Meet Ryan Janz

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ryan Janz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ryan, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

Before working finance and insurance, I spent many years in food and beverage. Working as a chef, I had lived the typical lifestyle of working long hours, physical and mental stress, and the attitude of, “work hard, play harder.” It was all I knew, as it was the only career in my adult life. But as time went on, I just felt empty. What once was exciting for me to use ingredients to overcome the daunting consistency of high-quality meals in volume, had just turned into a monotonous task. The spark of food and flavor became so bland, and the prospects of my future became worrisome. I had seen the outcome of many chefs who I considered “made it,” and none of their jobs had interested me. I had searched for something more, but didn’t know what it was. I wanted to do something else, but the plan was missing. Then, I had responded to an ad for a job in the insurance industry, and unbeknownst to me, it was a life raft. I didn’t know anything about insurance at the time but took a leap of faith. And from that point on, it started to dawn on me, clear as day. I began helping people. Genuinely providing a service to people who wanted to protect themselves and their families. One turned to many, and the more people I helped, the fire inside grew bigger. My purpose had turned from providing hungry people a short food experience, to providing concerned people relief within their life. I believe the result of my entire life since transitioning to finance and insurance is a direct correlation to the number of people I help now. The best is now!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am the President of Overflow Finance & Insurance. We help people plan for the expected and unexpected events in their life, so they can retire. Using partnerships with colleagues and companies, we provide people with individual plans that suit them. Some of the ways we help people include healthcare like individual health insurance or Medicare enrollments, life insurance and long-term care, and fiduciary advisory for retirement planning.

Retirement has become such a fluid word these days, and most people have concerns if they’re even able to do it. We live our whole lives in a repeated cycle every month that income comes in, and expenses go out. What happens when the income slows, or even stops? What if there’s a medical event that has huge copays, or worse, requires round the clock nursing care?

There are so many different strategies and way to plan for all of these issues. Our method is transparent: let’s see what you’re doing now, and if you’re on-track to getting to where you want to be. Starting now is so crucial, because the steps you make now can have you live in the overflow later.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

When starting in the insurance business, the typical advice always given is, “Don’t Quit,” and it couldn’t be truer. The transition from any paycheck job to starting a business is wrought with missed expectations and failure. The results of working through failure and into success requires just that: work. I’m not someone who believes that a person needs to work 25 hours a day, 8 days week, but I believe that hard work is the only way. From my background, I’m used to working long hours, so that was my approach when getting started in the industry. But from my experience, focused work is more fruitful than a lot of work. Decision making with conviction, followed by a methodical and precise effort to see the decision through has been my secret sauce. Even if the decision ultimately could have been wrong, it was better to have made the choice than to not make one at all.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

An ideal client for us would be people who are thinking about retirement. Whether it’s planning for themselves or wanting to do it with a spouse or partner, people ages 50 to 70 are working jobs and wondering when they can slow down or even stop. Thinking of retirement might not even mean actively planning for it, it might mean the wandering thoughts sitting in traffic or in the shower. Some of these thoughts may include questions about having enough money and income, or general questions about how it all even works. An overview with us can give people a much clearer picture of what the future holds.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.overflowfi.com
• Instagram: @overflowfi
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/overflowfi
• Other: Here is my electronic business card with a link to my calendar to coordinate a meeting
  https://dot.cards/ryanjanz