080 Jamie Hopkins: Retirement Planning and The Why That Makes You Cry

About Fun With Annuities Episode #80

Young. Smart. The Future. The Truth. Jamie Hopkins fits all of those descriptions and is a true thought leader in the world of Retirement Income Planning. Jamie is a managing partner of Wealth Solutions, a finance professor at Creighton University, and has both an MBA and Law Degree. Smart dude, to say the least.

His recent book, "Rewirement: Rewiring The Way You Think About Retirement," displays Jamie's outside-the-box approach to his approach to retirement, retirement planning, and the psychological aspects of how you should approach Chapter 2 of your life.

Jamie put it right out there when he asked me this, "Would you give up all your money if it means that you’ll be happy for the rest of your life? Most people would say yes - that’s what we’re aiming for. Dollars are a means to an end."

Jamie put himself through college as a swimmer at Davidson College (NC), which tells you a lot about his disciplined approach to life. In a very somber moment in the podcast, Jamie revealed how his father accidentally and tragically died when he was eight years old and how that shaped his life. Watching his mom continue the family business while raising him and his siblings is still the primary motivation for Jamie to try and help people take care of their financial well-being.

Jamie and I discussed stereotypical retirement and behavioral biases and the misconceptions that surround retirement income planning. A pivotal moment in the podcast came when Jamie discussed what he calls "The Why That Makes You Cry." To Jamie, retirement is not just about money or returns. It's about what drives you. It's about what your true passion is. It's about what is so important to you that it can bring you to tears. Forget about ROI (Return on Investment); according to Jamie its about about ROS (Return on Sleep). Fascinating, to say the least.

You are going to thoroughly enjoy this conversation and learn a lot along the way.

Celebrity co-host Jamie P. Hopkins:

This week’s celebrity co-host Jamie P. Hopkins, is Managing Partner of Wealth Solutions at Carson Group and someone who, as he says, “nerds out on all things retirement”. As a nationally recognized writer and researcher, Jamie is a regular contributor to Forbes, InvestmentNews and MarketWatch, has been featured in many of the top the national business media and also serves as Finance Professor of Practice at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.

He is an educator, a coach and has been published in dozens of financial, educational and legal journals and developed educational materials for The American College’s CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® and RICP® programs, along with CE programs for attorneys. Additionally, he co-created the Retirement Income Certified Professional® (RICP®) designation.

Jamie is the author of “Rewirement: Rewiring The Way You Think About Retirement,” which released its second edition in 2021. Additionally, Jamie has co-authored three text books and has two ebooks on Retirement Planning, “Retirement Success In 10 Steps: How To Stretch Your Dollar To Last Through Your Golden Years” and “Retirement Risks: How To Plan Around Uncertainty For A Successful Retirement.”

You can follow Jamie on Twitter and the Carson Group on Twitter.

In this episode, The Annuity Man and Jamie Hopkins discuss:  

• ROS - Return on Sleep
• From an accumulation to a decumulation mindset
• Living your retirement meaningfully  
• Changing your relationship with money  

Key Takeaways:  

• People often don’t care about optimal, people care about being happy. Giving people a good retirement experience, a Return On Sleep, is better than giving optimal results.  
• Point your focus towards what you’re planning to work towards or what you want to acquire - accumulating money isn’t going to do you any good if you don’t convert it into anything that will make your retirement a joyful experience.  
• If you go into retirement and end up not having any passion for anything or not having anything you care about, you’re not gonna have a great retirement - whatever it might be, find that piece that will make your retirement meaningful for you. That’s true wealth.
• Think about rewiring your preconceptions around money and wealth - it takes more than planning, it takes coaching and being aware of the misconceptions that you hold.  

Fun With Annuities® Podcast is hosted by America’s Annuity Agent®, Stan Haithcock, The Annuity Man®. Hear brutal annuity facts with no sales pitches from the top independent agent in the country, licensed in all 50 states. Author of 7 books, Stan dives deep on all annuity types and strategies. It’s fun, learning the contractual truths on how annuities actually work and if they’ll fit your personal retirement lifestyle.

Listen in on how you can be livin’ the reality, not the dream®. Listen and subscribe on Libsyn, Stitcher,Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify.