Ep 18: Kobe Bryant & Financial Planning
The X's & O's
We go down memory lane discussing our favorite Kobe Bryant moments and the financial planning lessons learned from the Kobe Bryant tragedy.
Listen to the podcast episode...
The Hosts:
Brent Pasqua, Matthew Theal and Joshua Winterswyk
Transcript:
Matthew Theal: For today’s show we’re going to do something a little different. Unfortunately we were hit with the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant who means a lot to the three of us Brent, myself, and Joshua. For one, we’re all super big Laker fans, is that fair to say boys?
Joshua Winterswyk: Absolutely.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah.
Matthew Theal: Yeah, I think it’s the only sports team that we agree upon that we’re all diehards of.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, I would think Brent was with the first one to bring that to light about how that was the only team we’ve kind of all have supported since we were young.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah. I mean, we’ve known each other for a long time and with football teams we all have different favorite football teams and baseball teams, but the Lakers are the team that we’re all together on.
Matthew Theal: And I think a Kobe Bryant’s definitely the three of our favorite athlete of all time, right?
Joshua Winterswyk: Oh absolutely. And then I think that was what’s really cool is that we all shared that. We all had the same look in our eye when we got to talk about him or see him play or watch him.
Matthew Theal: Today’s show will be a little different it won’t be as finance heavy as it usually is, and we’re going to talk a little bit about what Kobe Bryant meant to us and our favorite Kobe moments. But then we will wrap it up with the end on some really good financial planning lessons you can learn from the life of Kobe Bryant. Are you guys ready to get started?
Brent Pasqua: Yeah, I guess. Matthew, what was your favorite Kobe moment?
Matthew Theal: My favorite Kobe moment, there’s a lot and I’m sure a lot of mine will be the same as you guys’. But I remember watching that final game and Kobe was having such a bad season, I mean he was done he wasn’t even really playing anymore. The NBA had passed him up, he was a shell of his former self, his trademark shot, the mid range jumper, had kind of been proven statistically irrelevant, like it was either you dunk the ball or you shoot a three pointer. And watching him torch Utah for 60 points on 50 shots and I know that’s really inefficient, but man it was such a joy in his final game and is a real treat for all of us fans who’ve watched him since he was 18, 19 years old as a Laker. What about you Joshua?
Joshua Winterswyk: Before I answer that, just on that moment too, it was like a flashback in time watching that game. Like you got to see old young Kobe score 50 points even though we hadn’t seen him do that on the court in a while. But watching that last game is really, really, really special.
Brent Pasqua: He just demanded the ball like he used to.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah.
Brent Pasqua: Just took control of the game and he led.
Joshua Winterswyk: In my mind I kept linking that to like old memories of Kobe, like old games that he did that or he hadn’t made that jumper, he got to the rim that way. That was just a good moment, I know you said that we would have a lot of the same favorite moments, but obviously that one was really good.
Matthew Theal: Have either of you rewatched the game since his passing?
Brent Pasqua: I watched parts of it.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, I’ve watched that and the ’81.
Matthew Theal: It struck me though like I remembered it in my brain so different than it actually played out. Like I remember him just being on fire and just knocking down shots and three pointers and getting to the line. But man did he miss a lot of shots? It didn’t really quite go that way. Still a good memory.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, absolutely. I have kind of just two favorite moments I guess, one of my favorite moments was just watching him play live. I had to like pick a moment, it was anytime I got to go to Staples Center and watch Kobe play live in LA, I mean it’s where I grew up and where I am from and still live. And so just watching him play in our home city and I’m getting to watch greatness play live was my favorite. And then to just piggyback that, another one of just my favorite moments was when he won his first gold medal with the USA Olympic team. To watch him just be so motivated and so driven and really step up as a leader on that team, and win a gold medal for the United States was really special to me, and I really loved that moment of watching him. My favorite athlete go out there and win a gold medal for the United States, so that was one that stuck out to me, that was really special.
