Welcome back to Teaching the Unteachables, where we dive into methods for teaching and learning for professionals like you.
This session was recorded live at the 2023 National HVACR Education Conference. To learn more about the UA, visit ua.org.
Okay, thank you all for joining us. So we're hanging out with Brian Kelly from the UA today to talk about investing in yourself long term.
So when we when we get into the HVAC industry, there's a variety of paths to get into the industry.
And one of the paths that many technicians overlook, like myself as a young technician in the industry, is how to properly invest in yourself long term.
So as a young man, you know, I had, you know, always have those plans in the back of your mind of retiring and what retirement looks like.
But you never really dive too deep into it. And hopefully you invest in yourself and you start putting some funds aside.
But an option that people don't dive into is the security of being in a large organization that is completely focused on your long term security.
So, Brian, thanks for joining us today. And let's talk a little bit about benefits of being in the UA.
Sure, I'm happy to be here. And thanks for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you today.
So, I mean, I can speak a little from my own experience. I mean, I, you know, I didn't happen to stumble upon it.
My dad was a member of the UA. So when I decided not to attend traditional college or hold on, let me rephrase that.
When I attended one semester and I felt like it wasn't for me, I signed up and entered the HVAC trade into the Pipe Fittas Union in Boston.
Right. And, you know, just like everybody else, when you're 19 and 20 years old, you think you're invincible. You think your body is going to last forever.
You think you're going to do this for 50 years. You think you can, you know, and, you know, and, you know, I was smart enough to listen to folks
that taught me, hey, listen, pay yourself first, make sure you're always saving, putting a little way, putting a little way for retirement.
Don't spend everything you make the whole nine yards. I mean, we all get the same advice.
But quite frankly, when you're when you're a young buck, you think you're going to your body's going to last like that forever.
And I'll do that. I'll get to that point sometime. You know, and, you know, truthfully, in my experience, you know, when I have I have a diversified experience,
I mean, I came up as a technician. I was an instructor, business agent, business manager. I ran a local union.
And, you know, so I got to see what people in in my experience, most people didn't really start thinking about retirement until they got to their 40s.
Yeah, that was me, unfortunately.
You know, and that's when, you know, unfortunately, you know, you start getting some aches and pains and, you know, your body starts, you know, breaking down.
And let's let's face it, it is a tough trade. It is physically physically and mentally demanding for that matter.
Yeah, absolutely. You're right. I was so I was on the other side of that pole.
And it's I don't know why, because I always anticipated that I would just, you know, continue in the trade.
And then I really focus on at some point, you know, investing long term.
And I've always done investing, but not to the point of where I stopped and really look wasn't until I was 40 that I stopped and went,
am I on track? I mean, because we have this stipulation that, oh, yeah, I don't know if we put some in that, you know, we'll be OK and we'll relook at it sometime.
And at 40, I stopped and went, OK, this is all on me.
I have to look at this and I have to be able to look for some help to figure out what I'm going to need going forward.
So, you know, it's one of those situations where many times when we're that young buck and we think that we are going to go forever and we're never going to have to really rely on anyone is until we get a little bit later in life and go, you know what?
It's very important to be a part of something and to know that there's things that you can rely on, because in my own life, my father was a member of the operating engineers.
You know, so he ran heavy machinery his whole life. And I, you know, at the time, growing up, you know, it was a job.
You didn't recognize that it had different benefits than, you know, other jobs.
It was just, you know, a job. And it wasn't until late in his life after retirement and skin cancer just really, you know, taken over his his livelihood that I realized the benefits of being a member of something larger than yourself.
Yeah, yeah. So similar similar to your experience. I mean, I had that the same type of self reflection, you know, in and around, you know, that 40 year old age type of thing where, you know, I looked at myself in the mirror and I questioned, you know, am I on track?
Am I am I going to be good for retirement? I certainly want to be good for retirement.
I knew I had good benefits. And, you know, what what sets me apart from a lot of other people is, you know, I do belong to a union and the fringe benefit package in addition to having great, great health insurance.
We have a great retirement plan, too. And but, you know, like I said, the major differences that's done for me. That's over.
You don't have to think about it as much. I don't have to think about it. It's over and above the my my weekly paycheck. It's paid directly from the employer to the fringe benefit funds.
And at the end of my career, I'll have a defined benefit pension. It'll pay me X amount of dollars per month and an annuity to supplement that.
So the idea and and and people that came long before I did set this whole thing up, the idea is to be able to, you know, you work a career, you know, your body's tired at the end.
But when it's when it when it comes that time, you're able to retire with dignity and, you know, still live the same lifestyle you're living while you're working.
Man, you know, all you have to do is look around and realize that, you know, that's not the path for everybody.
There are many people that, you know, have to continue working later in life because of not having that preparation, not having that security earlier on in life.
