The Emergence of Emergency Savings Accounts with Rachel Fox

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to the Broker's Voice. I am excited to be joined by Rachel Fox with the Sunny Day Fund. And if you just heard what I said and said, Sunny Day Fund, I'm not quite sure what that is. You're going to learn a lot about it today and what. How it applies to today's environment when it comes to mental stress. Primarily mental stress from financial stress. Right, Rachel? Yep. Correct. So welcome aboard, Rachel. Welcome to the Broker's Voice.

Thanks. Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Yes. No, obviously you and I know each other. You're in our League of Their Own community, which we are very grateful for your participation. But I wanted to have you on the Broker's Voice for a couple reasons. Number one, you got a cool backstory that a lot of people don't know about you. But two, I don't think enough people in the industry quite know about Sunny. Sunny Day Fund yet. And so I would love to get into discussion about that because again, when it's. When it comes to meeting employees where they're at today, I think we could agree what you guys are doing is very top of mind.

Yeah. People have. People are talking about money. Just. Just a wee bit.

Just a wee bit. There's this thing we've been talking about called recession.

Yeah.

That I think is top of mind with a lot of people right now. So let's start before we get there, though.

Okay.

We're going to talk about something a lot of people may not know about. Rachel Fox, you went to school.

To study bugs.

I did.

Let's talk about that.

Yeah. I don't know. I. Maybe I just always root for the underdog or something, but I. I've always really loved insects. I have two older brothers and I was raised to not be a squeamish kid.

And I just always kind of found it fascinating. I think that there are times in life when you have a really great teacher and it just opens doors for you. I had a really great 10th grade biology teacher in high school, and I was like, wow, this is a thing. People, like, study this. You're like, there's names for. This is crazy. So I was super excited about it. We had to do our insect collection and we learned all about just kind of the taxonomical IDs between that and. I was fascinated when you look at it under the microscope, just how they were designed, like everything with a purpose. I just think just the intricacies of our world are so amazing, and sometimes we fail to pay attention to that and So I kind of loved combining that with my love of art. I always was a drawer. Most of the time, I didn't paint so much. My mom was my art teacher, so she was constantly prancing around going, you know, you need to do something with that. You need to, you know, push yourself. And insects are all around. They were always great, not quite still lives, but they were always around. And I was super intrigued by them and it became an inspiration. They were always my muse on the.

Artwork side, you know, for those listening in, we talk about the riches are in the niches. I would have to say bug art is definitely a niche.

It is, but it's pretty cool. I post some of my stuff on LinkedIn every once in a while and I get weird reactions. But that's okay. I dig it.

Now, you went to school in Australia, right? In college in Australia, what was that like going studying abroad? Especially somewhere halfway around the world.

Yeah. So I had started off in Virginia, and then I kind of started, you know, I went with my roommate over to Australia because, number one, we were biology majors. And I knew that I really wanted to go into entomology. That's what I wanted to do. You know, that's how we always start.

For those of us ignorant, for us ignoramuses. Define epidemiology for us.

Well, entomology is the entomology. And entomology is the study of insects. So six legs, not eight. I don't really dig on spiders, but. But I really love insects. And I went to school in Australia because they have an undergrad program for entomology. So I could really immerse myself in it. In America, it was a lot more kind of a master's level focus. And so I did take a lot of other biology classes there. I took anatomy there and botany and some other things that I was really excited about. But for me, that was like. And I got to play rugby over there. I got to play field hockey year round over there. So there were lots of other cool reasons I wanted to go. Nice. But it all tied into just the perfect.

What was your actual. I was curious, like going over there to study insects and stuff. What was your goal with it? What was the end game at that time?

I mean, at that time, I wasn't super in love with the college that I was at in Virginia. My parents were already paying for out of state tuition anyway, so they were like, it's kind of comparable. It doesn't really matter. My dad had enough frequent flyer miles that he was like, it doesn't really matter. Whatever you want to do. And I was like, I really like this bug thing. And they play rugby and field hockey year round. Like, I feel like it's calling me. I can go live in surfers paradise. Miss Australia. Like, what? Why would I not want to do that? Watch Kelly's theater surfing competitions from my balcony. Like, sign me up.