Matthew Theal: You know what’s crazy is I actually didn’t watch that game. What year was it?
Brent Pasqua: I think it was in ’08 it was in Beijing.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, I think you’re right ’08.
Matthew Theal: I don’t have any real memory of that game, and so I must have been working, in New York so it would have been if he’s in Beijing it would have been on pretty early in the morning.
Brent Pasqua: That was like two or three in the morning, I think on a Saturday early morning or Sunday early morning.
Matthew Theal: Oh was it?
Brent Pasqua: Yeah.
Matthew Theal: I have no recollection of that game at all. But I’ve heard some great stories from other people’s podcasts about that game.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah, you’ve got to go back and watch that game.
Joshua Winterswyk: They have a really good highlight video.
Matthew Theal: Okay.
Joshua Winterswyk: Just Kobe dominating that game.
Matthew Theal: I’ll have to look it up after the show.
Brent Pasqua: He willed that team to victory in that game, he took over that game.
Matthew Theal: What I heard from the Bill Simmons podcast is that everyone on the team, LeBron James, I think Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, he said they got the deer in the headlights look and that Kobe just pretty much said, I got this guys in took over.
Joshua Winterswyk: You can just see him in and even the highlights, and I remember that night just maybe not appreciating as much as I do now going back and looking on that game, but watching the highlights today just how focused he was, like how just all that mattered was winning that gold medal. And just to see how sharp he was too like his jumper, getting to the rim, all of the aspects of his game and seeing how sharp he was because he knew it meant so much to him, and that was real special to watch.
Brent Pasqua: He was a very driven guy.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, absolutely.
Matthew Theal: ’08, ’09, ’10 was the was the peak of his NBA ability I would definitely say.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, and he looked just as athletic as everybody on the court at that point even with LeBron James and some of the younger stars on that team.
Matthew Theal: Absolutely. Brent, what was your favorite moment?
Brent Pasqua: My favorite moment, I have moments obviously, I think it’s so hard to pick out one moment for Kobe. My favorite set of moments I was having him hit game winning big shots, there’s just so many of them there’s Sacramento, there’s Portland, there’s Utah. There’s game after game after game when there was three seconds left, and they were down by one, they were down by two, they’re down by three, he would come out and he would just hit that last big shot. Unbelievably you knew he was getting the ball, you knew he was going to make it, and most of the time he always made it. And if that ball for whatever reason, because a team double teamed him or triple teamed him and went to somebody else, they weren’t going to make that shot. That was the only person that can make that shot at the end of the game was Kobe, and he was as clutch as anybody. He was the best at finishing a game and it just says to his mentality.
Brent Pasqua: The other big thing to me was also that last game against Boston, game seven of the finals. He didn’t have it that night, his shot wasn’t going in and he didn’t just keep trying to force it, he just kept leading on his team and he kept moving the ball around. And Ron Artest came out big-
Matthew Theal: World Peace?
Brent Pasqua: Yep. That solidified that game that won that game at home because that game could have been lost very easily.
Joshua Winterswyk: 100% and I think he ended with like 25 rebounds. That was in Kobe’s game was to get rebounds, but I had to watch just the interview about that game and him saying that he just didn’t have it that night and he said he had to find another way to make his mark on that game.
Brent Pasqua: He did.
Joshua Winterswyk: And it was passing it was, I am going to go out and get 25 rebounds I guess 25 or 28 but just amazing game.
Brent Pasqua: The last thing that I have to say though of the Kobe moments, and I think it just is a testament to who he was, was when he tore his achilles.
Matthew Theal: That was crazy.
Brent Pasqua: His Achilles popped, he wasn’t going to go out of the game on an injury like somebody carrying him out. He went to the free throw line because he got fouled when his achilles went out, he made his two free throws of course and then walked off the court himself. Like nobody walks off when they tear their achilles, he walked off by himself. I mean the guy was so driven, so focused, so good at everything that he did, it stands for who and what he stood for.
Matthew Theal: He was tough.
Joshua Winterswyk: Very tough.
Matthew Theal: Anything else?
Brent Pasqua: I think we could talk for hours about Kobe moments.
Matthew Theal: Yeah and moments I know you asked me my favorite moment, I think we both had what, two or three? I mean the 81 point game was pretty cool, we were all pretty young when that happened but I actually I remember all of us talking about it. So I don’t know if we had the BBM chat going back in those days or-
Joshua Winterswyk: No Blackberry. Now we talk about Apple a lot it was Blackberry back in the day.
Brent Pasqua: That was a big Sunday night game too against Toronto.
Matthew Theal: Yeah, that was fun to watch. But I have any of you met Kobe?
Joshua Winterswyk: No.
Brent Pasqua: No.
Matthew Theal: So I recently, since his passing found out a way I could have met Kobe, and I’m really disappointed I didn’t know this before because I probably would have done it. But supposedly, have either of you been to the Newport Coast area where Kobe Bryant lived? You know the hill he lived up on?
Brent Pasqua: Yeah.
Matthew Theal: So if you start driving back towards the 73 freeway there’s a shopping center, there’s a pavilion and a Starbucks inside that shopping center.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah, I know where that up, drive by Pelican Hill.
Matthew Theal: Exactly. And rumor has it that at 6:00 AM after he was done working out every morning, this is retired Kobe, would go to the Starbucks there and pick up his coffee.
Joshua Winterswyk: So you were just going to go sit and wait until he walked in?
Matthew Theal: If I knew that, yeah, I would’ve gone to that Newport Coast Starbucks a few times just to meet him because I would have loved to meet the guy.
Joshua Winterswyk: The closest I ever got to him I did the half court shot at the Laker game. I got selected walking in the staple center, my parents had taken me for my birthday to a Laker game, I air balled the half court shot.
Brent Pasqua: You didn’t even hit the rim?
Joshua Winterswyk: No, I didn’t.
Brent Pasqua: So how do you even get selected for that?
Joshua Winterswyk: I was just walking in that stadium, so it was, probably about 45 minutes before the game started, we’re walking into Staples Center and one of the Laker workers in a polo comes up to me and she’s like, hey would you like to take the half court shot today? And I’m like, yeah.
Matthew Theal: How old were you?
Joshua Winterswyk: I was probably like 22, 23.
Matthew Theal: Are you sober when you did this?
Joshua Winterswyk: I had a few drinks before, I’m not going to lie.
Matthew Theal: Are you going to blame the air ball on the drinks?
Joshua Winterswyk: Oh, absolutely. If I’d have known that I wouldn’t have drank. But you had no idea, I didn’t know how they selected that or anything. So they just told me to where to go after half time so I got to go down onto the court for the whole third quarter, because you do the shot, it’s not actually half time it’s actually after the third quarter ends. And so me, I took my little brother and we watched the third quarter down on the floor, and then I got to take my shot and I air balled. And then-
Matthew Theal: Your little brother Jacob?
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, so he was with me, and to take a picture with me. But what an experience it was really cool, and then what’s the announcer’s name?
Matthew Theal: Bill Norm?
Brent Pasqua: It was Norm.
Matthew Theal: Norm, where did I get Bill from?
Joshua Winterswyk: He’s interviewing me coming off, he was like, “Do you have anything to say?” And I was just like, love you Kobe, go Lakers.
Matthew Theal: Did you get on TV.
Joshua Winterswyk: I don’t know if anyone actually caught me on TV, but really special experience.
Matthew Theal: That’s cool, could we talk about the air ball for just a couple seconds?
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, absolutely.
Matthew Theal: So when you say you air balled it, was it like on target but just a little short? Or was it way away from the rim?
Joshua Winterswyk: No, I was pretty on target.
Matthew Theal: Just a little short.
Joshua Winterswyk: Just a little shorter.
Matthew Theal: No pressure.
Joshua Winterswyk: It was even like, I mean I haven’t, I played basketball recreationally but never like a full size court, it was just like a larger than life when you’re there with the whole stadium looking at you. But it was just a really cool experience.
