Health, Fitness, and Wellness in Retirement

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Welcome everyone to the Retirement Power Hour. My name is Joe Allaria, and this is episode 22. In just a bit, I'm gonna be joined by Dr. Tibor Coppi, who is a physician, a primary care physician with M-D-V-I-P, one of the largest networks of concierge primary doctors in the country. And we're gonna be talking about health, fitness, and wellness in retirement. So you wanna make, make sure and stay tuned because part of retiring better is taking care of your health. You can do everything right financially, but if you don't take care of your health and invest in your health, you will not be able to enjoy all that you've saved up for and enjoy this phase of life called retirement. So we're gonna talk about that in just a bit. We also have a few listener questions, but I also wanna remind you, if you're listening, go to retirement power hour podcast.com.

Speaker 1 (00:53):

That's where you can view and listen to all past shows, get all of our resources, but more importantly, you can submit your listener questions. You might have noticed we've answered many listener questions here on the show. I actually have three questions today I'm gonna be answering and at the website Retirement power hour podcast.com. You can request your own complimentary retirement analysis. This is for folks that are within five to 10 years of retirement over the age of 50 and have at least $500,000 in your portfolio. The first step in that process is having a conversation with us, with me. We'll have a conversation, we'll see if we might be a good fit for you, and then we'll gather some information and we're gonna do a full blown evaluation to show you if you can retire on time, which accounts to withdraw from, how to pay less in taxes, when to file for social security, how to approach your Medicare decisions, all of that and more.

Speaker 1 (01:48):

So go to retirement power hour podcast.com and make sure you click that request for your complimentary analysis and get that call scheduled today. So let's jump into our questions for this episode. The first one comes from Marcy. And Marcy says, I was born in 1953. I have been collecting half of my husband's social security benefits and continuing to grow my own. So as you're taking advantage of something called the restricted application, Marcy. Marcy says, as I turn 70 in February, how long can I continue to collect? Half of his? Is there an age limit? Thank you for your time. Well, Marcy, thank you for your question. Now, because we are more than six months from February at, at the time that we received this question, Marcy, if your benefits are greater than your spousal benefits that you've been receiving, you're gonna want to go to Social Security and file for your own benefit as soon as possible.

Speaker 1 (02:41):

And you're gonna wanna make it retroactive as far back as you can, which is six months because your own benefit does not grow beyond age 70. So you will not get any more increases beyond age 70. You wanna go and file for your own benefit. Now, if your spousal benefit is greater than your working benefit, then you're, you're gonna be on that spousal benefit as long as your spouse is living. So there's no age limit for that. You can continue to do what you've been doing. So make sure if your benefit is greater Marcy, go and file for your own benefits as soon as possible so that you can get a nice increase in social security. The next question comes from Harry. Harry says, I am 69 years old, still working, not claiming social security. My wife is 70 years old and was born in 1953.

Speaker 1 (03:30):

She has been receiving social security for the last two years based on her short working record. Her benefits are much smaller. Can she claim spousal benefits based on my working record, even though I have not claimed for social security yet? I'm planning to claim next year when I turn 70. Thank you in advance. Well, Harry, thank you for your question and the answer to that. Unfortunately, Harry is no, your spouse cannot take a spousal benefit if you yourself are not receiving benefits. That is not allowed. If she wants to take a spousal benefit, you have to be receiving benefits as well. And for this reason, sometimes couples decide to go ahead and in your case have you file for benefits so that your spouse can start receiving the spousal benefits if they're substantially higher, that might be something for you to consider. It's something that needs to be evaluated, of course, alongside all the rest of your financial information.

Speaker 1 (04:26):

Last but not least, we have a question from Terry. Terry says, my husband is already drawing his benefits. He was born in October of 1952. I'll hit full retirement age in September of 2023. Do I qualify for the restricted filing application? Terry, the answer to that is no. You do not qualify for the restricted filing application. You have to be born in 1953 or earlier to qualify for the restricted filing application. And that is when you can go and file and you can say whether you want to take your own benefit or you want to take a spousal benefit, Terry, for you, you were born after 1953. When you go to file, social security is going to force you to take the hire of the two benefits. So I hope that helps. We might just change the name of this segment to, instead of listener questions to Social security questions, 'cause we get a lot of questions about Social Security.

