September 2, 2025 • 38 mins
Jerry pulls back the curtain on those nonstop ads for “mortgage protection” and “no-exam” life insurance. He walks through a real-world experiment comparing quotes from Ethos (no medical exam), USAA, and a broker (Big Lou/Pacific Life), showing how underwriting, company ratings, and policy type (term vs. permanent) can swing your cost—and your family’s outcome—by hundreds of dollars a month. You’ll learn why “guaranteed issue” TV policies often cost more for far less coverage, what waiting-period fine print really means, and how to evaluate insurers beyond the commercial (payout history, service, solvency). Bottom line: shop around, work with a competent pro, and buy early so your coverage fits your life—not an ad script.
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SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
The best things in life are You
SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
can give them to the birds and bees traditional media
(00:59):
and TV and looking forinformation and sources
elsewhere.
And that kind of brings me tothe point of this podcast today
because, you know, lately whatI've been seeing is there are
just tons and tons of ads that Ikeep seeing about mortgage
protection insurance and, youknow, of course the traditional
(01:19):
colonial pen type commercialswhere, you know, you have a old
lady or whomever and, you know,mom, what's What are you doing?
You know, and oh, I just amfeeling, you know, bad about
world.
And I just think that I don'twant to leave you with a big
financial burden when I die.
(01:39):
And so I took out a policytoday, you know, oh, mom, it's
so fantastic.
And, you know, there you go downthat road, tugging on
everybody's heartstrings, right?
Because nobody wants to feelthat mom doesn't know what she's
doing and don't really want totell Hey mom, we probably should
have done this a long time ago,but even so that may not be the
(02:02):
best, you know, thing to doright now because it's quite
expensive and they probablydon't even know that.
Right.
Because unless you're reallysteeped in the world of
insurance or your financialadvisor plan or what have you,
you know, okay.
You don't really know, right?
You don't know what you don'tknow.
(02:23):
I mean, there's tons of things Idon't know, right?
I mean, if I were to go out andbuild a house, I don't know
really the first thing aboutbuilding a house except for buy
some wood and buy some nails,right?
So it just is out of mywheelhouse.
And really, that's the wholepoint of this podcast, really.
It's just to educate, empower,and enlighten the gay community,
(02:45):
LGBT+, Q, queer, what have you.
So all I'm saying is is it'sgood when you know more than the
average bear, no pun intended,but it's good when you know more
that helps you do better in lifebecause we should learn from
each other, right?
(03:06):
And not have to always gothrough the school of hard
knocks.
But what I did is what I tried alittle life insurance experiment
because I wanted to see, youknow, maybe things have changed.
I This world is just all aboutchange, right?
So I ended up doing anexperiment with three life
(03:26):
insurance companies because Iwanted to check their rates and
I just wanted to see howcompetitive they would be
because you know that whenyou're looking at apples to
apples, then you make yourdecisions based on what you
think is the best one for you atthe right price and maybe you
(03:48):
pick a private label brand.
Like, you know, I don't know,let's say Monty's or Dole or
whatever it is, you know, overthe store brand or, you know, I
remember back in the eightieswhen seventies, eighties,
whatever it was, they used tohave generics and you walked
into the grocery store and onthe shelves would be these black
(04:09):
and white cans and it would saycorn, peas, whatever.
And that's all that was on them.
Nothing, no colors, no brands,no nothing.
And they were really reallyinexpensive because there was,
you know, no color, you know,the label was just plain, like I
said, and plus that there was nobrand from any company on it.
(04:32):
So it was just a lot lessexpensive.
Let's say if a can of peas was,I don't know, dollar 50, the
generics were maybe like, Idon't know, 50 cents.
So it was just a lot, lotcheaper.
And sometimes people boughtthem, but a lot of times people
didn't buy them because theywere like, Oh my God, this makes
me feel so poor.
You know, I'm not going to buythese.
And then I think what happenedis they actually got phased out
(04:54):
over time.
And I think they turned intolike store brands.
So you have your Kroger's andyour Publix and your, you know,
HEB and everything else.
And now you have your storebrands that are competitive with
some of the private labelbrands.
Anyway, the same can kind of besaid for life insurance, because
when you're looking at thesevarious companies, they all tend
(05:17):
to kind of look and sound thesame.
Because if they do the same, youknow, if it walks like a duck,
talks like a duck, it probablyis a duck, right?
But in this case, all thoseducks, when you're looking at
them in the row, although theylook the same on the outside, on
the inside, there's some bigdifferences.
(05:38):
And that's really where therubber hits the road.
Because in this case, let mejust jump into my story.
Because this will really helpillustrate, again, why it's
important to to do yourhomework, do your due diligence,
and work with a professional.
So I started off with justcalling, and actually I didn't
(06:00):
call anybody.
That was what I did before.
But this time I went online, andI went to this company, and I'm
not trying to throw any companyunder the bus, okay?
And I'm not really proposing orrecommending any one company
over another, but this was justmy experiment, okay?
You can do your own however youwant to do it.
(06:22):
So I went to this website with acompany called Ethos.
They have no underwriting, whichmeans they don't send anybody to
check your height, weight, bloodpressure, stand you on a scale,
draw blood, none of that stuff.
And that's what usually happenswhen you take out a life
insurance policy with atraditional company like the
Mass Mutual or whomever.
Anyway, so I asked for a quotefor$250,000.
(06:46):
And this case this had like sortof a sliding little bar and you
can move it back and forth andit would give you your quote and
you know you put your age inwhatnot and I don't even think
it asked me for any healthquestions I think it did I think
there was like a few healthquestions it asked me but not
many and anyway bottom line iswith this ethos company$100,000
(07:12):
at my age because I'm 62 rightand a guy so$100,000 with ethos
no underwriting,$415 a month.
So you might be thinking, wow,that's a lot, which is what I
would think.
That is a lot.
But if I can't get any insurancefrom any other company, maybe
(07:36):
then I'm willing to just eatthat because I need this$100,000
so bad for whatever reasons Ineed it.
So again, and this was just$100,000.
Remember, I'm shopping reallyfor about$250.
But just$100,000 was$415 amonth.
Then I went to a company calledUSAA.
(07:57):
Now, they're really known fortheir property and casualty,
meaning auto insurance,homeowners, etc.
But they do some other stuff.
Anyway, I went to them and Iactually spoke with a
representative.
And again, I asked for a quotefor$250,000.
And they asked me a fewquestions health-wise.
And they quoted me$212 a monthfor$250,000.
(08:20):
So I got a lot more coverage andI'm paying a lot less.
Now, this is, of course, pendingunderwriting, meaning again,
once you initiate the process,then they will send a third
party team to you and a nurse orwhomever, you know, will come
out and like I said, check yourheight, weight, blood pressure,
(08:42):
they would draw some blood andthat goes all off to, you know,
the underwriters and then theyget your medical records, etc.