Brent Pasqua: It was Bill McDonald by the way not Norm, Norm is some comedian actor.
Matthew Theal: Thanks. So I at that point in your life you should have probably been able to hit it, because we were playing a lot of ball at 24 hour fitness.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, we were playing, it was just like it seemed so much further.
Matthew Theal: Than that because that’s a full sized court at 24 hour we used to play.
Joshua Winterswyk: It was. And the couple of cocktails beforehand probably didn’t help.
Matthew Theal: Yeah, I would say. All right let’s move on to our next Kobe discussion. And why are we talking about him today? What’s he mean to RPA Wealth Management this company that we all work for? Brent do you want to start?
Brent Pasqua: I think what Kobe has brought to not only just our business but businesses in general, and into the entire Los Angeles region, Southern California area is his mentality. When you look at Mamba mentality and what that actually means, there’s so much that that actually stands for, we could probably write and talk for hours about what Mamba mentality means to all of us. But what it also stood for is that you didn’t have to be the smartest person in the room, you didn’t have to be the best looking person in the room, you didn’t have to be the tallest person in the room. But if you work hard and you worked harder than the people next to you, then you can do anything in life. And if you just put your mind to something and give it your all, then you’ll be successful. And when I started out in this business I was 23 years old, there’s not a lot of people who want to trust a 23 year old with their life savings.
Matthew Theal: 23 year old who looks 16.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah, I looked young, I was fresh out of college or just finishing my last year of college. There’s not a lot of people that are like, hey you know what, let me put all my life savings with this person who’s just barely getting started. So there was a lot of long days, there was a lot of bad days, there was a lot of long years that led up to get to where we’re at today. But I had always had it in the back of my mind when I started and when I would have those bad days that Mamba mentality, like you persevere, like you’re driven. And I would think of Kobe back in those days, like you just keep your head down, you focus and if you keep your mind to it, you can get through those tough failures and those tough days. That mentality is some of the foundation that we have today.
Brent Pasqua: And I’ll tell you a little bit of another side story, his mentality meant so much, I think to so many people not only just here, but everywhere. That when he would hit those big shots, he would go jaw face, right? He’d put his jaw-
Matthew Theal: Yeah jaw face.
Brent Pasqua: You know, you could go jaw face anywhere. When my wife was giving birth to my son, the one thing I kept telling her, well it was like, so the nurses came in and they’re like, it’s time to push. And I told my wife, I’m like, all right, let’s go jaw face. So she’s like pushing, I’m like telling her jaw face, I told her that so much I didn’t even realize I just kept saying it over and over and over again that she told me, she was like, you got to stop, just stop. But that’s what it meant, it meant so much to all of us, like you go jaw face and that moment you go through it and you handle it and that’s what he brought to everybody.
Matthew Theal: Yeah, I remember that when I started working with you and you’d go into a big client meeting, I would always tell you to go Mamba mode. Or like you said jaw face and I always saw it as in a way like you were our offices, Kobe Bryant, you put the work in you and you would do whatever it takes to get the job done. I always saw myself as Phil Jackson.
Brent Pasqua: You would just sit there on the bench?
Matthew Theal: No, no, I was coaching.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah, okay, got you.
Joshua Winterswyk: And I think that that’s what was so cool about growing up in this area and loving the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, but you say jaw face you know what that means, you know what that entails, you know everything behind, what Mamba mentality or jaw face truly means. All of those aspects that he has and everything he brings, so just really, really, really cool story.
Brent Pasqua: When we would do seminars and when we first started doing them, we didn’t… You’re going up there as a young kid and talking in front of big groups of people and that’s one of the things that we would always discuss, kind of together, just go jaw face, Mamba mentality, put your mind to it, focus, work harder and you’ll get through it. And he was a motivating factor for so many people, and when he passed away, I feel like a part of all of us left that day. Because he meant more, it wasn’t just basketball, wasn’t just sports, it was a way of life, it’s that meaning of we got to work hard, and you work hard and anybody could do anything if they just put their mind to it, and do what you love and what you’re passionate about. And when he passed I feel like because he provided so much of that knowledge and had that so much that meaning towards all of us, that when he did pass a little bit of that left us, and that is hard.
