Welcome back to another episode of “Don’t Retire… Graduate!” I’m your host, Eric Brotman. In our “Diary of a Financial Advisor” segment, we introduce you to financial advisors and explore their professional journeys and their dedication to helping clients achieve financial success.
Today, I’m delighted to have Dan Halla, a valuable member of our BFG team, join me. Dan is our go-to specialist in long-term care insurance, bringing both his professional expertise and personal passion to the table. We’ll dive into what inspired Dan’s career path, his philosophy on the importance of risk management, and what’s on the horizon for the field of long-term care insurance.
In this episode, I sat down with Dan Halla to discuss long-term care, a topic that many shy away from but one that Dan passionately champions due to personal experiences with his grandmother. We explored his journey to BFG, which started at a luncheon where his potential was spotted immediately. Dan shared how his dedication to long-term care was ignited by witnessing his grandmother’s needs as she aged, steering him towards a career where he could make a significant difference in others’ lives.
Dan brings a human touch to financial advising, focusing less on numbers and more on the personal stories of our clients. We dove into how the long-term care insurance market has evolved, with fewer companies offering traditional policies. Dan explained how hybrid policies cater to clients’ desires for a more tangible benefit, such as a death benefit or cash value.
A theme throughout our conversation was trust—trust clients must have in us as advisors, even as we recommend planning for eventualities they would rather not contemplate. Dan’s commitment to building personal relationships ensures our clients feel supported, especially when making claims in times of hardship.
5 Key Takeaways:
- Personal Motivation: Dan’s passion for long-term care insurance was inspired by personal experiences with his grandmother, underscoring the importance of real-world experiences in shaping career paths.
- Changing Insurance Landscape: The traditional long-term care insurance market is shrinking, with more carriers offering hybrid policies that provide clients with more immediate, tangible benefits.
- Building Trust: Dan emphasizes the significance of developing close, trusted relationships with clients, assuring them of support when they need it most.
- Professional Philosophy: Rather than solely focusing on investment figures, Dan focuses on understanding clients’ personal stories to guide them toward better financial decisions.
- Future Aspirations: Dan’s goals revolve around being a trusted professional and an excellent future parent, with the guidance and confidence instilled by his wife and teammates.
Thank you for tuning into this insightful episode with Dan Halla. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and share with friends and family. As always, if you have ideas or topics for future episodes, reach out to us on Facebook. Remember, don’t retire, graduate!
Eric Brotman [00:00:01]:
This is Eric Brotman, the host of Don’t Retire, Graduate, a podcast that asks you what you wanna be when you grow up so you can graduate into retirement with a purpose and a passion. Welcome to our diary of a financial advisor segment where we interview financial advisors about their professional journeys and their passion for helping others succeed. Today, I’m pleased to be joined by BFG’s own Dan Halla. Dan has been with the firm how many years now? Eight?
Dan Halla [00:00:26]:
Six years.
Eric Brotman [00:00:27]:
Six. Feels like twenty. It does. Six years. And he is a specialist in long term care. He knows the insurance business and risk management better than anyone, here. And, Dan, why don’t you first introduce yourself and and share a little bit about how you wound up at BFG and how you wound up doing this for a living?
Dan Halla [00:00:43]:
Great. So good morning. My name is Dan. As Eric alluded, I am, part of the BFG financial advising team. I work with all of our team’s clients. Don’t have any specific of my own, but I do get to work with all of the families, which I really enjoy. I specialize in long term care here for our clients. It’s near and dear to me.
Dan Halla [00:01:06]:
Personal family stories as well has helped me kinda hone in on this. And I started at BFG six years ago, a recent graduate from Stevenson University at the time, and I met Eric at a scholarship luncheon, where I had a speaking role, and the rest is
Eric Brotman [00:01:26]:
history. Yeah. Having been involved with Stevenson now for many, many years, we’ve hired a couple of the student speakers at those events, because I figure if the school has picked you to represent, then then there’s something special about you already. And when you said what you wanted to to explore doing for a living, it sort of sort of paved the way. Now most people who think about long term care are not your age. Let’s let’s call it what it is. You know, some people don’t think about it at all, but when they do, it’s because they’re starting to worry about it for themselves or it’s because they’ve seen their parents there. And so your personal story involves a generation prior to that.
Eric Brotman [00:02:02]:
Yes?
Dan Halla [00:02:03]:
Yes.
Eric Brotman [00:02:03]:
Would you share your story with our audience?
Dan Halla [00:02:06]:
Sure. So the story of mine is is related to my grandmother, on my dad’s side. Local to Maryland, she had lived by herself for a number of years, pretty much my whole life. Life. And seeing her go through the progression or digression of of the stages of life, it it worked out that as I was learning more about the financial planning industry and about long term care, she needed those types of services. So, that pushed me to learn a lot more about this field, and it really helped myself and my family go through a very tragic time.