And then ultimately, they willhopefully approve you and then
you will get a finalized quote.
But still, so just for mypurposes right here, right now,
Ethos,$100,415 a month, USAA,$250,$212 a month.
(09:03):
Again, they're not known reallyfor as a life insurance company.
This is more of a property andcasualty company, but they do
this as well.
And I think they used to do,yes, they did do investments as
well.
They also had a jewelry store atone time too, but all that I
believe is gone.
And now they're just kind ofgoing back to their core
business, but they're stilldoing this life insurance,
apparently.
(09:23):
Anyway, here nor there.
Then I went to an insurancebroker and I went through a
company called Big Lou.
They're out of Florida.
And I work with a guy namedChris.
Chris has been in the businessfor a long, long time.
I think he said over 20 years.
And again, he quoted me on$250,000.
(09:44):
Now, I don't know if you know,but there are actually about
1,500 life insurance companiesthat exist right now in the U.S.
Now, that is a significantnumber of companies.
And if you're trying to getquotes from them, well, good
luck, right?
Because that's going to take youa long, long time.
So, cut to the chase, workingwith someone like Lou, who was
(10:07):
able to, Lou, Chris, big Lou, heasked me enough questions that
he was able to narrow it down tothis one particular company.
And he quoted me on PacificLife.
So, they have been in businessfor a long, long time and
they're a reputable company andthey have a good payout history
and a good rating becauseinsurance companies are rated.
(10:29):
You can get ratings from a wholedifferent bunch of sources, but
ultimately, you know, they havepositive ratings, negative
ratings, and they can go downfrom there and you can look
online, et cetera.
And usually you can ask for,let's say the top 10 life
insurance companies, the best,or you can look at top 10
companies that are the worst.
(10:49):
And And usually the worst comesin play in terms of customer
service, payout history, becauseif at the time comes that
obviously you're deceased andyour heirs go to claim this life
insurance policy, if there's abig hassle with the payout, then
you haven't really done them anyfavors, right?
(11:10):
No, you really haven't.
You've made the process thatmuch more difficult.
And the last thing you want atthat time when they need this
money for whatever reasons thatit doesn't pay out the claim is
denied it's caught up and whoknows what circumstances and
they don't want to pay out soyou really want a company that
(11:31):
you have again has a good trackrecord and you have confidence
that when the time comes thatyour heirs are going to be able
to get this money because that'sthe whole point of it right
you've been paying into thisover time and now it's time for
them to cough up anyway so withbig glue he quoted me 250,000
for 121 a month.
(11:51):
So what I'm looking at here, Ishould say, these are term
policies.
Term policies are just like thename says.
They're temporary policies,meaning they're only good for a
certain period of time, usually10, 15, 20, maybe 30 years if
you're lucky.
It all depends.
So the older you are, the feweryears they're going to insure
(12:11):
you for.
The younger you are, the longerthey're going to insure you for.
And all their rates usually arebased, again, on the outcome of
the underwriting.
You could be rated ultrapreferred, you know, the best
rating you can get.
I think maybe 15% of thepopulation gets that.
It could go down to preferred,which where most people fall
into standard, below standard,or you could be even be table
(12:35):
rated, meaning the insurancecompany will offer you a policy,
but it may not be at the bestrate.
It could be at a table ratedrate because of your activity,
your health, some situation thatthey have to look at it more
closely and say yes we'rewilling to extend life insurance
(12:56):
to this person but they're goingto have to pay a premium well
the premium is what you pay tothe life insurance company
anyway on a monthly annual basiswhatever it is for the coverage
but they make you pay a littleextra because of whatever
circumstances they see they deemas risky because life insurance
like all insurance is riskaverse they don't really want to
(13:19):
take on more risk Then theyabsolutely have to, because the
name of the game is for them tomake money.
And if they were insuring everyTom, Dick and Harry and all Tom,
Dixon, Harry's die, then they'regoing to be out of business
pretty quickly.
So they only want to insure theright people for the right
amount for the right number ofyears.
(13:39):
So the older you get, thengenerally in the term policy,
it's just going to end.
Now, there are the opposite ofterm policies, which are
permanent policies.
These would be your whole life.
Your universal life, yourvariable universal life, etc.
Now, those kind of policies, asthe name says, that it's for
your whole life, for your entirelife.
(14:01):
They will usually insure you upto the age 100.
I believe it's even now up tolike 120.
But you pay for these policiesyear after year.
And over time, it builds up cashvalue inside of it.
Term does not.
It just is what it is.
You pay for that.
You quit paying for it.
It goes away.
Right.
So in this case, if let's sayyou've been paying on it for 10
(14:23):
years and there's whatever cashinside of it, let's just say
$10,000, then if you stop payingand then the monthly premium,
let's say, it can just drawsometimes on the cash that's in
there.
Or let's say, hey, I've got thislife insurance policy and it has
$10,000 in it.
I want to take a trip, buy acar, whatever it is, and you
(14:45):
want to borrow against this lifeinsurance policy.
You can.
typically you can just go to thelife insurance company and say,
I want to borrow$5,000 from mypolicy.
Okay.
So they will then take that cashagainst your policy, give it to
you, you do whatever you want towith it.
And then typically you will payit back.
(15:06):
Now, if you don't, then usuallywhen you die, then that 10,000
just going to be subtracted forthe, from the death payout.
So again, it just is what it is.
So you can go to a bank, right?
You They're going to cost youmoney because you're paying
interest on that amount of moneythat the bank lent you.
Now, in this case, you'relending your money essentially
(15:27):
to yourself.
So, of course, the insurancecompany takes your money, my
money, everybody else who's putmoney into it, and they invest
in lots of different type ofinvestment, stocks, bonds, what
have you.
And then they make money on yourmoney, my money.
And then, of course, that's howthey stay in business.
But then when the time comes topay out, they have, of course,
(15:47):
all the money they made on theirinvestments and then they pay
you out etc and then you've beenpaying your monthly premiums on
top of that anyway you get theidea so nevertheless back to my
story my experiment so i went tothe three companies and like i
said i went to the ethos the 100000 for 415 a month the usa 250
(16:07):
212 a month and then pacificlife they quoted me 250 for 121
so again that is a bigdifference and that's the whole
reason why when you're watchingthose commercial about mortgage
protection, you know, pay offyour house when you die.
And gee, mom, I'm so glad youtook out that policy because now
(16:28):
we don't have to worry about,you know, putting you in the
ground and how it's going to bepaid for.
So with one thing I'll say aboutlike the colonial pen type
policies, their nine 99 deal isthat they're sold in units.
And each of these units areroughly about$5,000.
So when you're talking about,again, let's just, I don't want
(16:49):
to I'll say significant amountof coverage, let's say a hundred
thousand dollars.
Right.
And you're buying this in units.
You'd buy 20 units, you know,times they're nine 99, you know,
you're paying 200 bucks easily.
