In today’s podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jann Freed, an expert in helping people live intentionally and reflect on their impact. Dr. Freed shared powerful insights on building meaningful relationships in the second half of life and explained how embracing the reality of our mortality can inspire us to live more fully.
Her words reminded me of something my mentor used to tell me: “Jason, life is not a dress rehearsal. This is the real deal, baby. You get one shot—so give it everything you’ve got.”
This conversation is a valuable reminder to approach life with purpose, passion, and a commitment to making every moment count.
If you enjoy todays podcast be sure to share it with a friend and leave us a 5 star review.
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Articles, Links & Resources:
Forbes.com Dr. Jann Freed
Embracing Death: Life Through A Different Lens | Jann Freed | TEDxDesMoines
JannFreed.com
Book: Breadcrumb Legacy – How Great Leaders Live a Life Worth Remembering – Affiliate Link to Amazon
Transcript:
444 Beyond the Money- Building a Purposeful Retirement with Dr. Jann Freed
Announder: Welcome back America to sound retirement radio, where we bring you concepts, ideas, and strategies designed to help you achieve clarity, confidence, and freedom as you prepare for and transition through retirement. And now here is your host, Jason Parker,
Jason Parker: America. Welcome back to another round of sound retirement radio.
You’re listening to episode number 444. It’s my good fortune to bring Jan Fried onto the program. Dr. Jan Fried. And I think you guys are going to really love this episode. But before we get into it, let’s take a minute to renew our mind. This verse is from Isaiah chapter nine, verse six. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
What happens if you eat Christmas ornaments? You get tinselitis. What do you call a cat on the beach during Christmas time? Sandy Claws. In today’s podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jan Fried, an expert in helping people live intentionally and reflect on their impact. Dr. Fried shared powerful insights on building meaningful relationships in the second half of life, and explained how embracing the reality of our mortality can inspire us to live more fully.
Her words remind me of something my mentor used to tell me. He said, Jason, life is not a dress rehearsal. This is the real deal, baby. You get one shot, go give it everything you’ve got with everything you’ve got. This conversation is a valuable reminder to approach life with purpose, passion, and a commitment to making every moment count.
Here’s Jan’s bio. Dr. Jan is an author, speaker, and thought leader devoted to taking leaders to the next level. She has also contributed to Forbes. com, where she writes about the non financial aspects of retirement. Jan is a professor of business management emerita at Central College in Pell, Iowa. Jan actively works to leave her breadcrumb legacy daily.
When not working on breadcrumbs in her own life, Jan enjoys photography and spending time with family and friends. And without any further ado. Here is my interview with Dr. Jan Freed. It’s my good fortune to have Dr. Jan Freed on the program. Uh, Jan, I wanted to have you on the program because you’ve got a new book out called Bread Crumb Legacy, How Great Leaders Live a Life Worth Remembering.
And tell us a little bit about why you wrote this book.
Dr. Jann Freed: This book basically came out of my previous book, which was called Leading with Wisdom, Sage Advice from 100 Experts. And I actually interviewed more than a hundred, but my editor loved a hundred. Um, and each. Of the chapters is a theme that emerged in the research and one of the chapters that really resonated with people because I had several speaking engagements and workshops, I developed a workshop called leaders live their legacy, which is.
The chapter in the book and it really people really found that interesting and I would ask people in workshops You know when I’m speaking When do we leave our legacy and people would say well when we leave and I’d say leave what leave the earth We died. That’s true. I leave a job. We retire. That’s true I’d say what happens when I leave this meeting today when I leave this room today I’m leaving some of my legacy With you today And out of that I developed this concept of we’re leaving our legacy Daily in bite sized pieces in breadcrumbs and they accumulate And often people think of legacy as something very big monumental significant A legacy is just the impact and influence you’re having on others and we’re having that on a daily basis And it can be positive.
It does it could be negative. It’s not always positive You
Jason Parker: Yeah. Why do you suppose that topic resonates with people? Why is it important for people to want to leave a legacy or live a legacy?
Dr. Jann Freed: I think it’s resonating because, um, you know, death and mortality, and I’ve done a lot of work in that area, you know, it really helps you anytime you’ve had like a near death experience, often called NDEs, you know, it’s the first thing that puts life in perspective.
