079 Loren Feldman: Transition to Retirement as a Life Entrepreneur

About Fun With Annuities® Episode #79

We went aspirational with this week’s Fun With Annuities Celebrity Co-host Loren Feldman, editor-in-chief of 21 Hats. When my PR team booked Loren for FWA episode #79, I was fascinated with his expertise in covering entrepreneurs for such titans as Forbes, The New York Times, Inc., Fast Company, Money, and GQ, to name a few.  His website and podcast are foundational resources for forward-thinking entrepreneurs across the globe.

So why is Loren Feldman on the "Fun With Annuities" podcast where most listeners are headed to or planning for Chapter 2 of their lives?  The answer is because you don't have to be a "business entrepreneur" to appreciate Loren's insight. You can choose to be what I call a "life entrepreneur."

Loren shaped the conversation with this, “You wanna listen but then do what you’re about to do. Listen to everybody who’s opinion you respect - when I say listen, I don’t mean follow their advice."

With that "life entrepreneur" perspective in mind, Loren and I talked about what challenges we're facing in retirement now or if you're planning for retirement in the future. What are the challenges of shutting down a business? Or, what do you do to keep it going after you've retired?

We also dove into the topic of what to do if you've lived your entire life taking risks; how do you pivot? How can people learn to transition to transferring risk as they get to Chapter 2 of their lives? Under one of my favorite sayings "There's No U-Hauls Behind Hearses," we also talked about how to take that entrepreneur spirit into retirement.

About midway through the podcast, the lightning bolt hit me as to why Loren's appearance was significant for the FWA podcast audience.  Retirees, baby boomers, or people that are getting close to retirement are all going to be "Life Entrepreneurs." What is that animal, you ask? That's you!  When you get to Chapter 2 of your life, you have to create a "life plan" and attack it just like an entrepreneur puts together their "business plan." There's no difference.  The phrase "retirement plan" is out. That makes it sound like we're all gonna do nothing, be nothing. Forget that. Both require risk management.  Both require daily attention to detail.  Both require talent, patience, IQ, and skill to be successful.  Raise your hand if you want to be known as a Life Entrepreneur instead of a Retiree.  

This podcast is your first step in that journey.  You are going to love the insight and ideas discussed.  Get after it.

Brief bio on Co-Host Loren Feldman

We went aspirational with this week’s Celebrity Co-host because we wanted to talk a little about the possibilities of a second chapter in life – starting your own business. Loren Feldman is editor-in-chief and founder of 21 Hats, a platform for business owners, where he edits a daily newsletter for entrepreneurs 21 Hats and hosts the 21 Hats podcast. He has also co-hosted a call-in show for business owners, Mind Your Business, on Sirius XM. Previously, he was a senior editor at Forbes, where he created the Forbes Small Giants franchise and was responsible for entrepreneurial coverage in print and online. Before that, he was small-business editor of The New York Times, where he started the You’re the Boss small-business blog. He has also been editor of the Web sites at both Inc. and FastCompany.

Loren is the go-to guy on entrepreneurship and called upon to speak and moderate numerous conferences and seminars on the topic. But you can get access to his thoughts on the topic but following him on Twitter or signing up for his newsletter 21 Hats.

In this episode, The Annuity Man® and Loren Feldman discuss:  

• Entrepreneurs and retirement  
• Investing for business owners
• Passion and confidence on business
• Measuring your risk

Key Takeaways:  

• Plan for the next chapter. Retirement brings about many opportunities that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.  
• Many entrepreneurs love taking risks but being smart about your money means making informed decisions that take into consideration risk-transfer and investment.  
• Passion is essential but not sufficient when getting a business to take off.  
• You don't want to go straight from chapter 2 to chapter 11 - take time to plan out the venture you’re about to start and measure the risks you're about to take.

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.