Eric Brotman [00:02:47]:
So naturally, you go through something personal and it it becomes a a calling or a passion for you. And you’ve shared that story not only publicly like this, but also with clients and and other members of the firm. Long term care is something people don’t wanna think about. None of us wanna see ourselves in a position where we can’t take care of ourselves. Especially especially us guys. Let’s call it what it is. We think we’re supermen. No.
Eric Brotman [00:03:12]:
That’s not gonna happen to us. And, you know, as as we get to a certain age, and I I think it’s around, what, 45 you start having these conversations plus or minus? Plus or minus. Yes. So my wife and I did, put some long term care in place in when I was in my mid to late forties. It’s no fun. It’s a check I despise writing every year. I I’m not gonna lie. It’s no fun.
Eric Brotman [00:03:37]:
I the things you wanna spend money on are things that are enjoyable or things that bring something to your life, or things that, that you expect to grow. Like, you know, investing is more fun than buying insurance. Absolutely. It is what it is. So in some ways in some ways, being the risk manager for our firm and being involved with, particularly this aspect, whether it’s disability or long term care, you’re talking to people and and encouraging them to do something they don’t wanna do. That’s the hardest job there is in financial world that I can come up with. So you didn’t choose an easy assignment. How did you decide that this, I know you mentioned your personal story, but it’s more than just that because it’s more than just long term care.
Eric Brotman [00:04:23]:
How did you decide that you were gonna take insurance and make it your own and that you were gonna own that space?
Dan Halla [00:04:28]:
That’s a great question. It would be more of the personal relationship to our clients. I never really had a focus or desire to be the investment guy, to say here are the alphas or here are the betas or or here’s what it’s gonna grow to if you look at these projections. I like getting personal with our clients, understanding their families, why they’re making the decisions that they’re making, and how to maybe help them make a better decision for not only themselves, maybe it’s their kids, maybe it’s their parents, or maybe it’s their friends that they’re relying on for advice.
Eric Brotman [00:05:05]:
So the the industry’s changed a lot even in the short time you’ve been here. And and, you know, having been at this more than thirty years, it’s changed a whole lot for me. And one of the things that’s changed is a lot of insurance companies has sort of had their their teeth knocked down their throat on long term care and decided they’re not doing it anymore. So there are fewer and fewer players in that space and the available policies and contracts have changed a lot over the years. Can you talk a little bit about how not only how that’s changed in your time here, but what you see read the tea leaves for us. What’s coming down the pike, Dan?
Dan Halla [00:05:41]:
If I could predict the future, I would, probably be doing something different. I might be investing a little bit more or you know, making other decisions. But, you’re correct. You know, there were when long term care started, there were a number of of companies, and it was traditional long term care. It was like auto insurance. You use it or you lose it. Then there was the pricing aspect of it where, really, how much do you charge for these types of policies? And and that’s what traditional long term care was. It’s a type of insurance policy, and even sometimes they were available through employer benefits.
Dan Halla [00:06:17]:
You don’t see that much nowadays. A lot of the transition has happened to from from, traditional policies where it was a use it or lose it to hybrid, which offered some sort of reimbursement, whether it was in the form of a death benefit or a cash value since it’s based on a different product, which is a a permanent life insurance policy. And that that spoke to the the changing desires of clients and and the general public. They no longer wanted to pay for something that they could never get back. So the transition has definitely happened to the hybrid policies.
Eric Brotman [00:06:59]:
You see that continuing?
Dan Halla [00:07:00]:
I do.
Eric Brotman [00:07:00]:
There’s nothing worse than than the conversation of paying for something you don’t see yourself ever using, don’t see yourself ever needing, never wanna use. Like, you you know, and and it’s like the auto insurance. I tell people you’re not buying this hoping to have a crash. You can try it out. You’re buying it in case something goes wrong, but it’s not fun.
Dan Halla [00:07:20]:
You never have to use it.
Eric Brotman [00:07:21]:
And yet it may you never use it. Right? But but there’s more to there’s more to the the risk management piece than just the the long term care space. You’ve had a chance to work with lots of folks, and I believe you’ve paid some some meaningful claims. You’ve paid claims on life insurance. You’ve paid claims on disability, on long term care, on other things. Some people say when they’re in the insurance business that when they actually deliver claims, it’s, it’s a bittersweet thing because on the one hand, it usually stems from something tragic or unfortunate. But on the other hand, you’re sort of the the white horse that comes in with the with help where it’s needed. You’re the cavalry.