Joshua Winterswyk: And I think to me he was almost like a real life superhero. I think I even Greg Popovich said that this week, but he was our sport superhero, he had everything we wanted to mock ourselves to. Everything that you said about drive and motivation and then to see him pass it was almost like there’s no way, he’s, my sports idol, he’s my sports superhero so how could this happen? But so many good lessons that you had just mentioned and talked about they are great.
Matthew Theal: And I think this is probably a great spot to pivot into the financial lessons that we could ll learn from Kobe Bryant while he was alive and then after he passed. Josh you want to start with yours?
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah. One that when we were talking about this question that stuck out to me was setting goals, we talk about goals in probably every podcast that we’ve done, I’m talking about goals in every financial planning meeting. And one thing that you can see, just in sports in general is there is a goal, we want to win, whether if it’s the game, whether if it’s the championship and having passion for that goal. And so the one lesson that I see is when you do set those short term and longterm goals, the same with financial planning, your focus is stronger, you’re more sharp, we can devote all of our energy to that common goal. And so he really did a good job of expressing that to the world, and that’s one big relation that I see through financial planning that I’ve taken from Kobe and all of the recent news.
Joshua Winterswyk: And then just that practice makes perfect along with reaching those goals, continue to practice your craft, continue to strategize and adjust your craft to making sure we’re reaching these goals and being the best person you can be. So those are just two things that I think that we can take directly from that basketball court or his life and implement it right into our financial plans.
Matthew Theal: Do you remember that summer he went away, well he didn’t go away I think he was in Newport Beach. But where he came back the next season and he had a post-game, like a little post game.
Joshua Winterswyk: Oh yeah, yes.
Matthew Theal: Like previously didn’t have one like a back to the basket move or anything, and then he came back and he was unstoppable back to the basket, so much so he would just start backing guys down and then he’d hit his fadeaway jumper. Who did he work with? I forgot, was it Olajuwon?
Joshua Winterswyk: It was one of the big centers, I can’t remember who it was, but yeah.
Matthew Theal: It’s like he went away with a goal, I’m going to get better acts. And by the time the next season started, he was one of the best low post players in the league it’s incredible.
Brent Pasqua: What are Matthew some of the financial planning lessons that you thought we could learn from Kobe?
Matthew Theal: I have a few, there’s the obvious ones, we do a whole meeting on protecting clients. So protection is life insurance, it could be disability insurance, it could be as silly as, making sure you have a homeowners insurance policy, a good one. Auto insurance going through all those insurance policies, because that’s what it’s for it’s protection, it’s protecting you in unthinkable event, the 1% event. And then making sure you have the proper estate planning documents, if you have young kids who’s going to take care of your kids if something were to happen to you? Who’s going to manage your money when something happens to you? In most couples, in most relationships we see there’s usually one person who’s in charge of all the money, well does your spouse know how to manage the money if something were to happen to you?
Joshua Winterswyk: And not even the money, but if you’re a small business owner right?
Matthew Theal: Oh yeah absolutely. Succession planning?
Joshua Winterswyk: I mean even Kobe with his AD NXT venture, I think body armor, he had a couple of other businesses, so I know that goes hand in hand with the estate planning, but great point.
Matthew Theal: And then also I think the one lesson that retirees, and millennials or people moving up the career ladder could take away from Kobe is, you got to be really willing to always reinvent yourself, whether if it’s your basketball game becoming a low cost player, or if it is creating a new business because you’re retiring, or following passion projects. His list, what he did in the, what, three years he was retired was almost more impressive than what he did on the court.
Joshua Winterswyk: Right I agree.