And so, uh, In this case, like Isaid, in my experiment, I was
able to get like twice thecoverage and I'm not paying
(17:12):
anywhere near that amount.
Now, of course, like I said, thecaveat being you have to clear
underwriting.
And again, this is in justgeneral terms, right?
Because the whole point here isto educate you, empower you and
enlighten you to how thingsreally work, because there is
really no class classes that I'maware of, maybe in high school
(17:32):
or outside of that, that teachyou some of the ins and outs
about things.
You really need to know aboutfinancial products and services
because most people just don'tlearn that.
Maybe it's taught morewidespread today, but at least
when I was growing up, etcetera, it was not something
that I remember was remotelyavailable.
(17:54):
They had welding and wood shopand there was a class, I
remember, that was bachelorsurvival and all kinds of other
silly kind of things.
classes you could take.
But the ones that are reallysignificant to people were just
not even available.
So nevertheless, these are thetype of policies that you want
(18:16):
to take advantage of.
And generally, you want to takeadvantage of them early on in
life.
So as you can see, even in myexample, I'm getting a
relatively small amount ofinsurance in the grand scheme of
things, and I'm paying arelatively larger amount because
of my age, et cetera.
Whereas, let's say If I was inmy 30s, I could probably get a
(18:38):
million dollars of insurance formaybe 15 bucks a month, right?
Because the chances of me dyingearly on are relatively low,
right?
I mean, of course, we could goout today and get hit by a bus.
But in the grand scheme ofthings, in the case of like
myself, I have more years behindme than ahead of me.
So it just means that yourhealth is generally better when
(19:02):
you're younger and you've gotfar more time on your hands.
So when you're talking withusually a financial advisor,
planner, what have you, theywill usually structure a policy
that's something like based onyour circumstances, let's just
say a half million dollars,million dollars worth of term
for 30 years.
Then they will usually couplethat with maybe a 50 or a
(19:23):
hundred thousand dollar wholelife policy that runs alongside
of it so that you are actuallybuying two policies, giving you
a lot more coverage, but oneonly lasts a certain amount of
time, the term, and one lastsyour entire life, which is the
permanent policy, the wholelife.
All life insurance is worthsomething.
I know it's kind of strange tothink about it, but especially
(19:45):
the whole life policies, and I'msaying whole life, I might as
well say permanent because I'malso lumping in these universal
policies as well.
Universal is just a differenttype of permanent policy where
whether you have the ability tochange the monthly premium, you
could go up, you could down.
Some of them are tied to thestock Some of them are not.
(20:07):
There's usually an A side and aB side, and you really, really
need to work with an advisor ifyou're going to go down the
route of a universal policy.
Not that they're bad in any way,shape, or form.
They're not.
It's just a little slightlydifferent animal, and you really
need someone who's capable ofrunning these numbers for you in
the best possible way to adjustthe policy based on your
(20:30):
circumstances because it can beextremely helpful in your
overall to have something like auniversal policy because there's
just many, many benefits.
And really, when you think aboutit, again, going back to the
reasons why you want lifeinsurance, going back to my
point about the TikTok wherethese ads come up about mortgage
(20:55):
protection insurance.
In my experience, mortgageprotection insurance is life
insurance.
That's just what it is.
Now, maybe a policy that'sstructured to have held by the
bank that the day you die itpays off your home loan if there
is one and which is nice rightbut if you're a beneficiary
let's say your husband your wifewhomever your kids let's say
(21:17):
that they're like well you knowjerry's dad dad's dad then it's
nice that the house is paid offwe don't have to worry about
that anymore but wonder ifthere's other debt that is still
hanging out there student loandebt credit card debt auto loan
personal loan what have you thenAnd that still has to be dealt
(21:37):
with somehow, some way.
That has to be paid off somehow,some way.
So usually the proceeds of lifeinsurance then will pay off the
house, pay off your debt, leavemoney to your heirs, and then
they can go on about theirliving their life, right?
Without the financial burden andthe worry that comes along with
it.
Now, if you just buy themortgage protection insurance,
(21:59):
that's it.
Then you leave them sort of outto dry.
Although the house is paid off,they have to now sell the house,
right?
Because unless there are otherassets your investment portfolio
savings account what have youthen there's no more money to
pay off all these otheroutstanding debts so yes you've
done them a favor but youhaven't really done them a favor
(22:19):
as well in terms of leaving themin the best financial situation
so you want to use a lifeinsurance policy for the reasons
that it makes sense to use itpay off your debt leave the
money to do whatever because atthe time of your demise you
don't want to leave your familylike I said hanging out to dry
because they're already goingthrough this whole what do you
(22:42):
call it?
The death cycle, you know, theacceptance and grieving and all
that.
So they're going through thatwhole phase, but you want to
make sure that money is not onepart of this process that really
causes a significant financialburden for them.
So that all being put aside forthe time being just also ties
(23:04):
into what I would always say is,again, you should work with a
competent financial advisor orprofessional because they're
really going to be your biggesthelp and again in the
circumstances of how much do Ihave to pay these people you
don't pay them out of pocketyourself right so the guy at Big
(23:25):
Lou Chris is not waiting for meto cut him a check right he to
pay him he gets paid by the lifeinsurance company they pay him
in this case they pay Big Louand he pays him but you get the
point that I don't pay themdirectly they get paid via the
life insurance company.
So that's just how it works.
That's been in place for foreverand a day.
(23:47):
So not anything you have toworry about.
You just have to make sure that,again, you're in the best
position to take out the mostlife insurance you can, you
need, and you want early on inlife.
So that is really my spiel aboutthis.
But one other thing I'll mentionis, especially when you're
(24:10):
working with a financial person,professional.
Now, like everybody, right,there's some people who are very
knowledgeable, they're reallygood at what they do, and you
certainly can trust them to giveyou the best advice and guidance
out there.
There are others, right, thatare not so much any of those
(24:31):
things.
They're maybe not very diligentat what they do, maybe they're
not really the type of personwho is precise, and maybe they
just don't know know some of thethings they should know.
What I'm referring tospecifically is when you're
looking at a universal policy, apermanent policy, I'll just say
that.
When you're looking at apermanent policy, and I'll just
(24:55):
say life insurance period, thereis the cost of insurance.
And I think I've talked aboutthis before.
So no financial product hasreally a price tag on it per se.
It's not like you go to thegrocery store and you look at
the can or whatever have you andit tells you exactly how much it
is right three dollars towhatever it is so with any
(25:18):
financial product that the priceis built into the background
somewhere so when you'recomparing apples to apples let's
say term policy like i describedit's pretty easy to see the
difference now in this case iused 250 and then i went to the
100 but the whole point being atthe 250 level okay we're looking
(25:38):
at twice the amount versus withUSA versus half the amount with
Pacific Life.
So the cost of insurance isbuilt into that, and you can see
the difference right away.