Speaker 1 (05:24):

But hey, we're here to help and we know how hard it is to get an appointment with Social Security. And we also know how hard it is to get the right information from Social Security. So feel free to type your question or go back and listen to other shows. 'cause we might have answered it already, but either one, feel free. And also, of course, you can ask us about anything else as it pertains to retirement and your finances. We're happy to answer those questions. So go to retirement power hour podcast.com again to ask your questions. Well, I'm looking forward to this interview with Dr. Tibor Kosh. We're gonna gonna be talking about health, fitness, and wellness in retirement. And again, this is so important. We neglect this so much. I spend a lot of time with folks who have thought very intentionally about their finances as we've helped them to figure out what are their retirement goals, their financial goals, and all that is for naught if you don't have your health.

Speaker 1 (06:19):

So it's so important to invest in this and take this seriously so that you can live a long life, but also have a high quality of life as long as you're here. So Dr. Coppi is gonna be talking about some of these important themes here in our, in our discussion and a little background about Dr. Coppi. Dr. Coppi is a physician with M-D-V-I-P, again, one of the largest providers of concierge medicine in the country. We're gonna talk about what that means. He's been in practice for over 30 years and initially was part of a conventional model, and he got a little tired of the lack of time and attention that he was able to spend with his clients. So he took a leap of faith and moved to a concierge model where now he's able to give each patient the time and attention that they deserve.

Speaker 1 (07:08):

It's very intriguing. If you've been to the doctor lately or tried to schedule an appointment, you're going to probably resonate with this conversation and know exactly what Dr. Kopi is talking about when he says he was not able to give each patient the time intention that they deserve when he was in that conventional model. Dr. KPI's wife Tammy is a licensed physical therapist and also works alongside him as his office manager, and they're located here in the St. Louis area. So without further ado, I'd like to bring on Dr. Tibor Coppi talk about health, fitness, and wellness in retirement. Dr. Coppi, welcome to our show.

Speaker 2 (07:44):

Oh, thank you for having me. Good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (07:46):

As I said in the intro, we're gonna be talking today about your health over 50 health nutrition exercise. You did an event for us where you spoke with some of our clients here locally in person, and we talk so much about the right financial strategies for folks when they get to retirement, but you and I both know that you can have all the money in the world if you don't have your health, you're not gonna be able to enjoy any of that that you've saved up. Right?

Speaker 2 (08:13):

That is absolutely correct.

Speaker 1 (08:15):

So we, we have to spend and focus energy on our health just as much as our money and, and being a good steward there. So, uh, we're gonna talk about some things that've got some questions on some, you know, main concerns that folks have over 50. And I want to ask you what you think are the biggest challenges for folks over 50 when it comes to their health. But before we jump into these questions, I wondered if you could share a little bit about what you do and your background and kind of where you came from.

Speaker 2 (08:44):

Absolutely. And, uh, as we said at your live event, what you as an investment, uh, arm and what we do in the medical world, we pretty much run a parallel course. And I like to think that what we offer is number one relationship and number two investment. Very much what you do. And I think this will lead into my whole affiliation with M-D-V-I-P and going from a conventional practice to one of more boutique concierge, whatever you wanna call it, as far as relationship. I think that's essential. You have to find a, a doctor with whom you can have a relationship, somebody that knows you and you know something about, about him or her. Unfortunately, the national average of time spent with a patient is no more than eight minutes. And that eight minutes usually comes after several weeks of having set the appointment, whether the problem is a chronic problem or an acute problem. So basically you get eight minutes after waiting several weeks for that appointment. Investment is in, is once again key because both the doctor and the patient have to be invested and they have to be invested in their healthcare. And the doctor has to be invested in the patient's welfare. So in that case, we do the same job and also to the same end. Once again, they get somebody to that point in life where they're stable, they're secure, and remain stable and secure.

Speaker 1 (10:25):

That's just astounding to me. When you said the average time spent is eight minutes with a, with a doctor and waiting several weeks to get in, it's sometimes hard to even find practitioner that, that you need in maybe a specific area. And it just seems like this, the system is in a bad way. And you certainly doing what we do here and knowing that when we have meetings with, with our clients, they might average an hour and 15 minutes, sometimes an hour and a half or or longer. And when we first meet a client or when we first onboard a client, we'll meet an hour and a half, three or four times to do a really comprehensive evaluation and analysis and kind of identify weak points. I don't think people get anything close to that when it comes to their health. Which probably a good segue into, I I wonder if you could share a little bit about what you specifically do at M-D-V-I-P because it's so different from, you know, the, the conventional model when, you know, you spoke about the conventional. Tell us a little bit about what exactly M-D-V-I-P is and what you do.

Speaker 2 (11:31):

Well, sure. So I spent 30 years, um, since 1986 in, in solo practice at one time had 4,000 patients and was the hamster on the hamster wheel. Still tried to do my absolute best, but at some point knew that you, you, you couldn't provide what you wanted to do. There was was never that time for personal contact. There was never that, that chance to really get to know your patient. When the opportunity, though I'd been courted for a number of years by M-D-V-I-P came along, I thought it was time to jump on board. I thought it was a time in my life not as a vehicle to retirement, because this will allow me to keep going for a considerably long time. But what the M-D-V-I-P model is so different, it's considered, uh, concierge medicine, boutique medicine, various names, personal access medicine. It allows our practice to, it allowed my practice to shrink from 4,000 to just a little bit over 600.

Speaker 2 (12:36):

And very much like you, our initial meeting is not an eight minute meeting. Our initial meeting with the new patient is an hour, which is kind of unheard of in the medical profession. Subsequent appointments are a half hour and people get in the same day, unless you call it three fifty five in the afternoon, we'll get you in the next day. But MD VIP started out originally in Boca Raton, Florida, 20 plus years ago, two doctors saw the handwriting on the wall. They knew things like you said, they were already in a disarray 20 years ago and has certainly, they've certainly gotten worse. So they set up this model of physicians. We are not owned by M-D-V-I-P. They are support, but they also help funnel patients into tertiary and RY care centers. So let's say you have a, a specific issue and you desperately need to go to the Mayo Clinic, or an unfortunate issue where there's a malignancy and it's Sloan Kettering or MD Anderson.

Speaker 2 (13:40):

Well, and now all these cases you'd end up in a queue. What M-D-V-I-P having a relationship with these institutions will allow you to do is to move up in the queue. Maybe you're not gonna be number one in line, but you may jump from a thousand to 80. So there's benefit there. M-D-V-I-P offers physical therapy online, all sorts of diets. But once again, it has allowed me to spend that not eight minute session with a patient. It now allows me to spend that 30 minute and initial visit of an hour and allows me the flexibility to, to speak with a, a physician that I wanna refer someone to something that is unheard of in the past. And it allows me to be what I think is the most important role now is to be the patient's advocate. Somebody has to, somebody has to push for you and get you past that eight minute mark.

Speaker 1 (14:36):

And that, that was gonna be my next question because someone advocating on your behalf, you know, is key. And when you're going into a system where, to be honest, like you said, I don't even know my doctor. My doctor doesn't know me. I've, I haven't even seen my doctor. I've seen a nurse practitioner at my doctor's office. I saw her for, you know, maybe 12 minutes. Uh, I I didn't keep track. It could have been eight. There's no one trying to help me get to the, to the best solution. And if I have to go see a specialist, then it's like these two, it's hardly like, they don't even speak to each other. They don't communicate. Of course, they send records. Well

Speaker 2 (15:16):

That's, that's absolutely true. And, and that, that brings a very important point. You know, that's what the electronic medical record was meant to do. We were supposed to share information. Well, the problem is not everybody's on the same system. We can't access the records of Barnes, we can't access the records of the Sisters of St. Mary's of HSHS, the other big hospital system, and they can't access our records. And now in the, as in the old days, at least the, the referring or the physician that received the referral would send you a letter, thank you for sending your patient, this is what we saw. This is what we wanna do. That's a thing of the past. And you're right. Just make, being able to make that phone call has everything to do with, with good patient care and it's continuity. You just don't wanna walk into a room and be blindsided by events that you had no idea had occurred.

Speaker 1 (16:10):

It's equivalent to whenever we meet with someone and we say, who's your accountant? Or who's your estate planning attorney? And oftentimes these financial professionals don't speak with each other at all whatsoever. And so we sit in front of a prospective client and say, how do you think you're gonna get to the best solution here when these four or five people are never even speaking to each other? And I've never had a rebuttal on that. Everyone always agrees that yeah, that, that actually makes pretty good sense. And then it's scary 'cause you shift and you think medical and you exactly, you're thinking, who is my advocate here? I don't have one. I, you know, we all are forced to advocate for ourselves

Speaker 2 (16:50):

And, and some people can't.

Speaker 1 (16:51):

Yeah, some people can't or don't know how, if I go to the doctor, I don't know anything else to do other than to say, I'm invested in this. I wanna make sure that we're spending the proper amount of time and doing the right preventative care and things of that nature. And does that make them gimme the time of day? I, I'm not sure. Oh,

Speaker 2 (17:07):

No, you're exactly right. And one of the things I like to tell people is I like to say that, uh, not, not only am I your doctor, I'm your quarterback, because people do have multiple specialists that they see somebody has to kind of coordinate the efforts of all the specialists and at least gather that information. And oftentimes somebody will come to me and say, this is what was told to me, but I just quite don't understand it and it becomes my duty, my obligation, and my desire to try to distill it a way that somebody will understand so they would be better invested in their own healthcare. I think part of it is just doing the right thing for yourselves. And one of the things that we touched upon when we had our live meeting, we talked a little bit about nutrition, talked about ex exercise.

Speaker 2 (17:59):

The guidelines used to be 30 minutes worth of exercise three times a week was kind of the norm that now has been pushed to 200 to 240 minutes worth of exercise. Now that doesn't mean everybody has to sweat. That doesn't mean you can't go for a, for a brisk walk, use some resistance bands, some lightweights bicycle. We've got a wonderful trail system here in Madison County that everybody should be taking advantage of. Yes. How many pools do we have in, in, just in this area? People that you don't necessarily have to be a swimmer, but my gosh, walking in the water against resistance is credible. Exercise and trying to eat right is, is so important. And you can write in so many good ways. We in our office kind of have always advocated that Mediterranean type diet, that south beach diet, one that's really rich in avocado oil, olive oil.

Speaker 2 (18:56):

We try to tell everybody to eat everything that's red, yellow, and green. Everything that is white and processed obviously is your enemy. So, I mean, there's some very, very simple things. Sure. Encourage immunization. And we certainly encourage, the most important thing is to encourage the screening that we can, the things that we can screen, whether it's mammography, colon, which unfortunately is starting to show up colon cancer in a younger and younger age group. Now the screening for colonoscopy is down 45 and I think very soon it'll be down to 40 mammography to have the, the PSA done. So it's not a perfect test. It's still the only show in town. So the, there's still things that, you know, you as a patient would say, Hey doc, when was my last? That's a perfectly good question to ask. Sure. And it's kind of important for the patient to also keep track of it. Obviously we have to keep track of it. The patient should be educated to how often they need these tests and also be kind of their advocate. Hey, is it time for my colonoscopy? Is it time for my mammography? Is it time for my lung cancer screening if I'm a smoker? Those are all very, very, very important things. What

Speaker 1 (20:06):

Is the frequency on on those things?

Speaker 2 (20:08):

A lot of it depends on family history too. So part of what M-D-V-I-P does, we have access to Cleveland Clinic Heart Labs, which other offices don't have access to. So the Cleveland Clinic Heart labs are labs that are very, very specific indicators and predictors of heart disease and stroke. Sure, you can go and get a cholesterol done, find out what your good cholesterol is, what your bad cholesterol is. But we actually have tests that are, we offer as part of our program and that that's the premium for joining. MDV IP is once a year kind of getting like a little mini Mayo Clinic exam that is very, very specific toward predicting stroke and heart attack, whether you being 45 or older. And for postmenopausal women still the number one killer in the United States stroke and heart disease then die of malignancies. So M-D-V-I-P has a, not that we exclude screening for everything else, but the focus is really to try and prevent things that are actually preventable based on family history.

Speaker 2 (21:11):

We, we look strongly at lipid status based on family history. Let's say there was colon cancer early in your family. Well that means you probably should get your screening colonoscopy well before the age of 45. And then if you had, uh, a first degree relative that had colon cancer at an early age, and if you, depending once again, there is a difference in race as to when one would get their first PSA, it's dependent on that family history. Sure. It's premature history of prostate cancer in, in an individual. Once again, the first degree relative, uh, would be a father brother. It would be who us to get the fat PSA well before 50 in your case. So that I think kind of goes back to that, that that thing that you can't cover in eight minutes. Yeah. And that even that first meeting, that maybe a 15 minute first meeting, that's all the information that we need to find out our first meeting about family history and what we need to know about you going forward. I tell everybody, we can change your blood pressure, we can change your cholesterol, we can change a lot of things. We just can't change mom and dad. Right.

Speaker 1 (22:17):

And for the absolutely. For the women listening or watching mammograms or mammographies, how often is that sort of the primary, and again, I know it's customized, but there are certain rules of thumb out there for the listeners who are, you know, are listening and thinking, what do I need to do? You know?

Speaker 2 (22:34):

Well, once again, once again, breast self exam is, is absolute key. And just now, just to kind of go back to men, though, it doesn't sound like the greatest thing in the world, but to do a testicular exam on yourself is absolutely important. But women, same time of the month to do a breast exam, usually best done in the shower with slippery fingers. And that time for that first mammogram also depends on family history. And it depends on whether there was a premature history once again in a first degree relative. And usually first mammography usually starts at about age 40. Some people do it as early as 35. But once again, if there's a very strong family history, in many cases there's a mammogram that alternates with an MRI much more sophisticated way of looking at the breast. And so your listeners have probably heard of the BRCA gene and it's importance in breast uterine and ovarian cancer. Uh, so there's multiple things that fit into it. Just being your own advocate and knowing your body and doing that self-exam, especially in the case of women and doing that breast self-exam. Super important, getting mammography. But that for date of that first mammogram also depends on family history

Speaker 1 (23:52):

To kind of skip to a, you know, a different topic, but it kind of relates to nutrition, which we, you had mentioned and talked about. How much emphasis should we be putting on vitamins supplements. I have not met anyone who will, you know, give me the time of day about what vitamins I should be taking. Are they completely useless? Is it, you know, I kind of always thought they're important to, you know, keep

Speaker 2 (24:15):

A good, not, not at, not at all. It's just let's, let's pick vitamin D and everybody. Vitamin D is now a, a big thing where it really wasn't such a a, a major cause for concern or a, a deficiency that we really looked at even 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Vitamin D is super important and everybody says, okay, vitamin D is important for bone health, but vitamin D is also very, very important for mental health. Maintaining your immune system. It's important for cardiac health. And where we live in our latitude, we probably get about four months of usable sunshine. May, June, July, and August. Now, if we lived in Miami, we'd certainly do better, but we've got just in, we routinely will at least once a year grab a vitamin D level on a patient, end up supplementing their vitamin D no matter how much milk they say they drink or how much dairy they say they, they, they consume.

Speaker 2 (25:11):

There are so many people with vitamin D deficiencies, B12 deficiencies because there's kind of this, this push for people to be less red meat, more vegan, unless you're eating foods that are very, very dark green, eating certain types of beans, lentils, and other things that may have some of the B vitamins by not eating some amount of red meat. There's deficiencies there. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> indeed. You know, is it, is it okay to take that, especially that centrum silver, if you're over 50, there's never a problem. But we'll check vitamin levels and prescribe accordingly if there's a deficiency and if it meets the clinical picture. So aa once again, not everything for everybody, but individualized is the, I think the absolute key. Everybody is unique.

Speaker 1 (26:01):

This is a central theme from the guests that we've had on this show that I've spoken to. We just had a show about travel and I was saying the same thing, asking the same questions. What are the best places to go? And the response was the same. Well, it, you know, it depends, it depends on what the individual is looking for, what they enjoy. It's like that with your money, your wealth, your investments. What are your retirement goals? What are your financial goals? I can't say that the same strategy is gonna work for everybody. And it's sounds like it's no different for your health and everyone. You have to look at your family history, your background, and it's just common sense. I mean, when you, when you say these things, I'm just like, obviously, but the system is not set up that way. No. And not to harp on it.

Speaker 1 (26:45):

We could, we could talk for hours on the system. I have gripes and I don't, you know, I don't even go to the doctor much. I know many of my, my clients, they see the doctor more regularly and probably have had many more gripes than I've had. But I wanna, in the time that we have left Dr. Coppi, something else that does come up is more on the mental health. It's the dementia, Alzheimer's. Some of our clients, they may have their parents now who are, who have aged, who are hitting that stage of life. And they may be starting to deal with some of these things. So are there any screens that they can do or preventative care or preventative lifestyle practices that are helpful in preventing Alzheimer's dementia or prolonging it? Delaying it? Anything that they can do?

Speaker 2 (27:31):

Sure. Well, they think the simplest thing is, is for somebody not to be in isolation. I think that is the, the absolute key. So to remain for anyone at any age is to remain engaged and engaged with other people, but also in your own time to be engaged. You know, be a reader. If you are an avid worker of crossword puzzles, keep working, uh, crossword puzzles, keep up with the news, keep up with current events. Maintain that contact with your fellow human being. Surgeon General now has actually put loneliness as a disease process. And you know, that may be the, the apartment dweller that lives by themselves that may go to work in the morning and come home and just be by themselves the, the rest of the day. Mm-Hmm. So just being engaged is incredibly important. Other things, just to make sure that your senses remain as sharp as possible.

Speaker 2 (28:29):

That means getting that eye exam, making sure that your, your ability to read is intact. Part of our M-D-V-I-P program, that little mini, uh, Mayo Clinic type exam. And part of it is, is a very cursory, very simple hearing test of eight pure bones, but that on each year. But that tells us an awful lot. So there's a tremendous, uh, correlation between hearing loss and the progression of cognitive dysfunction, Alzheimer's disease. So as we lose hearing, not only do we miss out on things, but we tend to, once again, socially withdrawal. So maintaining our senses, maintaining our attachment to the outside world, remaining knowledgeable, super important. But if one suspects that there is some cognitive loss, some memory loss, then that's something that should come to the physician's office. And there are a battery, a very, very simple tests to do. But now zy tell everybody, if you're going to have a disease, it's better to have it in thousand 23 than in 1993 because of the treatment options and diagnostic options.

Speaker 2 (29:43):

We have as an example, Washington University has a tremendous memory clinic and part of their diagnostic exam is a, is a very, very specialized MRI that looks at brain volume. And the volume of brain tissue is a direct correlate with cognitive function. So there's so many things to do. We offer, and many doctor offer doctor's offices were not unique. There's a test called the slums test, SL UMS, and it basically stands for St. Louis University Mental Status Exam. So from St. Louis University, our local medical school used Nationwide is a 28 questionnaire that gives us tremendous insight on where people stand cognitively. And it's something that can be done in 10 minutes in our office. So once again, the suspicion is there, it needs to be worked up because not everything is Alzheimer's disease. There are many other illnesses that masquerade as Alzheimer's that are totally, totally treatable. You just need to make the diagnosis.

Speaker 1 (30:47):

Well, a couple things there. One thing being engaged, we talk about it all the time. I can, without doing any tests, I can see folks that retire and, and they are engaged in something, they're happier, they are brighter, they're, they're sharper. When folks retire to nothing, it's hard on them. And so we encourage people to either volunteer, get, get engaged in something that, where someone is counting on you to go and show up and to use your mind or your brain or your labor in some way, shape or form. Or for some folks they, they're able to semi-retire and, and continue to do somewhat the same thing that they were doing, just not on a full-time basis. Boy, that's a great financial strategy if, you know, if you still could use a few extra bucks when you retire, that's a fantastic idea. But even for the mental benefits to stay engaged is pretty important. And the last thing you said is there's so many people out there that invest in their financial future and they're not investing in their health. And now I know that possibly I, I'm, I'm assuming M-D-V-I-P may not be for everyone, but for those that it, it is, and for those that wanna invest in their health and that they take it seriously and, and they want to make sure they're getting the best care advocacy service from a health standpoint, gosh, I highly encourage you to, to look into this model.

