Sponsored by Woodstock Neighbors Magazine
Atlanta natives, Kip and Terri Haswell opened the doors of Seniors Helping Seniors Northwest Atlanta on June 1, 2023.
They hire an often-overlooked workforce of active adults, who are looking for meaningful work while also supplementing their income, to come alongside and care for their less active senior counterparts.
They serve Cobb, Cherokee and Pickens counties and have lived in Cobb and Cherokee counties for over 30 years as do many members of their own family.
They both have worked with seniors at various times over the course of their careers. In 2020, Terri became a primary caregiver for her dad while also juggling the last two years of their only son’s high school years. After losing her dad and then they became empty nesters, eventually looking to start their next chapter.
While Kip still works full time, he supports the business in various ways. Their mission is to provide meaningful connections while also fulfilling the needs of their Caregivers, Clients and Families.
They understand the challenges of being a family caregiver as well as how difficult it is for their aging loved ones to accept care. Upon learning of the unique concept of Seniors Helping Seniors, they knew this was what they were meant to be doing.
Founder, Kiran Yocom, worked with Mother Teresa for 14 years, learning from one of the greatest humanitarians how to treat others with dignity and respect. By hiring more mature adults to assist seniors in need, the clients feel like they are getting a little help from a friend, rather than from someone who does not understand the aging process.
It is a connection and relationship built on empathy rather than sympathy. “We get to meet the needs of two sectors of seniors as well as give their adult children peace of mind that their loved ones are receiving quality care,” said Terri. “It is a win-win-win.” “We are grateful to be able to take our passion and our personal experience and be able to turn around and help others in our community in such an impactful way.”
Connect with Terri on LinkedIn.
Inspired by a family friend’s offer of mentorship, Bill Neglia started his career in insurance over 40 years ago. He was drawn to the autonomy of the industry and the desire to make a difference in people’s lives.
This commitment was underscored when a meeting led a client to discover a life-threatening heart condition, which reaffirmed the importance of his role.
To best serve his clients, Bill begins with a comprehensive questionnaire, ensuring he understands their unique needs before discussing solutions. Guided by transparency and genuine care, he always prioritizes the client’s interest, setting him apart in the industry.
Outside work, rock concerts are his escape, where he sees parallels to his profession: individual performers coming together for a harmonious result. That balance is pivotal in his personal life too. When his wife, Sandy, faced a cancer diagnosis, he became her primary caregiver. This period cemented his belief in the importance of personal connection and empathy in his business.
His family is his inspiration. With Sandy, their children Danny and Caitlin, and six grandchildren, he finds joy in spending time with them, either at home or traveling with his family. Whether it’s golf with his son, watching sports, or being amused by their five granddogs, these experiences enrich his interactions with clients.
Bill’s not just your insurance agent with decades of experience, but he’s a compassionate adviser committed to serving your individual and family needs.
Connect with Bill on LinkedIn and Facebook.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.
Stone Payton: [00:00:24] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio Stone Payton here with you this morning, and today’s episode is brought to you in part by Woodstock Neighbors magazine, bringing neighbors and business together. For more information, go to Facebook and Instagram at Woodstock Neighbors wbvm. And if you have a heart for community and you want to grow your small business, consider joining the Main Street Warriors movement. Go check us out at Main Street warriors.org. All right, you guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast. First up on Cherokee Business Radio this morning with Seniors Helping Seniors. Northwest Atlanta, Ms. Terri Haswell, how are you?
Terri Haswell: [00:01:14] I’m great. How are you? I am.
Stone Payton: [00:01:16] Doing well. It’s an absolute delight to get you in studio. I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. I got a thousand questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but maybe a good place to start would be if you could articulate for me and our listeners, mission. Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?
Terri Haswell: [00:01:38] Well, our mission is to create meaningful connection between our clients, our caregivers and our clients families. So connection, I mean, after the pandemic and everything, we know that that’s difficult, especially for seniors. So if they’re at home and they’re in there. Yeah, they’re not able to get out and do as much as many things, then that would be we have caregivers that can come alongside them and help them do those things that they’re not able to do.
Stone Payton: [00:02:03] I have to believe that that is a business that is going to continue to grow. The demand for that is going to continue to grow, I would think. Yeah, it.
Terri Haswell: [00:02:13] Is, it is. I think it’s the statistic is every, every day 10,000, 10,000 people turn 65. So in the nation. So that’s a lot of people. And so we actually get to hire the people who want to do meaningful work in the community. But they’re older and they may not have that job opportunity like they had before. So we get to hire those people, they get to do something meaningful, supplement their income, and then go alongside somebody else who is a little less able to do some of the things they normally do.
Stone Payton: [00:02:47] Well. Now that strikes me as as a true distinction. The people who you are engaging to help these seniors are seniors themselves. I’m gathering by the by the name of the company.
Terri Haswell: [00:02:59] Yes, yes, yes. It’s awesome. They understand the aging process, right? I mean, I know in in my 40s, I started feeling all the aches and pains and stuff like that. But as we age, we have different aches and pains and different things that we understand a little bit more about in the aging process. So it really helps to create that empathy versus sympathy. So when you’re going alongside another senior, somebody who is in their home, it creates that friendship. It creates that bond because they understand they get it.
Stone Payton: [00:03:29] Okay, I got to know what is the backstory? How does someone find themselves in this arena doing this kind of work for these this particular constituency? I’m operating under the impression it wasn’t a straight path.
