A Personal Look at the Alcohol Industry | With Ann-Marie Keltner

Transcript

Ann-Marie Keltner:

So many people might see the problems that come along with alcohol as being a matter of choice. Right? Or not see why someone just can’t stop drinking. My story might help someone to see how that’s just not the case. And willpower alone will not make it go away. In fact, willpower actually is a liability in a matter of addiction.

Tim Weinold:

So if you would, let’s jump into your story at a particular place, a high drama place to start with. Tell us about that particular chapter in your life as a way into your larger story.

Ann-Marie Keltner:

So everyone who struggles with alcoholism, if they’re lucky enough to get to a point of recovery where sobriety has what’s called a bottom. Right? I was married, two young children, a wonderful life in the suburbs, had everything going. From the outside, it looked like an ideal life. But I was in a car accident, a single car accident in which, thank God, no one was hurt and no one was in the car with me. But I crashed into a telephone pole and found myself in the hospital, found myself in, well, for all intents and purposes, a psychiatric ward.

Ann-Marie Keltner:

And after that, I got into the 12 Steps and started a process of giving my life over to God. And that’s where the healing started to begin. I knew at that point that a little fix wasn’t going to fix it. Right? A band-aid fix wasn’t going to fix it. But they said an entire psychic change was possible. I said, “Okay. That’s what I need. I need an entire psychic change. Okay. Let’s take the leap. Let’s take the leap.” And I am so grateful for taking that leap.

Tim Weinold:

Why don’t we talk for a minute about how you have come to understand the issues of the business model and the investor implications for the alcohol industry? 60% of the revenues and profits come from the top 10% decile, if you will, of drinkers, and 90% come from the top 20%. What does that really mean in practice, do you think, as one would contemplate whether or not to be an investor in the alcohol business?

Ann-Marie Keltner:

If you have someone that has a bottle of wine and it takes them two weeks to get through versus someone who is going through two, three, or four in a day, logically, just ask yourself, “Who are they making the most money off of? Who is the alcohol company making the most money off of?” And you don’t have to really think about it too hard to realize, “Of course. They’re making money off of the people who are lining up at the liquor store at 7:00 AM waiting for it to open.” In 2020, alcohol deaths rose by 25%. There was a 2.9 increase in alcohol sales, which might not seem like a lot, but it was the biggest increase since 1968.

Ann-Marie Keltner:

All right. So take the death, the destruction, and then the increase in sales, and that means profit. Right? So who’s profiting off of that? Right? Do you want to profit off of that? I don’t, and that’s why I’m here. I can tell my story, and maybe the investor or the investment advisor watching this will say, “Wow. I hadn’t really thought about the alcohol industry like that.” And maybe just think twice about taking profits from when you dig deep, you realize that alcohol companies are making their profits off of problem drinkers, like I was.