots, uh, in the works here. Ramsey knows some of them. Um, I do think we're going to have a great event Ramsey, if you want to talk about it in April, April 8th out in Las Vegas, talking about retire tech innovation in retirement, David, hope we can get you out there and your team. Um,   Ramsey Smith (27:08) You're going to get him started. Don't get him started. We won't have time.   Dave Hanzlik (27:10) Hahaha!   Paul Tyler (27:34) send you some information on it, but this would be the third event that we've held. Ramsey, I think, yeah, you've been... let's see...   Ramsey Smith (27:41) This will be two out of three. So the first one was in Hartford a couple years ago and I was traveling so unfortunately I couldn't make it. You guys sent me a nice message. You sent me a short video letting me know I was missed. So I definitely appreciated that. And then the last one was earlier, I want to say earlier this year, no it was last year. It was March of last year, sponsored by Capgemini. You guys put together a great space with them. That was fantastic. And now we're going on to the big stage. We're going to Las Vegas. So you know.   Dave Hanzlik (27:44) Mm-hmm.   Paul Tyler (27:52) Ha ha ha.   Ramsey Smith (28:10) must be doing something right. That's fantastic. Glad to be part of it.   Paul Tyler (28:12) Yeah. So it was great to have you on here. I don't know, any parting thoughts, advice for people actively selling annuities and having these conversations with clients on a daily basis?   Dave Hanzlik (28:29) Yeah, you know, maybe we kind of touched on this before, but two things. One is like, do you think, you know, we should always navigate through recency bias? Like, it's been a high-rate environment, but you know, like, I think a lot of the opportunities are around, you know, with annuities in particular, it's like, hey, like, there's some great innovation that's happened and continuing to kind of explore how it can help from an income perspective, accumulation perspective.   That's one layer. It's just continue to challenge like, you know, what solutions you're using and how that fits in with the longer term plan that you're working with your clients. And then the second one is I think this theme that we're kind of getting after like, you know, and one that we'll continue to work on and focus on is like, how are we trying to make the process of working with our industry as simple as possible and how are we like looking at tools like AI to kind of make this.   These solutions and the partners we're working with make it as efficient as possible to help serve clients. Those are the two things that we'll continue to zero in and focus on. We're coming off, again, probably it'll be a historic year. I think that lays a great foundation to continue to help people with these solutions and things we can do as an industry.   Paul Tyler (29:56) All right, this was great. Ramsey, any final thoughts, questions?   Ramsey Smith (29:59) Oh, that's, I look, I just want to, I agree with Dave, ease of use. Ease of use is a growth, is a growth area for our industry. And I say that from somebody that touches the industry in many, many ways, distribution, my risk management from my former life as a board member. I think ease of use is, uh, ease of use is, is really going to be a, uh, an important and valuable growth area for, not just for the clients, but also for. You know, the, all of us that work in the industry, I think it will be.   Paul Tyler (30:07) Hahaha!   Ramsey Smith (30:29) think it will be universally beneficial.   Paul Tyler (30:32) Annuity UX. What do you think about that, Ramsey? Is that a hashtag? Dave, you like that? 2024, hashtag Annuity UX. All right, Dave, hey, thanks so much. Look forward to having you back. And well, listen, we'd love to catch up with you later in the year. Ramsey, thanks. And thanks to all our listeners. Join us again next week for another great episode of That Annuity Show.   Ramsey Smith (30:36) Sure, yes.   Dave Hanzlik (30:39) It's great, Paul. You're the Chief Parking Officer, so...   Ramsey Smith (30:40) Yeah. Here we go. Yeah.   and   Sure.   __   Paul D. Tyler | CMO ptyler@nfg.com https://nfg.com M: 914-356-2138  