Terri Haswell: [00:03:43] Well, it wasn’t, however, I could say it’s a little bit a little windy because before I ever got into this, I worked before our son was born. We have one son. My husband, Kip, and I have one son, and before he was born, I worked for an organization called Christian City that south of the airport, and they had a home for children and a home for seniors. So, I mean, seniors love kids, you know, it’s a brilliant concept. But I was there helping out with the fund raising for the children. But I have a love for seniors. So I would go down at lunch time and go dance with the seniors when they’d have the big bands. You know, I just absolutely loved it, absolutely loved it. And then after that, when my son was born, I mean, I would take him to the local assisted living. He’d be two years old and he’d just roll the ball with seniors because again, seniors love kids, right? So it was something that got him out and we did something meaningful and good. I used to take puppies from the from the Humane Society and bathe them, and then I would take them over to rehabilitation places and stuff like that with a little Polaroid camera, so they’d get little puppy kisses and they’d be encouraged while they’re healing.
Terri Haswell: [00:04:46] Right. And then I’d give them their little Polaroid picture to hang up just to have them smile or something, just to help them get through all of that. So I’ve always had a love for that kid sister she owns, Sensing Transitions, which helps seniors downsize. So while my son was growing up, I had the luxury of being able to work part time thanks to my husband and I went alongside Tina and would help her, and she would help seniors downsize. And then she also does estate sales, so he and I both have helped her along the years too. So we’ve really had seniors, a passion for seniors along the way. But then after. Or I became a caregiver for my father for two years, I got to understand what it was like to be that family member, that adult child that is caring for your loved one while also juggling your family. And my son’s last two years of high school. So that’s called the sandwich generation. I didn’t realize that, but I was part of the sandwich generation, and I really just saw the difficult the difficulty.
Terri Haswell: [00:05:49] It was for my dad to accept help from someone he didn’t know. So, I mean, which was great. I loved the time that I spent with him, but I also had a lot, you know, it was hard. It was hard going back and forth. I was the closest in proximity to him, so I really felt like I missed out on my son’s last two years of high school with all the activities that are going. So I just saw that. But after he we lost him and my son moved off to college. Empty nesters, you know, all the activity. I’m like, now what? You know. And so my husband and I were just talking about that, and we thought it would be a great time to start something new and take our experience, my experience, and turn that into something positive and be able to help others in the community now going through things like that as well, because I’ve got that understanding now. I’ve got that empathy, right. So I’ve got that understanding of what other people may be going through and that difficulty and balancing, you know, life and family and loved ones and all of that kind of thing.
Stone Payton: [00:06:49] What a marvelous foundation you have for the business. And there are some, some differences. What has the transition been like? Has it been unnerving? Exciting? A little bit of both, yeah.
Terri Haswell: [00:07:01] I would say a little bit of both. I mean, it’s like I tell people I’m like, well, we became empty nesters and then we birthed a business, right? So we’re starting we’re starting all over. And in a way, you know, it really is. So I love it, I love it, it is challenging, but I love the people I meet. It’s so rewarding. I mean, the clients that I have are so interesting. And that whole era, like I have one gentleman, we were over doing some crafts at one of the local senior communities and he says, you’ve got an old soul, don’t you? Because I’m like, I love Cary Grant. I love all of these things. He didn’t think I’d know who those people were. He was like, make me look like Ryan Reynolds. And I’m like, Ryan Reynolds. Why is he talking about that? Because he didn’t think I understood and got that with, you know, with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. I love them so well.
Stone Payton: [00:07:47] It’s a it’s a very timely conversation for me. And it might be a good frame for you to help us understand the work, the process from both sides of the table. My wife and I moved here two years ago. I was telling Bill before we came on the air, we bought a little patio home right here on the edge of downtown Woodstock. It is my first lily pad. I know every bartender in town. I got a golf cart, and I told him it’s like living in a hallmark movie here. I love it, and we’ve had family visit us over the course of those two years. Cut to just a few weeks ago, I guess one sister in law closed on a home in Acworth. Another one closed on a home over here at village at Town Lake. My parents closed on a home in that same neighborhood. Village at Town Lake two weeks ago. Nice. And we’ve got the two sister in laws moved in and my folks are coming like, I don’t know, within 2 or 3 weeks. And so and in the transition for all of them, it’s a little bit different between the three. But it’s there are some there’s some similarities. For example, you mentioned your sister’s outfit. I mean, my folks are downsizing considerably. And at this very moment, I think what’s on the table is bringing everything in the kitchen sink here.
Terri Haswell: [00:09:02] Right, right.
Stone Payton: [00:09:03] It probably buying a storage thing and having to get get rid of it. But knowing that I am living through a little bit of this, or maybe I’m a little on the front end of it, because in all three situations, they’re quite capable of taking care of their selves themselves. Now, for the most part, talk about the work. Let’s would you engage let’s let’s take would you engage my parents directly? Would you engage me? Would we kind of all sit down? Let’s walk. Let’s walk through it a little bit. Right?
Terri Haswell: [00:09:31] Right. Well, I mean, it really depends because a lot of times seniors are not they they say, no, I can do it. I don’t want I don’t want help. I don’t need help. You know I can. But at the same time, they also don’t want to always depend on a neighbor or always depend on their child because they know their child’s got a busy schedule too, or their adult child has got a busy schedule too. So it really just depends. I have one client that both of her kids live out of state and. But she has a granddaughter here who’s pregnant, you know, got young kids and everything like that. Well, the daughter contacted us, and so I went over to talk to the mom, and the mom was like, I don’t want to do this. I don’t need help. She’s just worrying, you know, that type of stuff. I said, it’s going to make her be quiet. Just, just, I mean, it’s really like getting help. From a friend. I said, we’ve got people that will come alongside. It’s going to be like helping, you know, getting help from a friend, really, because we try to match. We have a matching process. So we want to learn your hobbies, your interests. I want to learn your background like I’ve got I’ve got a client that have the husband and the dad helped build the Twin Towers. Oh my. Like I mean, interesting, like I just love it. And so we hire people who also have that still that connection to that generation. You know, they might be a step away, but they’re not 2 or 3 steps away right where they can’t relate to it. So it’s really like bringing a friend alongside them and creating that connection. And then it feels like you’re not really getting help. Really. It feels like, oh boy, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve had one of our clients say that same thing. She’s like, at first I wasn’t quite sure what to do while she was here, but now I look forward to it, you know, like, I’m really looking forward to her coming. We’ve created a friendship.