So, yeah. Hey, that's how. If you're telling me you were that college kid, were you on the Gold Coast? Like, if you're selling. Oh, man. Yeah.

You don't have First Avenue in the Gold coast right by Broad Beach. It was amazing.

Yeah. Wow. Rough life.

I know.

I have one more question about that. You brought something you said. I'd love to ask. You said your mother was your art teacher.

Yes.

Was she in the same school with.

You in high school? So I went to a small Christian School for 6th through 12th grade, and she was the art teacher at that high school.

What was it like having mom in high school?

I mean, she knew everybody and she heard about everything, so there wasn't much I could do that somebody was going to rat me out. So. So in that way, it was kind of nice. But she also knew all of my friends. Everybody really loved her. And she was one of those really challenging teachers. She has this amazing vocabulary. If you act up in your class, she's not just going to yell at you. She's going to say something super smart that you might not get. But all of a sudden, you realize everybody else is laughing at you. So it's this constant pursuit of paying attention, making yourself better, not sleeping on your talents.

I ask because I had both my parents in high school.

Really?

Yeah. My mom was a science teacher. My dad was a history teacher. And the rule in our district was if there were other teachers available in that course, you could not take your parents. But my senior year, my dad took. Was the only teacher for current events. And so I could have them. And it was funny because I had them right after lunch.

Yeah.

And it was not uncommon to fall asleep because of. Because of lunch. And so there were. There were plenty of nights when my dad's like, really? What did you learn today? I noticed you kind of snoozed off in the back. So it was interesting to have parents in high school. One. It was great if you needed five bucks. Yeah. But at the same time, you were definitely under the microscope as well. Now, before we get in the industry stuff, the insurance stuff, I do want to ask you as a bug lover, if you could only pick one bug right now. What's your bug?

So in our house, we have an especially favorite love for these eastern red paper wasps. So we have like, they always come and build a nest under our deck right by our pool every year. And it's really cool, my kid, to watch my kids kind of pick up these half drown insects from the pool, put them on the end of a broomstick, feed them up to the Easter red paper wasp nest, and just see, the workers just kind of like take them, stuff them into a cell, close it up. Like, it's super great. So my kids are not squeamish about insects.

I was gonna say, one, they're not afraid because you hear wasp, you're thinking, okay, I'm gonna get stung. But two, they're actually, they're, they're actually taking the wasp and putting it back with the community.

Yeah, these are really nice wasps. There's. They get a bad rap from yellow jackets who are.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you're listening in and you need a one on one on what bees and wasps to trust and which ones not to trust. You've got your woman now.

Hey, send me the pics. I get pics every week of somebody going, what is this? Is it gonna kill me? And I'm like, no, I'm.

I'm a spider one. Like, I will get spiders in our house. Especially in the Colorado Rockies region where you're like, is that a good or is that bad? Could that really be bad? And I never know.

So, yeah, spiders are not as well versed with.

But let's talk about. Okay, how in the world does a bug lady end up in insurance?