All of a sudden, your priorities are very clear. I think people are really thinking about, you know, what difference am I making? What’s my life matter. And I will tell you COVID brought death front and center, you know, people, you know, whether they had relatives, friends, it’s almost like everyone knew someone who had.
a bad experience or died from COVID. And so, I mean, my dad died during, during COVID. I don’t want to say that it was because of COVID, but he was 95 and a half. I think it was COVID related. And so I think we’re still trying to figure out. the impact that COVID had on people. So I think death became front and center.
People of all ages had a chance to kind of pause and think about, am I, you know, that kind of leads us into talking about quiet quitting or the great resignation, you know, people thinking about, is this really how I want to spend my life? Do I want to keep doing this kind of work? People really had a chance to reevaluate.
Jason Parker: I remember as you’re saying that, I remember that video, the speech that Steve Jobs gave at the Stanford graduation. And he said, death is the best invention of life. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Um, and it does force you to live with some urgency. Has there any questions around legacy questions that you ask people to help them understand?
Maybe get more clarity around purpose and how to be intentional about the way that they live. Are there good questions that you’ve discovered over the years?
Dr. Jann Freed: Yeah. Well, actually one chapter in the book is called, and to me, this is the key question is what’s going to get you up in the morning. Because people will say, I, in fact, I just, I was having lunch just yesterday with a group of women, career women who have for the most part retired.
And we’re really talking to me about what the issues are. And the main issue is really, what do you do with your time? If you’ve got the money figured out, what do you do with your time? How do you structure today? What’s going to get you up in the morning. And I might say that. I write about the non financial aspects of retirement.
I’m recently a contributor to Forbes. com, and that’s what I write about, um, the non financial aspects of retirement, because if you’ve got the money part figured out, it’s everything else you’re worried about. So I think the key questions, you know, have to do with, like you said, purpose, meaning, How are you going to structure your day?
What do you, you know, what’s going to get you up in the morning? And a lot of times people talk about purpose with a big P. You know, like, you know, what, I’ve got to do something. And again, very important. Not necessarily. I mean, like writing for Forbes now, I think about it. I, you know, I go to bed thinking about it.
I wake up thinking about articles I want to write. I mean, for me, reading, writing, learning, that’s what gets me going. I mean, I want to every day I want to learn something and that keeps me going. So it can be just a small P, you know, what it could be something that you’re involved in with a volunteer or the community or your, um, your church or your faith, uh, community.
Uh, or it can be something very little like, you know, my piano teacher who’s in her 80s is struggling with cancer and, you know, I take him dinner once or twice a week. Um, you know, it could just be something little like I’m thinking about, Oh gosh, I need, what can I do? I need to go to the store because I need to buy something to make them for dinner.
You know, I mean, just, it doesn’t have to be anything really, really, but if it, if it’s meaningful to you, it’s important.
Jason Parker: Yeah. This, and this is the reason I wanted to have you on the show because retirement’s a huge transition for people. And oftentimes many of the people that listen to this show, they do have the finance part figured out, they’ve got that part taken care of, but there’s a lot of people that aren’t ready to retire because they don’t know what, how they’re going to spend their time.
So when you’re writing these articles for Forbes, uh, talking about the non financial aspects, what, what is it that gets people out of bed? What is it that’s motivating them or inspiring them or. giving them a sense of belonging and meaning. Where, where do you find people? What are people doing to, to experience that?
Dr. Jann Freed: Well, I think the key is curiosity. You know, I think that’s a key word because curiosity gets you to ask questions. It gets you to learn new things. Um, I say to people, cause I do coaching along this line, you know, I, I say, well, this is, you know, start experimenting or discover or, You know, talk to people who are doing interesting things, you know, there’s more to life than playing golf and traveling, you know, because Actually one of my role models in this work is Richard Leiter, L E I D E R, and he’s done a lot of writing He’s written a lot of books and i’ve attended workshops with him and read all of his books And he basically says that his research has indicated that as people get older And you know close to retirement age meaning trump’s money and significance trump’s success So, you know, it’s really about so I say to you know, I try to coach people You know start start asking questions start Experimenting discover sign up for some classes or talk to people, you know interview You know informally meet people for coffee who’s doing something interesting.
I actually have a You a top 10 list, you know, if people go to my website and, you know, sign up for my email or my, I have a newsletter once a, once a month. If they sign up for my newsletter or send me an email, I’ll send them my top 10 tips. Um, but I also wanted to say that I’m also an alum of the Modern Elder Academy, and that is started by Chip Conley.
He wrote the forward to my book, but he’s, he, he calls his. Academy, the modern elder Academy, the first midlife wisdom school. And so I’m an alum of that, and I’m just currently finishing going through another certification, another certification to become a, um, It’s called Navigating Transitions, TQ Coach, Transition Quotient Coach, and kind of like EQ, IQ, this is TQ, to help people through transitions, whether that’s a divorce, whether that’s, you know, they’ve laid off from their job, or they’re retiring, or You know, they’ve gone through a significant death in the family or something, you know, some kind of major life transition.
And so, um, I’ll be done with that in January. So, uh, this is definitely my focus, my passion. So that would be my advice. Yeah.
Jason Parker: I, I listened to a couple of the podcasts, you were, you had been guests and I watched the Ted talk that you gave.
Dr. Jann Freed: Okay. Thank you.
Jason Parker: Yes. Uh, preparing for our interview and I saw that, uh, you enjoy obituaries.
Yeah. Yes. Eulogies. Um, it’s kind of a weird thing to collect, but tell, tell our listeners about that and what you pick up from that type of work.
Dr. Jann Freed: Okay. Well, I, I developed, you know, I I started this research in about 2007 and my leading with wisdom book came out in 2013. And my first my main career was a college professor of teaching leadership and business management, and I left that career after 30 years.
So I only did that for 30 years, and then I taught a graduate course for 10 years. Um, but in the process of doing the research for that book, and then the research for Breadcrumb Legacy, I developed, um, a leadership course, and one of the requirements of the course was, um, Students had to write their own eulogy.
Now, when I started doing this in 2007 2008, eulogies and obituaries sounded and were different. Obituaries tended to focus on what has someone done or doing, their doing part of life, and eulogies is focused on their being, what kind of person have they been. Now, they’re sounding more and more the same, and You know, I have some theories as to, you know, it used to be that newspapers would write obituaries.
Now you’re writing your own so you can write whatever you want, you know. Um, so I think there’s some reasons for this, but in having students write their own eulogy and it was a mandatory assignment, it wasn’t graded, but they had to do it. And they knew in advance that they were going to share it with the entire class.
And the whole purpose of the exercise is to get students to think about, how do I want to be remembered? What would I want people to say about me? And then I would, and my, and the typical students were 21 to 22 years. You know, 21 or 22 undergraduates. And, um, the whole purpose of the exercise was, well, if that’s how you want to be remembered, then you need to start living your life like that right now.
And the earlier you understand that the better off you are.
Jason Parker: And so,
Dr. Jann Freed: you know, my whole focus is live how you want to be remembered.
Jason Parker: From, uh, Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the two lessons that stood out to me more than any were his exercise, where you imagine that you walk into a funeral and there’s a, there’s a coffin there at the front and you walk up and you realize it’s you.
And then you sit down in the front row of the church and you listen for the next hour as people get up and they talk about how, how you were, how you would be remembered and what you contributed. And I, that, that always stuck with me. The other thing that he shared in that book was that idea of the law of second creation, or all things are created twice, I think is the way that he put it, where first there’s a mental creation before there’s a physical creation.
And I like that idea that we have, um, that what we think, uh, how, how we think is what we can manifest in the world. And, um, but my sister, I was visiting her recently and she, she, she asked me a question that, um, made me think different about legacy, which she said, Jason, do you remember great grandma and grandpa’s first name?
And I could not remember my great grandparents first name. Do you remember your great grandparents first name?
Dr. Jann Freed: Great grandparents.
No, not, no, no.
Jason Parker: So, so, you know, in terms of legacy, if we can’t even remember their names, Mm hmm. Why, why is it important that we have this idea that our time is significant, meaningful, and important?
Dr. Jann Freed: Well, that’s an excellent question. I would say great grandparents. I mean, you know, I was very close to my grand grandparent.
So I can remember them. I, I, you know, I can re and so I, there were life lessons learned there. I mean, I think to me, legacy is a lot about, uh, wisdom and passing on that wisdom and you know, how far long ago, I mean, sure, we’re not, you know, we mean, we’re not going to be remembered forever by everyone, okay.
Okay. But if we can have influence on, you know, if I can pass on some things that I remember from my parents and grandparents, my now grandchildren, then, you know, that, that’s, that’s, that maybe they’ll pass on to their, you know, children, you know, That’s a pretty, that’s good. Yeah. If, even if I, you know, if my kids remember something, I actually, so I, as I mentioned, I have a monthly newsletter.
I do a monthly podcast myself called where I interview guests called becoming a sage. And I look at these things as part of my legacy that, you know, maybe I haven’t had a chance to share all of this with my own children, but if I’m not here anymore, they could go back and listen to some of my podcasts or they could read my monthly newsletter and they would say, Oh, that’s interesting.
You know, she never told me about that. Or I didn’t read that newsletter. That was a month I missed it, you know? So,
Jason Parker: yeah, I do think though, when you, when you frame it, Where you are significant, where you have significance that you were designed and created for purpose and on purpose, and that you’re here for a reason, you know, I think that that does impact the way that you live every day.
Um,
Dr. Jann Freed: I do, I consider this breadcrumb legacy. I say it’s often like our North star or guarding our guiding light. You know, um, it can keep you in the right lane, in the right mindset.
Jason Parker: Yeah, and if you were, if you were giving advice to all of humanity on what is needed and you simplified it down just as much as possible, what, what would be the advice, you know, uh, how to, how to make sure that you’re living a good life now and that future generations would also enjoy, you know, a great life?
What would that advice sound like?
Dr. Jann Freed: Well, it’s going to sound very simple, but I think just on a daily basis, that you’re intentional about what you say, how you say it. what you do, how you impact others. Um, recently I was giving a workshop and one of the men said to me, don’t you find it self centered and to be thinking about the leg, your legacy on a daily basis.
That’s what you’re advocating. Don’t you find that self centered? And I said, well, let’s not use the word legacy. Let’s use the word impact or influence. Do you think that it’s self centered to be thinking about the influence or impact you’re having on others on a daily basis? And he said, Oh, no, no.
Because again, how we are influencing or impacting others is not always positive. But if we think about it and we’re intentional, then we can say, Oh, you know, I better not say that. Or, you know, we can have fewer regrets if we’re more aware of the difference. That we’re having on a daily basis,
Jason Parker: the greatest teacher who I believe to be the greatest teacher of all time.
I think he thought deeply about what would be needed for mankind to really thrive on earth and that, for me, that’s Jesus, Jan. And his greatest commandment, I’m just curious your thoughts on this, his greatest commandment, he said, love God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.
What do you think about that?
Dr. Jann Freed: No. I like that. I think. I mean, if you’re going to,
Jason Parker: if you’re going to be intentional. Right. Yeah.
Dr. Jann Freed: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jason Parker: And, and if our great grandkids won’t remember our names, but maybe, uh, the way that we’ve treated one another, that there’s a compounding effect to that, uh, along amongst generations.
Dr. Jann Freed: Yes. Right. And you know, we all know how polarized the world is right now, and, uh,
Jason Parker: is the world why
Dr. Jann Freed: I’m just trying to spread kindness, that’s all.
Jason Parker: Yeah. Why do you, why do you say that the, uh, this feeling of being polarized, the world being pol polarized?
Dr. Jann Freed: Yeah. I mean, all you have to do is look at, I mean, it’s very polarized.
Mm-hmm. You know, very divided. I mean, even, you know, if, I mean, I don’t wanna talk politics, but if you look at. The political, you know, the recent political election, it was basically, I mean, it’s very, very even and very divided. It wasn’t lopsided. Yeah.
Jason Parker: Um, when you think about.
Dr. Jann Freed: Yeah.
Jason Parker: When you think about eulogy, uh, and you’ve, you’ve been through this exercise, you’ve helped people.
What, um, what do you want your eulogy to say?
Dr. Jann Freed: That’s an excellent question. And actually for my 50th birthday, my best friend who knows me better than anyone, because I’ve always said to her, you know, I want you to be one of the eulogists at my funeral. And so, so she wrote it, uh, and that was a little while ago.
And that was my. Big gift, a birthday gift. And, um, you know, I think, uh, it was very long. It was too long, but, and she’ll revise it, but I would want people to say that, you know, she was outgoing and very kind and giving always a friend, always, always there kind of above and beyond what a lot of people do for friends.
Um, you know, Uh, I would want people to talk about, or I would hope they would say she walked the talk. She just talk it. And I think when you’re a writer, that’s important, but not always so easy. That doesn’t make it easy. You know, even walking the talk is not easy, but intentionally trying hard to walk the talk.
I think that would be.
Jason Parker: Yeah, that’s good. Um, relationships are so important and, uh, life without relationships would not be worth living, I don’t think. Um, and. It’s harder, I’ve found, that when people get older to have those relationships. My mentor and my friend, Dean, used to tell me, he said, Jason, when my kids were young, you were automatically in a relationship with people, because you were going to school events, and you were going to sporting events, and you were going to birthday parties, and you’ve got all this stuff.
And he said, uh, and then he said afterwards, then for him and his wife, they were plugged into a church for a time. And so that created community for them. And then, uh, then they moved and they didn’t have a church to belong to anymore. And he said, Jason, it’s really hard to, uh, find community and be in relationships.
I was talking to a woman recently who she is, uh, in a great position financially, and she would like to travel, but she has nobody to travel with. And so it’s. Just not the same to go travel by yourself. So when you think about relationships and connecting with people at this next phase of life, how do you do that?
How do you create those relationships?
Dr. Jann Freed: Well, that’s interesting because I’ve written several articles for Forbes. About this topic, you know, people could just if they just put in Jan Fried Forbes, um, a link will come up with all the articles I’ve written and I’ve written two or three about making friends as grownups making friends as adults, um, how to make friends.
So, again, I list all kinds of ideas in there because you are absolutely right Jason. It is much more difficult. Okay. To make friends. We call it front and loaded. So when you’re younger, friendships are front and loaded and, and exactly like you said, through our kids, athletic events and all that, it’s much harder for adults.
And part of it has to do with our comfort zone. You know, it’s hard for us to get out of our comfort zone. So we tend to be creatures of habit and you really have to be intentional and take risks and be more vulnerable in order to build new relationships.
Jason Parker: What would be an example, what would be an example of risks and being vulnerable?
Dr. Jann Freed: Okay. Um, I getting out of your comfort zone. Actually, somebody just asked me that in a workshop and I said, getting out of your comfort zone is a way of, which just means doing something that is not. You may to you. So maybe you’re not good at initiating, but you have someone well, give you a perfect example.
So we’ve had some turnover in our neighborhood and a lot of new neighbors and I was feeling bad here. I’m writing these articles and I don’t know some of my neighbors. So another neighbor and I, I said, would you be willing to co host a coctail party? You know, we’re just going to have appetizers and some drinks and 5 to 7 on a Sunday night and we’re going to invite neighbors we don’t know.
And we went and just around the block, so we walked around the block. I hand wrote invitations five and almost, I think one couple did not come.
Jason Parker: Oh, is that right? Everybody came. So I think that really speaks to this idea that everybody’s longing for this connection and this interconnected world. People don’t feel like they are connected.
Dr. Jann Freed: Exactly. And so I think we had about 30 people, one couple had a conflict. They didn’t have to bring anything. So it was real easy. And I had name tags and I made some announcements. I said, you know, if you talk to your neighbors and they weren’t invited, it’s because we know them, you know, you were invited because we don’t know you.
And, um, you know, it was just to kind of break the ice. So that again, that took, that was taking a risk. I was being vulnerable. Um, but I was being very transparent and, um, and it was good. So now, you know. So the whole idea is a lot of people don’t know their neighbors and so planning something like that.
I’ve also, like a few years ago, I hosted a potluck where I said my husband and I will have the main dish. It was for a block party. It was, we called it a block party, but again, it wasn’t, it’s not an annual thing. We just made it up and we said, you know, again, I walked around the block You know, put a flyer in their mailbox and said, bring a dish.
We’ll have a main dish. And I think I said, bring a dish and a beverage and we’ll have the main dish. And again, we had just a lot of people. So those are just examples of, you know, Reaching out, taking the initiative for me, it wasn’t necessarily out of my comfort zone, but for a lot of people, it would be, you know, a lot of people might.
And actually what’s interesting is a lot of people. When we had this last event, which was just last summer, I mean, almost everybody said great idea, wish I would have thought of it, or I’ve wanted to do this, but didn’t do it, you know? So people really did appreciate it. So that’s just a, an example.
Jason Parker: That’s great.
You know, I’ve, I’ve, uh, my newest hobby the last couple of years has been playing pickleball. Have you tried playing it?
Dr. Jann Freed: Yeah, I have some bad knees,
Jason Parker: so
Dr. Jann Freed: I’m a little scared, but, um, but yes, I’ve played it, yes. But I also know, Jason, I also know several people, even younger than me, who’ve gotten hurt. Broke a wrist, you know, cracked something, so, Anyway, watch out.
I know those,
Jason Parker: I know those stories too. Yeah. I think we’re all going to get hurt eventually. You’re either going to get hurt from being active or you’re going to get hurt from sitting on the couch for too long, but, um, the, uh, the thing I love about Pickleball Jan is it does what you’re talking about, and I think one of the reasons it’s really grown in popularity is it creates community.
There’s really no cost associated with it. Cause you, you know, most of the places we play are free. You buy equipment one time and then you’re done, but you get to meet all these wonderful people and you get to play and have fun and there’s no discussions about politics or any of these things that can be divisive.
It’s just, well, I guess the divisive, if there’s divisiveness, it’s, uh, you know, you, you called that shot out and it was really, you know, But, uh, but I, yeah, I see it as something that’s fun. It’s not just a way to get together and eat, but it’s a way to actually play. And I actually saw that our surgeon, U. S.
Surgeon General wrote an article about how as Americans, we’ve forgotten just how to have fun, how to play. And. It’s so much easier just to sit on the couch and kind of screen through or, you know, flip through social media. Yeah.
Dr. Jann Freed: Right. You’re right. You’re very correct.
Jason Parker: You, you’ve done a lot of this research.
You’ve taught on these subjects about me living a meaningful life, leadership. What’s the most important thing when you, when you’re done with a class or you’ve coached people one on one on this idea, what do people, what do they re what really resonates with them? Like what moves the needle for them in their life and gets them to, to maybe make it make things better for themselves?
Dr. Jann Freed: I honestly think that it is this whole concept of embracing death. Because when you embrace death, then you’re freer to live. So that’s another reason why you’re more likely to take risks or get out of your comfort zone if you know that, well, it could be over tomorrow. It could, it could end next week. I mean, you just don’t know.
I’m going to a funeral, uh, today. I’m going to a funeral tomorrow. And it’s a friend of ours, a good friend of ours, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and in less than a month was gone. So again, you just don’t know. You don’t know. And so I think that whole concept of becoming comfortable with the idea that really, today could be the end.
So how am I going to live it? How am I going to, you know, cherish it? And what am I going to do that really makes it worthwhile?
Jason Parker: Does it have the potential though to Live recklessly.
Dr. Jann Freed: I don’t think so. I think more intentionally, you know, but reckless, you know, I, I guess it’s whatever, however somebody wants to be remembered, you know, if they want to take more, you know, I do think that, you know, it doesn’t mean skydiving.
I’m not ever going to skydive. I don’t think, but, um, you know, take calculus. I, no, I, I, I’ve never thought of that. I think if somebody is a big risk taker, maybe, but. You know, I think it’s more a matter of living intentionally, not recklessly.
Jason Parker: And when you write articles for Forbes, what, what are the articles that have really stood out the most or have been read the most, or do they, do they track that information for you?
Dr. Jann Freed: Yeah, they do. It’s very interesting. It is very interesting. Um, a lot of it I think has to do with the title. I’m kind of really trying to, uh, but one of my very first articles, you know, it has like 200, 000 page views now. And it was one of my first, and the article, the title is three, three reasons not to retire.
Jason Parker: Um, three reasons not to retire.
Dr. Jann Freed: Yeah. And so it’s kind of a play on, it’s kind of the reverse of what you might think. And so what I’ve discovered in titles is it needs to be a little more intriguing.
Jason Parker: Uh, and what, but I’m curious, I am curious to know what those three reasons are. Why wouldn’t, what are three reasons to not retire or one or two of them at least?
Dr. Jann Freed: Yeah. Um, I’ve done so much writing Jason, I’m trying to think, what, what did I say? Three reasons not to retire. Well, okay. Part of it is like on my podcast, I say that I’m out to retire the word retirement. We’re not retiring. We’re not retiring from life moving on. And so that’s what I talk about in that article that, you know, that, um, you may not be working full time, but what are you doing that if that.
Gives you purpose and meaning, you know, it was along those lines that, you know, Um, because the whole idea of retirement was created when people didn’t live that long.
Jason Parker: Yeah. Why are we retiring? Why are we doing this?
Dr. Jann Freed: We’re not retiring You know now we may not be doing like I left my full time job after 30 years And i’m doing other things now i’m doing some for money, but i’m also very involved in the community.
Um, um, and uh Anyway, we’re not retiring from life. We’re going to be doing something. And what is that something that you want to do? Yeah. So
Jason Parker: from a financial standpoint, how did you know it was okay to leave your full time career?
Dr. Jann Freed: Uh, well, my husband’s a wealth advisor. So he’s a wealth management advisor.
So, you know, what we do finance, he does financial plans and, you know, Oh, so you,
Jason Parker: you have that dialed in. That was easy. Yeah,
Dr. Jann Freed: we, we, we have that dialed in. Is he retired? Is he
Jason Parker: retired also?
Dr. Jann Freed: No, no, he’s still, he loves what he does. So, you know, but we also waited until our three sons were out of college. So we felt like we had launched them and now it was more my turn to take a risk.
Jason Parker: Okay. And then when you first. Pulled the plug and you no longer were teaching. Um, what, uh, what did you do or how, what did you do with your time that when you first retired?
Dr. Jann Freed: Well, I was teaching, then I had an opportunity to teach a graduate course for the, uh, local university where I was just totally teaching undergraduates at a small liberal arts.
So I taught this graduate course, but it was just one course a year. And then that’s when I developed my coaching practice. And then that’s when I started marketing myself as workshops. So I do leadership workshops.
Jason Parker: So
Dr. Jann Freed: I have a workshop that I, uh, that I’m very excited about called beyond the money. It’s a corporate workshop where.
Organizations hire me to come in and talk about the non financial aspects of retirement. Because again, if people have enough money, it’s everything else they’re worried about and organizations are very, uh, Very, it’s very common for organizations to bring in financial advisors to give financial advice, but it’s also just as important, I think, to prepare people for the non financial aspect of retirement.
Jason Parker: Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Jann Freed: So that’s what my workshop is. It’s called beyond the money. And then I, you know, I, I tailor it to like one insurance agency brought me in for, to talk to all employees and I had three different levels of employees, 25 50 and 50 plus.
Jason Parker: Interesting. Well, Jen, I sure have appreciated you taking the time out of your schedule to be a guest on the show today.
I know that some of our listeners are going to want to reach out to you and learn more about the work you’re doing. What’s the best place for them to find you?
Dr. Jann Freed: Thank you very much. Well, my website is Janfried. com. Jan with two N’s, Fried with two E’s. And then LinkedIn, I’m very active in LinkedIn. And as I mentioned, um, and they can just do a search for me on LinkedIn, but I mentioned that I have a monthly newsletter.
So if they go to my website, um, something would pop up and if they subscribe with their, with their email, they would get a monthly newsletter and a monthly podcast. And that’s it. Okay. That’s
Jason Parker: awesome. And that would
Dr. Jann Freed: be wonderful. Yeah, that’d be wonderful. So.
Jason Parker: Well, very good. And again,
Dr. Jann Freed: they Forbes, all of my Forbes articles would come up.
And, um, I’m very excited about that.
Jason Parker: I know this is great. I really appreciate the work that you’re doing to help give people more clarity about how they’re going to spend their time and what’s most important to them. And What it really means to leave a legacy and why, why that’s a motivator for people.
And so I appreciate, I appreciate this conversation. Thanks for being a guest on sound retirement radio.
Dr. Jann Freed: I’m very honored. Thanks Jason.
Jason Parker: Okay. Thank you.
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