Now, it doesn't mean I know 100%what the cost of insurance is,
because again, I don't have allthe numbers, but I get a general
(25:59):
sense in this case with termabout which policy is more
expensive, right?
Which has stricter underwriting,which is more difficult to
obtain, hence, which has,they're more risk averse versus
one that's more loosey-goosey.
So when it comes to a permanentpolicy, though, this is really
where it becomes morechallenging for your financial
(26:19):
advisor because, again, they canrun illustrations for you, let's
say, on, I don't know, you know,1,500 companies.
Not that they would, but let'ssay.
Then, of course, they will haveto pull out the ones that make
the most financial sense to youin terms of how much you want to
pay for this on a monthly, youknow, annual basis.
(26:41):
whatever it is but they need todo their due diligence because
they are actually selling yousomething and they really really
need to know the ins and outs ofit to the best of their ability
because they need to offer youthe best one for your
circumstance and if not you knowline them up so you can make an
(27:04):
apples to apples comparison andyou choose the one you want but
at least you go into it withyour eyes open now generally
most financial advisors, and I'msaying this loosely too, that
they will just run theillustrations for you.
And then the one with the lowestpremiums is one that you take,
but there's also more to it,right?
Because we need to look at therating of the company, make sure
(27:25):
it's a reputable company becausebelieve it or not, lots and lots
of insurance companies die onthe vine.
They go bankrupt, they go out ofbusiness, all kinds of
circumstances.
So again, if you're planning for20, 30 year policy to remain in
effect, You need a company thathas been around 20, 30, 100 some
(27:45):
odd years and will most likelygoing to continue to remain in
business.
Otherwise, what's the point ofhaving this policy, right?
So that's one side of it.
We need to pick a reputablecompany.
We need to pick a financialadvisor who knows what the hell
he's doing.
And then we need to make surethat we're looking at this with
the granular detail in terms ofmaking me really understand how
(28:09):
much this policy actually costs.
Because often in theillustrations, they will again
use hypotheticals that are kindof unrealistic.
Let's say the returns thatyou're supposed to get are run
at 14%.
Now, I don't know that you couldget a consistent 14% return year
after year.
That seems highly unlikely.
(28:32):
Now, if it's being run at maybea 5% rate of return, that is
more likely.
Then that illustration isprobably far more accurate.
But you need to know whatnumbers are actually using and
how they're using them and whythey're using them.
And then you can see and you canunderstand.
So the cost of insurance isbaked in.
And even if they show you whatthe cost of insurance is, how do
(28:56):
you know that you're getting agood deal?
You may still not reallyunderstand.
So when investment portfoliosare being created, whether your
own advisor picks a then theyusually have a benchmark, right?
They need some way to assesswhether this is beating or not
(29:20):
exceeding the standardexpectations of this class.
Let's say the S&P 500, right?
So we know if your portfolio isbeing measured against the S&P
500 index, if the S&P is up 15%,your portfolio is only up 5%,
something's off, right?
Something's not going right.
(29:41):
right some part of yourportfolio needs to be adjusted
we don't know the advisor shouldbe able to sift that out and
explain and make arecommendation about what you
should do sell it whatever writeit out whatever it is but at
least you know same thing inthis case that the benchmark
there has to be a benchmark thatyou can assess what you're
(30:04):
looking at in terms of cost ofinsurance is reasonable
unreasonable it's good it's badit's whatever it is so your
advisor has the thatresponsibility to you otherwise
they left themselves exposed andthey can be sued right for not
giving you the best advicebecause they didn't do their due
diligence for you because theyshould have they should have
(30:25):
been able to show you thesenumbers against an appropriate
benchmark so that they fullyunderstand what they're selling
you and you fully understandwhat you're buying makes sense
hopefully it does anyway that'sreally what i wanted to talk
about today I know it probablysounds like I went on a rant,
and I did, but I really thinkit's important that you don't
(30:48):
get swayed by these commercialsyou see on TikTok or TV,
whatever it is.
They're almost crying aboutgetting the right coverage,
which is okay, like I said, butyou want to make sure it's okay
for you, not everybody, justyou.
Now, I'll just throw this caveatin.
(31:11):
If you cannot get insured forsome reason, this often happens
when you are depressed or you'vebeen depressed for a while.
You are on some significantmedications for whatever reason.
Maybe you got a DUI.
Maybe it's your second or thirdDUI.
Maybe you've tried to commitsuicide, etc.
Who knows, right?
(31:33):
Maybe you have sleep apnea.
Those are the kind of thingsthat can disqualify you for life
insurance, sometimes forever.
You may never get a policy froma reputable company, the Mass
Mutuals, the Pacific Life, etc.
They may just say, sorry, we'renot going to offer you life
insurance.
And that's sort of a black markagainst you because even though
(31:54):
you don't see it, it's out thereand the life insurance
companies, they know then whenthey do their background check
on you that you've been deniedcoverage for whatever reason and
they may just deny you as well.
So sort of unfair, but that'sjust the world we live in
because again, life insurancecompanies, for the most part,
are risk adverse.
(32:15):
Now, the ones that take allcomers, you know, again, not to
throw a colonial pin under thebus, but I guess I am, that they
take all comers because youmight be 85 and have dementia
and they're going to sell youthat policy, maybe.
I'm not 100% sure of all theircriteria, but let's just say
they will sell you that$999policy and you get$3,000,$5,000
(32:37):
worth of coverage.
And in the grand scheme, that'snot too much.
However, When you take out thosekind of policies, let's say the
colonial pen, the nounderwriting type of insurance,
generally there's like atwo-year waiting period.
So you buy this today, you dietomorrow, there's no payout.
Hopefully they will pay yourheirs back what you put into it.
(33:00):
But again, it has generally atwo-year waiting period.
So are you really, again, doingyourself any favor?
Your family, any favors?
No.
So in a traditional policy, theonly two-year waiting period per
se is if you commit suicide.
Now, generally, there's atwo-year waiting period for
that, that if you kill yourselfwithin the first two years, the
(33:23):
policy will not pay out.
Also, in a lot of life, mostlife insurance policies, I'll
say, if you are committing acrime, you go rob a store, you
get shot dead by the police, theshop owner, whatever, they're
not going to pay that out eitherso these are policies that are
designed to pay out because ofnatural causes natural deaths
(33:47):
not because again you've donesome nefarious activity and so
you really need to know what theexclusions are and buy the
policy for the right reasons forthe right amount of time that
makes sense for your budgettoday there you go that's my
spiel get some competent advice.
(34:09):
Don't go at it alone and justtry to do the best you can.
I think that's all we can do.
And hopefully there is atakeaway from this that you
learn something from it.
I'm going to post a littlechecklist online.
I think there's one out therealready called baby steps, but
I'm going to post onespecifically to life insurance.
(34:29):
So again, you have something totake a look at.