This week on the BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire and Berkshire podcast, Dave meets Maddie Ashman to hear about her upcoming EP ‘Something Small', plus Alex catches up with Rila's Edge and Cameron Hayes at The Gig House, and there's all the latest new music from Oxfordshire and Berkshire.Here's this week's playlist: • pecq - Closer Premium Leisure - Choosey Leah Tolksdorf - Where 2 Go Joely June - End-All Logan Cannon - What It Seems The Bobo - Nonsense PYCIZ - FREAKY! (feat. Yoshe Rose) The Subtheory - Sophistry Denzil Grenade - Vibe With You (feat. Mac Macedo) Tom Webber - I Am What I Am HooF - In Eyes, On Skin SideBanks - Don't Let the Embers Go Out Jush Josh - Changes Beth Morris - Another Life Maddie Ashman - Lonely Button Lewis Bolland - Distance Sylvan Weekends - Foolhardy (I will never forget this summer) Rila's Edge - Need to Know Rila's Edge - Radio Cameron Hayes - Superego pej - 100 Years of Solitude India Yates - Paper Heart Emily Craig - Symmetrical Lines • If you're making music in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, send us your tunes with the BBC Introducing Uploader: https://www.bbc.co.uk/introducing/uploader

Suzanne Siracuse is the former CEO and Publisher of InvestmentNews, where she oversaw a transformation in the news business and supported the evolution of the financial guidance profession. Suzanne now advises on game-changing trends that affect the financial services industry.Suzanne discusses how financial guidance has changed, what financial professionals can do to grow their business right now, and her predictions for what the industry will look like in the future.Go to Suzanne Siracuse's website See more retirement risk management insights from Allianz...Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guests or their companies. Any links to the podcast guest's website is being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Bob Toth is an employee benefits attorney specializing in retirement income. He's practiced employee benefits law for 40 years, focusing on the design, administration, and distribution of financial products and services for retirement plans.Bob talks about the changing expectations for employer-sponsored retirement plans, what you should know to offer your clients guidance about annuities in 401(k) plans, and what he sees as the next innovation coming to employer retirement benefits.Go to Bob Toth's websiteSee more retirement risk management insights from Allianz...Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guests or their companies. Any links to the podcast guest's website is being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.Any transaction that involves a recommendation to liquidate a securities product, including those within an IRA, 401(k), or other retirement plan for the purchase of an annuity or for other similar purposes, can be conducted only by individuals currently affiliated with a properly registered broker/dealer or registered investment advisor.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Lacy Garcia is the founder and CEO of Willow, the award-winning WealthTech platform that helps financial professionals and firms better serve tomorrow's investors. With a career at the intersection of financial services, women's empowerment, and education, Lacy understands the challenges of meeting the needs of a more diverse generation of clients.Lacy discusses her journey to financial services; the changing demographics of investors; and how financial professionals can prepare for the next generation of clients.Follow Lacy Garcia on Linkedin See more retirement risk management insights from Allianz... Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guests or their companies. Any links to the podcast guest's website is being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

This week on the BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire and Berkshire podcast, Dave catches up with The Mezz to hear about their new single Bridges, upcoming headline gig in Camden and a special announcement!Plus, Alex meets Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani at London's Matchstick Piehouse, hear about Operation Boombox - which is turning music from Oxfordshire into street art, there's a first play from Rila's Edge and all the latest new music from Oxfordshire and Berkshire.Here's this week's tracklist: • Sim Anya - When I Met You Daniel Munks - collage Aaran Daniel - MBBQ Chima Anya - Day by Day Josh Smith - Alternate Reality pinxity - girl in space DARLAH - Differ Emma Hunter - Morire P.S. Finn - Long Long Time Krissy Matthews - Carry You darqwud - Old Orchid Tendertwin - Plastik (Easely Remix) The Mezz - Bridges Avaxx - Transparent prodbear - Waking Up Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani - Atigheh Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani - Carry Us Rila's Edge - Wynona (live session) White Horses - Don't Let Me Down • If you're making music in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, send us your tunes with the BBC Introducing Uploader: https://www.bbc.co.uk/introducing/uploader

Joel Bruckenstein, CFP®, is globally recognized in the field of applied technology for financial professionals. He is the publisher of the T3 Tech Hub and the producer of the Technology Tools for Today Advisor Conference. Joel talks about the ways technology has changed financial service, what tools you should stop using, and how you can use fintech to complement your guidance.Go to Joel Bruckenstein's websiteReceive $200 off your registration for the 2024 T3 Conference using discount code ALLIANZ200. (1)Go to T3 Conference registration...(1) Registered representative participation in this event is subject to your broker/dealer's approval.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guests or their companies. Any links to the podcast guest's website is being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Sallie Krawcheck is the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, a digital financial platform for women that has over 3 million clients and $1.5+ billion in assets under management. She has valuable insights into how we can expand our reach to a more diverse generation of clients.Sallie discusses her journey to founding Ellevest, why we need greater diversity in the financial industry, the impacts of technology on the business of giving financial guidance, and why she hates the word “empowered.”Follow Sallie Krawcheck on LinkedIn...Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC are not affiliated with Ellevest or our guest. The link to the podcast guest's website is being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Moshe Milevsky is a professor of finance at York University in Canada. He's an author and leading authority on the intersection of wealth management, financial mathematics, and insurance.Professor Milevsky talks about the fundamental shifts in retirement planning and why it's no longer simply a math problem to be solved, how he feels about the 4% withdrawal strategy for retirement income, and why he doesn't like the idea of choosing a retirement date. Go to Moshe Milevsky's website.....The Allianz consumer study referenced in this episode is the Allianz 2023 Annual Retirement Study, an online survey conducted in February and March 2023 with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 individuals age 25+ in the contiguous U.S. with an annual household income of $50k+ (single) / $75k+ (married/partnered) OR investable assets of $150k+.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) and Allianz Life Financial Services LLC are not affiliated with our podcast guest. The guest's website is being provided as a service to you. Opinions expressed by the podcast guests are not necessarily those of Allianz or its affiliates. Please note that the information and opinions are provided by third parties and sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. The information is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has been keeping its promises since 1896 by helping Americans achieve their retirement income and protection goals with a variety of annuity and life insurance products.Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) does not provide financial planning services.This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax, or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties; nor is it intended to market, promote, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliates, and their employees and representatives do not give legal or tax advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Customers are encouraged to consult with their own legal, tax, and financial professionals for specific advice or product recommendations, or the Social Security Administration (SSA) office for their particular situation.Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss.Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuity (RILA) guarantees do not apply to the performance of the variable subaccounts, which will fluctuate with market conditions.Products are issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) are distributed by its affiliate, Allianz Life Financial Services, LLC, member FINRA, 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297. 800.542.5427 www.allianzlife.comThis content does not apply in the state of New York.For financial professional use only – not for use with the public.

Srila Prabhupada Disappearance Day Lecture Krishna House Gainesville Gainesville, Florida, USA November 16, 2023

Welcome to Season 3 Episode 3 of Retire Eyes Wide Open. Today we are talking about scary markets. Are they here to stay? We will also talk about RILA strategies, and Scot's top tips for investors. Host: Scot Landborg Guest: Steven Murphey

Does proptech have a fixed definition or is it in a constant state of evolution? What makes Los Angeles a particularly challenging real estate market to have success in? How did a customer focused approach of relentlessly seeking opportunities for clients create success despite a limited track record in the luxury home market? Why is building relationships the cornerstone of success, whether as a real estate agent or as a tech entrepreneur? How do the sales cycles of luxury real estate differ from the typical house transaction and how does this mirror an enterprise sales process? What is the tech stack for a highly successful luxury real estate agent? Why don't brokerages focus more tech development and spending on lead generation? Has the proliferation of technology become overwhelming for the average real estate agent? What was missing in the CRM world for real estate agents that Rila helps solve? Which business scaling issue does Rila help solve for real estate agents?Ben Bacal - CEO & founder of Rila and Revel Real Estate, joins Proptech Espresso to answer these questions and discuss how respectfully ignoring the advice of his successful real estate agent mother led him to conquer the LA luxury real estate market and sell some of the most expensive homes ever sold in the US. 

Registered Index-Linked Annuities (RILA) are the fastest growing segment of the annuity marketplace.  Bryan discusses the pros and cons of these new retirement planning vehicles and their popular "buffer" feature. Individuals should review their plans on a case-by-case basis with professional assistance.  Please consult your attorney or tax advisor for specific tax or legal advice.