Decision Vision Episode 111: Should I Retire? – An Interview with Brian Falony, Director of Marketing, Brady Ware & Company

Intro: [00:00:01] Welcome to Decision Vision, a podcast series focusing on critical business decisions. Brought to you by Brady Ware & Company. Brady Ware is a regional full-service accounting and advisory firm that helps businesses and entrepreneurs make visions a reality.

Mike Blake: [00:00:21] Welcome to Decision Vision, a podcast giving you, the listener, clear vision to make great decisions. In each episode, we discuss the process of decision making on a different topic from the business owners’ or executives’ perspective. We aren’t necessarily telling you what to do, but we can put you in a position to make an informed decision on your own and understand when you might need help along the way.

Mike Blake: [00:00:41] My name is Mike Blake, and I’m your host for today’s program. I’m a director at Brady Ware & Company, a full service accounting firm based in Dayton, Ohio, with offices in Dayton; Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Indiana; and Alpharetta, Georgia. Brady Ware is sponsoring this podcast, which is being recorded in Atlanta per social distancing protocols. If you would like to engage with me on social media with my Chart of the Day and other content, I’m on LinkedIn, and also @unblakeable on Facebook, Twitter, Clubhouse, and Instagram. If you like this podcast, please subscribe on your favorite podcast aggregator, and please consider leaving a review of the podcast as well.

Mike Blake: [00:01:17] Today’s topic is, Should I retire? And our guest – that I’m going to bring on in just a minute – is a dear friend, and professional colleague, and mentor of mine, who has reached the stage of his life where he is going to retire from our firm. I don’t know if it’s been formerly announced, so I’m not going to mention it right now, but soon. It’s a known quantity by the time this thing gets published, I’m sure it’s going to be more known.

Mike Blake: [00:01:51] But, you know, it occurs to me that retirement is one of the most consequential decisions that all of us, we hope, will make in our lives. It’s consequential from a business perspective. It’s, of course, consequential from a personal perspective. And a decision to retire is so weighty and is so complex and is intertwined with the hard material discussions and considerations as well as the emotional and profound personal considerations.

Mike Blake: [00:02:30] And, you know, we’ve been thinking about retirement as a society for a while. I remember ten years ago or 15 years ago that we thought for sure there was going to be this wave of businesses that was going to be up for sale, and this wave of executives that were going to have to retire. And interestingly, they, largely, didn’t. I mean, some did, of course. But, you know, first of all, with the profound financial implications of the financial correction of 2008 and 2009, simply for many people moved the goalposts for retirement back from a financial perspective and did so in a significant way.

Mike Blake: [00:03:17] But, also, sort of a funny thing happened is that, the human lifespan and the human useful lifespan has increased significantly since World War II. And I’m not going to get into a big discussion as to why that is. There are lots of theories. But you just can’t deny the fact that more people are living into their 90s. You know, renowned children’s author, Beverly Cleary, just passed away at 104. I didn’t even know she was still alive. But when I was in my single digits and in the 70s, I was reading her books right along with everybody else. And that’s just an example. But not only are people living longer, they’re living longer in a state of greater health and in a state of greater vibrancy. And in particular, if we ever really get a handle on Alzheimer’s, watch out, because, you know, I don’t know that 65 is going to be the bogey for retirement. I don’t know that it’s necessarily economically sustainable. And again, that’s a different podcast, so maybe the Chart of the Day.

Mike Blake: [00:04:19] But coming back to where we are, you know, regardless of the social implications and the economic implications, at the end of the day, our podcast is about making critical decisions. And usually ones that are hard to reverse. And when you really get down to it, it’s hard to think of many personal decisions that are much more impactful, that have much greater and far reaching implications than should I retire. So, that’s why I want to cover this today. And I hope many of you will find this of interest and helpful.

Mike Blake: [00:04:57] And joining us today is my longtime friend and mentor, Brian Falony, who is Director of Marketing for my firm, Brady Ware & Company. We actually met when we are working with another accounting firm. I went back and checked, it’s actually about 12 years ago. And I suspect that we grew a friendship quickly because I was an accountant that actually was interested in marketing. But, ha, the joke’s on you. I’m not really an accountant. I just have to work for an accounting firm so the record is unblemished.