You can download it or just viewit online, share it, what have
you.
Speaking of the website, I'mjust going to mention I
mentioned that I'm still makingtweaks and adjustments to it.
So it's always a work inprogress and there's always
things that I'm changing andneed to adjust, but it's getting
better and better.
So I'm happy about that.
(34:49):
But there is a blog that I'vebeen updating on a regular
basis.
And that is a very loose type ofthing.
It's not always related exactlyto any financial topics.
I think there's one out thereabout head of household, which
is taxes about taxes, how, youknow, you.
claim yourself on your taxreturn.
(35:10):
But I've also posted variousthings out there.
I think there's a really goodvideo by a gay creator.
I think I pulled that off aTikTok as well that I just
absolutely adore.
I think it's fantastic, but it'smy ability to just do sort of a
brain dump on whatever topiccomes to mind and I'll post it
out there.
So it's just either funny orinsightful or just maybe just
(35:30):
useful.
Hopefully you find it useful,but I would appreciate anybody's
feedback, you know, or thoughts,comments, or There's even an
opportunity that you can contactme.
And, you know, if you have aquestion or you want to
criticize me and say you'reabsolutely on left field and you
know what you're talking about,whatever.
Okay, whatever.
I'll take it.
(35:51):
I'm a big boy.
I can take it.
But hopefully there's more goodcomments and bad, but it just
comes with territory likeeverything, right?
We always get disgruntledpeople.
And, you know, speaking of that,I mean, every company, you know,
they have their fair share ofdisgruntled people as well,
right?
You go on to Yelp and there'salways people They're the worst
waiter I've ever seen.
This is the worst restaurantI've ever seen.
And other people are like, thisis the best restaurant.
(36:13):
They have the best service.
And I have the best food andbest of everything.
So you just kind of hopefullytake that all with a grain of
salt and decide that there ismore good than bad.
And then you go have yourdinner, et cetera.
Same thing in this case.
There are going to be probablynegative reviews about every
company.
But are there more negative thanpositive?
And you just take all that intoaccount.
(36:34):
Again, using those ratingsystems is a good way as well.
And again, the experience ofsomeone like Chris at Big Blue.
I keep talking about him becausehe was really fantastic and I
really enjoyed working with him.
So that's really it for metoday.
Season six of this podcast isgoing to be coming up fairly
shortly.
I think I'm going to drop seasonsix beginning November one, I
(36:57):
think is my time frame, maybeOctober one, if I really get my
act together.
But that's kind of it for me.
And I will talk to you later.
Next time.
SPEAKER_02 (37:18):
I went to see the doctor today Cause ever since
you've been gone I had a
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
pain
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
deep down inside He says there's nothing really
wrong with me I'm just missingmy man So honey, please Come on
home as soon as you can Doctor'sorders say There's only one
thing for me Now I'm going homehe can do cause only you can
(37:54):
cure me since me and myconditioned love
The best things in life are You
SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
can give them to the birds and bees traditional media
(00:59):
and TV and looking forinformation and sources
elsewhere.
And that kind of brings me tothe point of this podcast today
because, you know, lately whatI've been seeing is there are
just tons and tons of ads that Ikeep seeing about mortgage
protection insurance and, youknow, of course the traditional
(01:19):
colonial pen type commercialswhere, you know, you have a old
lady or whomever and, you know,mom, what's What are you doing?
You know, and oh, I just amfeeling, you know, bad about
world.
And I just think that I don'twant to leave you with a big
financial burden when I die.
(01:39):
And so I took out a policytoday, you know, oh, mom, it's
so fantastic.
And, you know, there you go downthat road, tugging on
everybody's heartstrings, right?
Because nobody wants to feelthat mom doesn't know what she's
doing and don't really want totell Hey mom, we probably should
have done this a long time ago,but even so that may not be the
(02:02):
best, you know, thing to doright now because it's quite
expensive and they probablydon't even know that.
Right.
Because unless you're reallysteeped in the world of
insurance or your financialadvisor plan or what have you,
you know, okay.
You don't really know, right?
You don't know what you don'tknow.
(02:23):
I mean, there's tons of things Idon't know, right?
I mean, if I were to go out andbuild a house, I don't know
really the first thing aboutbuilding a house except for buy
some wood and buy some nails,right?
So it just is out of mywheelhouse.
And really, that's the wholepoint of this podcast, really.
It's just to educate, empower,and enlighten the gay community,
(02:45):
LGBT+, Q, queer, what have you.
So all I'm saying is is it'sgood when you know more than the
average bear, no pun intended,but it's good when you know more
that helps you do better in lifebecause we should learn from
each other, right?
(03:06):
And not have to always gothrough the school of hard
knocks.
But what I did is what I tried alittle life insurance experiment
because I wanted to see, youknow, maybe things have changed.
I This world is just all aboutchange, right?
So I ended up doing anexperiment with three life
(03:26):
insurance companies because Iwanted to check their rates and
I just wanted to see howcompetitive they would be
because you know that whenyou're looking at apples to
apples, then you make yourdecisions based on what you
think is the best one for you atthe right price and maybe you
(03:48):
pick a private label brand.
Like, you know, I don't know,let's say Monty's or Dole or
whatever it is, you know, overthe store brand or, you know, I
remember back in the eightieswhen seventies, eighties,
whatever it was, they used tohave generics and you walked
into the grocery store and onthe shelves would be these black
(04:09):
and white cans and it would saycorn, peas, whatever.
And that's all that was on them.
Nothing, no colors, no brands,no nothing.
And they were really reallyinexpensive because there was,
you know, no color, you know,the label was just plain, like I
said, and plus that there was nobrand from any company on it.
(04:32):
So it was just a lot lessexpensive.
Let's say if a can of peas was,I don't know, dollar 50, the
generics were maybe like, Idon't know, 50 cents.
So it was just a lot, lotcheaper.
And sometimes people boughtthem, but a lot of times people
didn't buy them because theywere like, Oh my God, this makes
me feel so poor.
You know, I'm not going to buythese.
And then I think what happenedis they actually got phased out
(04:54):
over time.
And I think they turned intolike store brands.
So you have your Kroger's andyour Publix and your, you know,
HEB and everything else.
And now you have your storebrands that are competitive with
some of the private labelbrands.
Anyway, the same can kind of besaid for life insurance, because
when you're looking at thesevarious companies, they all tend
(05:17):
to kind of look and sound thesame.
Because if they do the same, youknow, if it walks like a duck,
talks like a duck, it probablyis a duck, right?
But in this case, all thoseducks, when you're looking at
them in the row, although theylook the same on the outside, on
the inside, there's some bigdifferences.
(05:38):
And that's really where therubber hits the road.
Because in this case, let mejust jump into my story.
Because this will really helpillustrate, again, why it's
important to to do yourhomework, do your due diligence,
and work with a professional.
So I started off with justcalling, and actually I didn't
(06:00):
call anybody.
That was what I did before.
But this time I went online, andI went to this company, and I'm
not trying to throw any companyunder the bus, okay?
And I'm not really proposing orrecommending any one company
over another, but this was justmy experiment, okay?
You can do your own however youwant to do it.
(06:22):
So I went to this website with acompany called Ethos.
They have no underwriting, whichmeans they don't send anybody to
check your height, weight, bloodpressure, stand you on a scale,
draw blood, none of that stuff.
And that's what usually happenswhen you take out a life
insurance policy with atraditional company like the
Mass Mutual or whomever.
Anyway, so I asked for a quotefor$250,000.
(06:46):
And this case this had like sortof a sliding little bar and you
can move it back and forth andit would give you your quote and
you know you put your age inwhatnot and I don't even think
it asked me for any healthquestions I think it did I think
there was like a few healthquestions it asked me but not
many and anyway bottom line iswith this ethos company$100,000
(07:12):
at my age because I'm 62 rightand a guy so$100,000 with ethos
no underwriting,$415 a month.
So you might be thinking, wow,that's a lot, which is what I
would think.
That is a lot.
But if I can't get any insurancefrom any other company, maybe
(07:36):
then I'm willing to just eatthat because I need this$100,000
so bad for whatever reasons Ineed it.
So again, and this was just$100,000.
Remember, I'm shopping reallyfor about$250.
But just$100,000 was$415 amonth.
Then I went to a company calledUSAA.
(07:57):
Now, they're really known fortheir property and casualty,
meaning auto insurance,homeowners, etc.
But they do some other stuff.
Anyway, I went to them and Iactually spoke with a
representative.
And again, I asked for a quotefor$250,000.
And they asked me a fewquestions health-wise.
And they quoted me$212 a monthfor$250,000.
(08:20):
So I got a lot more coverage andI'm paying a lot less.
Now, this is, of course, pendingunderwriting, meaning again,
once you initiate the process,then they will send a third
party team to you and a nurse orwhomever, you know, will come
out and like I said, check yourheight, weight, blood pressure,
(08:42):
they would draw some blood andthat goes all off to, you know,
the underwriters and then theyget your medical records, etc.
And then ultimately, they willhopefully approve you and then
you will get a finalized quote.
But still, so just for mypurposes right here, right now,
Ethos,$100,415 a month, USAA,$250,$212 a month.
(09:03):
Again, they're not known reallyfor as a life insurance company.
This is more of a property andcasualty company, but they do
this as well.
And I think they used to do,yes, they did do investments as
well.
They also had a jewelry store atone time too, but all that I
believe is gone.
And now they're just kind ofgoing back to their core
business, but they're stilldoing this life insurance,
apparently.
(09:23):
Anyway, here nor there.
Then I went to an insurancebroker and I went through a
company called Big Lou.
They're out of Florida.
And I work with a guy namedChris.
Chris has been in the businessfor a long, long time.
I think he said over 20 years.
And again, he quoted me on$250,000.
(09:44):
Now, I don't know if you know,but there are actually about
1,500 life insurance companiesthat exist right now in the U.S.
Now, that is a significantnumber of companies.
And if you're trying to getquotes from them, well, good
luck, right?
Because that's going to take youa long, long time.
So, cut to the chase, workingwith someone like Lou, who was
(10:07):
able to, Lou, Chris, big Lou, heasked me enough questions that
he was able to narrow it down tothis one particular company.
And he quoted me on PacificLife.
So, they have been in businessfor a long, long time and
they're a reputable company andthey have a good payout history
and a good rating becauseinsurance companies are rated.
(10:29):
You can get ratings from a wholedifferent bunch of sources, but
ultimately, you know, they havepositive ratings, negative
ratings, and they can go downfrom there and you can look
online, et cetera.
And usually you can ask for,let's say the top 10 life
insurance companies, the best,or you can look at top 10
companies that are the worst.
(10:49):
And And usually the worst comesin play in terms of customer
service, payout history, becauseif at the time comes that
obviously you're deceased andyour heirs go to claim this life
insurance policy, if there's abig hassle with the payout, then
you haven't really done them anyfavors, right?
(11:10):
No, you really haven't.
You've made the process thatmuch more difficult.
And the last thing you want atthat time when they need this
money for whatever reasons thatit doesn't pay out the claim is
denied it's caught up and whoknows what circumstances and
they don't want to pay out soyou really want a company that
(11:31):
you have again has a good trackrecord and you have confidence
that when the time comes thatyour heirs are going to be able
to get this money because that'sthe whole point of it right
you've been paying into thisover time and now it's time for
them to cough up anyway so withbig glue he quoted me 250,000
for 121 a month.
(11:51):
So what I'm looking at here, Ishould say, these are term
policies.
Term policies are just like thename says.
They're temporary policies,meaning they're only good for a
certain period of time, usually10, 15, 20, maybe 30 years if
you're lucky.
It all depends.
So the older you are, the feweryears they're going to insure
(12:11):
you for.
The younger you are, the longerthey're going to insure you for.
And all their rates usually arebased, again, on the outcome of
the underwriting.
You could be rated ultrapreferred, you know, the best
rating you can get.
I think maybe 15% of thepopulation gets that.
It could go down to preferred,which where most people fall
into standard, below standard,or you could be even be table
(12:35):
rated, meaning the insurancecompany will offer you a policy,
but it may not be at the bestrate.
It could be at a table ratedrate because of your activity,
your health, some situation thatthey have to look at it more
closely and say yes we'rewilling to extend life insurance
(12:56):
to this person but they're goingto have to pay a premium well
the premium is what you pay tothe life insurance company
anyway on a monthly annual basiswhatever it is for the coverage
but they make you pay a littleextra because of whatever
circumstances they see they deemas risky because life insurance
like all insurance is riskaverse they don't really want to
(13:19):
take on more risk Then theyabsolutely have to, because the
name of the game is for them tomake money.
And if they were insuring everyTom, Dick and Harry and all Tom,
Dixon, Harry's die, then they'regoing to be out of business
pretty quickly.
So they only want to insure theright people for the right
amount for the right number ofyears.
(13:39):
So the older you get, thengenerally in the term policy,
it's just going to end.
Now, there are the opposite ofterm policies, which are
permanent policies.
These would be your whole life.
Your universal life, yourvariable universal life, etc.
Now, those kind of policies, asthe name says, that it's for
your whole life, for your entirelife.
(14:01):
They will usually insure you upto the age 100.
I believe it's even now up tolike 120.
But you pay for these policiesyear after year.
And over time, it builds up cashvalue inside of it.
Term does not.
It just is what it is.
You pay for that.
You quit paying for it.
It goes away.
Right.
So in this case, if let's sayyou've been paying on it for 10
(14:23):
years and there's whatever cashinside of it, let's just say
$10,000, then if you stop payingand then the monthly premium,
let's say, it can just drawsometimes on the cash that's in
there.