Stone Payton: [00:11:18] Okay, so there’s aunt Sandy in Acworth, but I mean, she’s like, you know, 15 minutes away. And then there’s Mom and Dad. This could sounds like it could be very customized. Maybe aunt Sandy needs and wants services that are a little bit different than what Mom and dad feel like they, they need. So there’s, there’s probably some consultative kind of really drilling down on what do they need and want.
Terri Haswell: [00:11:43] Yeah, definitely. Well, we offer two types of services. It’s all non-medical but but two types of services. One is companion care. So companion care would be like all hands off type things, but it would be a meal preparation, maybe some transportation to and from doctors or to grocery stores, or helping with some finances, doing some light housekeeping. And I stress light housekeeping because I am hiring, you know, older adults, and we don’t want them on their hands and knees scrubbing, you know, showers and stuff like that. But some light housekeeping help with the walking the dog or cleaning the litter box, you know, things like that. So things that might be harder for someone who can’t bend or who can bend but can’t get back up, you know, different things like that. We offer services like that, which is companion care, and obviously companionship is included in that. And that that connection is what we’re trying to create. Then we have personal care. So that’s a little bit more of the hands on care. So like if someone needs help with a shower, if someone needs help with dressing, if someone needs help with feeding or toileting, hygiene, any of those types of things, we also offer that service as well. So while some might call it personal care, they say that well, they’ll they’ll say, no, I can shower by myself. I just might need someone to watch when I’m getting out of the shower. So that’s you see what I’m saying? So we just drill it down to, okay, let’s talk about how well you can do these things. What kind of help do you see yourself needing? And if a family member is there, they’ll put their input in as well. And then we come up with a plan for that.
Stone Payton: [00:13:12] Okay. This is a little bit of a different style of question, but I am always curious when I see this. And we see it more often than I would have anticipated or I have in the interviews that I’ve done. I love my wife dearly. We have a marvelous relationship. I don’t know that we could be running a business together and we didn’t Mike kip up, so you get to say whatever you want to say. But no, I’m interested. Did you bum bum? What did you like? Assign very specific roles, and you stay in your lane and I stay in mine. Or is it one big mash pot? Just. It just share what you’re. You know, what you’re willing to share. But I’m genuinely curious how that how you make that work.
Terri Haswell: [00:13:54] Well, we we each have different strengths, really. I mean, I obviously have a passion for seniors. I obviously have a passion for going out and doing what I do and talking with people and making them feel comfortable and at home and making them feel at ease and trusting that we’ll do what we say. We’re going to do that type of thing. Kip is as personable as he can be. However, he will help out a little bit in the back office, so he’ll do more of the billing and the finance and managing some of the caregiving things and like all of that stuff. So I get to be out and be in people’s homes and talk with people and stuff, and we both are out talking with people and meeting people such as yourself or in other organizations, things like that. But we do a little bit. I guess I’m more the face of it, I guess, if you will. And he’s a little bit more back office and he he still works full time. So he, he supports and helps out when and where he can. So I’m grateful for him.
Bill Neglia: [00:14:49] And you can’t you can’t underestimate the value of back office work right. Many businesses fail because they’re good at what they do, but they’re not good at the bookkeeping or the business end of the business. Right. So that’s that’s that’s great that you guys are able to work together, right?
Terri Haswell: [00:15:04] Definitely. I did some coaching and stuff too before I we started this. And I’m recognizing my strengths. I recognizing, like you mentioned, staying in my lane. Like I know what I’m better at than, than other things. And I’m okay. I’m happy with being humble and saying here, this is not my thing. How about you doing this thing?
Stone Payton: [00:15:24] So what are you discovering about the whole sales and marketing aspect of this business? Are you out there shaking the trees, building relationships, or is it coming to you because you’ve had so much experience in foundation or.
Terri Haswell: [00:15:39] You know, it’s a little bit of both. We are definitely out there when we, you know, obviously there’s a lot of agencies out there and they’re all great. We’re meeting some great people who run these agencies. When we talk to people, new people, when we tell them what we do, they clearly see the difference. You know, that we hire more mature adults who understand that aging process to come alongside their less active counterparts. They’re like, oh, I get that because this this industry has a high turnover rate. Well, we want to love on our caregivers. I tell our caregivers in our orientations, I’m like, this is just as much about you as it is about our clients, as it is about their families. So we want them to feel just as important and just as loved on because we’re meeting one of their needs just as much as we’re meeting one of the clients, the client’s needs. So people get it when we talk to people. I’ve actually got friends that are working for us. I’ve got a teacher I worked alongside. I was in the school system for several years, and she’s like, you know, this is what I want to do when I retire.
Terri Haswell: [00:16:38] I’m going to start doing this on the weekends. I’ve got two years to retire and I want to do this. So, so it’s a little bit of both. I mean, we’ve been in this community in Cherokee and Cobb counties for for over 30 years. So our families are in this area kind of like yours, except we’re a little bit more spread out. But still in these our service areas, which is Cobb, Cherokee and Pickens counties and a little bit of Paulding. But because of our involvement in the community and what we’ve done over the last 30 years and the relationships that we’ve built, we’ve had people coming to us wanting to work with us, wanting. I mean, people are referring us. So it’s really right now, I would say almost 5050. We’re out, you know, telling new people about us, but also other people that we’ve we’ve known for so long or telling others about us as well, and coming to work for us.
Stone Payton: [00:17:23] Well, you’ve been here long enough to know and experience like I have just over the last couple of years, this community, this Cherokee County area. Oh my gosh, the other business people in the community and the civic leaders just will rally behind you and genuinely try to help you. That’s been your experience as well.