Mike Blake: [00:05:28] But, you know, he and I have maintained a long relationship, a great relationship now across two firms. He actually recruited me into Brady Ware. And I hope that’s not one of the reasons he’s being put into retirement. It might be, we’ll get into that. And as I said, he’s retiring soon. So, I thought, what a cool idea to get into the head of somebody who is actually in retirement, not thinking about retirement, not did it a year ago, but is actually sort of in process, kind of like watching an eclipse as it’s happening.

Mike Blake: [00:06:05] Brian has more than 30 years of experience helping accounting firms grow their practices. He led the marketing functions for two of the top 50 CPA firms in the U.S., and has consulted with firms across North America on improving their marketing programs. Brian leads the firm’s overall marketing efforts with a focus on growth – at least he will until he retires. Brian is a member of the Association for Accounting Marketing, where he has served on several committees as well as the board of directors. He is also a member of the Association’s Hall of Fame – which I did not know. And, again, this is one of these things, just like last week, you get into somebody’s bio, you find some cool things about them you didn’t know in spite of how long you knew them.

Mike Blake: [00:06:45] And I think it’s worth saying that, also, Brian has been one of the thought leaders that helped put this podcast together. It was he, in a lot of ways, helped make this possible and rallied the support of the firm behind it. And it’s a fair statement to say, this podcast would not be here, I think, without Brian’s help. And to him, I’m very grateful for that. And I hope our listeners will acknowledge that. Brian, thank you so much for coming on the program.

Brian Falony: [00:07:13] Well, thanks, Mike. That was a great introduction. I’m not sure that I’ll live up to all of it, but I’m ready to talk about it.

Mike Blake: [00:07:22] Well, you are retiring. You are retiring, right? I mean, you are qualified to talk about that because you are, in fact, retiring. You don’t reverse that decision, right?

Brian Falony: [00:07:30] That is true. That is true.

Mike Blake: [00:07:32] So, you know, talk about your career as you kind of look back and you’re talking to somebody about what you have done over the course of your business life, how would you summarize it?

Brian Falony: [00:07:44] Well, actually, I had two careers. Right out of college, I started working for the office furniture industry. My dad was actually working in that industry. And he kind of got me an entree into it. And I worked for firms like Herman Miller and Haworth for about 17 years. And then, in, I think, 1989, Herman Miller, being a public corporation, had a big cutback. And, suddenly, there I was without a job and had a family and a house and all of that. So, I started searching around, landed a job, and had to move from West Michigan down to South Bend, Indiana, sold the house, moved the family. Six months into the new job, I decided I would have been better off staying unemployed. So then, I started searching again.

Brian Falony: [00:08:29] And there was a firm called Crowe Chizek down in South Bend, Indiana. And I had an opportunity, go in and talk to them about their marketing director position. They took a chance on me and I had no idea about working in accounting, but I took a chance on them. I found out that I absolutely loved working with accountants, working in a less hierarchical structure, and working in an area where I could make a meaningful impact on the growth of a firm. I worked for them for a few years.

Brian Falony: [00:09:04] I took another job which moved me to Atlanta, consulting. I worked for an association of accounting firms and consulted with them for a number of years. And then, had a great opportunity to go back into a firm. And so, I’ve been in firms. I’ve been consulting with firms. I’ve been with a company that’s no longer in existence, Peachtree Software. They were bought up. But for the last 30 years, I’ve been working with accounting firms and have just absolutely loved what I do, helping these firms grow and helping individual accountants find new clients and develop relationships with those clients.

Mike Blake: [00:09:45] So, you’ve done all that. You’ve enjoyed and produced, you know, the success that you have. What goes into the decision to decide you’re going to retire?

Brian Falony: [00:09:59] I think there are a couple of things, and I’m going to speak for me here. But I started over the last couple of years, I started to realize that there were parts of the job that I really, really liked. But then, there were other parts of it that it just wasn’t my main interest. And my interests were changing a bit. And so, when you start to get that feeling that – gosh – it’s just not exactly what you wanted to do. And that started me thinking about it.

Brian Falony: [00:10:35] And then, the other thing that went into that decision is, I’m a relatively older person. I did not grow up with the internet. I did not grow up with a lot of the technology that we have today. And I started to think, you know, the way marketing is going within CPA firms, it may require a different skillset than what I bring to the table. And maybe it’s time for the firm to start looking for somebody that has that skillset that can take them to the next level, can take them over the next few years, and really embrace the technology that is taking over our world.

