20 Minutes to Live

Hey, Dad, it's Devon. I just wanted to call and let you know that if you see anything in the news about a public signal threat in Hawaii, that it is a false alarm. We all just got 40 minutes ago and notifications on our phone. Welcome to Keen on Retirement, a show dedicated to helping you thrive before and during your retirement years.

If you are looking to grow and protect your wealth and want to make the second half of your life the best half, then listen in. As well, the advisor Bill Keen and his host sort through the key issues that you need to know in a lively and candid way. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Keen on Retirement. I am your co-host Steve Sandesky and I'm here as always with Bill Keen.

Bill, we have a very interesting show here today, a very serious one in some respects as well. We do, Steve. You know, we are a financial program here, but we know that it's way more than the numbers when it comes to our thinking and our planning and going forward. So we had a very unique incident in the Keen family and quite a few other families on January 13th.

Steve, I thought it would be interesting to get some perspective from one of our prior podcast guests. It just so happens to be my son, Devon. Now, all the daughters are wondering why they haven't been on the podcast yet, Steve. Although actually they've ducked their opportunities.

You know, I try to bring family into this as much as possible because it's real life. But the daughters have ducked their opportunities. So now my son is having his second appearance on the program. But Devon, welcome to our podcast today live from Raleigh, Missouri.

Hi there. Well, Devon, we are excited to have you here, but it's under rather unusual circumstances. And you happen to be in Hawaii on Saturday, January 13th on a day that really reverberated not only around the United States, but also around the world, a very, very serious situation happened that day. Why don't you set the stage force on what happened to you in Hawaii that day?

Yeah, it was quite the crazy day. So it was about 8 a.m. When we got to learn, I had woken up at about six. I had made a cup of coffee, washed the sunrise, beautifully people morning, and I had done a shower.

And after a while, my buddy that I was in Hawaii with came slanting on the door, screaming to me to get out of the shower right away. He had just gotten an notification on his phone. There was a ballistic missile inbound to Hawaii that we need to see cover and that it's not a drill. For me, the feeling of my stomach is one that I cannot really replicate with words.

It's just turning inside out in that moment. So what was the first thing that you did when you heard him? Did you think he was pulling a prank on you? Or did you know that he was totally serious?

I could tell he was totally serious and to check and make sure it wasn't a fault. So I screamed loud into my room. I checked my phone. I had the same message.

And then I checked online. I googled on Twitter, social media to see if there was any news on it. And there was nothing online, which to me made it a little more real. Because typically, if they're false, you look online and you'll see that you may have been debunked.

But it had just happened and wasn't a news yet. So it made it more real for me. So then what did you do? So now you're thinking, okay, this is real.

We've got an intercontinental ballistic missile on its way to Hawaii. Then what did you do? Regardless of the outcome, it was never any true danger realistically. But regardless of that, for those 25 to 30 minutes before we knew, I fully believe that I was about to die.

And I don't remember exactly what I was doing. My friend told me I was stoic and it's a worthy entire time. But I went outside and his family came over and they suggested we get in a storm drain. So we did.

All of us clailed in and there were about 10 or 15 of us down there for the 25 minutes. It was interesting. It was actually about the video of us getting down in there and circulating on Twitter. And so now you're in the sewer system.

And were people quiet? Were people crying? Were people praying? What was going on in the sewer there?

It was quiet. No one's really saying much. I personally was saying my prayers. I wasn't really sure what was going to happen.

I was just hoping for the best. And when 25 minutes later when we found out it was a false alarm, it was the biggest sigh of relief I've had in my life. And were people calling their family on their phones when you guys were in the sewer for those 25 to 30 minutes? There wasn't any service inside the sewer, which I guess is a good thing because that proved that it was a help at least somewhat against radiation.

But beforehand, before we got in, everyone was on the phone and told me I was like, yeah. And I think you were probably in that same situation. So did you call mom and dad or who were you reaching out to? I did.

It was afterwards. Right after we got out of the sewer, I made all my phone calls because we were so rushed getting in for me. And then I left a voice mail for my dad and just let him know that I was okay. Steve, I was walking through a grocery store with my mother, Devon's grandma, taking her shopping with daughter Haley.

And I looked down and I saw a missed call from Devon. And literally, I could see now when I look back and put it together, I can see that it was two minutes after the all-clear alert came out. He left me about a 50 second message that was pretty calm sounding, but very matter of fact. And that's the first I heard of it.

So I'll tell you what we should do. We should probably put Devon's voice mail message. I got his permission earlier to put it out on the show notes page, Steve. What would you think?

Devon, you're still good with that, aren't you, buddy? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Well, I certainly appreciated that phone call and the gravity of what you'd gone through.

And I first heard about it, Bill, from you. So I was in New York. We were moving our daughter out there for the spring semester. And I was looking at my phone and I had this text from you about this nuclear attack on a Y.

And I'm like, oh my gosh, what's going on here? And then you indicated that it turned out to be a false alarm. So then I quickly went online and saw it all over the news online what was happening. So yeah, I first heard of it from you as well.

So yeah, pretty wild situation. Now, Devon, it's been a few days. You've had some time to think about it, to reflect. You literally probably had your life flash before your eyes.

You've had a situation where not a lot of people necessarily have what you have, meaning you literally thought you were going to die. And you literally thought you just had a few minutes of life left. And then you get a walk out of it. No harm, no foul.

So it's almost as if you get a do over here. So I got to believe that there's some thinking, there might be some insights, maybe some new ways that you're going to live life as a result of having this experience. So what's it meant to you? Yeah, absolutely.

It absolutely was telling my dad. It kind of felt like a new leaf on life, even though there was never anything that was going to happen. The mentality states the same. And the way I kind of thought of it is, people always throw around the question, if you had a day to live or an hour to live, what would you do or would you be happy with how you've lived your life?

And it's always an interesting looking question, but it's a lot more different. Like you said, when you actually believe, when I looked down at my phone and I truly believed I had 20 minutes to live, was I happy with how I lived my life, with how everything I had done. And for me, certainly the answer is no. And that's one of the reasons I was so, I was really distraught.

Maybe my faith and just my relationships with others. There were so many things that felt incomplete. And being able to then walk out of there, like you said, no harm, no foul, is almost a gift, like a very positive takeaway. Being able to have an experience like that at any moment, my life could end, whether it be a nuclear missile attack or whether it be me getting hit by a car in the next hour.

It could happen. It could happen to anyone. And having that sort of realization, I think, is very positive. And it can add a lot to the way that I or anyone else lives their everyday life.

And it's also interesting to think about because we live in America where this sort of thing never happens. You know, this is a huge deal for us and for me. But there are parts of the world that people are going through this every single day where they don't know whether they're going to ever die every day. And they have to make the most of it.

And just being able to, on perspective like that, I think has just made a very big difference for me. And one that I hope that I'm able to hold onto for as long as I'm around. Well, there's a lot of great insights that you just shared there, Devon, and a couple that I want to go a little deeper with here. This last thing that you were talking about is how this is not a real normal experience here in the United States.

But there are other people around the world in war-torn countries who live with this kind of fear every day. And I think the experience that you've just gone through probably enables you to feel more empathy for how other people around the world are living in the kind of conditions that they're living in. And that most Americans don't really have an opportunity to necessarily see or feel. So do you feel like you maybe have more empathy now for the real benefits that you have and the life that you have and the country that you get to live in?

And the fact that you're getting an engineering degree from a great school and those opportunities, how do you think of it in those terms? Yeah, Steve. And it gives a whole another perspective on the matter and life as a whole. Especially how coming back from this, everyone made such a big deal about it and it made me feel special in some sort of way.

And in reality, I'm not really. I guess for United States citizen, I went through an experience. But for a lot of the world, it's just everyday life. And that thought will absolutely drive me to take every advantage that I have being able to live in a country like we do.

And then how are you changed going forward? Is it simply a new outlook on life, a new appreciation, more gratefulness for what you have? Or have you actually made physical changes in how you go about your daily life and the maybe reaching out to the people close to you and really trying to nurture those relationships that maybe you hadn't in the past? Or how are you actually changing your life as a result of this experience?

I think mostly what I've been thinking about a lot is whenever I make a choice or a decision or do anything, I just think if I were to die in 20 minutes, is this something I would still want to do? And I think that alone can have a lot of power in driving me or anyone to consistently work on bettering themselves more, doing the right thing and being a service to others. Yeah, I had a podcast conversation with an old business colleague of mine. So my first job coming out of college was with Caterpillar Tractor Company.

And one of my colleagues at the company who had joined the firm a few years before me was clearly on the fast track. And long story short, he had a fabulous career at the company and was in line to become the next CEO. And then a couple years ago was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. And so I reached out to him, he's in his late 50s, and I reached out to him and invited him to come on my podcast.

And so we spent an hour. Most of it was talking about business and lessons learned in his great career. And then we spent the last 15 minutes talking about his disease and what that really had taught him and reinforced in him about life. And the comment that you just made about how you will ask yourself, if I only had 20 minutes to live, is this what I would want to be spending my time doing?

And he had a very similar response in that he said that this disease, I have a ticking time bomb, essentially inside of me, from the standpoint that he may only have a few years left to live, and not a long time with a decent quality of life. And so he said he is very, very cognizant of his time and how he spends his time. They moved from Illinois out to the East Coast to be near family. So he was very cognizant of how he's spending his time and the remaining time that he has, short of becoming a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease.

