Juggling Health and Wealth with Matt Lawson

In this episode of the How to Win podcast, hosts Kyrk Davis and Rick Gregory are joined by guest Matt Lawson, a physician assistant with 30 years of experience. They discuss the importance of maintaining good health to ensure a quality life during retirement. They emphasize that good health can mitigate financial stress and enhance the enjoyment of retirement years. They touch on the importance of community and staying engaged in activities post-retirement to prevent health decline.

Matt Lawson and any companies mentioned are not affiliated with The O.N. Equity Sales Company or O.N. Investment Management Company.

Kyrk Davis is a Registered Representative offering Securities through The O.N. Equity Sales Company, Member FINRA/SIPC, One Financial Way Cincinnati, Ohio 45242 (513) 794-6794. Kyrk Davis is an Investment Advisor Representative offering Investment Advisory services through O.N. Investment Management Company. Estate planning services provided in conjunction with your licensed legal professional.

Transcript

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Welcome to the How to Win podcast. I'm Kirk Davis. And I'm Rick Gregory. Want to know how to win in life and in your finances? Then you're in the right place. On this podcast, we'll be talking about everyday topics and how they relate to your overall financial picture. Alright, welcome back to another episode of the How to Win Podcast. I'm Kirk Davis. And I'm Rick Gregory. And today we have a special guest. Why, why don't you introduce yourself here. I'm Matt Lawson. I'm, I've been a PA for about 30 years and these guys convince me to come and talk a little bit about healthcare and, and what you can do to, to take better care of yourself in, in anticipation of retirement, I guess is what our. Our talk is about right. That, that's it. Well, thank you for, thank you for being here. Yeah. Well Rick, why don't you, why don't you tell him where we're at tonight because we're, we're, we're doing this a little bit different, so we're on a remote location tonight. I mean, and you know, this is the first time we've done this. So we are at Bluegrass Sportsman League and Wilmore, Kentucky, and we actually had a little Thursday night get together with a bunch of guys and we come down and Matt cooked like always. He's a great cook and we. Break a few clay targets and we just decided that we're gonna do a podcast, a remote podcast. So this is our first Eat Your Heart Out Joe Rogan. That's right, that's right. So see there we we're. As we can do, we can do this anywhere. Yeah. Alright, well I'll just kind of jump, jump right in a little bit. So whenever we build a financial plan for our clients oftentimes if they come to us early. We can get, get them financially to a point where they're able to retire at a relatively early age. And, and by that we, we, we mean 65 below 65. The, the issue comes though from the healthcare side. Sure. So as most everybody knows, you can't get Medicare until you're 65. And oftentimes that means that you're relying on an employer's health insurance plan unless you were fortunate enough to, to work at Toyota for 25 to, to 30 years. And. And, and have your healthcare paid for that way. Is that directed towards me, Kurt? That is. Oh, well thanks. Yeah. Yeah. And that's one good thing about, you know, all of our Toyota people, if they stay out there 25 years, well, it's changed a little now, but when I was there, then you got your full medical paid for, you know, until you turn 65 and got on Medicare and then they give you a supplemental to buy your Medicare supplement with, you know, so you can have the best of both worlds. So I guess, you know. I'm pretty lucky that I don't have to worry about that because of that, but I don't think everybody's in that situation. Yeah. Even at the VA where I work, if I'm not, if I'm, if I'm correct, I think that employer continues to pay a portion of my health insurance, but I'm responsible for like half of it after I re if I retired early. I believe so I would have, I would still have to bridge that gap between like if I retired at 58 until I'm 65, I. I guess so. And, and oftentimes we can do that by buying a, an individual health insurance plan. But those can get pricey, especially if we have some kind of health concerns. Sure. So really what we wanted you to help us talk about as in your professional opinion is kind of what you see. You know, I, I believe in, you know, an ounce of prevention is, is worth a pound of cure. Yeah. So if we can find things that young people and even kind of middle age and aging people can do. That will help keep them in better health. Ultimately, once they get to retirement, that's less money that we're gonna have to spend out of pocket. Just maintaining our, our bodies Sure. Keep, yeah, keep moving. Is, is what I, the recurrent theme I see. The guys that I see that are 80, 90 and ladies that are 90, they, they, they own small farms. They, they, after they're retired, they're engaged in activities. There was a study years ago done on these IBM employees that retired at like 55. You know, and, and sat down and do