Speaker 2 (32:11):

Yeah, well, like I said, it, it basically about 22 years ago is when M-D-V-I-P came into existence. Now, there have been, uh, individuals that have kind of done this on their own in St. Louis County. I think there were two doctors that did this years back. But once again, it's a very difficult thing to, to organize on your own. But M-D-V-I-P is certainly the largest provider of this type of practice. I think there are 1100 offices nationwide. Most of them, as you could imagine, are in Texas and Florida just because of the, the demographic, the, the concept I think is growing. It, it takes an incredible leap of faith. You could imagine what it was like to go from 4,000 people and relative craziness and, but relative security to say, okay, I'm gonna do this. Who's gonna come with me on this, uh, on this journey.

Speaker 2 (33:03):

And, uh, we, we've been, we've been very fortunate, very blessed to have a, a, a tremendous patient panel and population that has continued to grow in the, in the four and a half, almost five years that we've done this. It's life changing for me as a physician. I hope it's life changing and life and life prolonging and life fettering for my patients. 'cause that's the ultimate goal that everybody, that everybody benefits from this. But there are other providers. But by far M-D-V-I-P is the largest nationwide. And there are, I think, uh, four, five offices in St. Louis. We're the only ones in Southern Illinois.

Speaker 1 (33:45):

Well, it, it makes all the sense in the world, like I said, for folks that you wanna invest in your health, you're not happy with where you're at, there are other options. So we will include information on Dr. Coppi and M-D-V-I-P in our show notes. So be sure to check those out. And Dr. Coppi, thank you for coming on and talking with us and discussing some of these very important topics. I've got a list of questions I didn't get to, so maybe we'll have you back on at some point and talk some more. There's so much to uncover here, but you've been a great resource and it, our event was wonderful when you came out and spoke to our clients. So thank you again for your time today.

Speaker 2 (34:20):

An absolute pleasure and would be happy to do it again.

Speaker 1 (34:23):

Alright, well, with that everyone, thank you for watching this episode of the Retirement Power Hour podcast. Before you go, I wanna remind you, go to retirement power hour podcast.com. You can use that website to click submit a question. You can view all of our prior episodes as well and get lots of great resources from those episodes. But you can also submit a request for a free retirement analysis. And this is for folks that are within five to 10 years of retirement. You're over it, 50 years of age, and you're wondering, can I retire? Do I have enough? Have I saved enough? Am I on track? What am I gonna do about Social security? What am I gonna do about Medicare? If you go to the website, you can request that complimentary analysis. The first step is just scheduling a phone call. You'll talk with me.

Speaker 1 (35:07):

We'll ask you a few questions, we'll gather some information, and then we will take you through and show you, just like we talked about with Dr. Kopi, we'll do a full blown evaluation, a full analysis, and show you what areas we feel should be addressed. If there are any concerns, we'll tell you about those. And also opportunities, ways to improve things and put you in a better position. So go to retirement power hour podcast.com. Don't forget, leave us a review as well on Apple, Spotify. Uh, Google, we appreciate you tuning in. And don't forget to join us next time on the Retirement Power Hour podcast, where we help listeners invest wiser and retire better. Take care.

Speaker 3 (35:45):

Thank you for listening to the Retirement Power Hour podcast. All material discussed on this podcast is for educational purposes only. It should not be construed as individual tax, legal, or investment advice. Investing involves risk of loss and investors should be prepared to bear potential losses. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Joe Allaria is an investment advisor representative of Carson Allaria Wealth Management, a registered investment advisory firm. Information discussed on this podcast may be derived from third parties that are believed to be reliable, but Carson Allaria Wealth Management does not control or guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of such information and disclaims all liability for damages resulting from such sources. Any references to third parties are provided as a convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.