Alabama Public Radio continues its collaboration on the television show about business called Alabama, Inc. So far this year, I've profiled business leaders specializing in advertising, construction, architecture, and sporting goods, among others. Tonight, the spotlight falls on Dottie King. She could be mistaken for your favorite aunt. The catch is, she’s saved clients millions of dollars…
“Middle aged women are very trustworthy.”
And that, in a nutshell may be Dottie King’s secret weapon. Of course, her college degrees in math and physics don’t hurt. “It opened a lot of doors that were not normally open for women," she says. "It turned out to provide opportunities that were beneficial, both long term and short term.”
And, it’s short term and long term benefits that’s King’s stock in trade. She runs her consulting business out of her ninety five year old home in Birmingham’s Highland Park neighborhood. It’s all neat as a pin as I and a camera crew arrives to talk. King says a lot of businesses make the same mistake. "They have no idea what functions, which clients, which products are services are really generating the cost within their companies.”
King’s track record includes helping one customer track down eighty five million dollars in late payments. King also paved the way for twenty million dollars in lawsuit settlements. And, she attracted four million dollars in grants for another. In her spare time, she wrote a safety report on rollover crashes for the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.
“I think business is more far open to consultants. They realize that consultants bring great value on a limited basis. They don’t have to hire us or provide benefits. So, it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
But even King admits, it wasn’t always the case. After working as a statistician at BellSouth, she opened her first business consulting group in 1996 with a male business partner. Back then, Birmingham’s business community was shall we say…a "man’s world" and her meetings with clients reflected that…
“Very often we’d ask questions and the answers would be directed to my business partner. But, that’s less and less the case."
Chasing delinquent customers or crunching numbers to win someone an eight million dollar tax credit is one thing—getting people who have money to pry open their wallets for charities who need money is another. King says one thing she does is analyze the return on donations. “What that means you objectively measure the outcomes of your various program," says King. "Then, if you want to do so, you can actually monetize those outcomes, so the donor—whether it’s a large organization or an individual can actually see the return on their investment. “
One thing King couldn’t analyze her way out of was the recession that hit in 2007 and 2008. Consulting jobs began to dry up and she began to think that her several careers was enough… “And that time, I starting giving serious consideration to retirement. And when I looked for information, for example, on when’s the best time to take social security, I couldn’t find any information that was specific time. So I developed a little spread sheet.”
And started her latest career—crunching numbers for average people who are looking to have enough money and benefits coming so they can retire. King’s spreadsheet isn't a get rich scheme or a source of insider information. King says she doesn’t offer any advice she just processes the data and states the facts…
“Of course, you have to make some assumptions that you will live to a certain age, that you might or might not need long-term care, or your spouse would need long-term care. That you don’t have responsibilities that would reduce your assets drastically.”
And early retirement may not be the result. King says she offers alternatives that may or may sound attractive. One example is staying in the workforce. King says if someone forgets about retiring at sixty two and sticks it out until age seventy, they pay more into social security and gets more back.
“Almost $7,900 dollars," she says. "Similarly, if you want until age seventy, as opposed to taking benefits at a standard age, there’s actually a gain of $10,080 a year.” How about working a side job after you leave your regular career? King says that can work too… “Even if they only work part time, then they continue to contribute to social security benefits. And, they delay taking benefits, which means they’re going to collect more each month. And, that can wind up being about $10,000 a year.”
Dottie King and I will talk about how she got from here to there on Alabama Inc., Wednesday night at 10 pm on your local Alabama Public Television station.