anything, didn't do much as far as physical activity. Most of 'em died within five years, so that speaks volumes for your activity level. You have to keep physically active, do some cardio, you know, workout, do some light strength training. I think nothing crazy. You just gotta keep moving. You know, that's a, that, that's a great point. That's one thing that we, we always talk to people about the, the final couple years of their working career and moving into retirement. There is, Hey, what are we gonna actually retire to? Because you're, you're a hundred percent right when we see people that, you know, are used to you having a routine for, you know, 30, 40, 50 years and getting up, going to work, doing some, something relatively physical, and then all of a sudden they retire and the first, and they lose. Yeah. They lose their purpose. And you gotta have a purpose. Like I've seen a lot of physicians retire. That was their whole life. And then they retire and within a few years they're dead because they lost their purpose. So I think you, you really have to have a, another thing that drives you and keeps you going. Yeah. And, and oftentimes people tell us, well, I'm gonna go play golf every day, or I'm gonna fish every day. And that sounds fun at first, but about six months into it. It starts to get old, it starts to get boring. Sure. And you wind up sitting on the couch and we see that once that happens, if we, if we can't get 'em out doing something else, that's when we see their health start to decline pretty quickly. And I think it involves other people. Those activities are fun, but some of the best times you have are fishing with your buddies or. Going to church group or going to, it involves other people. So I find that people that isolate themselves too, see a lot of veterans isolate. They get depressed, they lose a sense of purpose. And we, we have a high like suicide rate and, and depressed folks that, you know, financially are well off that, that just, again, lose their purpose. So basically you keep your body moving. That keeps your mind going too. I, I think it does. I think to a certain degree. I mean, i, I think it's the best medicine For real. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so I got a question about something. So this pickleball craze that's going on. Oh, so don't all the ortho doctors love that? Because all us old people that play pickleball come with bad knees and ankles and hips. They love tennis players tennis, but pickle ball pickleball is much less, you know, especially if you play doubles, it's not as bad. And I think it keeps you moving. I think pickle ball's fantastic. Yeah. Well we got a guy that was down here tonight that we shoot with that, that's all he talks about is pickleball and shooting. But yeah, you know. But those, those things, you know, keep moving is hard to do though, like you said, if you don't have other people. Yeah, yeah. And it's a pain, like, I'm, I'm 56 and I want to keep moving, so I go, I can't run anymore. I got bad knees, so I go to the pool, but it's a pain. I, I pay 30 bucks for a gym membership and I go swim and you gotta change and you gotta take a shower and all that. But, but, but it makes everything feel better in my life when I do that two to three times a week. It honestly makes me a better at work. Makes me better at home and, and, and it's, you know, it's lowered my blood pressure and things, so I say, you gotta stay active. So what about, what about the cost of medical insurance and the cost that is gonna be going forward? I don't see it getting any cheaper. Do you? No, I mean, I, I, I went to work in kind of a, what we, we would consider kind of a socialized system in the va. Because I, I, it was tough dealing with insurance companies. When I worked at uk, we would have to call for prior auth. I would want to order a test and I'd have to call the insurance company to get it approved, or we actually had two or three staff members call in insurances all day long to get, and that's all you paid them to do to, to, to, to pay them, to call insurance companies and get approval for tests that I've ordered. And where, you know, everybody says, well, the VA system is not as good and this and that. I can order the test. I feel appropriate, and nobody's questioning whether they think it's appropriate or not. You know, I, I do what's right for the veteran. So I enjoy that and working with the system. Well, I know you're a veteran too. Thank you for your service. Well, thank you. You're welcome. Yeah. That and, and now you're doing even better service. But I, so I wonder what is gonna happen with, our health as far as, you know, there's a lot of talk lately about the food we eat, you know, so maybe the food's bad for us, maybe not. That's an argument that somebody else has. But I know that having a good diet helps. I. Because, you know, I, I have a daughter that has type one diabetes. Sure. And so she has to, you know, really regulate her diet. It's not like she said, so. Sure. Do you think that if we get changes in the food system and stuff, that that's gonna help everybody's longevity? I, I do. I, I mean, you look at different