So I think that's just a very important insight that you shared there. And I think for all of you listening, we don't have to go through an experience that Devon went through or my friend went through. And I'm sure many of the folks listening to this have people they know that are in situations that are pretty difficult as well. But we can learn from those.

And we can keep things in perspective and we can really value and treasure each moment that we have. Because like in your case, Devon, you just never know when your time is up. Absolutely. You do not.

You know Devon, I appreciate you and your at 19 years old, you having this kind of perspective around this. You know Steve, had this been anyone of my friends or anyone of my family or anyone of our clients or friends of the firm or anyone that had gone through this, I probably would have asked them to have come on the podcast and just share the experience with us. But to have it have been my son Devon here, who I think everybody knows I'm pretty fond of and proud of, to have him be that guy that went through that. And then to hear his humility and his words actually in his tone.

But you know, given acknowledging the people around the world that go through this every day. And they're in in a lot of cases in these war-torn countries. It's not just fear. It's real.

There's really bombs dropping. And you know, people that go through heck all the time. There's our own military that go through things are people that are out defending our country. There's people that get diagnosed with cancer and have to deal with that.

And then are told 30 days later that it was a false diagnosis. And then they have this experience in life where they thought, oh my goodness, I thought for 30 days I was, you know, not in good shape. Or how about this, even somebody that gets diagnosed with cancer that does have cancer. And they pass away.

And I said, Devin, to your humility around what you went through and how to acknowledge you know, other people go through very difficult things as well. But what you can take away from it, to me, that's powerful. You mentioned being of service. This inspired you to be thoughtful about each action and be of service to others.

Wow, how could you look back this quickly already and say, what are the benefits of this? And Devin, Steve, have you seen anything come out yet from the newswire about anyone having had a heart attack as a result of the fear? There's been nothing, no ramifications that I know of. Have you guys heard anything yet from what happened on this false alarm?

Anything like permanently negative that happened from it? I haven't heard anything. Yeah, I haven't either. Okay, so maybe we look back or we look at it now and we say, all right, one, we found out that I think Hawaii was pretty ill prepared.

A lot of the citizens weren't prepared. So maybe that helps get people get on the ball. Two people are looking at their lives like Devin. Hopefully others can take lessons away from this.

And we all tell you, there's a lot of ways we can go with this. But the reality that if you think about that text that was prepared, I guess there was a reason that that text was prepared and that there's a button that you can push to send that message. And I think that alerts us all to the very real situations that we're in geopolitically around the world. So I think there's a lot of angles we can come to from this.

But I always like to say, let's look at the situation and attempt to find something positive and everything. And in most cases, we can. So, Steve, be careful. I asked Devin a couple questions.

I'll tell you, I let you guys just talk there for a while because sometimes Mr. Kinkin just needs to be quiet. There was some good interaction there. And I'm all good with that.

I know you and your friends, you guys are engineering students. You know the deal. You understand. I think you told me that you knew how fast ballistic missiles travel.

You knew about how far North Korea was. There was a lot of things in your mind. Sometimes being smart might not always behoove you, you know, because you were contemplating the reality of what was happening. Yeah, oh, yeah.

My mind is racing very ballistic missiles travels 12 to 15,000 miles per hour. And I think that's something insane like that. And from North Korea, which is where we assumed it would have been, they've had 20 minutes. Max, you know, we'll figure out the storm giant would be the safest places.

There'd be everything a little bit of concrete in the way of us and all the radio have to follow. That would have been the situation in Hawaii, or at least in the neighborhood we were in, was not very chaotic. In all honesty, the neighborhood was pretty quiet. No one was too frantic.

And I'm still trying to figure it out myself. It was probably a combination of people not understanding the reality of what would have happened. And also people very well understanding the reality and just accepting it. So I think it was somewhere in the middle around there.

But yeah, like you said, being aware of the potential limit in death and lack of hope definitely didn't increase my positive outlook on the situation while I was there. Right. And so let's see maybe on the Devins portion here we can end on a couple of fun notes. You told me that there was just very shortly thereafter.

There was a couple things that you saw people doing and saying. Oh, yeah. I feel like, you know, it's a way of coping. You know, about 45 minutes after it happened, the entire entire place was normal.

Everything was back to normal. Like nothing had happened. Everyone was just going back to the job to the usual. But yeah, there was some posts I saw online.

There was a picture of Kim Jong with a caption that said, launch. I said launch. Oh, yeah. And other silly things right there.

But people find a way to make fun of anything. And it's a good thing. It can be a good thing. Yeah.

Well, hey, something they were playing Rocket Man or something. Yeah, the only Rocket Man song everyone had last time was taken in to do. Here's a serious question, Devin. And it's so serious that I'm not going to ask you to answer it.

