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Have you ever wished for guidance in effectively growing your business and managing your finances? "Women of Wealth," hosted by Allie Ramo and Hawley Woods serves as your roadmap to success in the world of finance for female entrepreneurs.
This podcast will take you on an empowering journey, revealing the keys to seize control of your financial destiny. Allie's journey, from Hawley's assistant to a thriving health coaching entrepreneur, symbolizes the mission: inspiring young women to invest in their financial futures.
Explore actionable strategies for leveraging your finances, growing your business, and securing your financial future. Subscribe now and embark on a path to entrepreneurial triumph with "Women of Wealth."
Have you ever wished for guidance in effectively growing your business and managing your finances? Or wonder what it takes to succeed as a female entrepreneur in finance? Then this is the podcast for you. Welcome to Women of Wealth, where generational wisdom meets ambition.
Allie:I'm Ali Romo, your millennial host.
Hawley Intro:And I'm Hollywood's Greg, your gen x host.
Allie:Using our combined backgrounds in insurance and financial services, we will share what we've learned to give you the tools you need to grow your business.
Hawley Intro:Join us, and together, we will help you discover practical strategies for financial leverage, business growth, and securing your future.
Hawley:Hey, wealth warriors. Are you ready to redefine wealth and master your money mindset? Welcome to episode number 17 of Women of Wealth. I'm your Genex host, Hollywood's Gray.
Allie:And I'm your millennial host, Ali Ramo.
Hawley:Today, we'll be talking to Cheryl Canzanella about wealth building through mortgages and the opioid epidemic financial impacts.
Allie:So to start us off, Cheryl, can you introduce yourself and share some insights on your journey in financial services?
Cheryl Canzanella:Sure. I have well, thank you for having me here today. I have been in the financial industry for about 25 years now. I started, with, Merrill Lynch. I didn't even know what a stalker bond was and, worked my way through the industry and, have actually found my way to working within the loan in within loans with, reverse mortgages.
Cheryl Canzanella:So, 25 years of of financial business, working with financial advisors and brokers, and planning for taxes and legacy planning. And, interesting enough, my, direction took a turn a couple of years ago, and I landed within the mortgage industry. But the good news is I'm still partnering and working with financial advisors for planning. So now 25 years in the business.
Hawley:Excellent. So tell us a little bit about how you got there, like, from working at Merrill Lynch to now working in the, loan and reverse mortgage and some of the other benefits that we're gonna talk about here that comes with mortgages. But how how did you make that transition?
Cheryl Canzanella:I know you you wouldn't think the 2 belong together. Right? But it's interesting now that I'm taking the 2 topics, 2 industries, and connecting them in the sense that, for the last 10 years, I was partnering with advisers and helping them with understanding how to incorporate life insurance, long term care, annuities into retirement planning. And what I found when I heard, someone actually just speaking on reverse mortgages, when I heard them sharing the conversations they were having, it was really interesting because I'm like, I'm already talking about that stuff. I'm talking about tax planning.
Cheryl Canzanella:I'm talking about legacy planning. I'm talking about cash flow and nontaxable assets, and it was a light bulb that went off that, wow. This is the same conversation, the same planning, just a different product. And so when I started to dig in a little further, I realized that even though I would say Main Street America, most Americans, have their home is probably about twice as much as what they've saved for retirement, but advisers and financial, in the financial industry, they weren't incorporating that home equity into the financial planning piece. So I saw an enormous opportunity to come in and and and and connect the 2 together with a conversation that is not typically had.
Cheryl Canzanella:And, there's there's a lot of people out there that need the information, but just dismiss it because they hear the word reverse mortgage.
Allie:Yeah. So for our listeners, can you kind of give us an explanation on what a reverse mortgage is and how it would benefit your retirement plan?
Cheryl Canzanella:Sure. Sure. So reverse mortgages are generally I mean, they're they're they're thought of as, like, a 4 letter word. It's a bad word. You know, I think we've been raised to hurry up, pay off our mortgage, pay off our home, and give the house to the kids.
Cheryl Canzanella:But, over the years, they've had a bad rap because there weren't protections in place. And just like every other industry, including the financial industry, you have a a couple of bad people doing unethical things. And when you take, advantage of seniors, retirees, that's when, you know, things start to you know, people start to to to listen in and and start to tune out these products that were used in a negative way. But the product itself, it's not that the product was bad. It was the it was bad people using or unethical people using the product or not using it correctly.
Cheryl Canzanella:It may not have been intentional. So you did hear these, you know, kicking little old ladies out of the home. And so when when you think of reverse mortgages, that's what people think of. You know? Oh, I don't want the the bank to get my house.
Cheryl Canzanella:I don't want the government to be involved, and and that's just not true. Nowadays, it it things have changed. There's more protections in place. We do have regulations. We have things we have to follow to make sure that this is not only the right avenue for people to take, but that they that seniors and retirees are protected.
Cheryl Canzanella:So it is nothing more than a just a mortgage. That's all it is. So it's a mortgage called a home equity conversion mortgage, and it allows, individuals to make an optional mortgage payment. So instead of, like, you and I, when we pay our mortgage, we pay interest and then we pay our principal, and every month that goes down, our principal amount balance goes down. Well, all this is is going in reverse.
Cheryl Canzanella:It's a negative amortization so that the balance is growing. And instead of you having to make that mortgage payment, it is an optional mortgage payment for now, but it's made on the back end. So it's made when you sell the home or when you pass away and you leave the home to your heirs. So all that is is and and what a lot of people don't realize is you can actually make a payment on your reverse mortgage. So and there's strategies for that when it comes to tax planning and legacy planning, which is so interesting because a lot of people don't understand what it is to begin with, let alone the planning strategies that can be used for retirement.
Hawley:Well, it's it. It's like anything that someone doesn't understand. Right? For years, we've been teaching people about cash value life insurance and how to use an annuity for your benefit. You know, annuities aren't for everyone, just like a reverse mortgage isn't for everyone, Just like cash value life insurance isn't for everyone.
Hawley:However, it does make the planning process better when people understand all their options and what's available out there. I think it's funny because, well, two stories, actually. I have a a cousin who was on this show not too long ago. Jill, she has a grandpa who did a reverse mortgage, like, back back 30 years ago. And, I mean, when they when he passed away, finally, he was, like, 96 when he passed away.
Hawley:And he had that reverse mortgage for so long that, yeah, his family did not inherit the home. But at the same time, he got to live in that house for 30 years without worrying about if he was gonna be able to pay for it with his Social Security. And I'll tell you right now, he probably wouldn't have been able to because he was in San Diego. If you look at the median house in San Diego I mean, he was in Chula Vista and now it's like $896,000 for a median house in Chula Vista, which is absolutely crazy to me. And then the other thing is it's interesting because I always I was in loans before I got into the financial services industry.
Hawley:I always considered loans to be in the financial services industry because you are talking to people about their money and their assets and their, you know, their different liabilities and whatnot and, you know, how to make that home an asset for you. So give us a little bit of the parameters around the, you know, around the reverse mortgage. I know enough to be dangerous, but I definitely don't know what the rules are anymore. So can you just let our listeners know, like, how does someone qualify for that? What are the steps that they have to take?
Hawley:I don't know if they still have to do a class or whatnot, but I know that there was some training for people in the past, so give us a little bit more information about that.
Cheryl Canzanella:Yeah. There is a a counseling that has to be done, but before you get to that point to see if it's even something that would be right for you, one, you have to qualify by age. So you have to be at least age 62. And in most states, as long as you have one spouse or couple that is at least age 62, then you can have a younger spouse, or or a younger individual, a nonborrowing spouse that can be put on there as well. And so, age 62, you have to have enough equity in the home to be able to qualify.
Cheryl Canzanella:So it all depends on, the youngest of the 2 borrowers, the appraised value of the home, and the current interest rate environment. So I would say you'd want to at least see about 60% equity in the home in order to even, qualify with the lending limit. So it would be based on those those three things. And then, of course, you have at that point, you'd have we do have to make sure that a third party comes in and you'd have counseling done so they understand what it is, not just from us being the lender, but from a third party. So, yeah, there are there and that's for projections to make sure that they understand what they're getting into.
Cheryl Canzanella:I think one of the biggest things about any industry when you're working with seniors or boomers or retirees is is knowing that you're, taking proper steps. You're holding your hand through the process, making sure they understand, but also getting their advisers involved, their trusted, contacts, their family members. Because if, they have a CPA or an estate planning attorney and they don't understand, you know, we need to be able to help and educate them on what it is, and then they can properly decide whether or not this might be might may or may not be the right avenue for them to take and for the family to be involved. And I think that's important because being in the financial industry, you want the family involved. You want the kids involved.
Cheryl Canzanella:And this is a great way we are getting the kids involved because they they're protecting mom and dad and and rightfully so. So they should know what they're getting into, what they can expect in the end. I I didn't know much about this until I started to, you know, just open my ears and and be I was open to listening. And once I realized, okay. Well, there's there's potential here.
Cheryl Canzanella:I I I you know, being in the life insurance business, you got you gotta own it to sell it. Right? You've gotta be able to own it and believe in it in order to, be able to offer that to others around you. And, since I'm not 62, I looked to my parents. I said, well, hey.
Cheryl Canzanella:Let's look at my parents. Let's see. Does it make sense for them? But they did not need it. They certainly did not need it.
Cheryl Canzanella:They were paying more on their mortgage every month because they could. And and they're very frugal people, so they don't, you know, spend lavish amount of money. And and and what would it look like for me and my sisters? And what we saw when we did the math is that we will have less equity in the home as beneficiaries, but overall, my parents now have more flexibility to do things that they can do with the family and the grandkids. Our national sales director just got off a a podcast a couple of days ago, and he talks about his reverse mortgage vacations.
Cheryl Canzanella:Oh, he he is certain he's over he turned 62 a couple years ago. He has plenty, you know, of investments and income he certainly did not need to reverse. He did it because he's getting about a quarter of a $1,000,000 in tax, tax deductions over his lifetime. So but but now instead of him making $36,000 a year mortgage payment, he's now doing, mortgage vacation reverse mortgage, reverse, mortgage vacations with his family. And his and it it was funny.
Cheryl Canzanella:He just he tells his kids, okay. Anywhere you wanna go. He's like, as long as, you know, the the two rules are you plan it, and just mom and I have to go. And so that's how he's living his legacy, is enjoying his life right now with his kids. And that's where I feel my parents are now too because not that they wouldn't have done vacations with the family, but now they just they can make more more freely make these decisions to have fun with the grandkids, which means a lot more to me than, you know, getting the equity in a home when they pass away.
Cheryl Canzanella:I'd rather them spend time with the grandkids now.
Hawley:Well, awesome. Especially since, right, you have, how old is your how old is your new one now? 2. 2. Yeah.
Cheryl Canzanella:So I'm just Not yet. In a couple weeks.
Hawley:In a couple weeks.
Cheryl Canzanella:Slow down. Slow down. Slow down.
Hawley:I I know. Trust me. They grow so fast. My 11 year old's always like, mommy, show me pictures from when I was a baby, you know? And I look back and I'm like, this is 8 years ago.
Hawley:I'm like thinking it just goes by so fast. So, again, congratulations with, your new addition even though he's almost 2. Right? Little boy. Correct?
Hawley:Little boy. I'm sure that your parents are enjoying spending time with him as well. Especially I mean, I think it's such a blessing that you have your parents being able to do that too. So alright. So let's go ahead and jump into let's see.
Hawley:Let's go ahead and jump into a little bit about how you are such an expert on the opioid crisis. I mean, I know it's not a great story to tell on how you become an expert in this, but I think it's really important for our listeners to know how it can impact impact them and how it especially impacts businesses.
Cheryl Canzanella:Well, I'll give you a quick background. I, you know, just like I said with connecting 2 industries, like reverse mortgages and the loan industry with the financial industry, I'm doing the same thing with the financial industry and connecting it with the opioid epidemic. Because my late husband passed away from overdose that involved opioids 7 years ago. And it was actually 7 years ago, a couple days ago. So going through that, being in the financial industry for, you know, 25 years now, well, at the time, just 20 years, it's not something you wanna talk about.
Cheryl Canzanella:You know? Here, people are trusting you with their financial advice, and I could barely keep my head above water. And and when it comes to, you know, barely paying my bills because, you know, I'm making the most money I've ever made in my life, and and here I it it is going out the window because, you know, we're going through addiction. So after he passed away, I realized I was 1 not even my friends really knew what was going on. And, I I I I I was in denial.
Cheryl Canzanella:I I was quiet because I didn't want people to judge him or or us, and and I certainly didn't want my industry or my job or people around me to know what was going on because that that could be a a poor reflection on me as an individual. But when he passed away, in his accidental overdose, I realized that I need to speak up. I need to be a voice because so many people are in this situation that we were in, and it was interesting how it all unfolded. I had no intention of even doing this because, you know, I I just knew when I was speaking at his celebration of life that I wanted people to know him for who he was, not how he left us. So that's why I wanted to share his story, and I shared it still encrypted in the story.
Cheryl Canzanella:I think a lot of people either kind of caught on because I did not say what it was from, or other people asked questions later, which was nice. And that just kind of gave me a little more strength to speak up about it. But, it was about a week into it, and my, friend, you know, I my cousin actually or my aunt, I'm sorry, text me and said, hey. There's gonna be a special on the local news station on opioids. And so I text my girlfriend at that station, and I said, I don't know what I'm doing.
Cheryl Canzanella:But if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know. And she's a producer. Next thing you know, she had taken some of my writings I had written down prior to this, and I gave it to her. She took it, condensed it down into a very small, you know, paragraph. And I'm in the studio.
Cheryl Canzanella:She recorded me. She thought it was just gonna be a commercial to promote the, program. Next thing you know, it's on TV. She thought it was just gonna be on social media. Next thing you know, they put it on TV, and I was just over and over had that commercial with me on there.
Cheryl Canzanella:And, before it happened, I said, you know, it's career suicide. You know? Like, by me even announcing this publicly for let alone I'm on the news now. Is this career suicide? And then I realized that, you know what?
Cheryl Canzanella:I mean, even though my world stopped spinning and I didn't understand how people could put their right foot in front of their left, and, I I mean, how could they worry about if it's raining or sun is shining or what like, how could you even think of anything like that? Because my world stopped and everyone kept going. But when I realized that, yeah, you know what? My business didn't even stop. Yeah.
Cheryl Canzanella:My business slowed down and but it wasn't the end of the world because I didn't answer an email. You know? It didn't. That didn't really stop. It was okay.
Cheryl Canzanella:Like, when I realized, wow, I I do need to speak up about this. And and and the fact that I'm in the financial industry, if I can help those that are experiencing this and be a voice for them because I didn't have one at the time. You know, if I could just help one person go through that, then this is all worth it. And and at least being able to show that my husband was a good person and, and and that the addiction did not define him. And and and how it happened I mean, listen.
Cheryl Canzanella:You see the Netflix movies and the TV shows on on the opioid epidemic. Everyone has seen, you know, painkillers and and all of these shows. That is a real depiction, a very good depiction of what happened. And we are from Palm Beach, and we went through I I I saw friends going to these doctors, and I saw friends with legitimate issues, but spiraled into something more. I I we saw it all over the place, and and these were not bad people.
Cheryl Canzanella:They just, you know, got caught up in what was being allowed to happen. And and and now we're you know, we we've kind of tightened the reins, but, listen, the floodgates were already let open. And and that's the hardest part is is seeing this happen to so many people within business owners and friends and, you know, family. You know, half of Americans know somebody that is going through substance use disorder. Half of Americans.
Cheryl Canzanella:So, I mean, heck hey. You have clients. I mean, that if half of Americans are going through this, doesn't mean they have to be addicted. They might have family members addicted. And so it impacts virtually I can argue that it impacts everyone because even if you don't know somebody, economically, when we're spending a $1,000,000,000,000 a year, o 1 1 and a half $1,000,000,000,000 a year on this opioid epidemic, I assure you, it's impacting everyone.
Hawley:Absolutely. And then the other thing that's really scary is you may have people who legitimately have pain, and then they, you know, unfortunately, they have addiction that happens. For whatever reason. Some people have that those addiction addiction problems and some people don't. You know, it's a it's a disease.
Hawley:And in my in my book, it's a disease. You know? And what's really scary is then when they can't get the slip from the doctor anymore, they're going on the streets, And that's when the phenol gets brought into it, and that's can, you know, that can really take people out quickly that are good upstanding citizens that have a problem that we need to address. So you talked about it a little bit about how not only does it affect really everyone we know, but also business owners and how I know you were sharing with us some statistics earlier about how many businesses are impacted by this or how many business owners. So let's talk a little bit more about that and see, what we can uncover there.
Cheryl Canzanella:Yeah. Business owners actually, a survey was done years ago that said about 75 I think it was, like, the National Safety Council, but 75% of business owners have been impacted by the opioid epidemic. 75 percent of business owners. So when you put that number and that's just what they know of because those these are only surveys that they can answer to if they know of the issue. But when we break down business owners, and and I know a lot of your listeners are business owners, when you break down business owners, you're talking about not just production and bottom line numbers, turnover, having to hire new people, the the productivity of the the workforce, health care costs, because these are people taking off for health reasons.
Cheryl Canzanella:Again, not bad people just caught up in in the whole thing and may have legitimate issues for pain, but cognitive function. If they are in a position where they are heavy machinery or they have a position to where they are overseeing something that could impact others and their cognitive function is not, you know, is is impaired, there could be an issue. Mistakes. You know, a lot of employees will misuse drugs or alcohol while they're employed, and that could lead to the accidents, the absenteeism, you know, calling out sick or whatever. The, I mean, just the workplace environment, if you have someone that is, hey.
Cheryl Canzanella:You know? Hey. My back hurts. Do you have an extra pain pill? You know?
Cheryl Canzanella:Something as simple as that could fall into next thing, you know, going through your purse or going through your drawers. That's no place to work. But as a business owner, you may not see some of these signs. And I know that there's a lot of, resources available for, for your employees to access, but the the red flags could be from your employees that are not addicted, not going through the actual substance use disorder. So there I mean, there's a lot to think about when it comes to running a business and the impact of opioids.
Cheryl Canzanella:Yeah.
Hawley:You just pointed out something that I didn't even think about. Like, somebody say, oh, yeah. You know, my back aches, and somebody gives them a pill. Right? That's not registered with them.
Hawley:But, like, that person who actually has the prescription being from the life insurance side of things, right, that's gonna come up in their history, you know, when they do a prescription database that is ran for life insurance that comes up. For the other person, they're not gonna have that same, you know, signal come up. However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't all impact somehow. That's really interesting point, Ali.
Allie:Yeah. Have you I mean, throughout your experience in talking about this, what are some things that business owners could do, before coming across these situations to protect themselves financially, or if they do notice, maybe an employee performance or they they suspect something? What can business owners do?
Cheryl Canzanella:1, I think it is education and educating your employees on, on on substance use disorder, educating them on where they can get help. Do you have programs available for them to to reach out to in anonymity? But I think the real thing is education, and I I I can't tell you how many times people have come to me and said, hey. I'm so glad you're sharing this because I thought twice about taking the prescribed medication that was given to me by a legitimate doctor. I thought twice about the amount I was taking, and that's all because they heard not only me but others talking about it.