Mike Blake: [00:11:21] You know, that’s interesting, and I think there’s a very visible analogy to that, and that is in sports coaching. I know you follow sports, at least, a little bit. And I’m sure you’re cognizant of the fact that many sports, particularly baseball but has spread to others, have gone deep into data analytics in terms of how they build teams on field, decision making, and so forth. And what we saw, about, starting ten years ago in baseball and maybe five to seven years ago in the other sports, were the old school coaches retiring. Not because they had lost the ability to coach a football game and select players and train players per se, but they started to recognize that in order to be successful or to get that next job, they were going to have to embrace analytics.

Mike Blake: [00:12:19] It means going back to school for computers, which means having to go back to school for some form of data science. Which, just is not the kind of thing that say, you know, Don Shula was going to do, right? It’s not what Joe Torre was ever going to do, right? And so, rather than retool – it didn’t mean they all of a sudden become bad coaches, but it simply was a scenario in which their industry evolved in a direction where you have to make a decision. (A) You don’t want to do it. And (B) is it worth doing, given the fact that I may not necessarily have that many working lives left. Does it even make sense to do that from an ROI perspective?

Brian Falony: [00:13:03] Yeah. And I think it’s not only the internal looking that you just described. But I think if an executive is really dedicated to the firm that they work for, I think they also have to, in their mind, ask that question, is the skillset that I have what is needed to take my firm to where it needs to go?

Mike Blake: [00:13:32] Yeah. But I guess, also, the other consideration, too, I mean, you could have simply left Brady Ware and moved to another accounting firm. So, it’s not just about the need for that firm, I imagine, but it’s also sort of the needs of the market generally. And that doesn’t mean that what you bring to the table is obsolete – I’ll just call it sort of old school, if you will, or OG marketing – it’s still very valuable. And it’s going to come back with a vengeance. So, say, I’ll get vaccinated and start meeting each other again. But it’s going to be one tool as opposed to the tool.

Brian Falony: [00:14:10] Yes. I agree totally.

Mike Blake: [00:14:14] And a tool that’s more relied upon, I think, by certain demographics, one versus the other. Again, as you mentioned, just based on how people grow up and what their comfort level is with different kinds of marketing platforms.

Brian Falony: [00:14:26] Absolutely.

Mike Blake: [00:14:28] So, I’m going to quasi-out you a little bit. I know that you’re not 65. I know that you’re older than 65. I’ll let you disclose your age if you choose to. But I know you didn’t retire exactly at 65, which is our firm’s ostensible mandatory retirement age. And that’s sort of a frequent finish line for many people’s careers, I’m not sure how long term sustainable that is given the economics. But, for now, it is what it is. Why didn’t you just retire at 65, kind of like everybody else? What kept you wanting to continue?

Brian Falony: [00:15:07] Well, at the time, I was working for a company called Thomson Reuters. And I had started out working for a company called BizActions, which was then bought by Thomson Reuters. And I had the opportunity to help CPA firms use a tool, an electronic newsletter tool, to help develop their business. And when Thomson Reuters bought it, my job changed significantly and became a little bit less fun. But I wasn’t ready to hang it up yet.

Brian Falony: [00:15:39] And so, one day, I was talking with one of my customers, Brady Ware & Company. I was talking to my contact with Brady Ware. And I’d seen on LinkedIn that they were looking for a marketing director, and I said, “Gee. I see you’re looking for a marketing director.” She says, “Yeah. Do you know anybody?” And I said, “Well, as a matter of fact, I do.” And because we had developed such a good relationship, I started working for Brady Ware.

Brian Falony: [00:16:08] But, really, at the time I was 65 years old, I wasn’t ready to hang it up at that point in time. I knew that I really loved going into an accounting firm and bringing my skills into their marketing program. And getting them to the part where they’re directed, and they’re growing, and everybody is being successful in growing the firm. So, I thought this was a great opportunity. I did, however, say to the managing partner who is doing the hiring, I said, “I want you to realize I am 65 years old. I plan on retiring at age 70. So, just understand that this is a five year maximum gig. And I’ll be happy to work with you in that transition when the time comes.”