Terri Haswell: [00:17:41] I mean, I love this community. I mean, one of the things that brought us to this community as as our son was getting older, we were looking for a place that was really family oriented. And funny thing is, my my one of my best friends in college, she grew up and went to the same high school that my son graduated from. You know, like so I’ve been brought to this community before with her, and then I end up in this community and the people that we meet. I mean, it’s like three generations of community, I mean, of family all within this community, like our areas have their their parents, them and then their grandkids. And some people move back to this area. It’s just a great area. I love it.
Stone Payton: [00:18:18] I’m gonna switch gears on you a little bit before we before we wrap, I’m interested to know I don’t know when you find the time, but passions, hobbies outside the scope of your work, outside of what we’ve been talking about. My listeners know I like to hunt, fish and travel in that order. But how about you and you and Kemp?
Terri Haswell: [00:18:37] Well, when I met you, you were talking about hunting, so I remember that. Not surprised. We enjoy it. Well, I mean, getting outside, exercising, hiking, things like that. Travel. Really have the travel bug, movies, concerts, you know, wineries like we I mean, I think during Covid and stuff, we really getting outdoors in Georgia. Being a native from here, I feel like I’ve been there, done that with all the things that are around Atlanta, but getting outside and discovering all the things outside, you know, ever since Covid and all that stuff has really given me even a newer appreciation for where we live. So just just getting outside and enjoying the little towns and.
Stone Payton: [00:19:16] And you’re in the right spot to do everything that you mentioned, from the kayaking and hiking to the wineries. It’s all right.
Terri Haswell: [00:19:23] Here it is. It is I love it. Yeah. All right.
Stone Payton: [00:19:26] Let’s leave our listeners with a couple of actionable pro tips, if we could. And and I’m doing this for myself as well. I’m telling you, gang, if you want to get really good insight, professional counsel from people who are experts in their domain, get yourself a radio show. Bring them in here, pour me a glass of water and you can ask them anything you want, but let’s. Yeah, let’s leave them. Like for for me, my folks, maybe even in trying to identify, you know, where are we in the timing and or if we decide, hey, we need to get them some help. Those early conversations, whatever tips you think would be helpful, just anything we should be reading, doing, not doing. I’d love to leave them with a couple of actionable tips.
Terri Haswell: [00:20:12] I guess it really depends on what their particular, I guess challenge could be or whatever. I mean, if it’s more memory challenges, things like that. Introducing someone who’s going to be growing with them, you know, as they do, like introducing someone to them so that they don’t they’re not a stranger to them is really important if that’s one of the challenges. I mean, really, it’s just being aware and maybe dropping dropping some, I mean, just talking, talking through it with them, really. And like I said before, I think one of the things that convinced my dad, one of the things that’s helped with, like I said, some of the clients was just that you may not need the help, but by by accepting this, it’s going to help me too, because I can’t do all the things that I’m doing, you know? So it’s really I mean, the way I look at it is they’re helping their adult children, but because of the unique way of our business, they’re actually helping another senior who needs to supplement their income to, you know, like they’re getting to do they’re getting to do good just as much as they’re receiving good. So I love that about this whole concept of everything, too, because they are really helping other people too, by accepting some help.
Stone Payton: [00:21:25] That is marvelous insight. I’m so glad that I asked, because I know for my parents that is very high on their value system hierarchy is is in their words, they would say not to be a burden to you and Russ, but but but you know, they want us very much to have our own lives. And so that would be important to them. And I think it would be important to them too, providing that opportunity for, for, you know, for other folks. So any upcoming events, anything cool happening over the next couple of months we ought to know about?
Terri Haswell: [00:21:59] We do have an event coming up November 5th. So we are. So November is National Family Caregiver Month, so I didn’t know there was a thing, but there’s a thing. So being a family caregiver myself, I, you know, I want to celebrate these people. I want to let them know that they’re seeing that they’re supported. I would love for the community. Anybody who actually can serve or assist or support a family caregiver, you know, by what, prepared meals, I don’t know, something to spoil them, some kind of little spa thing because it’s really important for self care, super important for self care. I always picture the when you’re in the airplane, the flight attendant says, when you know, take, take the oxygen first and then give it to the person next to you. Good illustration. So I always picture that and just being able to breathe in exhale. So we’re partnering with Aloha to Aging who is a nonprofit that’s local here as well. And they serve they have a lot of programs that they do for whether it’s dementia or Parkinson’s or different things like that too. But they do a program where it’s a hands on a day in the life. So you get to understand kind of what your loved one might be experiencing, whether it’s neuropathy or aphasia or dementia or seeing and vision, vision and hearing problems, things like that. So they kind of walk you through this workshop. It gives you a little bit more understanding. We also are going to have some things to spoil people there so that when they come, they feel loved on. Like I said, hopefully they’ll make some connections of other people who are experiencing the same thing, and we’re just going to spend a couple of hours and just like I said, a little educate, empower, love on and support support them. That’s November 5th and it’s going to be at the Wellesley clubhouse over in Town Lake. They’ve actually offered that too, because they like what we’re doing and they’re partnering with us as well. Yeah. So we’re doing that okay.
Stone Payton: [00:23:47] So yeah.
Terri Haswell: [00:23:47] Go ahead. No, I was just going to say I did forget to say one of the things that makes this place special, this this organization special that we work for and that attracted us to it, is the actual person who started seniors helping seniors, Karen Yocum. She worked alongside Mother Teresa for 14 years. Oh my. So when I say that pedigree, I know I’m exactly well. And I say that because when I tell people that like sometimes I’m like now glossing over that, which I shouldn’t because I’m like excited about what I’m talking about. But I get chill bumps still every time I say that. But I got to give people a moment to digest that, right? But I feel like she’s just really learned how to treat others with dignity and respect from one of the greatest humanitarians that ever lived. Right. So I love I think that’s how this concept was created, because we get to have that dignity and respect and treat them more with that. Like I said, empathy or that understanding than maybe others do, I guess I don’t know.