Cheryl Canzanella:So we we sometimes do things without thinking, but if we have the education, we might be able to make informed decisions beforehand. Another thing is is having the access to the, the workplace, the resources. Because you might have a mother who is having to take off of work for, to to help their child who's going through this. They might be kicked out of school. They might have to go, you know, bail them out of something and or bail them out of jail or, you know, spend money because they just wrecked their car.
Cheryl Canzanella:You know, so it's it's it's giving support to those individuals too just like you have employees that have to be caregivers for their parents. You know, they there's a lot of time that has to be taken off and at the same time, being flexible to keep in goodwill with those employees. Another thing is, if there is no. If you uncover that there is substance use disorder going on within an employee, giving them the grace and and and the nonjudgment. So as long as, you know, there's no no one being hurt physically or illegally you know, things being done illegally, maybe you might be able to get to them before that.
Cheryl Canzanella:You get yourself in a legal position and that happens, but being able to help them because I'll tell you what. People that have gone through addiction and have recovered and have, you know, gone through programs to help themselves are very, very dedicated to the people that supported them. So those there are programs out there for people to help. So if you can go if it's possible to go an extra mile for them, they may go an extra mile for you because you believed in them. Doesn't always work out that way, but being open to that may lead to a dedicated employee down the road.
Cheryl Canzanella:And and, Haley, you mentioned about, you know, the the the pills and what what I said about any pill that you don't know where it came from. If you did not take Tylenol off the top and unopened that Tylenol box your or pill box, bottle yourself, we don't know where it came from. So what's happening is people are unknowingly being ingesting things like Fentanyl because they took a pill that they thought was something else. Yeah. They you just don't know.
Cheryl Canzanella:So, like, you know, how many times, you know, had do you have I've transferred Tylenol before in a little thing so I could have it easier in my purse, and I'm not walking around with a bottle. You don't know where it came from. I would not take it. You've gotta know where it comes from.
Allie:Yeah. I think that's such
Hawley:a great point. What are some signs? What are some signs that employers could look for that would say, hey. This person might might have a problem, or maybe it's something that we need to, you know, do some more training on at our work workplace because, you know, we are seeing some people with these signs. What are some of those signs that people should be looking for?
Cheryl Canzanella:Absenteeism, calling into work, being late, you know, not performing your job. I mean, I think drowsiness, you know, your eyes are not, you know, they may be squinty, or you might be really, really hyperactive. There's signs for the, general signs for someone going through addiction itself. I think where the you have to really read between the lines is is is those that are not addicted and and and going through it within the family and don't want anyone to know. That's when they really don't wanna share information.
Cheryl Canzanella:And from a a business standpoint, I don't know how much you can pry into that, but, again, I think that's where educating and providing resources where there's no judgment. There's no you know, you don't have to tell us where you go because, people will not tell you. I mean, I they and it it's sometimes, it's not that they are not willing to tell you or speak up about it. They're in denial themselves. I was in complete denial.
Cheryl Canzanella:I mean, other people probably could see some of the signs, but I, myself, oh, yeah. This is we're gonna fix it. Everything's gonna get better, and, you know, nobody has to know about this. And I completely was in denial. Looking back, I can see all these red flags, you know, and and and conversations, and and it doesn't happen overnight.
Cheryl Canzanella:So these are things that are gradual. And I I will tell you, like, another class of people who we often don't see the signs are our seniors. Mhmm. Seniors are already taking a ton of medications. They're in a lot of pain to begin with.
Cheryl Canzanella:Their bodies are getting older and things are changing. And oftentimes, they might be alone or I mean, they're they're not only addiction itself is not only more possible with older individuals, but they're often most overlooked. They're considered what we call the invisible epidemic because we don't see the signs, and they don't have people around them constantly to see that and to question it. And and senior financial fraud is skyrocketing on many levels often from their own family members and oftentimes because maybe they're not thinking clearly and they're being manipulated. But oftentimes addiction within their family, and they are being manipulated by their family members, son, grandson, great grandson that is trying to get money for their own addiction, or they might even be stealing their pills.