Eric Brotman [00:08:00]:
Has that been your experience so far?
Dan Halla [00:08:02]:
For the most part, yes. You know, you can do in my position, you can do as much as you possibly can. You can build the relationship with the clients. You can assure them that you’re always here for them, which which is true and that’s something I pride myself on. We have six, seven hundred households that we deal with and and I’m I’m here for all of them. Something that you might not get as personal of a relationship with outside of our firm. I know there are others, but, typically, in the industry, it’s here’s your policy, and we’ll see you in a couple years. But when it comes time for a claim, you not only are are assisting the client in the the time of most need, but you’re also dealing with insurance companies, which is is impossible.
Dan Halla [00:08:45]:
No insurance company wants to pay a claim and you have to be there to fight for the client in order to get the funds to them to get the closure that they need.
Eric Brotman [00:08:53]:
I think people have a general distrust of lots of things in the financial world. There’s a distrust of Wall Street. There’s a distrust of insurance companies. There’s a distrust of banks. It it is it is a an issue, and I don’t I assume that that’s come from all the horror stories that have come where an institution has done the wrong thing by somebody and and people talk about it. You know, it’s kinda like being afraid of the airlines because a plane crashes every so often. You know, you never hear about the plane that landed safely. You only hear about the one that went wrong.
Eric Brotman [00:09:26]:
And so when there’s a when there’s a disputed claim or some really just awful case where you hear the the worst, that an insurance company has just either behaved in a way you wouldn’t expect or there was some clause on page 78 of a contract and and and there was, you know, litigation or all the horrible things you hear about sometimes. Those are the stories you hear. It’s so rare that you get an opportunity to hear how this kept a family in their home or or or, allowed grandma to age with with dignity or allowed, you know, allowed one of the spouses not to become a single working parent because of a of a death claim or something like that. So, what do you love the most about about what you’re doing? What is in in a perfect day, what is a what is the highlight where you go home and you tell your bride, man, something good happened today? What does that look like?
Dan Halla [00:10:18]:
I would say it’s receiving emails or phone calls from clients, whether it’s myself or other teammates, team members that, you know, any client we work with or that I have conversation with has the utmost confidence and trust in what I do and what our team does. That that gives me the the warm feeling inside.
Eric Brotman [00:10:39]:
So, I I would normally put you on the spot here and ask if you’ve already done your own long term care planning. But based on your age, I suspect that’s probably not time for that. You’ve got other fish to fry first. But I am gonna ask you the the question that I ask everybody who comes on Don’t Retire, Graduate or on Diary of a Financial Advisor. Dan, we we all wanna know, what do you wanna be when you grow up? Up?
Dan Halla [00:11:03]:
I would love to be you, Eric. No. It’s it’s,
Eric Brotman [00:11:07]:
that That was that was, that was a cheap shot, but, alright. I appreciate that. What would you really like to be when you grow up?
Dan Halla [00:11:14]:
I I think I’m still trying to figure that out. I’m I’m in the earlier years of my career. I know that, you know, my wife and I, we’re we’re starting this journey where we’re we’re building our lives together, and, ultimately, I I I wanna be the the best dad that I can be when that time comes. Mhmm. And I wanna be the best professional in in whatever field, whether that remains insurance or whether that transitions to more financial advising. I really wanna own whatever path I end up going down. So it’s the determination and it’s the confidence that is instilled in me from my teammates here, but also my wife.
Eric Brotman [00:11:56]:
Well, you know, I’m not a a betting man because I’m in the financial world and we shouldn’t gamble, but, my money’s on you, Dan. That’s good stuff. Thank you for joining us on the show. Thank you for being forthright and sharing your story, and thanks for all you do every day to make this, not only a great place to work, but a place where clients can have some confidence in what’s going on. That’s a pleasure. Well done. I’d like to thank all of you for listening and watching today. If you enjoy our show, please subscribe, Leave a rating on your favorite podcast platform and share it with your friends and family so they can join you on your journey to financial freedom.
Eric Brotman [00:12:29]:
If you’d like to send us a topic or idea we may discuss in a future episode of Don’t Retire Graduate, please post it on our Facebook page or tweet us at BrotmanPlanning. We’ll be back next week with another engaging guest and in two weeks with another entry in our diary of a financial advisor. For now, this is your host, Eric Brotman, reminding you, don’t retire, graduate.
Unnamed Voiceover [00:12:53]:
Securities offered through Kestra investment services LLC, Kestra IS, member FINRA SIPC, investment advisory services offered through Kestra advisory services LLC. Kestra AS, an affiliate of Kestra IS. Kestra IS or Kestra AS are not affiliated with Brotman Financial or any other entity discussed.
