Discover Financial Freedom: Eric Brotman’s Journey from English Major to Financial Advisor

Jasmine Trocchia [00:00:02]:
Welcome back to another episode of the IRA Cafe podcast. My name is Jasmine. I’m the head of the marketing department at American IRA, and today’s is brought to you by American IRA. And today, I am joined by a very special amazing human being, Eric Brotman. I’m super excited to talk to you. This is gonna be a hoot and a half. Hi, Eric. Welcome to the podcast.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:00:27]:
Tell us who you are and what you do.

Eric Brotman [00:00:30]:
I’m I’m so glad to be here. I’ve been looking forward to my visit to the cafe all all day long. In fact, since I got invited, I am the CEO of BFG Financial Advisors in Suburban Maryland. Been doing financial planning now for for thirty one years. Also run a consulting firm and a media company, host a podcast. I’m busy writing books and doing public speaking and just trying to teach the world how to manage their own finances so that, we can get some folks to the higher end of the financial spectrum.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:01:01]:
So I saw your pop up at the bottom of the screen. You have a lot of little acronyms behind your name. What are those acronyms stand for?

Eric Brotman [00:01:08]:
Well, how much time do we have? I I actually have about 12. I only use three. CFB is the certified financial planner practitioner. AEP is accredited estate planner, and CPWA is the certified private wealth adviser. I’m also let’s see. I’m a c a s l r I c p c l u c h f c l u t c f m s f s, EIEIO. I don’t know. I’m I’m a lot of things.

Eric Brotman [00:01:33]:
It’s a whole bunch of stuff. I I I’ve been in school since I got out of school, and you can see sort of in the bio, there’s a lot of stuff. I I was an English major, Jasmine. I studied English and psychology. And so I fell into finance completely by accident, And when I did, I realized

Jasmine Trocchia [00:01:49]:
that I didn’t do with an English degree?

Eric Brotman [00:01:52]:
Correct. And I said anything I want. And lo and behold, I was right. Mom and dad, you hear me? I was right. So so it was of course, people said, what are you gonna do with a a English degree? And I said, well, what everybody does with an English degree, I’m either going to be a poet and sit under a tree and, be impoverished, or I’m gonna teach or I’m gonna go to law school. And so I took a job at a legal department at a brokerage firm, and I was planning to go to law school like so many English majors do, and I fell in love with the financial world. And then I realized that I was 22. I looked 13.

Eric Brotman [00:02:26]:
I was asking people to trust me with their finances when I was new to finance myself. And by new, I mean, my first couple of paychecks. And so I had to get educated, and I found a company that was excited to participate and help me get educated. And so I took as many courses as I can. I’ve had far more exams since college than I ever did in college.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:02:47]:
Just a serial educate wait. Serial I was gonna say educator, but that doesn’t work. Serial student? Serial learner.

Eric Brotman [00:02:55]:
Let’s go with serial learner.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:02:57]:
There you go. Well, one more acronym. What does BFG stand for? Brot Financial Group?

Eric Brotman [00:03:04]:
Well, it did. Interestingly enough, when I started the firm, it was it was my start up. I had a, one full time and one part time employee. I started it as Brotman Financial Group. And years later, we had grown. We’re now 20 people and 10 CFP practitioners, and it’s really not my practice anymore. I mean, I I’m a member of a a big team. And so I wanted to get my name off the door.

Eric Brotman [00:03:26]:
I thought that was important for everybody. And it just so happened that we had acquired a firm in Cincinnati called Benwood Financial Group, and they called themselves BFG. And we called ourselves BFG, so we decided on BFG. And it wasn’t much of a stretch, but it really it technically, I guess, stands for nothing. It was just the way we were known in both Ohio and Maryland. So we kept the we kept the initials. And, for the folks in Ohio, they think of it as Ben Wood. And for the folks in Maryland, they think of it as my namesake, and that’s okay.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:03:56]:
Oh, wow. So you listed off a bunch of things that you do. Oh, wow. Woah, wow. Woah,

Eric Brotman [00:04:03]:
wow. Woah, wow. Okay. Podcast.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:04:09]:
Then we need to gloss over that. What is your what is your latest book? Can we find it on Amazon?

Eric Brotman [00:04:15]:
Yes. Let me let me do a shameless plug. The latest book is, in fact, called Don’t Retire Graduate. This is a newer edition of the book. I had written it back, and actually had a big speaking tour plan and all kinds of things, and then COVID hit. And so the book went live right in time where I couldn’t promote it. And so we decided a couple years later to do a second edition and to make it more timeless and less timely. There were too many limits and rules and regs in the initial book, and it it made it so some of it was obsolete.

Eric Brotman [00:04:47]:
So I wanted to make it not a textbook. I wanted to make it a fun read. It’s in first person. I quote really, important philosophers like, for example, Chris Rock in the book. And so it it’s a fun read. It’s a relatively easy read. Every chapter is a college course. And so I liken this to the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years of your financial life and the various types of stages and the various types of things that you go through at different stages of your financial life.

Eric Brotman [00:05:15]:
And I don’t believe in homework, so every chapter ends with an extra credit assignment because I don’t know about you, but I always did the extra credit because gosh knows I needed it. And so I did the extra credit. And if you were to do the extra credit assignments, you’d wind up with a financial plan. And so that was the ideas that people could do one themselves. We have a workbook that goes with the book that actually is the the series of of exercises at the end of each chapter, and it’s a way to build your own financial plan and to get to financial independence.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:05:44]:
Did you say you mentioned you said Chris Rock. Do you have, like, a quote from him in your book?

Eric Brotman [00:05:50]:
I do. I do. Chris Rock? Chris Rock

Jasmine Trocchia [00:05:52]:
also a different Chris Rock.

Eric Brotman [00:05:54]:
Oh, no. That that’s the Chris Rock, the the Chris Rock. I when I said deep philosophy, that’s about as deep as it got. But he said at one point, he said there was a difference between rich and wealthy. And the way that he described it, which I thought was really, well, really interesting, is that he said wealth is relative. And if Bill Gates woke up tomorrow with Oprah Winfrey’s net worth, he’d wanna jump out a window. And I just thought that was incredibly profound that wealth is that relative that, you know, there’s an old Bulgarian proverb that says to be wealthy is to have more than your neighbor, just doing better than your neighbor. And these are sort of silly rules of thumb, but, I I think figuring out what wealth means, it means different things to different people.

Eric Brotman [00:06:42]:
For some people, it’s kinda like, what does retirement mean to you? For some people, it means working one job instead of three. For some people, it means a yacht in the Mediterranean. So we need to redefine certain things because they they’re one size never fits all.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:06:58]:
That is so true. So, so true. So how did you get to where you are today? Loaded question.

Eric Brotman [00:07:08]:
Smoke and mirrors. It was all a ruse. No. I I got it it was grit. It was really it was hard work. It was grit. I I started, at a point in time where, you know, in the nineties that you’re talking pre, pre Internet, pre email, pre cell phones, all of that. And, I did not want a cold call.

Eric Brotman [00:07:29]:
And this was a business where people would just pick up the phone and dial strangers and and ask them to do business with them, and I refuse to do that, simply because I I hate getting those calls, so I sure as heck wasn’t gonna make any. So when I started my practice, I did three things. I joined every networking association I could. I mean, I joined chambers of commerce and business networks and and executive dialogues and all these different groups, And I got on the membership committee for all of them, and I just met everybody. I was everywhere. I mean, to give you an example, Jasmine, I was the only male member of the Executive Women’s Network of Baltimore. There were 400 women and me, And I would run into people at, like, the grocery store, and they’d be like, you’re that guy. I’m like, yes.

Eric Brotman [00:08:10]:
That’s right. I’m that guy.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:08:12]:
You’re reverse

Eric Brotman [00:08:14]:
that. Something like that. Something like that. Sands the blue and yeah. So that was one. The the other, I learned seminars. I learned how to how to do public speaking, and I learned how to teach people. And, actually, ironically, the very first program that I learned back in 1994 was on IRAs.

Eric Brotman [00:08:32]:
So, you know, it was funny that we’re full circle. It was it was how do you and I think the contribution limit then was $2,000 a year. I mean, these were not these were not tools that could build a whole lot of wealth, but they were tax shelters, and so there were reasons to talk about them. And so I learned a program on that, and I found a bookstore locally that would allow me to do the presentations for free. They would set up the audio. They would set up the chairs, and they would promote the talk in their newsletter because remember, there was no email. There was no Evite. It was it was in their circular, and they were willing to promote me and do the whole thing for free as long as I mentioned a couple books that were on their shelves about my topic.

Eric Brotman [00:09:14]:
And so I was doing weekend every Saturday morning or whatever I would be doing these programs, and sometimes I had two people at them, and sometimes I had nine, and sometimes random people wandered over. But I sat and talked to a lot of people all the time, and it cost me nothing. So I did that. I did the networking stuff, and then I did trade shows. I shook hands and kissed babies. I mean, 800 at a clip. And just learned how to do this and met as many people as I could. I I was someone who was not gonna cold call.

Eric Brotman [00:09:44]:
I was not gonna call my friends and ask them to to buy something from me. I I I found all of that horribly offensive. So I tried to be really authentic and just meet people and say, I’m I’m starting my career. I’m learning the the insurance and wealth management and would love to chat with you, and people did. And, and so I started with, a very humble beginnings. And then, you know, fast forward a couple of years and, I I met the person who became my mentor, and, really, it spearheaded my career. He was, he was older than me by, about almost almost a decade, actually, and he was starting his own firm. And he had the money, but not the time.

Eric Brotman [00:10:24]:
And I had the time, but not the money. And so we came together, and we started a shop, and this was back in 1999, ‘2 thousand. And I learned how to do it. I learned how to start a company. And in 02/2003, BFG was born. It was Brotman Financial Group. It was born, and now we’ve grown to a a pretty good sized operation. I mean, we have clients in 37 states, managing close to $800,000,000 for multigenerational families.

Eric Brotman [00:10:50]:
We do corporate financial wellness programs and have a private wealth division for high net worth folks and a financial planning division for folks who aren’t high net worth yet but would like to get there. So, it it’s been a a whole lot of fun and I’m still reinventing myself regularly.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:11:06]:
No. Yeah. I hear that for sure, for sure. Couple questions. Go

Eric Brotman [00:11:12]:
for it.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:11:13]:
So, where can people find you online right now? So I say that not just to give you a cool plug, which is awesome, but the only advice that I can give, especially in the marketing department, because American Irae are not advisors. So we don’t have I don’t have the little, you know, acronyms at the end of my name like you do. But the only thing I do say and what we do say as a whole is you have to have an army. You have to have a professional in your corner. You and your firm would be one of those professionals in your corner. If a client is interested, how can they reach you?

Eric Brotman [00:11:48]:
The the company website is bfgfa.com, and that will take you straight to all of our various resources. It’ll allow you to book a call or a Zoom online. It it’ll be contact information, lots of information about us, and it’ll it’ll it’ll lead to our whole team and all the folks involved. So it’s very, very easy to schedule. And, you you know, I would I would second your your analysis that it takes an army, but I would also say that building a dream team matters. And even though there are things that people can do for themselves, I think there’s a benefit to having your financial, your legal, and your tax advice coordinated. And it doesn’t mean done by the same human. In fact, I don’t know anybody who’s good at all of that.

Eric Brotman [00:12:31]:
But having the right estate planning lawyer and the right CPA or tax preparer and the right financial adviser to me, is a good accountability team and a good, advocacy group.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:12:45]:
Fantastic. That’s just the kind of advice I feel like our clients really need to hear. Hammer that down for sure. So a little bit of the segment I’d like to call past, present, and future. So in the present, where’s the next speaking engagement or the next couple speaking engagements where where we can find you?