Brian Falony: [00:16:54] Well, that was a number of years ago. And, now, that I am 70 years old, it is time to actually put that in place. And so, he and I started talking, probably, about a year ago on the transition. I let him know that 70 was coming up and that we had discussed this. And so, we’ve been working on the transition for about a year.

Mike Blake: [00:17:18] So, as you approach this decision, other than the financial peace – and financial, I think, concerns everybody to some extent. Maybe not. I don’t want to put words in your mouth – but what concerns you most about the decision to retire, if anything? Was there anything that worried you, concerned you, bothered you, made you hesitate in any way?

Brian Falony: [00:17:39] Well, it’s something that I’m still having to deal with in my head. And that is for, roughly, 47 years, ever since I graduated college, I have been in marketing. I have progressed through marketing up to the director level. I have been the breadwinner for my family. I can’t tell you the last time I took more than about two weeks off from work. And so, I think there is a little bit of a loss of identity. Like, “Who am I going to be in this new career?” And I’m still working on that. I think I’ve got a solution for it. And I’m hoping that it all works out well. But that is still a concern. And I think for a lot of people that have had a good long career and really loved what they’re doing, that loss of, “Well, this defines who I am. How do I get that new definition?” can be a pretty significant issue that needs to be considered.

Mike Blake: [00:18:49] Yeah. And, you know, I spoke with a friend, that you and I both know, last week. And she retired, actually, about a year or almost a year ago. And I’m going to have another conversation with her next week. But she wasn’t overly thrilled with her retirement either. And the thing that she told me that she’s really struggling with is building that identity. You know, there’s only so many books you can read, if you’re the most voracious reader in the world. And so, like I said, I got on the phone with her and helped her brainstorm and kind of think about what might be next. And, you know, I think it is jarring.

Mike Blake: [00:19:32] My dad, he retired, I guess, about eight, nine years ago. And he’s a very good retiree. He had no desire to go back to work. He’s a little bit a nonprofit. He’s a big time bridge player, that sort of thing. But, you know, I can appreciate for a lot of people that’s not easy, especially if you’ve been sort of in an intense environment where your whole day, your week, your month, your year is structured around work. You just have that become a vacuum. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches in terms of time. It’s a different kind of time management problem.

Brian Falony: [00:20:08] Yes, it is. And we’ll see how that goes.

Mike Blake: [00:20:12] So, how would you characterize your retirement planning process? When did you start to get serious about it? Was it phased? Was it consistent? Was it, “Oh, crap. I’m behind. I got to hurry up.” And it’s probably sort of different for different aspects of retirement. But how would you characterize it in your particular case?

Brian Falony: [00:20:38] Well, it was pretty well planned. And if you ever talk to my wife, she’ll tell you that I’m very annal about process and planning and all of that. So, you know, as I alluded to earlier, I had told the managing partner of Brady Ware when he hired me that there was a limit on this. So, I had already started thinking about what does this look like. And then, I kind of put off any kind of planning until about a year ago. And when I turned 69, I said, “You know, I really have to be in a position to make this a successful and a smooth transition, so I better start planning now.”

Mike Blake: [00:21:22] And so, I talked to the managing partner, like I said, a year ago. And then, we got serious about putting a plan together, probably, starting six months ago. And we have a structured plan that laid out dates for hiring a consultant to determine what kind of a transition we wanted to make in sourcing, hiring, putting up the ads for candidates, evaluating the candidates. So, there was a pretty good plan there.

Brian Falony: [00:22:01] On the personal side, I’ve also been planning and talking to a couple of my contacts within the industry about possible consulting work and things like this. So, there’s that other side of the plan, the personal side of the plan. But I’ve been working on that for probably about the last year just to make sure that it is a good, smooth transition.

Mike Blake: [00:22:28] So, you’ve been involved, you said, in helping to choose your successor. How much involvement have you had? And do you think that involvement is likely going to be best practices for many firms? Or maybe best practice is more or less involvement?

Brian Falony: [00:22:48] That’s a really interesting question. As you said, I have been involved. I have interviewed some of the candidates. I definitely interviewed the successful candidate. But I think part of that is going to depend on the personality of the of individual retiring. I went into this with an idea that within the accounting marketing profession, most times marketing directors don’t retire. They leave and get another job, they get fired, whatever. And it’s a very difficult transition. One of the things I wanted to do in this is, try to make a smooth transition to see what goes into making that happen. So, I had the mindset that I really wanted to help with that.