Matthew Theal: And if you’re a retiree you’re driving to work, you’re listening to us right now, you’re in your early sixties and you’re thinking you’re going to work until your seventies, you might actually not be in control of that. So you better have a plan for those five to six years if you do get laid off.
Joshua Winterswyk: And you don’t know when that time’s going to come.
Matthew Theal: No, you don’t. It’s a part of your life you’re not in control of.
Joshua Winterswyk: Or even when he tore his achilles, like Brent had mentioned earlier, that kind of expedited his retirement.
Matthew Theal: It did, he was never the same you can never elevate again.
Joshua Winterswyk: And he didn’t probably ever expect to tear his achilles.
Matthew Theal: Yeah.
Joshua Winterswyk: I know, I don’t think so.
Matthew Theal: So those are my lessons, reinvent yourself, don’t be afraid for more education, or to switch careers, or to try and make more money or make better money. He easily could’ve sat by and collected his $25 million a year from the Lakers and saved a little and not done anything the rest of his life, but he kept working because it was his passion and to better humanity for it. What about you Brent?
Brent Pasqua: The first thing that came to mind when I heard he had passed away and then started thinking about all that his wife now has to do. Knowing that Kobe was such a dominant personality and he was a person that seemed to be always in control of things, I just started to wonder how his wife would then start to take control over everything that he probably had been controlling and doing. It makes me think that these financial issues should be talked about with your adult kids, it should be talked about with your family and people who are going to control your stuff after you’re gone. Those conversations should be had so that somebody if untimely event that something does happen you do know what to do.
Brent Pasqua: The other thing is that if you do have an advisor and you are meeting with an advisor, that the advisor is meeting with both of you, the husband and the wife, and that’s not a directed conversation at one spouse or the other, that the advisor is working with both of you and you both know what’s going on. So in the event that something does happen, that both spouses know exactly what to do and how to take control. Also creating a list of important contacts, people to contact if something were to happen. Because not only is it just like your taxes, and your investment stuff, and in your bank stuff, and your loans, there’s insurance, there’s so many aspects of it. If someone’s taking now new control, someone’s taking over, there’s a lot to do. And so you’re going to have to need a starting point and to have a list of contacts is a good place to start.
Brent Pasqua: And then I think about his businesses, how does his wife now really start to take control of some of those businesses? So there’s a lot that hopefully she was prepared to do, hopefully there’s succession plan with those businesses, there was a disaster plan, we talk about ours all the time in here. Hopefully those plans were put into place and things can continue on as they were before, but it’s a tough transition.
Brent Pasqua: One of the lessons outside of that sad part of it all is if you really don’t do something you love right now, then my gosh, go out and do something you do, move on. Because if your job isn’t providing you the type of enjoyment that you should have and you’re there five days a week, sometimes more, go do something that you’re more passionate about. Because believe me there’s a lot of jobs that will pay you just as much or more, and when you do something you love, you’ll be the best at it you’ll make more money, it’s not a financial issue. Do something that you actually truly love because if you do, when you put your heart to things you’ll be the best at it, you really will. So I think Kobe instilled that to all of us.
Matthew Theal: Yeah, I that’s so well put and we see it happens all the time in this industry you see people who have a lot of envy, maybe their neighbor built a successful business, or they purchase a stock at the right time and made them a bunch of money. That didn’t just randomly happen, that came from that Kobe Bryant Mamba mentality, Mamba mode of putting in the work, there is no overnight success story.
Joshua Winterswyk: And giving yourself the ability to meet that max potential. I think like you saying that’s what I think of doing what you love and finding that passion, because if you do what you love it’s less hard to reach that max potential. There’s going to be less obstacles because you’re willing to run through them because you’re that passionate about it. So that’s one thing that I can definitely hold onto as well.