Or let's say, hey, I've got thislife insurance policy and it has
$10,000 in it.
I want to take a trip, buy acar, whatever it is, and you
(14:45):
want to borrow against this lifeinsurance policy.
You can.
typically you can just go to thelife insurance company and say,
I want to borrow$5,000 from mypolicy.
Okay.
So they will then take that cashagainst your policy, give it to
you, you do whatever you want towith it.
And then typically you will payit back.
(15:06):
Now, if you don't, then usuallywhen you die, then that 10,000
just going to be subtracted forthe, from the death payout.
So again, it just is what it is.
So you can go to a bank, right?
You They're going to cost youmoney because you're paying
interest on that amount of moneythat the bank lent you.
Now, in this case, you'relending your money essentially
(15:27):
to yourself.
So, of course, the insurancecompany takes your money, my
money, everybody else who's putmoney into it, and they invest
in lots of different type ofinvestment, stocks, bonds, what
have you.
And then they make money on yourmoney, my money.
And then, of course, that's howthey stay in business.
But then when the time comes topay out, they have, of course,
(15:47):
all the money they made on theirinvestments and then they pay
you out etc and then you've beenpaying your monthly premiums on
top of that anyway you get theidea so nevertheless back to my
story my experiment so i went tothe three companies and like i
said i went to the ethos the 100000 for 415 a month the usa 250
(16:07):
212 a month and then pacificlife they quoted me 250 for 121
so again that is a bigdifference and that's the whole
reason why when you're watchingthose commercial about mortgage
protection, you know, pay offyour house when you die.
And gee, mom, I'm so glad youtook out that policy because now
(16:28):
we don't have to worry about,you know, putting you in the
ground and how it's going to bepaid for.
So with one thing I'll say aboutlike the colonial pen type
policies, their nine 99 deal isthat they're sold in units.
And each of these units areroughly about$5,000.
So when you're talking about,again, let's just, I don't want
(16:49):
to I'll say significant amountof coverage, let's say a hundred
thousand dollars.
Right.
And you're buying this in units.
You'd buy 20 units, you know,times they're nine 99, you know,
you're paying 200 bucks easily.
And so, uh, In this case, like Isaid, in my experiment, I was
able to get like twice thecoverage and I'm not paying
(17:12):
anywhere near that amount.
Now, of course, like I said, thecaveat being you have to clear
underwriting.
And again, this is in justgeneral terms, right?
Because the whole point here isto educate you, empower you and
enlighten you to how thingsreally work, because there is
really no class classes that I'maware of, maybe in high school
(17:32):
or outside of that, that teachyou some of the ins and outs
about things.
You really need to know aboutfinancial products and services
because most people just don'tlearn that.
Maybe it's taught morewidespread today, but at least
when I was growing up, etcetera, it was not something
that I remember was remotelyavailable.
(17:54):
They had welding and wood shopand there was a class, I
remember, that was bachelorsurvival and all kinds of other
silly kind of things.
classes you could take.
But the ones that are reallysignificant to people were just
not even available.
So nevertheless, these are thetype of policies that you want
(18:16):
to take advantage of.
And generally, you want to takeadvantage of them early on in
life.
So as you can see, even in myexample, I'm getting a
relatively small amount ofinsurance in the grand scheme of
things, and I'm paying arelatively larger amount because
of my age, et cetera.
Whereas, let's say If I was inmy 30s, I could probably get a
(18:38):
million dollars of insurance formaybe 15 bucks a month, right?
Because the chances of me dyingearly on are relatively low,
right?
I mean, of course, we could goout today and get hit by a bus.
But in the grand scheme ofthings, in the case of like
myself, I have more years behindme than ahead of me.
So it just means that yourhealth is generally better when
(19:02):
you're younger and you've gotfar more time on your hands.
So when you're talking withusually a financial advisor,
planner, what have you, theywill usually structure a policy
that's something like based onyour circumstances, let's just
say a half million dollars,million dollars worth of term
for 30 years.
Then they will usually couplethat with maybe a 50 or a
(19:23):
hundred thousand dollar wholelife policy that runs alongside
of it so that you are actuallybuying two policies, giving you
a lot more coverage, but oneonly lasts a certain amount of
time, the term, and one lastsyour entire life, which is the
permanent policy, the wholelife.
All life insurance is worthsomething.
I know it's kind of strange tothink about it, but especially
(19:45):
the whole life policies, and I'msaying whole life, I might as
well say permanent because I'malso lumping in these universal
policies as well.
Universal is just a differenttype of permanent policy where
whether you have the ability tochange the monthly premium, you
could go up, you could down.
Some of them are tied to thestock Some of them are not.
(20:07):
There's usually an A side and aB side, and you really, really
need to work with an advisor ifyou're going to go down the
route of a universal policy.
Not that they're bad in any way,shape, or form.
They're not.
It's just a little slightlydifferent animal, and you really
need someone who's capable ofrunning these numbers for you in
the best possible way to adjustthe policy based on your
(20:30):
circumstances because it can beextremely helpful in your
overall to have something like auniversal policy because there's
just many, many benefits.
And really, when you think aboutit, again, going back to the
reasons why you want lifeinsurance, going back to my
point about the TikTok wherethese ads come up about mortgage
(20:55):
protection insurance.
In my experience, mortgageprotection insurance is life
insurance.
That's just what it is.
Now, maybe a policy that'sstructured to have held by the
bank that the day you die itpays off your home loan if there
is one and which is nice rightbut if you're a beneficiary
let's say your husband your wifewhomever your kids let's say
(21:17):
that they're like well you knowjerry's dad dad's dad then it's
nice that the house is paid offwe don't have to worry about
that anymore but wonder ifthere's other debt that is still
hanging out there student loandebt credit card debt auto loan
personal loan what have you thenAnd that still has to be dealt
(21:37):
with somehow, some way.
That has to be paid off somehow,some way.
So usually the proceeds of lifeinsurance then will pay off the
house, pay off your debt, leavemoney to your heirs, and then
they can go on about theirliving their life, right?
Without the financial burden andthe worry that comes along with
it.
Now, if you just buy themortgage protection insurance,
(21:59):
that's it.
Then you leave them sort of outto dry.
Although the house is paid off,they have to now sell the house,
right?
Because unless there are otherassets your investment portfolio
savings account what have youthen there's no more money to
pay off all these otheroutstanding debts so yes you've
done them a favor but youhaven't really done them a favor
(22:19):
as well in terms of leaving themin the best financial situation
so you want to use a lifeinsurance policy for the reasons
that it makes sense to use itpay off your debt leave the
money to do whatever because atthe time of your demise you
don't want to leave your familylike I said hanging out to dry
because they're already goingthrough this whole what do you
(22:42):
call it?
The death cycle, you know, theacceptance and grieving and all
that.