Brian Falony: [00:23:46] Other people that may have a different attitude, may have the attitude that I’m the best one that’s ever been in this position, it would be a little harder for them to step back and say, “All right. Who is going to be a great person to replace me? Do some of the things that I can’t do and take the firm to the next level.”

Brian Falony: [00:24:07] So, I think going back to your original question, how involved should the person be in bringing their successor, I think if they’ve got the attitude that, this is a process that I can significantly help move my firm to the next level by doing this, then they ought to be very involved. If it’s, on the other hand, a person who thinks that they can’t be replaced, they probably ought to not be terribly involved because they’re going to look for the negative sides of anybody that’s going to come in and replace them.

Mike Blake: [00:24:39] Right. There are, in fact, the process. So, I imagine the other piece of this, too, is the circumstances under which the retirement is occurring. In your case, you know, you’re managing an orderly retirement. You’re obviously departing from the firm or separating from the firm on very good terms. Not every retirement occurs in that direction that way, right?

Brian Falony: [00:25:01] That’s true. That is true.

Mike Blake: [00:25:03] You know, you don’t necessarily want to have the person that you’re effectively booting out, trying to be involved in the successor. It’s hard to see how that would be a constructive conversation and relationship.

Brian Falony: [00:25:15] Yeah. Yeah. The plan is to have my successor in place and for me to work with him for probably about four weeks. And I’ve given this some thought and I’m thinking that, like, the first week, I’m still going to be the marketing director and he’s going to be learning from me. The second week, it might be kind of half and half. And by the third week, he’s going to be the marketing director and I’m just going to be there as a resource to him for a couple of weeks.

Mike Blake: [00:25:42] Okay. Now, you really gave the firm five years notice, when you really get down to it, right? But then, you sort of reminded our managing partner – I don’t know if I should say his name, but I guess not. I don’t know if it matters or not. People can look it up – you gave him notice saying, “Hey, look. You know, we’re sort of at the fourth quarter here. You know, we need to start acting.” So, in effect, that was a year long runway. Do you think a year is best practice in your ideal world might you have started a transition process earlier? Is it perhaps too much that maybe a year just seems so far away in retrospect? What’s your view on that?

Brian Falony: [00:26:34] I think a year is probably good. I wouldn’t make it less than six months. But then, I wouldn’t make it longer than a year either. And one of the things that I’ve noticed particularly, probably, in the last couple of months, is that, in interactions with some of the folks in the firm, I get the feeling that they’re looking at me as a lame duck. And so, I think if you start this process too soon, like more than a year out, the person could find themselves in that lame duck position a lot earlier than they need to be. So, I would say probably somewhere in the six months to one year range, at least from my experiences, is a pretty good amount of time.

Mike Blake: [00:27:25] Right. Right. And, of course, we’re talking about an executive position too. A position that’s more of a staff position. You may not necessarily need that long a transition. But the bulk of our listeners are in that executive position, so I think that answer is most relevant to them.

Mike Blake: [00:27:47] The question I’d like to ask is, a lot of people – and I’m starting to get to this age now where people are very fixated on it – have sort of a magic financial number. Where their basis is, you know, if I hit this, I’m going to retire. In government, if I hit 20 years of service, I’m out. Or, you know, for the rest of us mere mortals, if I have this much in the bank, that said, I’m out. You know, how important was that to you in terms of the timing and decision to retire?

Brian Falony: [00:28:15] It was a factor, but I don’t think it was the major factor. One of the things that I considered is – and this may change, but for right now -you’ve maxed out your Social Security at age 70. So, I knew 70 was kind of where I wanted to be. What was more important to me was having zero debt going into it, so that was a goal. But, you know, I don’t think there was a specific financial number in mind.

Brian Falony: [00:28:58] I wanted to make sure that I had enough in between my retirement savings and my Social Security that we’re not going to have to significantly downsize our lifestyle. That’s probably the biggest consideration, just having enough to enjoy the time that I have left, and provide for my wife, and just do some of the things that we have not been able to do because I’ve been tied up with work for all these years. But there wasn’t a magic number out there. There was a lot of factors that went into it. I don’t know if that helps, but that was kind of what was going in my mind.