Stone Payton: [00:24:44] And for our friends at home, Kip really is important to this operation. He handed her the the piece of paper that had that info on her so she would remember to share that.
Terri Haswell: [00:24:54] So that is important.
Stone Payton: [00:24:55] We don’t want to dismiss. It was a clean handoff. That was very nice. All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to connect with you? Is there a website or some. Let’s give them some coordinates.
Terri Haswell: [00:25:05] We do have a website. It’s SHS so stands for Seniors Helping Seniors SHS Northwest Atlanta. Dot com, or you can reach us at 470995. My senior mistress, which is (470) 995-6977.
Stone Payton: [00:25:24] Fantastic. Well, thanks for coming in and sharing your story.
Terri Haswell: [00:25:27] Thank you for having us and.
Stone Payton: [00:25:29] Please come back and keep us updated. Let’s don’t be a stranger. We’ll we’ll have you back I loved it.
Terri Haswell: [00:25:35] This is a lot of fun. Thank you for having us.
Stone Payton: [00:25:37] My pleasure. All right. How about hanging out with us while we visit with our next guest? Certainly. All right, gang, y’all ready for the headliner? Here we go. Please join me in welcoming back to the Business RadioX microphone with Neglia Insurance Group. The man himself, Bill Neglia. How are you, man?
Bill Neglia: [00:25:56] I’m good. Stone, thanks so much. And Terry, you crushed that.
Terri Haswell: [00:26:00] Oh, thank you so much.
Bill Neglia: [00:26:01] I’d almost like you to do my interview.
Terri Haswell: [00:26:04] You’re a good listener. Because you were easy to talk to.
Bill Neglia: [00:26:07] There was nothing I could add to make it any better. Oh, well, thank you so. And you were good enough as it is. And then you dropped a mother Teresa bomb, and I’m like, good Lord, what am I doing here?
Stone Payton: [00:26:20] That’s a tough act to follow. Sorry about that.
Bill Neglia: [00:26:22] There is no following it. I am just going to sit in the back and just, you know, mouse my way along here. But fantastic job. That was great.
Stone Payton: [00:26:30] So tell us about your outfit, man. What are you out there doing?
Bill Neglia: [00:26:34] So I’ve got an insurance agency Stone, that I started back in 1983. It was just a little operation. And, you know, my back story is not nearly as sentimental as Terry’s. I was desperate, I got out of college, couldn’t find work in my field, which was finance and accounting, and saw an ad. That’s how far back I go. In one ad in the newspaper for a company called John Hancock. So I may have known or know of selling life insurance. So that’s what I started doing back in 1983, in New York, where I’m from, born and raised. And then about 1991, I moved my wife and two, two young children down to Georgia. We settled in Roswell, not very far from here. And and then I changed. And then the agency dynamic took a little bit of a change to where it was more of a benefits book of business. Not just life insurance, but health insurance became our primary bread and butter product. And and here we are now, 40 years later, just last week celebrated our 40th year in business and we’ve got a full service agency, health, life, disability, long term care, and Medicare for seniors products that I’m sure you guys are familiar with. And also recently, my son and my son in law have both joined the agency.
Stone Payton: [00:27:59] Oh wow.
Bill Neglia: [00:28:00] Part time. My son is a helicopter pilot instructor for the Army, and my son in law works in an agency as an analyst. But they’re both working part time in sales as part of our agency. So we literally just created a family LLC. And I’m thrilled. And never in my wildest dreams thought that my business would become a family business. I love that, so so that’s that’s kind of where where my roots and and that’s where we are right now.
Stone Payton: [00:28:31] Yeah. So 40 years at this or some aspect of it at this point in your career, what’s the what’s the most rewarding? What are you enjoying the most?
Bill Neglia: [00:28:42] Having the freedom to be my own boss. That’s what attracted me to the business. And even though I wasn’t a good agent early on, I struggled giving up that freedom was always a challenge. So yes, having the freedom to be your own boss as long as you manage your time is very rewarding. And now here I am. I’ve got six grandchildren, so my why is now my wife, my two kids and my six grandchildren. And the most rewarding thing is to be able to take time off from work and spend time with them, watching them play sports, going to plays, you know, just hanging out. They at one point they all lived out of state. Now they all live in state. My son and and daughter, daughter in law and five kids just moved back from Alabama to Acworth. And my daughter, son in law and granddaughter moved from Seattle. To Decatur. So for the first time in a long time, I’ve got all my family close by, and I’m just absorbing it like a sponge, getting as much time as I can while while running a pretty successful operation.
Stone Payton: [00:29:57] Well, and that’s a good opportunity for a public service announcement. You have to be careful about inviting family to come visit you here, because they’re going to want to move here. So.
Bill Neglia: [00:30:09] Funny story. As we speak in my basement, I have my sister and brother in law from North Carolina who three weeks. It’ll be three weeks tomorrow. They came to visit just for a couple of days, and then a couple them two weeks ago yesterday they came down with Covid, so they have been bunkered in my basement for the last two weeks, and we have even offered them to come stay with us permanently, because we do have a full basement and we’re empty nesters and we’re not happy being empty nesters, even if it’s with adults. So we always grew up with kids at the house. You know, our house was always the neighborhood playground and it made us feel great. And so, yeah, we always encourage family to come. And we’ve, we’ve we’ve had family live with us over the years. Different variations of family.