Eric Brotman [00:13:03]:
It’s interesting. I just, I just spoke with, with one of the national board members for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners today, and it looks like I’m gonna be speaking at that conference later this year. It’s in Indianapolis, I think, in October. I’m doing talks for a number of different groups, but the spot where you’ll find me next is actually at, at Future Proof. The Future Proof conference, which is a spot for c suite executives in the financial space, tax space, and so forth. In terms of things that we do for the public, I I host webinars on a regular basis. Again, on our website, you’ll find not only hundreds of episodes of our podcast and conversations with cool people, but also a diary of a financial advisor, more information about what that looks like, and webinars, everything from charitable giving and philanthropy to what to do in the event of a divorce. And there there’s a lot of different things.

Eric Brotman [00:13:59]:
Later today, I’m actually teaching a course with a group called Buried in Work, and I’m teaching spousal finance for what to do in a moment of transition. So we’re talking about divorce and remarriage and and widowhood and those kinds of things. So I’m I’m I’m pretty actively at the, at the dais, so you’ll you’ll find me. Check our website out, and you’ll find spots where you can get to know us.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:14:21]:
Fantastic. That’s really great. You’re very busy. Lots of places

Eric Brotman [00:14:26]:
to find out. I feel like I’m running a five ring circus with three tenths quite candidly. But it it’s but I’m having fun. You know, I’m at a point in my career where by my definition, I’m already retired. And I know that’s gonna sound a little strange, but I don’t think retirement’s the absence of work. I think that’s part of who we are and what we wanna do. I think retirement’s the absence of needing to work. And so at this moment, I’m doing things to try and make the the world a better place, to try and improve people’s lives.

Eric Brotman [00:14:54]:
I’m having a lot of fun. And if it’s not fun, I’m not doing it. You know? This is this is not, at this point, I’m trying to to make a difference to as many families and professionals and organizations as I can. And if, if I continue to have fun, I’m gonna do it until I’m not useful, which I hope is a long time from now. But if if it’s not fun, I’m I’m gonna find a beach somewhere and plant an umbrella and call it a day. But right now, I I don’t see myself going that way. Yeah.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:15:22]:
Yeah. I mean,

Eric Brotman [00:15:23]:
I I I just I think I’d be bored in about four days.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:15:28]:
Yeah. I hear you. So let’s look at the past. Give me one piece of advice that you would tell your younger self.

Eric Brotman [00:15:38]:
Boy, one piece of advice?

Jasmine Trocchia [00:15:41]:
Okay. Or

Eric Brotman [00:15:41]:
more. Piece of advice.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:15:42]:
But at least one.

Eric Brotman [00:15:43]:
Well, I I would I would start with don’t take yourself too seriously. And and I know that sounds a little bit, sort of off the cuff, but, I think we have a a tendency no matter what stage we are in life to make it feel like every day is is like a battle with cancer. It’s not. Whether you’re in eighth grade and that algebra exam feels like it’s the end of the world or you’re in college and you feel like this paper is make it or break it, or you’re early in your career in this appointment or this meeting or this interview. And the fact is every train you don’t catch, it it sets you up for the train you do catch. And so I just don’t think it makes sense to take things so seriously and to be so stressed. Life works out in amazing ways if you’re just present and authentic. So that’s what I would tell my younger self is is not to stress.

Eric Brotman [00:16:34]:
The things that caused us stress and cost us sleep, when you look back on them, seem silly now. And it’s hard when you’re in the moment, but that’s the advice I would give my younger self is roll with it. You know, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, move on, but, you you know, life is not gonna be linear, and it’s not gonna be spit bubbles and unicorns. There’s gonna be those days, and it’s gonna be okay.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:16:59]:
Spit bubbles and unicorns. I love that. I love that.

Eric Brotman [00:17:04]:
I’m a tell you

Jasmine Trocchia [00:17:04]:
guys that.