Mike Blake: [00:29:47] Well, I think it’s interesting. This is one of those answers that I think is going to differ person to person. I know some people that they look fanatically at their brokerage accounts or savings accounts, whatever it is, their total assets, and they say, “If I hit this number, then I can basically give the world a finger. And then, my whole world changes after that time.” And, you know, of course, we all hear about government employees that the saying is, they know to the day when they’re eligible to receive full retirement.

Mike Blake: [00:30:22] And I was just curious, in your perspective – it sounds like it’s not – it doesn’t sound like you’re fixated on a number that basically was your “freedom number”. Obviously, you want to retire at a time when you can provide for yourself. That doesn’t make any sense not to do if you can help it. But at the same token, it doesn’t sound like you hit a finish line. I’ve made the number. And, therefore, I’m just going to sort of hit a switch and go into retirement mode. It’s much more holistic than that.

Brian Falony: [00:30:52] Yeah. I think that’s a fair description, Mike.

Mike Blake: [00:30:57] So, I see retirement as falling into one or two buckets. And I think I know the answer to this question, but I don’t want to assume. And one of those buckets is, retirement just simply closes a book. It’s a big ending that transitions into something just entirely different. And, again, my father was this way, my grandfather was this way for sure, my mother was this way. They just retired and just never looked back in any way, at least as far as I could tell.

Mike Blake: [00:31:39] And then, there’s another school of thought that says, “Well, this is just a different chapter where I’m still going to be around. I’m still going to be doing stuff. I’m not going to necessarily have ‘being retired’ as my identity. It’s simply a financial status,” if you will. I’m curious as to which bucket you would like to see yourself in and what’s attractive about that to you?

Brian Falony: [00:32:03] I think I would up for bucket number two as opposed to bucket number one. As I said earlier, when I fell into this career of professional services, marketing, and particularly marketing for accounting firms, I found something I really loved. And you mentioned earlier that I’m a member of the Association for Accounting Marketing and I’ve served on the board of directors and a number of committees there. And that association has been critical to my career. And I love the people in the organization. I love the organization.

Brian Falony: [00:32:42] So, I plan to stay involved with that organization even after I retire. And through that organization, I’ve met a number of people, some of whom have gone out into the consulting world. And I’ve talked to a couple of them about possibly working with them on some part time consulting engagements, things like that. Because, like I said, I love this profession and I do have, I believe, some things that I can give back to some other firms. So, I plan to keep my hand in at least a bit, not full time, but at least a bit, and just give back a little bit to this profession that has been so good to me.

Mike Blake: [00:33:24] You know, one of the things that I’ve seen some organizations do, and this is something I believe they have borrowed from academia, is, they established an emeritus role. And I think that’s actually really smart because one of the things I think that firms make a mistake on, you know, we have these well-intentioned retirement ages. And the goal mainly of the retirement age is to make room for the next generation, basically. But hitting the ejector seat on people that have potentially a-half-a-century of experience – I don’t care how much technology has changed – there’s going to be value to that half century of experience, for sure. You know, to have a role for that emeritus, whether it’s in a firm, whether it’s in an organization – hopefully AAM has something like that available for you. If not, they should – what do you think about roles like that? I mean, is that a real thing or is it just window dressing or am I making something that really isn’t a big deal? How do you kind of react to that?

Brian Falony: [00:34:28] Actually, I hadn’t thought about that until you brought it up. But I think it’s a really good idea. It’s certainly not going to be for everybody. But I think there is a lot of experience that goes out the door, and firms and individuals could benefit from that. I think there’s a tremendous opportunity for mentorship relationships within firms that could be enhanced by that person not being in a direct reporting relationship.

Brian Falony: [00:35:05] That’s one of the things that I found interesting about CPA firms, is, most of them that are at the partnership type have a defined retirement date where people have to sell back their ownership, and it’s usually 65. And there’s a lot of experience that walks out the door when that 65 hits and they have to sell their shares back. It’s experience that the firms themselves, I think, could benefit from in some fashion if they had what you call an emeritus type position. So, in hearing you talk about that, I think that’s probably not a bad idea.

Mike Blake: [00:35:48] Yeah. And maybe it’s something I’ll bring up with the other partners in the firm. So, we’re talking with Brady – I’m sorry. We’re talking with Brian Falony of Brady Ware & Company. And the topic is, Should I retire? Did the pandemic impact your decision to retire at all? And if so, how?