Matthew Theal: I mean personally, I don’t know about you guys but I haven’t worked a day in nine years. To some people this looks like work but to me this is what I’m passionate about.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah its what we love doing and we get excitement out of it, we enjoy it every day and we have a good environment to work in, and we enjoy being around each other most of the time, I was kidding when I said that, but we really do enjoy being around each other. But one of the things that’s sort of untimely that you brought up is, that also when I think about the other families who are involved is having, if you’re younger and you have a young family, you need guardianship for your kids. Something happens you need to make sure that you have it outlined, how the money’s going to be managed, and who’s going to take care of your kids because those are two very important aspects.
Brent Pasqua: If somebody like Kobe can pass away, and we know life is so fragile, but an iconic figure who you think takes all the proper precautions, and is super safe, he’s protected, he’s got a lot of money to protect himself. If that can happen to him, obviously it can happen to any of us at anytime.
Matthew Theal: And then the guy commutes in a helicopter, how much safer is that than driving a car?
Brent Pasqua: Oh, I know. I was thinking about that driving home last night, I was thinking the exact same thing.
Matthew Theal: It’s crazy. And then he had the 0.01% helicopter crash failure.
Joshua Winterswyk: It’s crazy that that happened because that was just his normal, he got in his helicopter every day.
Brent Pasqua: I was driving home after dark last night and the amount of cars that were flying down the freeway and speeding and how it’s just incredible, and I’m like, Kobe was safer flying in a helicopter maybe not through fog, but on a clear day it’s so much safer than these freeways.
Matthew Theal: Yep. Absolutely.
Joshua Winterswyk: And I think you had mentioned even the other victims on there, there was other moms and dads and children. And I think what it really puts light on though is all of those things we talked about with planning is, really planning, so start to plan. Don’t wait, don’t wait another day, don’t wait another minute because tomorrow isn’t promised. So let’s get planning today and get you in a better position, so that’s one less worry because we know this stuff unfortunately happens in the world.
Brent Pasqua: And one event that we’ve been planning for a while that we’ve wanted to do was a woman’s event, where we talk about some of the things that what you do in case something does happen to your husband or to the other spouse, and the person who’s not in primary control of the finances, what they would do in an untimely event. And this just goes and reinforces those topics that we’re going to talk about later in the year at the event.
Matthew Theal: Yeah, I’m really looking forward to that workshop we’re going to be hosting, it should be a good one. Anything else today, boys?
Brent Pasqua: No, I just think it’s a sad day that this obviously happened to all of these families, it’s just terrible. It just reinforces how special life is, how rare it is, and we only have a short time here. And if you are working a job and you’re near retirement and you want to get out, and you think you could possibly get out, do planning and get out if you can. If you can afford it do this right steps to take to get out, and live a happy beautiful life because it can be cut short at anytime. If you are in a job that’s miserable, think about the other things that you can do that can be so special that you’ll put passion to and move on.
Matthew Theal: That’s so well said and if you’re not sure that you can retire hire a professional, it’s a small fee to live that happiness for the rest of your life to get those extra two, three, four years of retirement.
Brent Pasqua: How many people have you in the recent months that weren’t thinking that they could retire, are now able to retire or have retired?
Matthew Theal: Almost everybody who sits down with me who wants to retire retires, and maybe they are finding a passion project to get some side income, but it’s possible.
Brent Pasqua: Absolutely,
Matthew Theal: Joshua.
Joshua Winterswyk: No, really well said and I think there’s just a lot to learn from the events and I’m just glad were able to express the way we felt about Kobe, the Lakers and how it relates to our lives, and just glad to have shared my stories.
Brent Pasqua: Yeah. I think we could talk for hours about what he meant to us and the lessons he taught us.
Joshua Winterswyk: Yeah, absolutely.
Matthew Theal: You guys know how Kobe would end this podcast?
Brent Pasqua: Yeah, I do.
Matthew Theal: What would he do?
Brent Pasqua: What do you want to lead it?
Matthew Theal: What?
Brent Pasqua: The way he walked off the court with his final game, with the microphone.
Matthew Theal: Take it.
Brent Pasqua: I’ll let you do it.
Matthew Theal: No, no. Take it away.
Brent Pasqua: Mamba out.
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