Stone Payton: [00:31:04] No. It’s marvelous. I think it’s terrific. So don’t take this personally. But when I hear the word insurance, the mental image that is conjured up for me is this big tangled hairball spaghetti ball. I’d love it if you could untangle it a little bit for us and speak, you know, a little bit to pros and cons of different kinds of personal plans, what the landscape is on, group plans. And, I don’t know, we probably don’t even have time today. But, you know, my wife is getting Medicare oriented mail, too. I mean, we are buried in it. Just just attack any of those that you want to. But maybe this is a good form for almost like a little education panel. Yeah.
Bill Neglia: [00:31:47] So no, your your view, your visualization is exactly correct. The and it’s not just health. It’s all insurances. They’re all complicated. Understand this. Insurance policies are written by attorneys.
Stone Payton: [00:32:03] There you go.
Bill Neglia: [00:32:03] So so first and fundamentally the policies are not designed to be understood by the average consumer okay. That’s why they’re 3040 pages with all kinds of little text and caveats. And you know, there’s, you know, three pages of benefits and 40 pages of disclaimers. It’s almost like watching a drug ad. There’s one thing that it does well. And then there’s 250 side effects that and and they always say could end in death. If you ever watch a pharmacy commercial, just listen to the small, the small print and the fast talk at the end and could lead in death. That’s very alarming. Insurance is the same way. It is a tangled mess. Health insurance in particular, because it’s all terms and variable based. What what is a covered claim versus what’s not covered is all definition. And a lot of it is interpretation. And unfortunately the interpreter is the insurance company. So if you know their policy is written in such a way that it’s vague and you as the consumer go to access it, and the insurance company says, no, that’s not a claim. By our definition, you’re out of luck. All right. And that happens a lot. And the problem with health insurance, again, because you’ve got you’ve got platforms now you’ve got healthcare.gov. You’ve got call centers. You have avenues where consumers can go do it themselves without the aid of professionals, which I don’t recommend. Even if you’re not working with me, work with a professional, you don’t pay anything more.
Bill Neglia: [00:33:41] Insurance agents are compensated by the insurance carriers, not by the client. 40 years of doing insurance, I’ve never charged my client a dime. So there is no economic benefit when you do your own insurance planning or purchasing. But what I have found is that people will go on to a website. They’ll look at a plan. It appears to be good. The price appears to be in their price range, and then they’ll buy it. And then the first time they go to use it, they find out their doctor doesn’t take it, or the pharmacy, the medication that they are on that $600 a month, you know, Wonder pill is not covered. Now they’re in a big pickle. They’ve bought something that is not responsive to their needs. With me as an agent, I take the time to identify what their needs are, what their meds are, who their doctors are, and I work all of that into the quotes that I generate, and I’ll tell them, okay, this plan looks good, but your doctor may not be on it, or this plan has all your doctors. It might be a little pricier, but you’ll be happier. That’s the kind of advice and guidance that I give my clients before a purchase is made. And for people who are doing it themselves, that’s the risk they take in buying something that ultimately is not going to be what they need. You know, life insurance is a lot simpler because really, life insurance has one claim.
Stone Payton: [00:35:10] Mm.
Bill Neglia: [00:35:10] Okay.
Stone Payton: [00:35:12] And you can prove it. And you’re.
Bill Neglia: [00:35:13] Not. And the person who the claimant is gone. So really, life insurance is a pretty simple product to understand and explain to people. But things like long term care, long term disability, Medicare, those are more variable and term driven. And as a consumer, you have to know all of the terms to determine what is a covered expense and what is not before you make a purchase decision. And those are the things that you know me and now my son and son in law, that’s what we do on an advisory basis.
Stone Payton: [00:35:51] So is it high season for you right now? I hear the term open enrollment. Is it like is yeah.
Bill Neglia: [00:35:58] It’s it is so so there’s there’s two open enrollments. One just started the Medicare started last week. And next Wednesday November 1st starts the under 65 personal health insurance open enrollment season. So you’ve got to open enrollment windows crossing over. And then the other part is that with employers most of them start their plans January 1st. So they’re shopping as well this time of year. Yeah. So you don’t have to.
Stone Payton: [00:36:27] You can’t hunt.
Bill Neglia: [00:36:29] No I know I can’t hunt for you. Although I might want to put a gun to my head, but yeah. So I’ve got all three of my worlds because I do a lot of personal individual, I do a lot of Medicare and I do a lot of group. So all of my worlds are basically colliding at the same time. And I’ve got basically two months and change to put everybody, everything together. I laugh when I hear people say, oh, so you’re like an accountant. Your business is seasonal. Well, yeah, we have seasons. But an accountant, if you think about it, their season is really January to October. That’s ten months. I’ve got six. I’ve got eight weeks. Oh, wow. I’ve got November 1st to January 15th. Uh, no. Ten. Yes. Ten weeks. That’s my season. There’s no extensions beyond that. Wow. So it’s not quite like an accountant. It’s much more pressure, much more intense and much more narrow. So, yeah, this is this is a jam in time for me right now.
Stone Payton: [00:37:35] Yeah. So is is one of the groups that you would help? Would Hollie and I fit this description? She is threatening. Is the word I use to retire? No. She’s going to retire in December of next year. She works for a little company some of you may have heard of called IBM. And we are golden right now. I mean, we are golden health all all that stuff. But I assume things are going to look a lot different.
Bill Neglia: [00:38:01] Well, when she reached. So when she retires, she’ll, she’ll come off the, the payroll. Yeah. And she’ll be reclassified now IBM as a as a giant corporation. They may have a retiree program. Oh that would be available to her okay. Some large corporations have retiree programs. Mom and pop shops obviously do not. Yeah. So let’s say there is no retiree option. Then she would have the ability to go on to personal insurance. And if she’s over 65 or 65 or older, then she would want to go on Medicare. Okay. And then more than likely want to wrap at least a Medicare supplement around Medicare only at the time that she’s retired and coming off of her corporate insurance. But yeah, she you she would be somebody that I would work with and do work with.