Brian Falony: [00:36:07] Not really. I’m one of these people that I’ve never been particularly concerned about the pandemic per se. So, I haven’t altered my work style much because of it. Now, the big change for me when the pandemic hit was, I was flying up to Dayton, Ohio usually about once a month. And I don’t think I’ve been up there since January of 2020. So, I’m not getting those Delta miles anymore. But the pandemic really didn’t have a lot to do with it. In fact, if the pandemic had had any effect, the only effect I could see is I might have postponed it another year since I won’t be able to do some of the traveling I wanted to do in retirement. But the pandemic really has not affected my decision one way or the other.

Mike Blake: [00:37:02] And that’s interesting because in considering what you said at the outset of our conversation, you talked about the approach to marketing being much more technologically focused as one of the motivations to retire. And I would have anticipated you saying that, clearly, marketing as much as anything has been forced to undergo a massive digital transformation. Because we can’t go to the conferences, and trade shows, and networking meetings, and coffees, and after dinner drinks and happy hours, all that good stuff. And I was curious if the sudden reliance on that – and I may be putting words in your mouth, so feel free to tell me to go jump in the lake – knowing the kind of person you are, how much personal contact means to you, and how much relationships means to you, you know, I wonder if kind of just the pandemic and the digital transformation for somebody like you would just take a lot of the fun out of it.

Brian Falony: [00:38:13] Maybe. But I think one of the things that the pandemic did, going back to what you just said about the change and the greater use of technology, is, it really spurred me to dig in and learn better how to use this technology that I’m not a native to and have not grown up with. It reminds me of something I got from my old aunt who just passed away, she was 98 years old. I last saw her, probably, about five years ago. And she said, one of the things that kept her going at that point in time was when she got up every day, her goal was to read something and learn something new every day. And as long as she did that, then she felt she was living well.

Brian Falony: [00:39:08] And so, when I reflected back on that, I said, “Here’s an opportunity for me to really dig in and learn something new, and see if I can enhance my skillset with it.” And so, rather than being a turn off and losing that contact – yeah, I do miss the personal contact. I do miss the face to face. I miss sitting down in your office with you and talking over your huge screen – but on the other hand, it has also spurred me to really dig in and learn new things. And so, I think there’s pluses and there’s minuses.

Mike Blake: [00:39:44] What are you looking forward to most in retirement?

Brian Falony: [00:39:50] One of the things is, as I noted before, giving back somewhat to my profession and trying to help and mentor some younger folks in the accounting marketing profession, because it can be a tough profession. But I’m also looking forward to exploring some other interests. I have a strong interest in science, and particularly astronomy and things like that. And I plan to spend some time reading and learning about that. And I might even dust off my log book and go out and go back to flying a little bit. You know, get current back so that maybe I can take my grandkids up for a flight one of these days.

Mike Blake: [00:40:34] Well, I’m sure they love that. For somebody who went to pilot training myself for a while, the navigation is a lot easier now, so you might want play with that. Brian, this has been great. I really appreciate you taking some time to talk to us. And I think our conversation is going to help a lot of people who are thinking about retirement sometime in the short to medium term. If people want to follow up on a question I didn’t ask or maybe want to go deeper on something that we talked about, can they reach out to you? And if so, what’s the best way to do so?

Brian Falony: [00:41:07] Yes, they can. And Mike, thank you. This has been a fascinating discussion. But if people need to get a hold of me, probably, since I will not be at Brady Ware for more than another few weeks, best thing would be to email me. And my personal email is F as in Frank-A-L-O-N-Y-B@earthlink.net.

Mike Blake: [00:41:33] Well, thank you, Brian. And that’s going to wrap it up for today’s program. I’d like to thank Brian Falony so much for joining us and sharing his expertise with us.

Mike Blake: [00:41:41] We’ll be exploring a new topic each week, so please tune in so that when you’re faced with your next business decision, you have clear vision when making it. If you enjoy these podcasts, please consider leaving a review with your favorite podcast aggregator. It helps people find us that we can help them. If you like to engage with me on social media with my Chart of the Day and other content, I’m on LinkedIn, and @unblakeable on Facebook, Twitter, Clubhouse, and Instagram. Once again, this is Mike Blake. Our sponsor is Brady Ware & Company. And this has been the Decision Vision podcast.