Cheryl Canzanella:I mean, there's so many levels, and seniors are just more vulnerable, I think, when it comes to addiction to be manipulated and to be actively involved in it.
Hawley:Yeah. I I can see that for sure. Well, I really appreciate you sharing all about that. I know that that definitely, you know, time, it says, is a healer. However, there's some things that time doesn't heal, I'm sure.
Hawley:And so I really appreciate you talking through that. We are gonna go on to a lighter topic. We have what's called our lightning round. So this is just an opportunity from your 25 years of expertise to share with our listeners kind of some fun facts and just a little bit, you know, just lighten the mood a little bit so that we can, hear from you on some of the the thoughts you might have. So it's just a fun lightning round.
Hawley:So we're gonna shake off some of our heavy conversation, but I really do appreciate you diving into it because it is so super important. So, Ally, you wanna go ahead and kick us off on the lightning round?
Allie:Yes, ma'am. Alright, Cheryl. Cash or credit?
Cheryl Canzanella:Okay. So, I'm a credit girl. I want the points. I don't wanna spend my dollars to get those points, but I am trying so hard to go back to cash. And for a number of reasons, just because taxes and and and sorry.
Cheryl Canzanella:Not taxes, but, interest and being able to charge that interest multiple times. So I am, not a fan of credit, but I'm using it, and I'd like to go the other way.
Allie:Alright. Real estate or stocks? I feel like we know this one. But
Cheryl Canzanella:Well, believe it or not, I I just I'm not a I'm a conservative person, and I feel like stocks are just yeah. I just I I can't handle the ups and downs. I just can't. Even though I've been in the financial industry for 25 years, it's just not been my thing. So I would say real estate.
Allie:Well, I'm thinking you strategizing with reverse mortgages. You're going real estate.
Cheryl Canzanella:That. Yeah.
Allie:Awesome. And if you want a $1,000,000 today, what would be the first thing you do with the money?
Cheryl Canzanella:Okay. So having the financial background, I would say the first thing would be making sure I have the right financial adviser that can help. But I I would say, you know how they they say don't make big financial decisions when you're grieving. And and and I have done that, but, you know, after I was told not to, but still did it anyway. I would say the same life change, I wouldn't be making any decisions right away.
Cheryl Canzanella:So I I would just make sure I had the right financial adviser and then slowly make a decision because who knows?
Allie:Responsible. I like it. What
Cheryl Canzanella:It's boring.
Allie:On the on the unresponsible side, what is a fun impulse buy you've had recently?
Cheryl Canzanella:Okay. I'm I'm being so honest about this and truthful. So my my impulse buy is, so a red pair of sneakers. I bought a red pair of sneakers for for two reasons. 1, I I I'm really digging wearing my sneakers with my dresses and my professional, you know, attire.
Cheryl Canzanella:But red, they look like emerald, you know, like, the the red sparkly sneakers Yeah. Because I am going to a NEFA meeting. And in this, industry, I have a red coat, part of one of the awards, so I wanted to match with my red coat, with NEFA. And and then secondly, because Movement Mortgage, my company, is also red. So, yeah, that that is honestly my first my latest impulse buy.
Allie:A very on brand impulse buy. I like it. Alright. What's a money saving tip that you swear by?
Cheryl Canzanella:Money saving tip. I would say accountability. I I, I feel like money saving tip we're all supposed to save more. I don't think any any all many of us just don't save enough, and I think that's more true as we get, in nearing retirement. We're just not saving enough.
Cheryl Canzanella:So I would say accountability. My money saving tip is be I have to log everything or it didn't happen. Like and I don't know. It it just it just didn't happen unless I log it. Nice.
Cheryl Canzanella:K.
Allie:What's your biggest financial fear?
