When Paul and Lucille Sliker decided to leave the U.S. and make a life-changing move to Portugal, they knew it was also time to step back from their successful Medicare business. But as seasoned professionals, they wanted to ensure a smooth and trustworthy transition for their clients.
In this candid interview, Paul and Lucille share:
- the journey that led them to sell their book of business,
- their experiences in choosing the right partner, and
- the steps they took to make the move seamless.
Transcript:
John: So, we have Paul and Lucille Sliker here. Just give us a little background.
Paul: I was a financial services, mortgage, real estate guy my whole career, and I retired from that in 2014. Being the type of personality I am, I needed something else, and insurance always interested me because of the connection between the two and the way business is done—networking, and building a book of business, if you want to call it that, on the real estate side.
So, it was a natural fit for me. I started out concentrating on selling small business insurance, business health insurance. And as I transitioned into retirement age, the bells were going off in my head about Medicare. So, I jumped in and never regretted it.
I got to the point where I told Lucille, “Either you’re gonna come in and help me out, or I’m gonna have to give it away.” So, she wouldn’t let that happen, even though she didn’t really want to come out of retirement—I think for the third time!
Lucille: Yeah. I retired at 69 from dental hygiene. I was ready to retire. But, he talked me into it. I was just going to help him out, and before I knew it, I had my own book and my own clients. And I enjoyed it. It allowed me to keep helping people without the physical stress of going to an office and working on patients. So, it worked. It worked.
John: When we first met, you guys reached out to us on March 15th, right? So, last spring. Do you remember, how did you find us? Because you’re in Massachusetts, and we’re here in Illinois. What led you to us? Do you remember?
Lucille: I just did some Googling and research, and your company kept coming up. I looked into it a little bit deeper, listened to some of your videos or webinars, and thought, “Hey, this might work for us.”
Paul: I had heard a lot of rumblings in the business, nothing specific about selling a book, from other agents. I didn’t take it too seriously until we both looked at each other and said, “You know, I think it’s time to move on.” I kind of had my toe in, and Lucille jumped right in and did a lot of the legwork. I was kind of sitting back, watching, and seeing how this developed.
John: Tell everyone—you lived most of your lives in Massachusetts, but where are you now?
Lucille: Geographically, we’re in southern Portugal. We’ve been here since August 15th.
Paul: Yeah, August 15th. We came over with—how many bags?
Lucille: Eight bags, our skis, and our boot bags.
John: Incredible. So, the timing for you guys was important, right?
Lucille: Yes, timing was very important to us, and you worked with us on that, which was wonderful. You really accommodated our timing, and we appreciated that.
John: When we met Paul and Lucille, we knew pretty early in the spring that they wanted to do this. We got to terms on the price and all that, but they needed to push off the actual close until late in the summer when they were moving to Portugal.
So, even though we verbally agreed on everything by April or May, we put off the final close for their sake as long as we could, which helped them out. And it was fine for us—we knew they wanted to do it, so it was an easy accommodation. A good deal should work for both people, or it’s not a good deal. So, that’s what we did, and it worked out great for you guys and great for us, too.
Lucille: My summary is that you kept your word, you met all our expectations or promises, and then some. It was just a very seamless, good transition.
Paul: We were dealing with a phone call with someone we’d never met, with a lot of money involved. And you guys were true to your word. It’s amazing how seamless it was.
John: Thank you for that. We really appreciate it. We’ve got a great group of people here who all pitch in and work together.
Lucille: Yes, we can see that.
John: Your book was all United Healthcare, right?
Paul: Yes.
John: That makes it so much easier, technically, to transfer everything over from you to us. When we buy a book with 20 different carriers, it’s a lot more complex. Having one carrier made it easy.
Now that you’re in Portugal, what’s been the hardest adjustment for you?
Paul: For me, it’s the language. The Portuguese love to speak English, and they’re very good at it. But I feel kind of ignorant because I want to speak their language. We’re working on it—easier said than done. But other than that, it’s truly a very comfortable lifestyle.
It actually has more of an American feel than you might think. At least in the Algarve, in southern Portugal. We’re networking again, of course, building a social network. We just met with a couple from Chicago today, another couple from Minnesota, and another from Tennessee.
John: Wow. So, they moved too? They’re in the same boat as you guys?
Paul: Yes.
John: Thank you guys for everything. We’re right here if you need us. The other day I called at like 3:30 in the afternoon my time, and it was 9:30 there, so you guys were already in bed. I didn’t even think about that! If you get your customers calling you or needing help, I know you're pushing them back to us. We're doing our best to take good care of them.
Paul: Don’t worry, they can’t reach us directly anymore. To make this transition, we had to drop our U.S. number, so they don’t have our direct contact number anymore.
Lucille: Yeah, they have emails. So far, everyone’s been great.
John: Good, good. Well, thank you guys. Best of luck to you.
Paul and Lucille: Thank you!
Conclusion
For other agents contemplating retirement or a major life change, Paul and Lucille’s experience shows that it’s possible to move forward, knowing your clients will be cared for just as you would have.
If you’re considering retirement and want to learn more about how to sell your book of business, schedule a discovery call with us today.
Other interviews in this series:
