Episode 32: Planning for the Unknown: Health, Longevity, and Flexibility

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Episode Takeaways

You can plan carefully for your career, family, finances, and future, but what happens if your health changes without warning? Preparing for uncertainty can mean creating room to adapt rather than trying to predict every outcome.

In this episode, Danton Troyer and Kyle Luetters speak with Karen Englert, M.Ed, CFRE, Director of Government Relations at Boys & Girls Clubs of America, about how an unexpected heart disease diagnosis changed her career, family life, financial decisions, and view of the future. Karen shares lessons from seven heart surgeries, advocacy work, raising a family, planning for longevity, asking for help, and learning to focus on the decisions she can still control.

Karen discusses:

  • How an unexpected heart disease diagnosis changed the way she thought about work, family, money, and the future
  • Why health questions can make retirement planning difficult when you don’t know how long you’ll work or what life may require
  • How advocacy for women with heart disease eventually led her from teaching into public policy and nonprofit leadership
  • How accepting circumstances, asking for help, and focusing on controllable decisions can create greater flexibility
  • How family, legacy, aging in place, and self-advocacy became central to the way she approaches long-term planning
  • And more!

Connect With Danton Troyer:

Connect with Kyle Luetters:

Connect With Karen Englert:

About Our Guest:

Karen Englert, M.Ed, CFRE, is the Director of Government Relations, GR Club Services, Midwest Region, at Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Her career has spanned education, nonprofit leadership, government relations, and advocacy, including previous work with the American Heart Association and as CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Charles County. Drawing on both her professional experience and her personal experience living with heart disease, Karen brings a deeply personal perspective to conversations about health, family, career decisions, self-advocacy, and preparing for an uncertain future.

Transcript

[00:00:00] -: Welcome to Wit, Wisdom, and What Matters Most with Danton Troyer and Kyle Luetters from Moneta Wealth Management. In this podcast, we help corporate executives and business leaders navigate the real-life uncertainty around new financial life stages, from complex benefits and career changes to retirement and legacy planning.

[00:00:21] -: Join us as we explore these career and life-shaping moments with our guests, helping listeners find clarity so they can focus on what matters most to them

[00:00:33] Kyle Luetters: And welcome to another edition of Wit, Wisdom, and What Matters Most. It’s a podcast from the Gast Freeman Troyer team at Moneta. My name is Kyle Luetters, advisor on the team, joined by Danton Troyer, one of the partners. And Danton, I know we always say this, but I even really think it’s more apropos today, joined by a very special guest.

[00:00:53] Kyle Luetters: Do you wanna go ahead and introduce her?

[00:00:54] Danton Troyer: Yeah, we have Karen from the Boys & Girls Club, and I won’t steal all the thunder. I’ll let you do a little introduction [00:01:00] ’cause you’ll do a way better job than I do. But Karen and I met… I was trying to think about that before I got on here, and I couldn’t pin down how long it’s been, but well over 10 years ago…

[00:01:08] Danton Troyer: through the Rotary Club, and then we’ve just stayed in touch over the years as well. And I’ll let you go through your career and how it’s progressed, but you’ve done very well. But it’s a little bit unique, and from our perspective on the guests we’ve had, you are on the nonprofit side, so that’s a different perspective.

[00:01:22] Danton Troyer: But we’ll get into that, obviously. So if you could just, yeah, just let us know a little bit about your background and how you got where you are.

[00:01:28] Karen Englert: Absolutely. It’s so fun to be on. Thank you so much for having me. As Danton said, I am with Boys & Girls Clubs. I actually work for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. So I support 13 states in the Midwest region with their public funding, so thinking about government grants, government advocacy, really leveraging public funding to be able to support the work they’re doing at their clubs all day long, and then also trying to figure out, how do we leverage the public side to increase the private revenue as well?

[00:01:58] Karen Englert: So it’s a lot [00:02:00] of creative problem-solving, and I really enjoy it. It’s very fun.

[00:02:05] Danton Troyer: And how did you get there? ‘Cause you’ve been with Boys and… How long have you been with Boys & Girls Club? I should’ve looked that up, but I know it’s been a little while.

[00:02:11] Karen Englert: Yeah. So I started at a Boys & Girls Clubs in St. Charles County, and I spent six years there.

[00:02:17] Karen Englert: I was the CEO of that organization, so that was an incredible experience, such a wild learning curve. I took over during COVID.

Danton Troyer: Oh, boy.

Karen Englert: So yeah, I officially signed all my paperwork to take over on March 11th, and then we closed on March 13th.

Danton Troyer: Great timing.

Karen Englert: So yeah, that face, Kyle, that is accurate. So-

Kyle Luetters: I’m good with faces.

[00:02:40] Karen Englert: Usually mine is what gets me in trouble, so go for it. Not my jam.

[00:02:43] Kyle Luetters: So you’re saying that you would be great to play poker with, is what you’re saying. Um- That face just isn’t gonna hide anything …

[00:02:48] Karen Englert: It would be great for you guys- … not for me. Yes, yes. But yeah, I got the opportunity to serve as a local leader, and just, I love the work.

[00:02:58] Karen Englert: I’m so proud of the [00:03:00] work that happens in the 5,000-plus sites of Boys & Girls Clubs across the whole country, and in other countries on military bases. And so when this-

Danton Troyer: I didn’t know about that.

Karen Englert: Yeah, we’re on every single US military base, there’s a Boys & Girls Club. Interesting. Yeah. So when the opportunity came to look at, how do I take what I’ve done and elevate it and really support Clubs in a more strategic way beyond just my backyard, I jumped at the chance.

[00:03:26] Karen Englert: And so I’ve been with Boys & Girls Clubs of America for about a year and a half now.

[00:03:30] Danton Troyer: Wow. I want to give you an opportunity just ’cause I think, at least in my mind, like I’ve never experienced a ton with Boys & Girls Club. We’ve talked over the years, but I think a lot of people just have in their head with Boys & Girls Clubs, but I don’t know that as many people truly know all the stuff that you guys do.

[00:03:46] Danton Troyer: So I’m sure we don’t have enough time to cover everything that you guys do. What’s a high-level view of the services that are provided through Boys & Girls Club?

[00:03:53] Karen Englert: Absolutely. I love talking about this. So in my mind, Clubs are a space where children become their very [00:04:00] best selves. It’s not a place where kids go after school, it really is a place where kids just have an opportunity to explore and create and envision a better future.

[00:04:09] Karen Englert: We primarily serve children ages five to 18. This can happen in after-school programming, summer programming, and any out of school time. We, as part of what we offer to children is that daily support, meals every single day that are included. There’s never a fee for children to eat with us. And a membership at a Boys & Girls Club typically is about $50 a year.

[00:04:36] Kyle Luetters: Wow.

[00:04:37] Karen Englert: Whole year. Which-

[00:04:39] Danton Troyer: Not too bad.

[00:04:40] Karen Englert: No. So again, back in the day when I was not with Clubs, I… My husband and I both worked. We had to send our kids somewhere after school, and there were moments where I was like, “I am paying… I am going to work only to pay for aftercare right now.”

[00:04:52] Danton Troyer: Oh, 100%.

[00:04:53] Karen Englert: Like, insurance and aftercare.

[00:04:55] Karen Englert: That’s it. So Clubs solved that problem. The thing I think gets [00:05:00] overlooked a lot with Clubs is that not only are we supporting kind of the next generation of future leaders, we’re also supporting this generation of workers. Because you guys probably know, I knew that if my kids didn’t have somewhere to go after school, I couldn’t go to work.

[00:05:14] Karen Englert: And so we are helping employers every single day maintain their workforce by providing the services that we do for young people

[00:05:23] Danton Troyer: Wow. And when you hear that, it’s getting worse and worse and becoming a bigger problem just in our country-

Karen Englert: Yes

Danton Troyer:… is supporting your working parents and trying to find childcare. My sister just had twins, and like she had a two-year-old, and so now it’s like, what are you gonna do

[00:05:35] Danton Troyer: for health- or not for healthcare, for childcare? It’s, it’s through the roof.

[00:05:40] Danton Troyer: Our topic for today was Planning for the Unknown, health, longevity, and flexibility. So that’s always one of the things. You’ve had a good career obviously, but there’s always the unknown around health and how long can I work, and some careers are cut short, or not, or you work even longer than maybe you wanted to.

[00:05:57] Danton Troyer: Just from your experiences through your career, [00:06:00] just your personal journey, why is health maybe for people the hardest variable to really, maybe not even control, but even just predict?

[00:06:10] Karen Englert: So I love this question, but in part, Danson, so you and I know each other so you know some of my backstory. Sure.

[00:06:17] Karen Englert: Many years ago, I’m gonna leave that really vague, but I was in my 20s, early 20s.

Danton Troyer: Like last year.

[00:06:22] Karen Englert: Yeah, of course. So I was diagnosed with multiple forms of heart disease. And so I had one day where I was completely healthy and raising a two-year-old and working full time, and then all of a sudden I had heart disease. And so when you talk about things just changing on a dime, I lived it.

[00:06:41] Karen Englert: I lived it completely. So over the last many years, again, leaving it vague, I have had heart surgery seven times, including open heart surgery twice. And so I always joke, like, “You’ll never see me in anything low cut ’cause this is like a minefield,” but that’s okay- … ’cause I’m alive. Again, [00:07:00] just that dramatic shift between one day you’re this and the next day you’re this.

[00:07:04] Karen Englert: And in my case there was not really any heads up. Some of my particular issues are not genetic issues. There were sudden onset issues. And the, many times the, the individuals in my family had the plumbing problems in the heart, thinking about heart attacks and clots and all of that. I don’t. I have electrical issues.

[00:07:22] Karen Englert: My wiring is all messed up. And so again, there was no kind of genetic disposition to that. So I am 100% reliant on a pacemaker. I’m on my third one. My heart really doesn’t know how to beat correctly without it. And so it’s just also incredible to me that we live in a day and age where I can sit here and say, “Hey, I have this device.

[00:07:44] Karen Englert: It tells my heart when to beat,” and I’m completely reliant on it. But it has just been a complete game changer for me, right? I’m still working. We’ve raised four kids. My life has been incredibly beautiful, but it was also really challenging at [00:08:00] times.

[00:08:02] Kyle Luetters: That is some severely fascinating stories to hear from, like, just the entire work.

[00:08:09] Kyle Luetters: ‘Cause looking, you say many years ago, but objectively speaking, you don’t look like you would be in the necessary need for those things. Here you are, and, and all this stuff, and four kids, my goodness. Just, I think I, my chest got tight thinking about that. How… Can you describe, like, once this became a thing, like, how did your mindset shift?

[00:08:30] Kyle Luetters: How did the way that you approached career and family, how did that change once you came to the realization that this was going to be something that you had to grapple with going forward?

[00:08:43] Karen Englert: I wish I could say it was like a one-time change, but really it was a grieving process. I went through different iterations of it.

[00:08:51] Karen Englert: Originally, my plan was to go to school to get my PhD. I have my undergrad and a graduate degree, and that was just always my plan, is I [00:09:00] was gonna go on to do that. And then that got tossed out the window. When we were, my husband and I were building a new home several years ago, we were just trying to do the layout of it, and in my mind, I was worried that was the home I was going to die in.

[00:09:14] Karen Englert: And so I needed to think about, like, how do I make this home as accessible as possible if first responders need to come, if these things happen? So it’s just things you would not even think about that you have to factor in. I also, I don’t know if the red hair is a giveaway, but I am, like, a pretty fiery person.

[00:09:34] Karen Englert: I do not like being told what to do, and suddenly there is this thing that tells you what you have to do. And you have no control, well, you have very little control over it. And so to me, thinking about health is one of the hardest variables, because there’s only so much you can control, period, and then you’re just at the will of these other forces.

[00:09:58] Karen Englert: And the impact, [00:10:00] like I said, it’s not just life or death. It’s not just health or wellness. It’s financial impact. Just thinking about what does it do to me as a person who has always been wildly independent and very productive to consider that maybe I won’t be able to work forever or as long as I anticipated working?

[00:10:17] Karen Englert: Maybe my future is going to look really different. And I had a will at age 26. Most people don’t do that.

[00:10:24]Kyle Luetters: We can tell you firsthand that they don’t.

[00:10:26] Karen Englert: Yes, yes.

[00:10:28] Danton Troyer: Even beyond that, they are still a struggle.

[00:10:29] Karen Englert: Yes. I would encourage that. If you do not have a will, get a will- ’cause you just never know.

[00:10:35] Karen Englert: And you can update it. I’ve done that.

[00:10:41] Danton Troyer: So how have you seen… So just a few years ago this started, obviously it wasn’t that long ago ’cause we haven’t been around that long, but how did that change your outlook? You’ve had a career, but we’ve all made changes in our career, but how did that affect your career path, if at all? I mean, how have you seen that change?

[00:10:58] Danton Troyer: ‘Cause you said you wanted to get the [00:11:00] PhD, so I’m assuming you had something different in mind, but how did that go?

[00:11:05] Karen Englert: Yeah. Another very fun question. So when all of this started, I was a teacher. I spent nine years in the classroom. I taught special education. I loved it, loved it, loved it until I was so burnt out, I was like, “Ooh, it’s maybe time to do something different,” and that can happen.

[00:11:20] Karen Englert: But the PhD process was part of all of that. But along the way, one of the things that was really important to me was, again, finding ways that I could control what was happening to me. And in my mind, I could do that by being the voice for women with heart disease, and in particular, women who are often underrepresented in medical studies related to heart disease.

[00:11:41] Karen Englert: Until…it was in like 1974 when women began to outpace men in terms of heart disease and heart-related deaths. It’s because women went to work finally,

[00:11:51] Karen Englert: And so but women are just not adequately represented in research studies, and so I became an advocate of, a [00:12:00] very engaged advocate and volunteer for the American Heart Association, and that was really, really important to me.

[00:12:05] Karen Englert: And I began to spend a lot of time talking to lawmakers about National Institutes for Health funding and policies that would protect individuals experiencing different illnesses, and I got pretty good at it. And so then the Heart Association asked me, they’re like, “You’re doing this for free, and we sure love it, but do you wanna come work for us?”

[00:12:24] Karen Englert: And so I became a director of government relations for the American Heart Association, where I got to really have a voice in making sure that there was an active 911 system in the state of Missouri. That was not the case for a very long time. It took 26 years of legislation for there to be a statewide 911 process in the state of Missouri.

Danton Troyer: Wow.

[00:12:47] Karen Englert: And, yes, whole lot of things that would surprise you. I had

[00:12:51] Danton Troyer: I had no idea. No idea.

[00:12:52] Karen Englert: Yes. Yeah. There was just huge holes there. And I took what I felt like was this life-changing moment for me, and [00:13:00] I funneled it into a passion and a career, and I think there’s pros and cons to that. I loved the work. I was successful at the work, but emotionally it was also tough because I was too close.

[00:13:12] Karen Englert: And I realized that after a few years, that, like, when a law doesn’t get passed or when policy doesn’t change, that you know would save people’s lives, including your own, it’s really hard not to take it personal, and so I needed to look for kind of another mechanism. I still support the Heart Association.

[00:13:31] Karen Englert: I am still so impressed with the work that they do. But I didn’t need to be that close to the process anymore for my own mental health.

[00:13:41] Kyle Luetters: You’re an awful lot with, I think, your personality type, there was a very kind of a set plan, there were some goals, there were some things like this or that. This kind of rocked it a little bit.

[00:13:51] Kyle Luetters: What have you learned about yourself as it pertains to flexibility? ‘Cause like I know sometimes, like with a [00:14:00] personality and a mindset that I have, that I’m not gonna say it’s depression, but almost borderline on being extremely upset if things don’t go in a proper sequential order. You had something

[00:14:10] Kyle Luetters: very large come into your life, well, almost like a tidal wave. How has that changed your outlook on flexibility and how you approach day by day what you’re trying to achieve now?

[00:14:24] Karen Englert: Again, I think sometimes it depends on the day. I’m at a very stable point in my health right now. I got my last device two and a half years ago.

[00:14:33] Karen Englert: Medicationally, I’m very sound. I’m doing really well. That wasn’t always the case, right? Seven surgeries later, this is where I am. And so I think it would depend a lot kind of on the season that I was in at that moment, how I responded to things. I also, and again, I’m Danton knows I’m a pretty just straightforward person.

[00:14:53] Karen Englert: I made the decision almost eight years ago to stop drinking and to really focus on my sobriety. [00:15:00] And it has just been such an incredible decision for me personally, my health, my mental health, everything. But part of going through a really active recovery process for me was just learning some key life lessons.

[00:15:14] Karen Englert: And one of the biggest ones is that acceptance doesn’t mean approval. And so I have to remember that a whole lot of times, right? That just because this is the reality, I cannot change it. It is the reality. I don’t have to be excited about it, but I have to work with the facts in front of me, right?

[00:15:33] Karen Englert: This is the data set that has to inform my decisions whether I like it or not. And so that helps me a lot, just to remind myself of that. And then in terms of just overall flexibility, I’ve actually gotten a lot more flexible, like significantly more flexible. I don’t know if part of that is that I’ve raised four children and-

Kyle Luetters: That’s probably a good chunk.

[00:15:56] Karen Englert: Yeah. That has a lot to do with it. Some lessons in [00:16:00] flexibility during COVID, for sure.

Kyle Luetters: True.

Karen Englert: And there’s just, life happens in the gray. It 100% happens in the gray. There, I think, are very few things that are consistently always black and always white. And so the more that we can embrace that gray, I just see a lot more peace of mind with that.

[00:16:20] Karen Englert: And that helps me a lot.

[00:16:25] Danton Troyer: How, as you were talking about that, you talk about you kinda discovered you had the heart issues when your first kid was only two, if I remember right. And so then you had three more kids. How did that play into all the, as far as the timeframe goes around everything, how did that… And we already talked about your husband being able to support you through all of this.

[00:16:43] Danton Troyer: That would be somewhat scary too, I would think. But how, I’m sure, I’m assuming you guys have had a conversation, how has that affected him as well, just from a career standpoint, raising a family, those types of things?

[00:16:55] Karen Englert: Yeah. So my husband and I have a blended marriage. We each had a starter [00:17:00] marriage.

[00:17:00] Karen Englert: We figured out what we should not do. And then we married each other and it’s been beautiful. And so my daughter is the youngest of out of all of them. She was only two when this happened, and then the other three are my stepchildren with my husband. And-

Danton Troyer: Got it …

[00:17:20] Karen Englert: but yeah, I’ve written goodbye letters to my kids four different times now.

I have written goodbye letters to my husband, to my parents. I have a will. Things that most people just don’t have to do. And it’s so goofy. I’m getting upset and I don’t know why. But, like, I still have the letters. Clearly, they were written when the kids were, like, five and seven and nine.

[00:17:39] Karen Englert: I didn’t need them, thank goodness. But it was just a way for me to try to pass on a message, share something with them. And so, you know, in terms-

[00:17:50] Kyle Luetters: For them too to have something from you. Not to cut you off. But for them to have something from you that they could still go back to even though

[00:17:58] Kyle Luetters: Didn’t mean to cut you off, but just- [00:18:00]

Karen Englert: No. It’s okay

Kyle Luetters: … so they have something too.

[00:18:01] Danton Troyer: That’s exactly what I was thinking was, yeah. I think there’s definitely value in them being able to read that if you choose down the road too. And I can’t imagine. I’m halfway emotional just thinking about my kids, if I had to write that letter.

[00:18:09] Danton Troyer: I don’t know that I could. I guess you, when you have to, you have to. But it’s better than not, but oof.

[00:18:15] Karen Englert: Yeah. It’s heart-wrenching. And again, it’s one of those things where I know, there’s no reason I need to keep them, but I do. Because no matter what, that marks a point in time where this was the reality. One of the biggest surgeries I had, it was complete open heart surgery, and one of my lungs collapsed, and there was just a lot of things that went wrong.

[00:18:33] Karen Englert: And it was December 10th, I think, was the date of my surgery. So before surgery, I’m, like, making sure all the kids’ presents are wrapped and that I have a plan in place, that way in case something happens to me, they still get to have Christmas, ’cause they were young. And again, in hindsight, come on, that, that would really not have been the biggest issue.

[00:18:52] Karen Englert: But- … it was just like, “What can I control?” “I can control these things.” And so it helped me to have little [00:19:00] projects to invest my energy in. One, ’cause it took my mind off the fact that they were about to break open my sternum, and two, just it gave me more purpose, because my family is everything.

[00:19:11] Karen Englert: Like my career’s been wonderful. I have amazing friends, but my family, they’re everything to me. And so I needed to be able to focus some of that, that energy and that effort. And then my husband,… When we joke about marrying up, I’m not joking. Like, I married up 100%. This man is my North Star in so many ways.

[00:19:32] Karen Englert: But again, he’s been by my side through seven surgeries, and he has dealt with some of my wild ideas in terms of, “Oh, I know I’m not actually allowed to go on roller coasters anymore- … but this looks really fun. I should probably do this. So- … um, when you talk about patience, that man is a rock. Not me. But it had to impact how we saved for the future.

[00:19:58] Karen Englert: And initially, [00:20:00] when I was doing a lot of that kind of initial investment IRA and all of those things, I did not ever think I would live to see a retirement age. That was never in my mind. Like, to me, I’m saving for him, I’m saving for my kids. I was never gonna enjoy any of that money, and so I wanted to be as aggressive as possible because-

[00:20:20] Danton Troyer: In your saving?

Karen Englert: Mm hmm

[00:20:21] Danton Troyer: Yeah. That’s interesting ’cause I’ve seen the other thought where folks are, there’s health issues, they’re like, “Yeah, I’m, why would I save there’s no point in it?” You know, it’s- Yeah … I’m not gonna make it there. Go do the thing. I mean, yeah, and even, I think it was earlier this week, clients, like, we have planning ages, but it’s really the date our software predicts you will pass away, and it’s not, like, super accurate by any means…

[00:20:41] Danton Troyer: …but it’s, like, 92 and 94 are, like, our planning ages, and the client was like, “I don’t know. That seems kind of way… Why don’t we just go 80?” And I’m like, “That’s fine, but if we’re just choosing 80s to make the plan work, maybe that’s not a great strategy.” But folks are trying to push the envelope on spending and buying because they don’t really want to have to worry about that, and [00:21:00] if there’s a health issue, that makes it a little bit easier not to worry about that.

[00:21:03] Danton Troyer: So I think your approach of focusing more on the family aspect makes way more sense, obviously.

[00:21:09] Kyle Luetters: I’m just gonna say, they must have read the news in the past week. Good old Dolly, 80 years old.

[00:21:16] Danton Troyer: Yeah.

[00:21:16] Kyle Luetters: And she left one, just to tie this back, she left one amazing legacy that as you follow everything that’s gone on since that news came out, all of the little things she left in place, it’s really talking to a lot about what Karen was with, she was very intentional about leaving certain things behind.

[00:21:36] Kyle Luetters: Almost a breadcrumb trail of philanthropy and family stuff, and nobody knew that she was in trouble. Like, we had a statement from her, like, a week before, said, “Hey, I’m not allowed to go to this one. Silly doctors say I can’t go.” And then it’s like somebody texted me, and they said, “Dude, Dolly Parton’s gone.”

[00:21:57] Kyle Luetters: Really? Wow. [00:22:00] But it’s so cool to see that legacy start to come out more and more as time goes on, just of how intentional she was, and similar to the way you were, Karen, was how intentional you were about taking care of people after you’re gone.

[00:22:15] Karen Englert: I like to just consider it as proactive versus reactive, right?

[00:22:19] Karen Englert: And again, I think it was just those little decisions that gave me peace of mind.

[00:22:24] Kyle Luetters: Yeah.

[00:22:24] Karen Englert: It was those little decisions where I had control over how much I was investing, over whatever was the case, but it allowed me to take just a snippet of control. Another beautiful saying we talk a lot about in recovery is that really the only thing we can control is what’s inside our hula hoop.

[00:22:43] Karen Englert: And I use that one a lot- … as well, because some of it is just so wildly out of our control. But I don’t get to pick and choose. If it’s in my hula hoop, I do have a say. And so I need to be proactive about managing the things that are [00:23:00] inside my own hula hoop.

[00:23:02] Kyle Luetters: As we kind of head for home here, looking into the future, I’m sure you give advice with how well you’re connected and, and whom you talk to.

[00:23:10] Kyle Luetters: But if you were to give advice to anyone really that is facing an unknown future, a recent diagnosis, something that you had, and we’ve talked a lot about some sayings and whatnot that you have, but to put a bow on it, what would you provide to them? If you could speak directly to somebody that maybe is listening to this and just had their world rocked in maybe more ways than one, what would you tell them?

[00:23:38] Karen Englert: I think it’s a few things. I think just that reminder that there is a season for all things, and there’s a season to just be mad. When you get news like this, that’s okay. That’s an acceptable emotion. But you can’t live there. You have to move away from that. And the-

[00:23:59] Karen Englert: As an [00:24:00] individual, I think I can do just about anything. I’m pretty confident in myself. And, but I know I can’t do everything, and so I’ve gotten really good about asking for help. I’ve gotten really good and very intentional about seeking trusted advisors that know better than I, in many cases, because I just, I can’t do all of those things.

[00:24:20] Karen Englert: And that gives me some of the freedom and flexibility to really focus intentionally on what I am good at and what I can do, and not get so caught up in some of the other pieces. And so asking for help. And then I should have thought of this earlier. The biggest one, though, is advocate for yourself.

[00:24:38] Karen Englert: You have to do that. If you do not understand something your doctor’s saying, you need to ask questions. If you’re not getting answers, you need to find a new doctor, right? But advocate yourself, whether it is in financial planning, in your health, in your career. Especially as women, we have to advocate for ourselves without being concerned that we might get called certain words.

[00:24:58] Karen Englert: And that is [00:25:00] always a little bit tricky, but there’s so much power in utilizing that skill set and taking care of yourself that way.

[00:25:08] Kyle Luetters: Yeah. I think that’s a beautiful way to end this, and what an inspiring story, and thank you for sharing it, your vulnerability, on a topic that’s not always easy. But hey, you’re here, you’re rocking it, you’re crushing it.

Karen Englert: Thanks.

[00:25:24] Kyle Luetters: Can tell by the hair color that you probably would be a fiery personality. That’s completely checked out. Just wanna say thank you, and, Danton, anything else?

[00:25:31] Danton Troyer: Yeah, I guess last question is what’s next for you, and where do you see yourself? Kind of what’s coming up for you guys?

[00:25:39] Karen Englert: Right now I think we’re actually in this really nice phase of just being very content with what’s going on.

[00:25:46] Karen Englert: Which I know is sometimes it’s hard for people to just be okay with that. My husband retired last year, and is just enjoying figuring out what he wants the rest of his grownup life to look like. [00:26:00] We built a new house a couple weeks- well, we built it for a while, but we moved in a couple weeks ago.

[00:26:04] Karen Englert: And we intentionally designed this house where it has multiple living spaces for multiple generations, as we think about aging in place and aging with people we care deeply about, including both sets of our parents. And so I don’t know, we’re in a really sweet spot right now. And like for me, sometimes it’s weird ’cause I’ve always been like, “What’s next?

[00:26:23] Karen Englert: What’s next? What goal do I need to hit? What award do I need to achieve? What is next?” And I’m so content to be like, “This is what I’m doing, and life is good.”

[00:26:33] Kyle Luetters: That’s probably the best answer there could be then.

[00:26:38] Kyle Luetters: It’s a beautiful way to land the plane. And Karen, thank you so very much for being a guest today.

Karen Englert: Of course.

Kyle Luetters: And for being an inspirational story. Enjoy the new house. And, uh-

Karen Englert: Thank you

Kyle Luetters: Yeah, hopefully all the boxes get unpacked at some point. I know how that goes- … when you move. And you guys make great memories there

[00:26:57] Karen Englert: Oh, thank you so much, Kyle.

[00:26:58] Karen Englert: And thanks, Danton. I appreciate it.

[00:27:00] Danton Troyer: Oh, thank you!

Kyle Luetters: Awesome.

This was another edition of Wit, Wisdom, and What Matters Most. It is produced by Moneta’s Gast Freeman Troyer team, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Until next time, enjoy what matters most.

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