Cheryl Canzanella:I think this is probably common among just running out of money. Running out of money, not having enough money, and and and, yeah, we could like I said, we can all save more and not have enough savings. I would say that would be my big experience, Brian.
Allie:Alright. Last
Cheryl Canzanella:But, hopefully, I'm working with the right financial adviser with my $1,000,000. There
Hawley:you go. Thanks.
Allie:Alright. Last but not least, what's your biggest financial goal for the next year?
Cheryl Canzanella:Biggest financial goal? I I would say it's not necessarily financial, but finances have to do with almost everything. So I would say my my biggest goal would be to spend more time with family, which and more vacation time, which means less savings, but, I mean, I could you could argue between the 2, but, if enjoying life more with the family I have now.
Allie:Awesome. And, you know, I thought about a question, relating to your reverse mortgages, and then also seniors. So a lot of business owners, especially small business owners, they don't really have a succession plan. Holly knows this pretty well. And they they start their business with no end in mind.
Allie:They're that's kind of their retirement goal, but they're not quite sure how it's their retirement goal. They're gonna sell their business or do something, or, you know, their kids will take on the business. Have you seen in have you seen how the strategies that small business owners utilize, reverse mortgages instead of maybe selling their business? Or, like, how how do those play into, businesses retirement plans?
Cheryl Canzanella:Well, here's if you're able to as soon as you turn 62 and the math has been done by people within the financial industry, thousands of Monte Carlo scenarios, that it makes sense for most, not all, but most, like, most people to consider opening up a line of credit on your home at age 62. So most people should at least consider opening up that line of credit. Now what does that do for business owners? Well, you can that's liquidity. You don't have to use it, but it's guaranteed not to be taken away as long as you're paying your taxes and your property insurance.
Cheryl Canzanella:So unlike a HELOC where you're creating access to equity that can be taken away, and it can be very dangerous for seniors because they have to repay it. Unlike that HELOC, it's a guarantee of increased growth every year no matter what happens to the market. So opening up that line of credit as early as possible gives them liquidity. So what does that mean? Well, what maybe they wanna expand their business.
Cheryl Canzanella:You know, maybe they want access to capital. Very similar to cash value of life insurance, you're you're accessing a noncorrelated asset that you have access to that's nontaxable. And as source of money and funds that you could take out, and guess what you could do? You could put it right back in. So you don't have to, like, take it out and just start paying interest on it.
Cheryl Canzanella:Take it out, use it for what you need it for. And if you wanted to pay yourself back, you can certainly put it back into, paying down that loan and increasing that line of credit again. So I would say for business owners, it would be the liquidity factor. Creating liquidity and creating more options, you don't have to use it now, but we don't know what life changes are gonna happen. If you wanna sell the business, if a family member wants to take over, maybe that family member's not ready.
Cheryl Canzanella:You're just creating more liquidity to have access to more options. Awesome. That's great to do. Yes.
Hawley:So I wanna say thank you so much for joining us, Cheryl. What is the what is the way or how would you like our listeners to get a hold of you? And then one more quick question before you answer that. Are you available to help people in all 50 states? Are you specifically in Florida?
Cheryl Canzanella:So I am not a loan officer. So I work with loan officers throughout the US, retirement mortgage professionals. We specifically partner, with, professionals in the industry and specifically focus on retirement planning. So, you can reach me, at Movement Mortgage, or Movement dotcom is our our main website, and you can look up my name. You could just Google me and Movement, and I'm sure we'll have our contact information here too.
Cheryl Canzanella:But, yes, all 50 states, and we also, personally, on the, on my personal side, opioid financial awareness.com, and that website would allow for you to access, not only May 4 educational training and programs, but I also, speak to large groups to educate them about the dangers of opioids and connecting them with the financial burdens and the financial impacts of, the epidemic.
Hawley:Thank you so much for being here, and thank you for listening today, and we'll see you on our next episode.
Allie:Thank you. Thank you for joining us on this week's episode.
Hawley:We'd love to hear from you, so make sure to follow and
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