Yeah, because, because we all grew up wanting to go and sell insurance, right? Like that's, that's a childhood dream that we foster. So, yeah, I graduated with my biology degree and I was doing some environmental consulting. My brother had started this company called Angler Environmental in Northern Virginia. And after I graduated, he was like, hey, I need somebody to come and delineate wetlands for me. I'm like, well, I don't know how to do that. He's like, well, I mean, you know, like botany stuff, right? I'm like, I mean, I took botany in Australia. There's no eucalyptus trees here, Don. I don't know any of this stuff. And he's like, right, like you have a bat. Like, let's get going. And I thought, well, sure, you know, like, let's, let's go. So I learned a lot there about, you know, delineating wetlands and, you know, the U.S. army Corps of Engineers and how that is laid with development plans and protecting the jurisdictional waters of the US So I really love doing that. But ultimately, I kind of felt like I was always going to be the boss's little sister. And there was just lots that went along with that where I just felt I'm ready to do something on my own. And so I just went to a random career fair one day. And as insurance people do, we tend to be happy personalities and we're magnetic, and you sit down and talk, and all of a sudden, I walk away from this meeting and I'm like, I was bored to sell insurance. What if I've been wasting my. This is amazing. And then I just found some other people that, you know. I started with Aflac, so that's when I got my insurance license in 2002, and I did that for well over a decade. I went on to become a district sales manager. Eric Silverman was my regional sales manager, and he kind of taught me everything he knows. And I left out at that because, you know, I definitely did not light the world on fire right at the beginning. So it was great to have some other people say, hey, if you're not really, like, this part card isn't your jam, you can still be valuable here. You can still contribute. Like, we're not cloning people. Like, we're just trying to find a way to find what you're really good at and do something else. So with Eric and I, we really excelled on the recruiting side of things. And that really helped me to just get to know the industry a lot, have some really great connections, and watch successful people and try to emulate that.

Yeah, I agree. I think if you look at a common trait between a lot of the folks in the industry, that where you can definitely see a passion in what they do. Yeah, they probably had a mentor at some point. You know, for an industry, let's be honest, that's known for feeling like you're out on an island. There's not a ton of training. There's not a ton of support. In many ways, having a good mentor is something that can definitely give you a whole new appreciation and passion for what you do. And Eric is definitely somebody we all know who has recruited and mentored a lot of people. He has.

And for me, it was appealing because I knew that, like, at the same time, when I started with Aflac, I was kind of engaged and planning my wedding, and I knew that I. When I had kids, I wanted to be able to stay at home with them for a little bit. Once I got them and we were, I was so financially independent. Like the thought of kind of merging bank accounts with my husband was a little terrifying. And so I really just wanted to find something. I loved the idea of this residual renewal income. I just thought it was smart. It was something I didn't realize about the insurance industry. And I said, well, man, I can just really plant some seeds right now that will continue to pay me after I, you know, become like, put my career on pause for a little bit to become a stay at home mom. And then I can always just pick it right back up. And, you know, we ended up being an IVF land for a decade. So I was with Aflac for a long time and so a lot of those seeds. And so when I finally did have my kids, I really had a nice income that supported me through that time where I wanted to be at home with them for a little bit.

Well, and I just pulled up your LinkedIn profile. It looks, I mean, you were with Aflac for 19 years. 20 years.

Yeah. Because as a 1099, you can work as often or as little as you like. And so there was a lot of flexibility there after I had my kids where I was just, I could help people out on enrollments here or there and stay in contact with my book of business and still be valuable in certain ways. But I wasn't going at the same speed that Eric had trained me to go at. That was.

Yeah. And so, you know, you look at where you are today. Now you're the director of business development at Sunny Day Fund, which I think is a play on words from Rainy Day Fund. Let's talk about that. You know, today you're, you're leading sales there at Sunny Day Fund. Let's just, let's just get with the basics. If I'm a advisor listening in, and I've never even heard of Sunny Day Fund, what do you guys do?

So in a nutshell, it's workplace emergency savings. So there's this new market coming in. It's called ESAs. Right. Emergency savings Accounts. And I really feel like we are kind of where HSAs were 20 years ago, where the IRS makes a little tweak to the law and like dance dollar market opens up. So, you know, the government's starting to, they, they just passed with the Secure Act 2.0 that Biden signed around Christmas time. It was really something. This is their first piece of federal legislation around workplace emergency savings. I think the pandemic showed people like, man, there's not a whole. We don't have a whole lot to fall back on here. And so the government starts handing money out to people, the pensions don't really exist anymore, and Social Security is not going to be there for a few more generations. We have to get.