Eric Brotman [00:17:05]:
Else has ever said that on your cafe. So that’s

Jasmine Trocchia [00:17:07]:
No. Not no. Uh-uh. That’s a first for sure, but I love that. I I’m gonna coin that phrase. That’s great. Okay. So looking to the future, this could be governmental, political, economical, whatever you see in your industry.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:17:23]:
What are some trends that you see coming down the pipe maybe for the rest of 2025 or or further? What are some industry trends you see coming coming into play?

Eric Brotman [00:17:32]:
Well, there’s some major industry trends coming, and the the biggest is the confluence of a transfer in wealth in this country, a huge transfer in wealth between generations, and simultaneously a mass retirement of financial advisers. We there is a ridiculous shortage of good financial advisers in this country, and it’s getting worse, not better, because it’s not an easy career to get into. As I I think I illustrated early on, it’s it’s not easy. There’s no there’s no easy path. You know? If you wanna be a lawyer, it’s easy to get into law. Yeah. Not easy. There’s a path.

Eric Brotman [00:18:07]:
You go to law school and you get it and and you move that way. If you wanna do accounting, you get your accounting degree, you get your CPA. To be a financial adviser is not that simple. There’s a lot of different factors. So I think the fact that there’s gonna be a shortage of financial advisers, a greater need than ever to do it, and the the incredible amount of information and misinformation that’s out there makes it that much more important to have a reliable advocate and partner and and sort of copilot. So I I think this is the single greatest time ever to get into this business. And for young people exploring careers, I I cannot think of a better way to make a living where you get to do really well by doing a lot of good, and that’s, about as good as it gets. So from a industry standpoint, the future is insanely bright.

Eric Brotman [00:18:57]:
From an economic standpoint, I got my I got my worries. I got my worries globally. I got my worries in The US. But just like I said, when looking back at the past, whatever the noise du jour is, whatever the news du jour is, it will pass. So we’ve gotten through COVID, and we got through y two k, and we got through the great recession, and we got through nine eleven. And before that, we got through Black Monday and Kennedy and Vietnam and you name it. There’s a a hundred things that We didn’t start

Jasmine Trocchia [00:19:27]:
the fire.

Eric Brotman [00:19:28]:
Correct. A %. I am not I am not going to sing probably. I might. It’s I’m not ruling it out, but I probably won’t. But whatever comes, it it’s important to be nimble. It’s important to be prepared. It’s also important to be to be, as dispassionate as possible Because whatever the news is, whatever the noise is, it will pass.

Eric Brotman [00:19:53]:
There’ll be a whole another cycle, and we’ll all look back on it. You know, I can remember being in second grade, and my second grade teacher asked me or asked all of us how old we would be when 2,000 came. I was like, wow. That’s forever from now. You know? And Yeah. It wasn’t forever. In fact, it came and it went and y two k and the planes didn’t fall out of the sky and the grid didn’t collapse and everything was fine. But, you never sort of so economically, there’s there’s reasons to be a little bit concerned politically.

Eric Brotman [00:20:24]:
The world is a very it’s a scary place, but I’m not sure it’s any worse than it’s ever been. I think news is just traveling faster and there’s more there’s more false accounts of various things than ever before. And so navigating what is real and what is opinion, what is fact and what is opinion has become very blurred. Artificial intelligence is gonna make that even more difficult because now it’s even hard to tell if the person you see speaking is actually the person speaking. And so there’s there’s going to be a need for discernment and, authentication, and I think that’s gonna make the world a harder place in a lot of ways. It’s also gonna create a lot of opportunity. But, you know, none of this is keeping me up at night, Jasmine. I I just I sleep great.

Eric Brotman [00:21:07]:
But there’s gonna be change, and there’s gonna be things we need to deal with, and and we’ll get through them like everything else. I’m still waiting for that hovercraft situation. I wanna click my heels twice and just wake up in Albuquerque because I can without having to go through the whole process of getting there. You know?

Jasmine Trocchia [00:21:22]:
Or at least a little hover skateboards like they had in back to the future. You know? Something like those Yeah.

Eric Brotman [00:21:29]:
You know, I I know that there will be a generation at some point that doesn’t learn to drive a car, and they won’t believe that we used to have to control them ourselves. I mean, that that’s definitely coming. I don’t know if it’s two years off or thirty years off, but it it’s definitely coming. And, presumably, it’ll be better. It’ll be better for roads. It’ll be better for congestion. It’ll be better for accidents once they get it right. And that said, it will also allow for somebody to hack your car and drive you into a tree.

Eric Brotman [00:21:54]:
So, like, you know, there’s good and there’s bad with every new technology, with every change, and it’s about using it for the best possible purpose and and finding the opportunities and then keeping planted. You know? Most of the time, the best advice people will ever get from a financial adviser when it’s related to something market or economic is do nothing. It’s the hardest advice to render because everyone feels like if the advice is to do nothing, then my gosh. What what are you doing? What am I paying you for? Why is this but the fact is a lot of times staying the course, continuing to do what you’re doing that has a proven record of of working over many, many, many years, whatever it is, it’s the behavior that matters, not the news. And so sometimes doing nothing differently is exactly the the best advice. It’s the hardest to render and sometimes the hardest to hear, but a lot of times it’s right.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:22:47]:
Wow. That’s the best answer to that question. I think I’ve had the whole series. Congratulations. That’s

Eric Brotman [00:22:58]:
Mic drop. I’m done here.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:23:01]:
Yeah. That was fantastic. Thank you so much. Well, sure. So you said you’ve you’ve done a lot of content creation. This is maybe an aside, but this is just because I’m just morbidly curious. Who’s been your favorite or what has been your favorite content to create so far? You have webinars, you have podcast, you have books, you have speaking engagements, your genre of content creation, or maybe like a person or an organization you’ve worked with. What’s been what’s been your highlights?

Eric Brotman [00:23:29]:
Well, the the most fun I ever have is when I get in front of a room. When when I can do a talk that isn’t fully scripted, where it’s a facilitation, it’s a workshop, it’s a chance to to flesh things out and work with teams and work with people, That is so much fun for me because it it forces juices to flow. It forces conversation to happen. It allows for actionable outcomes and and things that people can walk away with. And so I’m doing a lot of facilitation now, facilitation of advisory boards, of team meetings and retreats, of, executive meetings for for financial firms. That’s super fun. I think I’m at my best in front of a room. I my daughter jokes that I’ve never seen a microphone I don’t like.

Eric Brotman [00:24:10]:
That’s also true. I have a lot of fun hamming it up. I I I’m bored of writing. You know, I I wrote I’ve written three books. I’ve done a lot of of writing. And for right now, I wanna take some time off of that because it’s such a slow, tedious, frankly, it’s a hard process, and I would much rather be unscripted than feel like every word has to be perfect. And I refuse to use AI when I write because it has to be authentically me. I just won’t do it.

Eric Brotman [00:24:37]:
I know some people will. I won’t. So, the best stuff is when I’m live and unscripted like this. I hope that you feel that way because I I there was no script here. I didn’t know what you’d ask me. I’m a little afraid of what might be coming next, but, I’m prepared for anything.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:24:53]:
If you think like I do, you just sort of verbalize your internal dialogue and just go with it. You’re like, okay. Already thought it. Let’s just go.

Eric Brotman [00:25:02]:
Some of Yeah. Some of my internal dialogue needs to stay right where it is. But but, generally, I guess, I like to I like to share I like to share because I do think your first reaction is usually the most authentic. It doesn’t mean is it right. It may not be the right answer. So I’m not suggesting that you make decisions that way. But I do think when you’re creating ideas and when you’re having dialogue, it’s better to be off the cuff and be, and be ready to share, but also ready to hear what other people share and spitball it. You know, some of the best ideas come out of left field because somebody was brave enough to say them.

Eric Brotman [00:25:35]:
You know, there there was a a story about imagine being the executives in the studio, in the movie studio when somebody said, I know, let’s do a movie about a tornado that throws sharks around. Sharknado. Somebody right. Somebody said that out loud. In a meeting and other people went, great idea. What? How is that a great idea? Somebody somewhere came up with that and said, here’s one, and they ran with it. And lo and behold, there’s, like, 27 sequels. I don’t know.

