This week we talked with Lori Woodward. She is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ACTs Retirement Life Communities. She provided insight into the different offerings within the communities. She encourages people to think about retirement, not as an ending but as a new beginning or transition. Retiring and planning for your future later in life is a gift to your children. Wow, what a great way to think about things. This is a great informational podcast, you don't want to miss it.
Guest Co-host: Cecily Laidmain: CLaidman@springpointsl.org
Cecily's website: https://springpointsl.org/springpoint-choice/
Podcast Guest: Lori Woodward: LWOODWARD@actslife.org
Lori's website: https://www.actsretirement.org/
Transcription:
Kris Parsons00:01
Welcome to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life and how you can figure out how to do it too. Join us with your lively host Ray Loewe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.
Ray Loewe00:16
Good. Good morning, everybody. And Taylor, thank you for going a little long on that intro. Okay. It's always nice to have music when you start out. And I am one of the luckiest people in the world. And we've got two more of the luckiest people in the world with us today, we're going to talk to them and find out why they're lucky. And remember, our definition of the luckiest people in the world is they're people who design their own lives and then live them under their own terms. So they tend to be happy people, they tend to be excited. They're not without problems, they deal with many of them, they have to pivot a lot. And therefore they are quite good at dealing with rules. You know, one of the things in life that we have is we're saddled with too many rules. We're given rules by our parents, then the schools come in, the church comes in their business comes in. And the next thing we know we got all these rules, saddling us down. And rules usually tell us things that we must do, or we shouldn't do. And we find that the luckiest people in the world get around those rules pretty well, they find a way to make them work for us. And I'm going to start today with introducing Cecily Laidman. I met Cecily, probably 10-12 years ago, Cecily has been taking care of my long-term health, up to today, even. And she's done a great job, I haven't needed her. Okay, and it's been wonderful. So, so Cecily is at a place called springpoint choice. And she runs a care program for seniors, where she will take people and put them in your house to take care of you if you get sick. And if you need help. And she does a wonderful job. And she is going to be our co-host this month, and we are going to spend some time with other people who do similar things. They're all different. There's different strokes for different folks. And Cecily Say hi.
Cecily Laidman02:25
Well, hi, Ray, thanks for introducing me, I I'm definitely feeling like one of the luckiest people in the world. And, and one of those reasons is that about 21 years ago or so, I was in this great early morning workout program that would you know, we'd get up at six o'clock in the morning rain, snow, shine, and be outdoors and doing boot camp things and all that sort of stuff. And at that time, I was kind of doing some freelance marketing and sales, and public relations. And one of the people that I met at the workout was that made me a lucky person is who we're going to be talking to today, which is Lori Woodward. And Lori Woodward at that time was in the senior living industry. And I had no idea what that was all about. And she asked if I had, you know, help out doing, you know, go to some of the communities and see how the sales were doing and this and that, and then it kind of evolved. And I went to one of the communities and worked as a marketing director. And that was because of Lori Woodward, who is now the vice president of marketing and sales at all of the Acts communities, which is one of the premier organizations on the East Coast that has a number of different continuing care retirement communities. But Laurie can do a little more about that. So welcome, Laurie.
Lori Woodward03:57
Well, good morning. Thank you for the great introduction. Great to be here. So, you know, do you want me to get started? Or?
Ray Loewe04:09
Well, well, let's, let's direct you a little bit more. Okay. So first of all, you are one of the luckiest people in the world. I know that because you got a smile on your face. You're here you're doing exciting things. You're making a difference to people in life, and you've had a path to get here. Yeah. Okay. So, tell us a little bit about your journey. I know you went to Millersville.