So a lot of a lot of things to think about as a young technician in many of our young technicians today are thinking towards the future more than we have as a generation.
So as as young technicians coming into the U.A., what kind of things can they be looking for? What kind of things should they expect as they start looking at a benefits package?
Well, as far as the benefits package, I mean, you know, you want to you want to look into one, certainly the retirement package, certainly that the health care, most people coming into the trade.
It doesn't matter when you come in. I mean, some, you know, I came in, I was fortunate. I got in when I was 19, 20 years old.
But I mean, we have folks, we have college graduates that that that cannot find a job in their profession that want to enter a skilled trade that is recession proof, is pandemic proof.
I mean, these things that these are things that hit home, you know, certainly a retirement package and, you know, again, for those younger folks coming in, especially that those that are looking to start a family, that those health benefits help tremendously when you're when you're having a family.
Oh, so true. Now, tell me a little bit about the design of U.A.
So if if someone goes through a union apprenticeship program and they live in one area, they're unsure what their future looks like.
You know, what is like the transferability of a U.A. program if they decide, say, hey, maybe I just met me a gal that's halfway across the country and I might want to I might need to relocate.
Sure. It happens all the time. And that is one of the benefits of being a member of the United Association.
You you have that ability. It's it's a it's an international organization, actually, the United States and Canada.
So, you know, if you do decide to relocate, there's there's two options.
You can either go to work in the in the new area where you where you move to on what we call a travel card, which means you're, quote unquote, a guest in the other jurisdiction or the other territory.
And but you're you're earning their wages and benefits at in the territory that you're on, that that you you you knew you newly reside in and or you can just transfer into that organization or into that local union if if that's if that's going to be your permanent residence.
OK, fantastic. So.
You know, I can I can add I can add plenty one of the you know, certainly as a member of a union, I can and as somebody that ran a union, I can say unequivocally, there's probably high 90 percent of our people that would not have saved as much as the union did for them upon retirement.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I know just in my own personal experiences of how many friends have cashed out 401Ks and took huge losses on them to put up a new bar or buy that motorcycle they want or things along the way or what we consider maybe emergency expenses.
But truly not in what I would consider emergency enough to affect your long term retirement. So in that, tell me about the security of investing in your retirement. So that's a non touchable security.
It's it's non touchable. I mean, you actually never even said at least on the pension side, you never even see it. The contractor makes contributions on your behalf and you only see it upon retirement or in the unlikely event that you become disabled or whatnot.
It's it's there strictly for retirement. You know, a lot of unions have a supplemental retirement to in the in the form of annuity or something similar that you may have an opportunity similar to a 401K to take a hardship withdrawal or whatnot.
Every local union has a little different setup. But true. You know, you got to remember that these are funds that are supposed to be for retirement and and you know that they're set aside for a reason because you need them.
And you know, quite frankly, I I honestly think that there's not enough talk about saving for retirement these days. And you know, you keep seeing on the news, especially in today's day and age about the Social Security and funding it and whether or not it's going to be there in the future.
Yeah, it's a it's a hot topic. And you know, a lot of people count on that for their retirement. And let's face it, what happens what happens if it's not there in the future? Yeah, that's exactly right.
Definitely eye opening for me, you know, the opportunities that we have. So when we're looking as young technicians in particularly, or technicians that are just rethinking their, you know, their investment plan in themselves, check in with your local UA, learn about the opportunities to secure your future.
And if you're a parent looking at options for your students, you know, think about the long term investment that you have here. You know, we've invested in raising our children hoping to prepare them for life.
And maybe we've never looked at the, you know, opportunities to put them in pass that will help take some of that responsibility and that burden of the planning off from their shoulders.
And many of us, especially some of those guys are not the best at self planning for our future and our retirement. So just opens up a whole lot of opportunities.
Sure, no matter no matter how old you are, where you are in the trade. Take a good solid look at that because I'll tell you right now.
No matter where you are on the age spectrum, I can tell you from personal experience, and I know you can too Clifton, you know, your body doesn't last forever. Take some time to look at your retirement setup.
And if you're not sucking away money for retirement, please do so.
Now, one other question I just had just sparked a thought. So with our apprenticeship program, are there age restrictions on joining the UA?
There are not there are not I mean, you know, we tend to get younger folks typically right out of either high school or trade school or even or even college that maybe cannot find a job in their in their discipline or whatnot.
And but we I mean, there's no age restrictions. I mean, we've had we've taken in guys 4050, you know, I will say as you as you get older, the benefit of the retirement reduced, it's reduced only because you don't have the number of years.
Absolutely credited years in the in the organization or in the business.
You can only take out what you put in for sure. Okay. All right. Well, Brian Kelly, thank you so much for joining us. It's a pleasure as always. And we will talk to you on the next round.
Thanks for having me.