Stone Payton: [00:38:55] Okay. So at the risk of getting into the weeds and don’t but maybe at a, at a higher level I see like Joe Namath get on there and talk about the, the the.
Bill Neglia: [00:39:06] Free benefits.
Stone Payton: [00:39:07] And the supplement thingy. Right.
Bill Neglia: [00:39:09] That Medicare Advantage is what he’s okay. Yeah. It’s a different so so for for Medicare recipients you’ve got two different policy types. You’ve got what’s called Medicare supplements, which basically Medicare is your primary. And then the supplement wraps around Medicare and covers some of the expenses that Medicare does not. Then you have Medicare Advantage plans, which basically replace Medicare, and they act as an all in one policy, just like insurance was before you went on Medicare. So they cover your hospital, your doctor visits, your prescriptions, you’ve got copays, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, and most of them have networks, either HMO or PPO. I’m getting.
Stone Payton: [00:39:52] Dizzy. But no, this is why we sit down. Are growing.
Bill Neglia: [00:39:56] Huh? I got.
Stone Payton: [00:39:57] You know, but this is why you sit down with Bill, and you don’t try to navigate this terrain yourself. It’s crazy.
Bill Neglia: [00:40:03] Yeah, that’s why I say, you know. And again, nobody pays a penny for any of this that’s coming out of my mouth. Yeah. So, yeah, there’s a lot. There’s a lot to know and a lot to understand about Medicare. Just like any just like for policies for folks under 65. And the problem with Medicare is that the recipients are older and they may not be aware of of what the challenges are. And if they don’t have a younger child or a younger person advocating for them, they could easily get duped or even not intentionally buy something that’s not appropriate and then find out that they’ve got a large claim that’s not covered, or they have an exposure that could have been avoided if they had spoken to the right person prior. So.
Stone Payton: [00:40:51] So my folks, years and years ago, they were teachers as well, by the way, Terry. And but years and years ago they bought a cancer policy and they’re so glad that they that they did because they, they had they needed to tap into that at one point. Is that still an option for people? There’s cancer. Oh, sure.
Bill Neglia: [00:41:15] Aflac is the is the creator of cancer policies, and they’re the number one company worldwide in terms of cancer insurance. And, you know, policies like that are called supplemental. Okay. And how they work is that instead of paying a benefit or reimbursement to a doctor or a hospital, they pay directly to the insured. So if you’re if you’re, let’s say, an Aflac client, you have a cancer policy. And God forbid, you have a diagnosis of cancer, your policy is going to pay you a check for X amount of dollars based on the contract that you signed up for. Plus, cancer policies also help reimburse things like gas, car expenses, meals, things people don’t don’t think about when they’re when they’re dealing with cancer or dealing with a loved one. My wife is a is now a five year remission breast cancer survivor. We drove back and forth to Cornerstone Hospital like three times a week for three years. The amount of the gas, the parking, the wear and tear on my car, food while we were out waiting between set treatments and whatever. Thousands of dollars. Okay, Aflac reimbursed me. And I was able to use some of that money to offset those costs, which again, people don’t think about. Right? They think about, oh my God, I need major medical, which. Absolutely. You need good health insurance. But the ancillary costs of something like that could be, you know, thousands of dollars over a period of time. And that’s what cancer policies and policies like Aflac and companies like that, that’s what their policies are designed to help offset.
Stone Payton: [00:43:00] And then you’ve got accidental you’ve got life. Now, you mentioned earlier in the conversation, in a lot of ways, the life insurance is at least easier to explain to someone like me. But but none of it, including even the life is like one size fits. All right? There’s this whole life, universal life, term life, maybe even a time to quit carrying the life. I’ve heard some people I don’t. Yeah. Speak to that a little bit.
Bill Neglia: [00:43:23] Well, I don’t know that there’s ever a time where you don’t benefit from having life insurance. The word need and want. Those are subjective terms. And everybody is on a case by case basis. But they’ll always be a benefit to having life insurance. Even if you’re fabulously wealthy, there’s going to be estate tax issues that life insurance can help. If you’re dirt poor, there could be burial expenses that life insurance can help with. So regardless of your circumstances, there’s always going to be a benefit to having life insurance. Yeah. So there’s different kinds. And you mentioned them all eloquently. You you sound like a life insurance agent. Well, I’m just.
Stone Payton: [00:44:01] I’m living this right. I’m in that sandwich thing you’re talking about because I need to sit down. Or maybe I don’t need to sit down. Maybe I just call you and have you sit down. But, you know, there’s a three ring binder or a bunch of paper stacked somewhere in a moving truck. I’m sure that I’m going to, you know, I got to sit down and sort through all that for them. I’ve got to sort it through it for us.
Bill Neglia: [00:44:20] Yeah. So, so there’s, you know, there’s there’s old school life insurance, there’s newer school life insurance. Old school was the, you know, the original policy in the 1800s, whole life you paid a premium for life and it paid you a fixed benefit or paid your beneficiary a fixed benefit. Premiums for some were unaffordable. So the industry came out with term life. Term life is more of a temporary policy. You pay a premium for a fixed period of time. If you die during that period, your beneficiary collects. If you don’t, you just move on and the money you pay just basically is a is an uncovered expense. I use the analogy of home ownership versus rent. Whole life is like owning a home and having a mortgage. You’re going to pay more monthly. In the early years, it all goes to interest. But over time you start building equity in that policy. Term is like rent. You pay a landlord X amount a year or a month. Usually it goes up every year and at some point you move out and whatever you paid is gone. That’s the difference between whole life and term. The new format or the new School of Life insurance, and you’ll appreciate this are the ones that now also include long term care. Okay. So you’ve got the ability now in one insurance contract to have life insurance protection with long term care protection. I like that. It’s one underwriting. So for some people who are marginally healthy, it could be easier than applying for life or long term care separately.