countries, different Asian countries that have much more longevity and it's basically their diet is not a bunch of processed food. We have all these foods that are convenient, but we're killing ourselves with convenience. You know, you should get stuff that's raw, cut up and make your own salad. You know, like you prepare, like you're Cole Law that you make is Yeah, well darn good. Well, but I, I think you, you stay away from the processed stuff and you try to prepare more food. It's, it's tough when you, everybody's got two working parents and you, you want to buy convenient food. But I, but I do believe we're killing ourselves with convenience For sure. And the reason that we're talking about all this is because. Obviously we try to take care of people's financial things. Mm-hmm. And the cost of healthcare is a big, major decision when people retire. Like Yeah. One of the, one of the biggest line items on a retirees budget. Sure, sure. You know, I, I got to retire a little early because my insurance, like Kirk pointed out, was paid for, but that's not the case for everybody. And with healthcare costs, and like you said, the health, you know, the health of the whole nation going down. We try to help people, you know, ahead of time think about those things. Sure. But the way things are, it's hard for us to sit there and say, Hey, you know, we don't know five or 10 years from now how much the healthcare is gonna cost. Yeah. You know, so we try to work that into our plan, but it's very difficult. So the healthier you are, then you're gonna have more money to play with in your retirement and maybe make your retirement date shorter. Exactly. And, and I think. You just need to, to try to, an ounce of prevention's worth a pound of cure. You know, if you have diabetes, if you have high blood pressure controlling those things, they call hypertension the silent killer, because it, you don't have a lot of symptoms till it gets very elevated and, and really outta control. And so you can damage your eyes, your kidneys, your heart, your lungs by having uncontrolled hypertension, uncontrolled diabetes. I see veterans every day getting, you know, parts of their limbs cut off because their diabetes has been outta control for so long and they get a bad infection that their body can't fight off. And, and so, you know, and I, I've heard hundreds if not thousands of veterans that it, doc, if I knew I was gonna live this long, I would've taken better care of myself. And, and you have to, it's kind of a catch 22 there. It's like a, it's like your retirement. It is not only financial things, you want to be able to enjoy the money you have and the time you have. You don't want to just spend it going to the doctor all the time. So the, the, those are two big things. I see. Hypertension, diabetes, that, that, there's a lot of good medicines out now, but it, it's, it's tough. I, I'm a diabetic. It takes a lot of willpower and the medicines help, but it's daily decisions to, to not eat, overeat. Overeat is the big thing. You can have sweets now and then you just can't overdo it. So does, does jumping in that pool when you have to swim two or three days a week. Yeah. Does that motivate you? Well, yeah. Well, that cold water, what, what motivates me a lot of times is seeing guys' legs at the va. Yeah. I, I come in and, you know, a guy that's been in an apartment and. He's got gangrene and infections eating his legs away. Yeah. And I've seen maggots on there. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And stuff like that. And you're like, I, I don't, don't don wanna do everything. Yeah. I can do to not end up like that, I want to still be able to feel the pulses in my feet and use my feet and Yeah. It's, it's it's pretty it's pretty impressive to see some of the legs and things we see at the va For sure. Well see. And that's why we try to, that's why we try to plan. You know, people's financial situation and we ask tons of questions. Probably sometimes people don't like 'em, but we're trying to plan so things like this don't happen. Sure, sure. Or you have plenty of money if something does happen. Yeah. Yeah. You want to, you want to but be. Plan for your health and plan for Yeah. It's not like we just wanna see your checkbook, your wealth doesn't mean anything if you can't enjoy it. Yeah, exactly. I mean, no, that, that's a great point. And for people that are listening that are kind of hear, hearing Matt's example about the, the gangrene losing limbs and thinking, well that's a really extreme case and I'm never gonna gonna get to that point. Well, well maybe you're, maybe you're right and most likely you are right. But, but the idea is. That we want to not just give you the longevity, but we want to give the longevity to your quality of life. Yeah. So whether you retire at 60 or before that, or you or you end up having to wait till 65, we don't want you to retire and have no quality of life afterwards just because your body's broken down. Sure. So we want to give you at least, you know, 10, 15, 20 plus years of. Of good health where you're able to go out and enjoy everything that you, you've actually worked for your entire career. My wife and I talk about it. We just, we don't wanna leave any money for our kids. We wanna spend just spend it all, we wanna spend it all. Yeah. Because you know, yeah, that's right. We work it, you know, and, and, and they can work for theirs. Yeah. So I, I don't, I can't see you know, acquiring this big, big. You know, bank account to give it to my kids. I mean, what's Eli think about that. I don't know. He doesn't know yet. We still, we're not, we're not making that common knowledge to the kids yet. Well, this is a public podcast. Oh, he's gonna, we'll send him a link to it. Exactly. We'll have a follow up episode with him. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. What can I do to improve? Improve how? Improve my, yeah, yeah. Improve my inheritance. Yeah. That's right. That's funny. That's funny. Anyway, well, we, we, we really, you can tell we enjoy doing these podcasts and especially getting people like Matt on, so we can talk about things that don't come up in normal conversations. You know, how many times is this gonna come up? But it affects everybody. It does, yeah. I mean, I've seen so many people in retirement that are. Struggling financially and have struggling with their health and it's, it's tough. It's definitely tough to have. So with you and us, we got everything covered. Well, and, and that's another, another great point. You mentioned people that are, that are struggling both financially and, and health wise. Well, and we understand that, you know, maybe you're listening to this and, and maybe you don't have a very high paying job or maybe just got started really late in life and you don't necessarily have the time to, to build a great retirement portfolio. Well, that's all the more reason. To take care of yourself and make sure that, so, so you only have that one stress of maybe not having the, you know, as much money as you would like and not compounding it with the, the health issues. And I've often thought too, if I'm healthy enough, like if I retire at 60, but I really wanna make gun parts in my garage mm-hmm. If I'm healthy enough to do another job, something that I want to do. Mm-hmm. Then, then it's not really like work. Yeah. But if you invest not only in your money but your health, you can still be healthy enough to do. You could have another, you could have another career after you retire. Yep, that's right. Do you know anything about having another career? Man, I'm taking it on the chin today, man. I'm gonna skip the next podcast. I think I got black eyes. How many? Yeah. How many careers you got, Rick? Well, I'm working on this is, this is definitely definitely an extra career. Yeah. But it's fun. I love it. So, and that's the thing. That's the thing, you know, that's the thing. I, I can do it and I love it. And they have, we have good coffee at work. Sure. There you go. In moderation. Right? Sandwich in moderation. In moderation. Okay. I don't put anything in, I drink it blank. Okay. That's good. That's good. So, so to summarize, the, the two biggest things that you see are health issues that you see in retirees are gonna be hypertension and diabetes. Diabetes, heart disease, to placed in with the, the, and I guess they just kind of are tied together anyway. Yeah. Yeah. And the, the best prevention for that is finding a strong community to be in and just staying active and. Eating is, is healthy and as quality of food as reasonable. Yeah. You don't have to do anything stupid, you know? Yeah. I don't think you have to buy all, all organic. I don't think you have to do all that. I think you, you do need to stay in the fruits and vegetables and, and you need to stay away from the processed stuff as much as possible. So when you go to the grocery, stick to the outside, not in the outside. That's what you've heard before. And I, I, I agree with that. I will have to say something though. So we've been getting organic. No added sugar, ketchup. Yeah. And it's better than regular ketchup. Really? I promise you. Yeah. You know what kind of ketchup we have? Hmm? My wife doesn't eat ketchup, so we've not bought up bottle ketchup. So you don't have any ketchup? Okay. I just thought I'd bring that up. So we were talking about processed foods, but that's that organic, no sugar added Ketchup is really good. It's better than regular ketchup. I like the jalapeno. Ketchup. I like your jalapeno slaw. Yeah. So there we go. Alright, Kirk got anything else you want to add or you wanna close this thing out? I think, I think we'll close it out here. We're right at about 17 minutes and some change, so really appreciate you coming on the Well, thanks for having me. I'm, I'm looking forward to the call from Joe Rogan. Thanks. Thanks for coming. We we're, we may make you infamous instead of famous. That's right. That's right. Well, thank you for having. To me. Mm-hmm. Well, as always if you guys have enjoyed this episode send us a comment. If you have things that you want us to talk about, send that to us as well. We'll try to work it in the the lineup. Thanks guys. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the How to Win Podcast. 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