Lori Woodward04:33
Okay. My journey starts long before that Okay, it does. Okay. I thought a lot about this because you because of the title of your podcast. And I thought about why am I lucky? You know, I thought about well, I've had some real serious health scares. I feel lucky. Now that's really medicine, that's science that that helped me with that. Why do I personally feel lucky? To start out with I feel very lucky to have I've been born in this country because I think it's the greatest country in the world. And regardless of any issues we have, I could have been born in Sub Saharan Africa where millions of people die from starvation I didn't, I was lucky enough to be born in the US. And I think that is luck. But growing up, I do really feel that your formative years form who you are. And I've been so lucky to have great mentors in my life that I really attribute almost everything in my life to that, you know. So to keep it short and simple. My mom was a great mentor, she taught me how to prioritize happiness. My aunt Carol was a huge mentor in my life, she taught me how to value independence. And my brothers were great mentors to me because they taught me how to punch like a boy. So growing up, I really feel that's what formed, gave me courage and gave me focus and made me feel like I didn't worry too much about whatever I was doing in my life, I just kind of, you know, took the bull by the horns and did it. So. And then throughout my career, I had great mentors in the positions I was in. So you know, that comes later. But really, that's why I feel I'm the luckiest person in the in the world is those main factors.
Ray Loewe06:31
So I love this punch, like a boy thing. Okay. And I love the prioritize happiness. And I love the independence piece because that's what we are all about. Okay. So you started doing a lot of work in a lot of senior marketing organizations, give us a sense of where you came from because I think that certainly tells us where you're going.
Lori Woodward06:54
Sure, sure. So I did go to Millersville. local state school, Pennsylvania, I'm born and raised in Pennsylvania and love, you know, always just love where I am. So I never had a reason to leave. But from there, I got into really corporate communications, and I met my first career mentor, who I really just got connected with through a friendship. And, and she said to me, you know, what I need, I need someone who knows how to write and edit. And, and she hired me like, just knowing my, my qualities, you know, my enthusiasm, my intelligence, and I had no background at all in senior living, marketing, sales, or communications. But she handed me this job, or she said, you're going to have three continuing care retirement communities or life plan communities, I want you to do all the marketing strategy. And I want you to deploy all the strategy as well. So you have to learn advertising, you have to learn graphic design. So I did soup to nuts for three ccrcs That was my first job. I wrote all the newsletters, I took the pictures, I interviewed the residents, I got them printed, I got the mail, I learned a lot from that position, and loved it. And then from there, I just stayed. I just found this you know, a mission of helping seniors find happiness in that, you know, whatever you want to call it, the that that later stage of life, which I don't like to call retirement, I don't like it to call planning, call it planning. I like it to call it it's just another way you're finding happiness in that particular part of your life. Because that's what it's all about, right? That's what we're selling. We're selling stay happy. So I
Ray Loewe08:54
So is that what you guys do you sell independence, happiness, and you teach us how to punch like a boy.
Lori Woodward09:00
Yes, that's exactly it. I love that. That's my new motto. Anyway, I just I stayed and I've worked with a lot of different companies. In the not-for-profit arena, I worked for a for-profit assisted living company, I worked for a couple of consultants where I really got to know Senior Living options all over the country. And, and then I landed at Acts, where I've been for almost 10 years and, and will probably be here until I go on to my next transition not to be called retirement. So So that's, that's my story. And today, I'm working here at this company and I'm at a very strategic level, but I still get to, you know, impact the lives of, of the people who live here, and so it's a Yeah,
Ray Loewe10:02
yeah, that's really cool. And we want to spend some time on the Acts community itself. But before we get there and Cecily get in on this conversation over here, because you're involved with this in a different way, when do people how do people make these decisions to get where you guys are? I mean, there has to be some time and like, where all of a sudden a light bulb goes off, and it says, gee I, I've got to make plans for where I'm going, when, when does that occur? And, and then kind of give us some idea of what some of the tracks are on how people get there. So uh Cecily lead us and Lori
Cecily Laidman10:46
Yeah, I was gonna say that, you know, the when is is a big is a good question. Because some people can just, you know, sit on their duff and not do anything until something major happens in their life. And that's not the right way to do it. When I first got into this industry, I had no idea what this industry was. I mean, I, you know, I didn't have anybody that had gone into a retirement community or anything. So I think that a lot of it has to do with education about what your options are. And you know, when you make that if you, if you're knowledgeable of what the options are, then you'll be able to make a decision rather than just, you know, sitting at home and waiting for something to happen. And I think that, you know, even when I was working in a community, after people had moved in, I would say to the person, and to the couple, they all said, I wish I had done this sooner. So I mean, it's it's definitely your question is excellent Ray because of the timing, you know, when do you make that decision? I think people keep saying, you know, a lot of people say, Well, you know, I'm not at all I don't have to go there, I'm you know, I'm still young, I'm still Well, yeah, you can be young and go into a community. So there, you know, I would you agree with that, Lori?
Lori Woodward12:06
I do in part, I feel that for our for, for a person who is moving, physically moving somewhere. They look, you know, everyone feels like they're a younger age than they actually are. Like, I still think I'm 32. And then I'd say, Well, my son is 32. How can that be, but um, everyone, I feel like, looks at you know, their later years as something to dread, something that's going to be scary, something that's going to be painful. And what Cecily and I do in our business is try to convince them No, it doesn't have to be like, if you choose one of these options, you can actually take the course the other way doesn't have to be this downward shift, it can be like a, you know, an inverted bell curve, you can rise up again. So, you know, when you move, physically move to a, what we all call senior living community, I feel that people think it's going to be like your grandmother's nursing home, you know, and that is why most people say, why didn't I do this years ago? And it's why a lot of people say I'm not ready yet. And we and we say, Ready for what? So, you know, the, the fact that our, you know, care, some form of care is usually included in the decision, whether it be 55 plus that has visiting nurses that they tell you what you can have when you get older, or Cecily's product that's kind of an insurance model that involves protection for future care, or our model that's move into a campus and the care is right there on campus. There's the care aspect. So that immediately makes people think that's why I'm moving there. So that I have a plan for future care. And when they finally move in, they go oh, that's, that's not what this is all about at all, you know, so it's really that psychological barrier of care is included.
Ray Loewe14:31
Let me throw out a couple of scenarios here. I come out of the financial planning business, I've seen what my clients did. Okay, so one of the first things that I find is a client say gee I'm going to retire I'm going to do something and they decide to move with their grandkids are until their grandkids move after they bought their house and they've spent all this money on things. So I have one in particular that that bought a house in Florida to be near their kids and their grandchildren, of course, the kids change jobs are in Rhode Island now, okay. And as not that it's a bad kind of thing, but it's not an ultimate solution. I've known other people who moved to Arizona, and they go into like an over 55 community, it's not care, right? It's, it's about lifestyle. So when do you put all this together, because there's one major thing that I think I want you both to comment on. And that is, when Can't you get into Axes communities anymore, or Cecily when Can't you get into springpoint anymore, because there's that to think about.
Lori Woodward15:43
So, so I'll start like, you know, moving into an Acts campus, a lot of our prospects say, it's the gift I'm giving to fill in the blank, to my children, to my grandchildren, to my neighbors, because I am making decisions for myself today. So no one has to make the decisions for me later. And financially, I move in, my children never have to worry, again. And I think Cecily's product offers the same thing. So I describe our campus setting, as you have to think of it as that feeling you got when you went to college or university, you're with like-minded individuals, you're hanging out with them, you're learning, you're growing, you're staying active, you're feeling better and better every day, because you're socially connected. And if you and you know, and you're, you're improving your yourself, you're learning and growing. So not that you're moving in to prepare for the future. It's really, I mean, there is that aspect of it, but that's how I like to describe, to describe it. But it's, it's hard to convey that to the people who are looking in terms of the when, that's why we say it's better to move in when you're, you know, ready to have fun and ready to, to grow and learn in a convenient way. But also know that you have a plan in place, so no one will ever have to worry about you again, and you've been the decision-maker. So when is that it's not really an age, it's really when you feel you, you want to have that kind of lifestyle. But you also want to guarantee that, you know, you have a plan, when it's too late for Acts is when you already, it's I mean, I guess you could argue at a lot of our campuses is it's never too late because we do take outside, private, to our assisted living and skilled care. But generally, to move into the independent living, it's too late if you already need a high level of care, in turn to experience all the advantages of what we have. And it's also too late if you don't financially qualify. So if you've, you know, disposed of all your assets already, and you don't have funds to, you know, to pay for the to live there.
Cecily Laidman18:36
Our, you know, our program is a little different in that, you know, when you say the when, and when is the time, because we have a pretty strict medical underwriting to get into our program. So you have to be healthy and well. So that is a decision that has to be made sooner than later. Now, given that, I mean, we have people in their 50s that join our program. But in addition, we've had people in their 80s join the program that are still independent, healthy, active, etc. So you have to, you know, with our program, there are a little more caveats in order to be able to qualify,
Ray Loewe19:12
you know, you guys brought up a couple of really interesting things I like this idea of it's the gift it's the gift you give your kids. And I think that people don't think about that as much as they should. But it's really, really true. I have met people who have spent a good part of their life taking care of parents. And although it's a labor of love, although, you know, in a sense, they feel like they're doing something good. They get to the point where they actually start to resent their parents after a while because they're so burdened by taking care of people and they're not qualified to do that. You guys bring in that qualification you, you bring in this stuff and it's the gift of things and i think uh, people need to remember, you can't just pick this place when it's too late. Right? So let's talk about this medical underwriting a little bit. And I don't want to get too in detail but one of the big things, I think today is this whole concept of dementia Alzheimer's, you know when you're at that point where you don't have your memory anymore, and this affects two people often. So you know, you got a couple and one's healthy, and the other one is not and, and now you're restricted from doing what you want to do, which is the gift to your children, etc, etc.
Cecily Laidman20:42
Well, they're just a little tag on that gift to your children. quick story. In my program, I was there was a couple that signed up down in Delaware, and the woman after she signed the contracts and gave us a check started crying, and I'm like, oh my god, was this buyer's remorse, you know, and I was all worried about it. And she said, No, she said, I wish this had been around when my mother was around because I ended up taking care of her. And it changed our relationship. We were no longer a mother and daughter, and I wish if somebody else and I could have kept that relationship, so, it's, you know, very significant. And the same thing happens in a community. I was in one of the communities I used to work in the About a month ago, and I saw this woman who is now in a wheelchair, she was talking to a younger woman who was obviously her daughter, and she goes, she goes Tesla, Oh, it's so good to see that. And she looks at her daughter, this is the one that saved me. And you because I came here. I remember, you know, we she came in on a Thanksgiving day to do a tour and I didn't want to do it. You guys wanted me to do what she said Cecily was the best decision I ever made. So, you know, that was the gift that she gave her kids and she was you know, exemplifying that. And
Ray Loewe21:57
You know, as usual, time flies when you're having fun. We have some time left. But let's take a little time and give Lori a chance to talk a little bit about her specific community. And the things that you do for people. What's different about them? What's the same about them? It's your commercial plug, go for it.
Lori Woodward22:17
Okay. All right. So Axe, the official company name is Acts retirement life communities been around for almost 50 years. Next year is our 50 year anniversary. And we have what are called continuing care retirement communities, sometimes called life plan communities. 26 of them from Pennsylvania down to Florida, all on the eastern seaboard. And we're founded in Pennsylvania right outside Philadelphia. So we have eight of them. Eight of them are right around here where our corporate office is here in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Anyway, our continuing care retirement communities. I explain them a couple different ways. One is you the best way to benefit from the this type of living is to move in when you're still independent, and most people move in we are 55 Plus, with one caveat that I'll get to in a minute. So most people move in when they're in their 70s late 70s. Move into independent living, mostly apartments, but on some campuses, we do have freestanding houses, villas, townhomes, etc. But there's a central clubhouse with a whole wide variety of life-enrichingactivities, everything from fitness centers, aquatic centers, pickleball courts, libraries, performing arts centers, that's all centrally located, kind of similar to what a lot of 55 plus communities offer that central clubhouse. But then if, if as a resident you ever need care of any type, whether it be rehabilitative care, a nurse practitioner oversight, or long-term assisted living or skilled nursing care, it's right on the same campus. So it's one-stop shopping, it's one decision move in. And it's one resident contract that gives the resident protections and explains what Axe provides to the resident. So people move on when they're independent, and typically live there, the rest of their lives and get all the care they need. But in the meantime, they have this university-like experience where they're, they're enjoying like-minded neighbors and participating in all kinds of programs that are available right on the campus. So it's very social enriching, and I like to say, life improvement experience that you get. Because if the fitness center is right there down the hall, you're going to go use it every day. If you're that way, if you're, you want to, you know, and you're going to get encouragement from your peers, which is different than staying in your house and, and having more alone time as you get older, honestly, the other thing that's a benefit is, when you move into a campus-like that your time with your family when they visit is time with your family. Yeah, you don't, you're not asking your son to mow your lawn and then having five minutes before he leaves to catch up with him. So that's another advantage in terms of financially. Axe offers primarily what we call life care contract type A Life Care. That's what it's called in the industry. And what that means is, when a resident moves in, they pay an entrance fee that's based on whatever apartment or house they move into. And they begin paying a monthly fee. And the monthly fee covers everything from restaurants, fitness center use, housekeeping, indoor and outdoor maintenance, and rent. So it's a very comprehensive monthly fee. And what life care means is, as a person may need permanent health care, later, their monthly fee stays the same wherever they live. So you're basically prepaying for potential future health care, in order to get a very stable healthcare rate at a future time. That's in today's dollars, not tomorrow's dollars. So that's a real financial advantage. And it offers a real good financial plan. It also, it also includes tax advantages, because the entrance fee and the monthly fee, because it includes a partial prepayment for future healthcare can be a tax deduction if the prospect is able to itemize in health care, or medical. So that's kind of my five-minute commercial about the two primary aspects of what we offer, it acts
Ray Loewe27:26
It's a great five-minute commercial. And thank you for that. And we're going, to sum up, a little bit and we're going to give everybody a chance to get their last-minute cover comments in. But I think what I got out of this is there comes a time in your life when you start to think about this. And there's a lot to think about, you know, are you going to? Are you going to go follow your kids and your grandchildren? And what's going to happen when they move? You know, but at some point in time, you have to choose where you're going to be because that's the gift to your kids. Right? Yeah, all right. Whether it's staying in your home, whether it's going to an Acts community, whether it's going somewhere else, it's part of the process? And when do people need to start thinking about this? Because we have the medical underwriting and the financial underwriting piece to think about? So if you're gonna advise somebody, you know, here I am, I'm 60 years old, let's say, and I'm thinking about retiring. You know, when do I need to start thinking about when do I need to start making provisions. So let's start with Lori on this.
Lori Woodward28:35
People should decide whether they removed want to move into a continuing care retirement community when they want social connection, and a vibrant environment that helps them age better, or at a point in time when they're starting to feel they want to know, there's a plan, you know, a lot of people start having little health issues, or they're at home alone, a spouse has died, that sort of thing. Move-in, move in, then, or think about moving in then is my advice.
Ray Loewe29:13
Well, thanks so much, Lori Woodward, and thanks to Cecily, and thanks for giving our listeners some clues as to what they need to think about. And we're going to be back next week with Cecily as our co-host and another guest. Okay, and Lori, you definitely are one of the luckiest people in the world and continue to be that way. And thank you. Taylor, we're at our end, thank you for Sign us off.
Kris Parsons29:39
Thank you for listening to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best life and how you can figure out how to do that too. Join us with your lively host of Ray Loewe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.