Bill Neglia: [00:46:08] You got one policy. And what they do is and this is, this is this is where it works wonderfully. If you’ve got somebody with a with an old whole life policy, let’s say they’ve been paying into it for 30 years and they’ve built up a decent amount of equity or cash value. You can take that policy and that cash value, roll it over into the new policy, okay. On a tax free basis. The new policy in most situations will provide more death benefit than the old policy and provide the long term care benefit. The old policy didn’t even have. So you’ve got two better benefits than you had before, just by transferring money from one policy into another. I’ve done that with a half dozen clients over the last year and a half, and it’s worked out fabulously. So that’s because here’s the thing. As people are living longer, the mortality, which is the cost of life insurance tables have actually gone down. So life insurance as a unit is actually less now than it was 20, 25 years ago. Yeah. Oh yeah. Because we’re because as, as people we’re living longer. Yeah. So the, the mortality tables reflect that. So yeah. If you had a policy you bought a policy 20 years ago at, at the old mortality table versus now the cost per unit or per thousand, which is how it’s generated, is actually lower now than it was back then.
Stone Payton: [00:47:44] So we were talking before we came on air about hosting your own radio show. You had been around the Business RadioX group a while. I don’t know if you need your own radio show, but you need some vehicle. Just if you don’t already have it, just to get on the air or on YouTube or something. Oh, brought to you by seniors helping seniors, of course. But of course, just to get the education, there’s just so much or maybe just enough education to convince people, as you have me today. Just give Bill a call and set out. Let him know.
Bill Neglia: [00:48:16] I appreciate that, and I do take a lot of pride in. My knowledge, I’ll never say I’m an expert. I’m always learning.
Stone Payton: [00:48:27] But the goalpost is always changing. It’s a movie. Competency is a moving target in your business.
Bill Neglia: [00:48:32] Well, and then when you have an entity like the government who can’t stop being involved in it, making it more challenging not only for agents but for consumers, even though they claim that’s not their goal. Yeah. It just it everybody’s learning and everybody’s evolving and everybody’s changing. And if you don’t evolve you’re going to get buried. So yeah, I’m always learning and I do continuing ed every year. It’s mandated. But I would do it even if it wasn’t. Yeah. Because again the goalposts, as you said, are always changing.
Terri Haswell: [00:49:04] I just have to say you have made that tangled web you were talking about, like, understandable. Like I’m like, really like you explained something that to me, I just want to say bless you for even being in that business because I can’t understand it, but you just made it understandable. So thank you. I appreciate that. You’re welcome.
Bill Neglia: [00:49:21] That’s that’s kind of you to say. Yeah. Again I it’s complicated to folks, you know. Again, 40 years I’ve seen it all. I’ve experienced it all the good, the bad, the ugly. Government involvement. And again, it’s about adapting. You know, I thought when when the Marketplace Affordable Care Act started, my career was going to be over, I was going to be replaced by a website. Really. I had a pity party for about a minute and nobody came. I said, I better make this work. And honestly, that was 2014 and I’ve had my best years incrementally ever since. So it’s a matter of of adapting to the environment and not feeling sorry for yourself.
Terri Haswell: [00:50:07] Do you have things for small business owners as well?
Bill Neglia: [00:50:10] I’ve got several hundred groups on the books. Yes, I write group, individual family, children, seniors. Yeah. The only thing I don’t do personally is home and auto insurance. But my agency has multiple agency partners that we refer out for those services. So indirectly and certainly directly, our agency can handle anything within the insurance or even the, the, the investment sphere like 401 seconds and things like that. Okay.
Terri Haswell: [00:50:41] Good. That’s good.
Stone Payton: [00:50:42] To know. So sales and marketing for you, you know, other than stone brokering these relationships know sales and marketing for you. Even 40 years in you, you still got to get out there and let folks know what you’re doing and why and how you can help, don’t you? Oh, yeah.
Bill Neglia: [00:50:57] No, I do a lot of networking. I’ve been I’ve been a big proponent in New York. There was there was no such thing as network groups, batches and chamber and powercor and things like that. So everything was just I had to just hump, you know, and find, you know, dial, dial for dollars. And, and that was a train wreck. But when I came here and I, and I, and I got introduced to BNI groups and Chamber of Commerce and all these different networking outlets, I embraced it. And here I am today, all my business is organic and referral based and has been for over 20 years, but I’m still out weekly at 2 or 3 networking events, you know, just not only promoting myself, but meeting and promoting my co co cohorts. I’m big on giving back to the community, to my fellow colleagues. I’m a big brother, part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters. Yeah. So that’s been rewarding. So yeah, no, I’m all about community too. And you know the golden rule I love it.
Stone Payton: [00:52:04] So all right. What’s the best way for people to connect with you. Website phone number email.
Bill Neglia: [00:52:10] Yes.
Stone Payton: [00:52:10] So social security number whatever you think is appropriate.
Bill Neglia: [00:52:13] Now we’ll hold off on that. I’ll have to buy me a meal first before they get that number. So we actually have a website that has been re rebranded and nice little site. It’s Negley Insurance.com. Please check it out. Let us know what you think. Direct. You can direct. Call me at area 404 4338838. Or you can email me at Bill at Negley Insurance.com.
Stone Payton: [00:52:45] Well, thanks for joining us, man. And thanks for making Terry and I and Kip sure to I’m sure, feel a little bit better about this and a lot more. And for what you’re doing important work, man. We certainly appreciate.
Bill Neglia: [00:52:58] You. It’s been a pleasure. I really appreciate.
Stone Payton: [00:53:00] You. Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Terry Haswell and Bill Neglia and everyone here at the business Radio X family. Sam, we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.
Dr. Pamela Williamson, President & CEO of 