And the question is, who did you make your first phone call to? Mom or Dad? Steve, I just, I don't need to know the answer, but I hope it was his mom. I'm okay with it.

I'm okay with it. Just as long as I'm sitting there somewhere toward the top. I'm not going to have you answer that. I'm okay with this podcast.

It was my mom. All right. Well, Bill, I know we've got some takeaways from this as well in terms of the situation that Devin just went through and just the importance of making sure that we've got our financial situation in order in case something happens, whether it's an attack like Devin went through that turned out not to be a real one, but we get an illness or die unexpectedly. There are some financial ramifications to all this as well.

I think this is a good time just to really, you know, some quick reminders of things that we want to make sure that we got an order. We do. And some of this might just sound common sense. But yeah, the question is what happens if you don't wake up the next day?

Are your affairs in order? And really, it's all about your loved ones. Who's still left behind that they're dealing with with things? So it starts out with having an estate plan in place.

We always say that the you have an estate plan, whether you have a will or a trust or not, you either have the state's estate plan or you have your own estate plan. And we've done podcasts and blogs in the past on wills and trusts and some of those general topics, but really thinking through and making sure things are titled appropriately and that their directives that say who will handle what and what goes where, not only for the big items, even some of these smaller items, like heirlooms and things like that. There's also something that's become popular and I've started to engage in this as well. And that's not just passing along your hard assets and your money.

And I know that's all important. We want to avoid the errors fighting and gosh forbid that would occur. But there's so much value that we all have in our life's learnings and the things we have learned over the course of a lifetime. And not only that on the experiences that we've had and the values that we have.

So this is way different than leaving behind a car or a house or an IRA to somebody. But it's the things I would say more valuable than the hard assets is what are our values, what are our experiences, what are our learnings. And with the advent of these iPhones and other phones that can do video recordings, you can videotape literally can videotape yourself getting introspective and leaving that valuable information to the people that you love in a video format. I know that sounds weird, maybe indifferent, but it's a talk about passing value down to the next generation.

One of the reasons that the clients work with our firm, there's many reasons. One, they want to delegate the authority. They don't want to take the time. They don't want to make a negative emotional decision on their investments that can compromise themselves and their families.

And they know they're prone to making emotional decisions because we're all wired back to front when it comes to investing in these markets and the economy. But a big reason people deal with us is because they know that at some point it's highly likely that it will be one of the two spouses sitting there with us because one is passed away. And having the right advisors in place that they can trust and they will not be taken advantage of is amazingly powerful. These are things that you can do upfront to make sure that the affairs are in order, Steve.

And we can probably do many different podcasts on the different pieces of those things. But I think as Devin was kind enough to be on the podcast with us, it's very timely. I think it all just fits together really well. Don't you, sir?

I do. And just a couple more things I would add to that list, maybe not necessarily on the financial side, but on the personal side. And that is there are so many people out there who are estranged from one of their family members. Maybe there was an argument years ago that somehow never got resolved and close family members don't speak to each other.

And so this is, I think, another example of how we don't want to go to our grave like that. And so if you do have someone out there that you are not on speaking terms with and you should be on speaking terms, then think long and hard about maybe reaching out and trying to resolve that situation. So both of you don't go to your grave, not speaking to each other. And then also I think maybe we touched on this a little bit earlier.

Just the importance of really being grateful for each day that we have an appreciative for every day and just the little things in life that we just take so for granted. You know, as kids, everything is so new and exciting and fun and interesting to us. And yet as we get older, we lose some of that sense of joyfulness and freeness. And I think a situation Devin that you went through is a situation that tends to remind us of the fragility of life and also the importance of just really appreciating everything and recognizing the little things in life that we so often take for granted.

Thank you, Steve, for tying in those personal relationships. I know we are a financial program here, but from time to time we break off when the situations arise and we bring it back to life issues and real life situations. So I would just ask our listeners, I thank you for your attention and I thank you for allowing us to deviate a little bit today from just the typical financial topics last episode. We dug into the tax law.

So this was kind of a 180 degree pivot from some of the detail we talked about last episode. Thank you for letting us pivot here and cover a topic that we believed was very timely and very impactful. Okay, well, thanks guys, Bill. Thank you, Devin.

Thank you. And for sharing an important message today. All right, we'll talk to you all soon. Thank you.

Devin, thanks for joining us, buddy. The opinions expressed in this podcast are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any specific security. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing.

Any past performance discussed during this program is no guarantee of future results. Any indices referenced for comparison are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. As always, please remember, investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. Please seek advice from a licensed professional.

Keen Wealth Advisors is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where keen wealth advisors and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by keen wealth advisors unless a client service agreement is in place.