Friday June 6, 2025 - Career Crossroads

Yep, that's today. Quick update on my current situation. I have been laid off from my Sales Director job (last day is June 15). This is definitely disappointing for me personally as I really enjoyed working there and the people there (some of which were the last to know my wife while she was still alive). They are going through some financial difficulties and I don't fault them for the decision. I was expensive and they needed to cut costs. They also laid off my daughter from here engineering position. So yeah, not a great month. I am going to focus on our business but I also need an option for health insurance so I do need to get a job of some sort if only for the medical insurance.

What am I going to do going forward? Well, two things:

- Work diligently on growing KoinTyme to businesses (focusing on Hawaii)
- Become a financial planner to help individuals (focusing on Hawaii and Nevada)

I am working with Shayna on a lot of different things to drive new revenue to our consulting business. As it stands today it does not generate enough revenue for both of us to survive without additional income. You will be seeing a lot of my plans and efforts toward this endeavor daily. I am hopeful that we can get this business to replace our incomes within 6 months and will be doing everything possible to do so.

On the financial planner front I will be spending June and July studying for the following exams and licenses:
- Life/Health
- SIE
- Series 7
- Series 66
I want to have all of these completed by August 1st. That's a lot of studying and test taking.

I have offers from Prudential, NY Life, and Northwestern Mutual. It is a tough decision for me. They all have pros and cons. Here's how I'm evaluating everything so far:

- Prudential - 100% virtual - comprehensive financial planning from the beginning (series 7 and 66 licensed up front) - good compensation plan and benefits - can focus on AUM versus life insurance - do not have to start as a life sales rep - a little bit of support in the beginning financially (bonus for passing in 15 weeks or less, sliding additional commission bonuses starting relatively high and shrinking over 3 1/2 years. Comprehensive payment grid covering all services (including non-Prudential) and payouts for AUM on top of normal commissions. No office in Honolulu (focus is on virtual meetings). Option to have an office paid for when you hit targets - 15+ sources of leads stated

- Northwestern Mutual - hybrid program with a strong emphasis on in-office events, training, activity, etc. - excellent compensation plan and benefits - strong initial support for first 12 months based on activity/results and first three years based on results - I'll be a life sales rep in the beginning - strong emphasis on insurance - no real opportunity to focus on investments and AUM until later in career after successfully selling life insurance - tons of support, events, training, etc. - very strict activity and results requirements (40 daily calls, minimum lives written, etc.) - very strict and standard plan to follow for success - search results show top earners at $300k+ but I've been told it's much higher - very entrepreneurial mindset - lots of events and promotional opportunities - huge focus on friends/family warm network

- NY Life - hybrid program - really like the Managing Partner (she's very pretty, and seems super helpful and supportive) - compensation and benefits are good but one notch lower than Northwestern Mutual in all aspects, very similar to Northwestern Mutual but generally lower in all areas and nothing tied to activity, only results - I'll be a life sales rep in the beginning (just like NW Mutual) - entire emphasis on insurance in the beginning - there are options for management and moving into investments/planning over time - virtual training and less expectation for in-office requirements but the option is always there - do fun stuff for morale - lots of structured training and opportunity for promotion and everything is results-based (similar to NW Mutual) - search results show top earners in excess of $1M annually and a very high representation at MDRT - huge emphasis on friends/family but discussions on lead generation afterwards

I know that I will be struggling initially no matter which route I take. My hope is that I can get a decent income built up over a 6 month timeframe and then take that to the next level over the next several years. I want to make the right decision as I don't want to go through this process again. Do any of you have thoughts or insights as to which route is the best for me? Let me know 😄

That's all for today. I start my training tomorrow and I'll be documenting this journey over the next 90 days frequently.