Yeah

...

it hurts the kids.

So focus on your marriage.

Be marriage-centric rather than child-centric.

The next protection, Jamie, because this will come after your marriage like crazy, that is another person, an outside relationship.

You know, is there any relationship that if the roles were reversed, we ask our young couples this, and Jamie, you and I have to ask ourselves, if you knew a relationship I had with another woman in any kind of way, texting, talking, eating dinner with them, working with them, a client, if you really knew that, is there any relationship, if we reversed the roles, that you would feel uncomfortable with? Is there anybody in your life that if I truly knew the, the relationship, that I would feel uncomfortable with? And I think we have to ask ourselves that in a mode of self-examination, because as we know and we see it over and over and over, we just saw it this weekend with a couple.

Yeah

He had gotten a new job and they were disagreeing on where... whether to save or put some of that money in a, was it a 401k or?

Yeah, with a 401k.

And what you need to do is max that out because, you know, that's tax deferred.

And then also, you know, a lot of companies will match that up to a certain amount, 401k.

So you definitely need to do that.

That's not risky at all.

That's guaranteed.

eat canned tuna and live in a hut i do not care about the carrot size and that was you know

I'm in

investment banking, partner with Founders Advisors, and we are a middle market investment bank.

And to give a little focus on where we are is we're really in those companies between about $25 million in enterprise value, Michael, and about $250 million.

That is our sweet spot.

And I'm not a classically trained banker.

I was basically a software engineer with IBM, which stood for I've Been Moved.

So the first 12 years of my career out of college, I actually co-opted with IBM when I was at Auburn.

Like when did you first start thinking about, and I'm sure you didn't call it this, but like the concept of being investment grade before you started banking and then how did those frequent run-ins with institutional capital sharpen that thought?

Zange, has there been a challenge maybe that you've overcome in that area?

Yeah, well, first of all, yeah, this is amazing.

And thank you for being a student of all that, because I do not understand it.

And of course, you need a doctor.

And I know you're intellectually curious.

You read.

And I really, really appreciate that, that you care about this aspect of our marriage.

I think that we're not the only ones that find it attractive to work out together.

... a little more.

And I, I, I love it.

And, and I do love your people, and I love what you do, and I love your business and the life it gives you.

It's a blessing to me.

It's one of the best things in our midlife is you being so passionate about your people.

You know, your people, you love them.

You wanna make them better.

Mm-hmm

So

intentional, you know, by giving them our presence, because I think the memories that are gonna shape them are when we are truly present in their life.

And you and I have talked about it.

We are so blessed that two of our daughters live here in Birmingham.

We don't know what the future will hold, but hopefully they'll be here.

And we have a great opportunity to be close to them.

So I just, I want to be present.

receive.

So Zane, I'm going to let you just sort of take the lead in the SWOT arena.

Okay.

Yeah.

And SWOT is what we call in business an oldie, but a goodie.

Came out about 60 years ago when a guy at Harvard that's known for competitive advantage in businesses named Michael Porter came up with this little matrix, this approach, this exercise to talk about your strengths, your weaknesses, your opportunities, and your threats.

And that stands, you know, that's SWOT, right? So when Jamie says SWOT, he's talking about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

And one of the things I do when I work with companies is go through their company with this kind of lens or this kind of scaffold.

And I think we both... appreciative of that kind of thing.