Eric Brotman [00:26:04]:
I don’t I haven’t watched any of them. It sounds dumb to me, but they made money and they entertained people. So Yeah. Sometimes the best ideas are not the ones that are obvious. They’re the ones that somebody had the the nerve to to say out loud, and that was that’s one example.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:26:21]:
Yeah. There it is. Sarcadio.

Eric Brotman [00:26:22]:
See that? That’s ridiculous.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:26:25]:
Yeah. We decided on the sort of graphics and feel of the Ira Cafe when we were in production meetings. They wanted it to be like a coffee house kind of vibe, but, like, at the same time, like, your best ideas are written on a little napkin with coffee stains on it. You know, you just have like, oh, I have this great idea. I have to write it down right now, and it’s the only thing you have to write it on. So that’s that’s pretty much the the the way we came up with the graphics for the Ira cafe too. So yeah. Absolutely.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:26:50]:
A % agree

Eric Brotman [00:26:51]:
with you. I love that. I I think it’s comfortable to have the idea that we’re just sitting here and and chatting, and that’s how we met. I mean, you and I met because we happened to be at a trade show. We happened to have booths next to each other, and that meant spending three or four days together. And Yeah. You know, that that meant getting to know each other pretty well and figuring out who was going to lunch next. And so, sometimes it’s just about showing up and having authentic conversations.

Eric Brotman [00:27:15]:
It’s fun.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:27:16]:
That’s true. I think that’s probably the the nuance of networking that you can’t teach. You know? You go to a networking event or you go to a trade show. You know? Of course, you can shake your hand, introduce yourself all day, but it’s that, like, little bit of I have to be vulnerable enough to, like, share who I am and what I do to get to know you. That that that is that networking piece. So, yeah, good advice.

Eric Brotman [00:27:41]:
And and we’ve all been at those events when some random person comes up, interrupts you, and throws their card in your face and goes, here’s my card. I’m thinking, so Okay. Well, I’m not gonna remember this interaction, at least not favorably. Why would you do that? Like, some somewhere, somehow, people need to learn how to do this. I actually worry that some of the Gen Xers and even millennials, but definitely the Gen Xers aren’t gonna know how to do this because for them, they’re

Jasmine Trocchia [00:28:07]:
Hey. I’m Gen X.

Eric Brotman [00:28:08]:
Laughing, but you well, no. I’m a Gen Xer, but it’s the z’s and the millennials I’m worried about. Did I say x? That’s because that’s on my mind. I’m a proud Gen

Jasmine Trocchia [00:28:17]:
Xer, and we know how to

Eric Brotman [00:28:18]:
do it. We were grossly unsupervised completely, and it shows. But the Gen Zs, which is what I meant to say, the Gen Zs are learning how to do this on Zoom and in chat groups. They don’t call each other. They don’t talk to each other. They text each other. They text in emojis. They have their own language.

Eric Brotman [00:28:37]:
And while that is, it’s a way to communicate, it also doesn’t really it it it doesn’t prepare you for that face to face conversation like an interview or like a client or customer interaction at some point in your life. And I think it’s really important to learn how to do that in person. And maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the future is all behind screens and I’m a dinosaur, and, gosh, I hope not because that would be a sad way to to live. I don’t mind it when that’s the only alternative, but, boy, I’d so much rather. Know, I spent this this weekend, one of our colleagues here had a a fiftieth birthday and threw a party, and it was nineties themed. And it was a fiftieth per it was so much fun. We wore nineties gear.

Eric Brotman [00:29:19]:
I had an MTV T shirt on. I looked ridiculous, but we had a blast. And it felt like walking through time. And I just wonder if twenty years from now, the current 20 year olds, when they’re 50, are gonna do that. I don’t know that they are.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:29:34]:
They’ll have a Zoom party as a restaurant.

Eric Brotman [00:29:37]:
Great. Super. Sign me up. That way I can wear sweatpants to the party. I come on.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:29:44]:
I mean, that puts it in perspective for sure, but I don’t think the days like, you and I met at FinCon. I don’t think the days of something like FinCon are are over for sure. If anything, I’m seeing in the marketing field, like, an uptick on people wanting personal interaction, people wanting to intend, you know, a live event or a live, you know, teaching or whatever. So, parting words, last few minutes, Eric. Anything you want our audience to know? Can be self directed IRAs, investing, business, personal. What are your your parting words of wisdom?

Eric Brotman [00:30:19]:
My parting words of wisdom are that if you do not have a plan, a true financial plan, a true path to financial independence, that it’s time to get one immediately and that you’re not too old to start and that it’s better today than it will be tomorrow or the day after to start. It means start with inventory. Be real honest with yourself, maybe with your significant other or spouse. Be transparent. Be vulnerable. Be yourself and work together to build the future that you want to envision. All of it’s possible. It really is.

Eric Brotman [00:30:51]:
All of it’s possible, but you have to spend time. People spend more time planning a week at Disney than a thirty year retirement, and it makes no sense.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:31:01]:
I never thought of that, but you are so right. Wow. That’s awesome. I’m just too much to unpack, Eric. I’m gonna have to listen to this episode again and be like, oh, yeah. He did say that.

Eric Brotman [00:31:14]:
Yeah. You’re very kind.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:31:15]:
Have you on. Maybe in a maybe later this summer, we’ll have you back as a guest because I I enjoy talking to you immensely, and I think you have a lot to say. So thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Eric Brotman [00:31:26]:
I will never turn you down. Thanks.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:31:30]:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Eric, and we’ll see you next time. Now it’s time for the next segment of today’s episode. We do the IRA q and a. And today’s question comes from Christine. Thanks for submitting your question.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:31:45]:
If you have a question you’d like for us to answer on the IRA Cafe podcast, you can submit that at marketing@americanira.com, and that comes directly to me. Today’s question is, what is the difference between a transfer and a rollover? That is a wonderful question. We actually get that question a lot in our client services department. If you would like to read this answer, it’s on our website at americanira.com. At the top, you’ll see the education tab. Under education, there’s FAQs. There’s actually a whole slew of frequently asked questions. And towards the bottom is the answer to this, what is the difference between a transfer and a rollover? In a transfer, you are simply moving the funds from one institution to another.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:32:31]:
You never take personal possession of those assets or those funds. There’s no tax reporting required. There are no taxable consequences. You’re moving it your money or your asset from one custodian straight to the other. You’re not taking possession of it first. There’s no limit to the number of transfers you’re allowed to do. A rollover is when you take a distribution. So that means you take the money or the asset onto yourself from your IRA account first, and then return it to another IRA or another IRA custodian within sixty days.

Jasmine Trocchia [00:33:04]:
This is actually called an indirect rollover, technically. So whenever you take possession of your money or your assets, so that custodian writes the check to me, I take possession of it, and I send it to the new custodian, hopefully American IRA, That’s called a rollover. You have to complete that process within sixty days. So you have more information on this on our website. If you wanna even search our blogs, we have extensive blog posts all about transfers, rollovers, indirect rollovers, direct rollovers, and more information on our website at american ira dot com. Thanks, Christine, for the question, and we’ll see you at the next episode of the IRA Cafe.

Voiceover [00:33:46]:
American IRA LLC, a North Carolina LLC, acts as a third party administrator for New Vision Trust Company, a state chartered South Dakota trust company. As a neutral self directed IRA administrator, American IRA does not recommend or endorse any investments, individuals, or entities, including financial representatives, promoters, or companies. American IRA and the IRA cafe are not responsible for other statements, representations, or agreements, nor do we evaluate the quality or profitability of any investment. American IRA does not endorse guests on the IRA cafe podcast. Guest opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of American IRA, its subsidiaries, associates, or custodian. Participation in the podcast is voluntary, and no compensation is provided. American IRA is not a fiduciary and cannot offer financial advice. Please consult your CPA or another professional before making financial decisions.