So they're going through thatwhole phase, but you want to
make sure that money is not onepart of this process that really
causes a significant financialburden for them.
So that all being put aside forthe time being just also ties
(23:04):
into what I would always say is,again, you should work with a
competent financial advisor orprofessional because they're
really going to be your biggesthelp and again in the
circumstances of how much do Ihave to pay these people you
don't pay them out of pocketyourself right so the guy at Big
(23:25):
Lou Chris is not waiting for meto cut him a check right he to
pay him he gets paid by the lifeinsurance company they pay him
in this case they pay Big Louand he pays him but you get the
point that I don't pay themdirectly they get paid via the
life insurance company.
So that's just how it works.
That's been in place for foreverand a day.
(23:47):
So not anything you have toworry about.
You just have to make sure that,again, you're in the best
position to take out the mostlife insurance you can, you
need, and you want early on inlife.
So that is really my spiel aboutthis.
But one other thing I'll mentionis, especially when you're
(24:10):
working with a financial person,professional.
Now, like everybody, right,there's some people who are very
knowledgeable, they're reallygood at what they do, and you
certainly can trust them to giveyou the best advice and guidance
out there.
There are others, right, thatare not so much any of those
(24:31):
things.
They're maybe not very diligentat what they do, maybe they're
not really the type of personwho is precise, and maybe they
just don't know know some of thethings they should know.
What I'm referring tospecifically is when you're
looking at a universal policy, apermanent policy, I'll just say
that.
When you're looking at apermanent policy, and I'll just
(24:55):
say life insurance period, thereis the cost of insurance.
And I think I've talked aboutthis before.
So no financial product hasreally a price tag on it per se.
It's not like you go to thegrocery store and you look at
the can or whatever have you andit tells you exactly how much it
is right three dollars towhatever it is so with any
(25:18):
financial product that the priceis built into the background
somewhere so when you'recomparing apples to apples let's
say term policy like i describedit's pretty easy to see the
difference now in this case iused 250 and then i went to the
100 but the whole point being atthe 250 level okay we're looking
(25:38):
at twice the amount versus withUSA versus half the amount with
Pacific Life.
So the cost of insurance isbuilt into that, and you can see
the difference right away.
Now, it doesn't mean I know 100%what the cost of insurance is,
because again, I don't have allthe numbers, but I get a general
(25:59):
sense in this case with termabout which policy is more
expensive, right?
Which has stricter underwriting,which is more difficult to
obtain, hence, which has,they're more risk averse versus
one that's more loosey-goosey.
So when it comes to a permanentpolicy, though, this is really
where it becomes morechallenging for your financial
(26:19):
advisor because, again, they canrun illustrations for you, let's
say, on, I don't know, you know,1,500 companies.
Not that they would, but let'ssay.
Then, of course, they will haveto pull out the ones that make
the most financial sense to youin terms of how much you want to
pay for this on a monthly, youknow, annual basis.
(26:41):
whatever it is but they need todo their due diligence because
they are actually selling yousomething and they really really
need to know the ins and outs ofit to the best of their ability
because they need to offer youthe best one for your
circumstance and if not you knowline them up so you can make an
(27:04):
apples to apples comparison andyou choose the one you want but
at least you go into it withyour eyes open now generally
most financial advisors, and I'msaying this loosely too, that
they will just run theillustrations for you.
And then the one with the lowestpremiums is one that you take,
but there's also more to it,right?
Because we need to look at therating of the company, make sure
(27:25):
it's a reputable company becausebelieve it or not, lots and lots
of insurance companies die onthe vine.
They go bankrupt, they go out ofbusiness, all kinds of
circumstances.
So again, if you're planning for20, 30 year policy to remain in
effect, You need a company thathas been around 20, 30, 100 some
(27:45):
odd years and will most likelygoing to continue to remain in
business.
Otherwise, what's the point ofhaving this policy, right?
So that's one side of it.
We need to pick a reputablecompany.
We need to pick a financialadvisor who knows what the hell
he's doing.
And then we need to make surethat we're looking at this with
the granular detail in terms ofmaking me really understand how
(28:09):
much this policy actually costs.
Because often in theillustrations, they will again
use hypotheticals that are kindof unrealistic.
Let's say the returns thatyou're supposed to get are run
at 14%.
Now, I don't know that you couldget a consistent 14% return year
after year.
That seems highly unlikely.
(28:32):
Now, if it's being run at maybea 5% rate of return, that is
more likely.
Then that illustration isprobably far more accurate.
But you need to know whatnumbers are actually using and
how they're using them and whythey're using them.
And then you can see and you canunderstand.
So the cost of insurance isbaked in.
And even if they show you whatthe cost of insurance is, how do
(28:56):
you know that you're getting agood deal?
You may still not reallyunderstand.
So when investment portfoliosare being created, whether your
own advisor picks a then theyusually have a benchmark, right?
They need some way to assesswhether this is beating or not
(29:20):
exceeding the standardexpectations of this class.
Let's say the S&P 500, right?
So we know if your portfolio isbeing measured against the S&P
500 index, if the S&P is up 15%,your portfolio is only up 5%,
something's off, right?
Something's not going right.
(29:41):
right some part of yourportfolio needs to be adjusted
we don't know the advisor shouldbe able to sift that out and
explain and make arecommendation about what you
should do sell it whatever writeit out whatever it is but at
least you know same thing inthis case that the benchmark
there has to be a benchmark thatyou can assess what you're
(30:04):
looking at in terms of cost ofinsurance is reasonable
unreasonable it's good it's badit's whatever it is so your
advisor has the thatresponsibility to you otherwise
they left themselves exposed andthey can be sued right for not
giving you the best advicebecause they didn't do their due
diligence for you because theyshould have they should have
(30:25):
been able to show you thesenumbers against an appropriate
benchmark so that they fullyunderstand what they're selling
you and you fully understandwhat you're buying makes sense
hopefully it does anyway that'sreally what i wanted to talk
about today I know it probablysounds like I went on a rant,
and I did, but I really thinkit's important that you don't
(30:48):
get swayed by these commercialsyou see on TikTok or TV,
whatever it is.
They're almost crying aboutgetting the right coverage,
which is okay, like I said, butyou want to make sure it's okay
for you, not everybody, justyou.
Now, I'll just throw this caveatin.
(31:11):
If you cannot get insured forsome reason, this often happens
when you are depressed or you'vebeen depressed for a while.
You are on some significantmedications for whatever reason.
Maybe you got a DUI.
Maybe it's your second or thirdDUI.
Maybe you've tried to commitsuicide, etc.
Who knows, right?
(31:33):
Maybe you have sleep apnea.
Those are the kind of thingsthat can disqualify you for life
insurance, sometimes forever.
You may never get a policy froma reputable company, the Mass
Mutuals, the Pacific Life, etc.
They may just say, sorry, we'renot going to offer you life
insurance.
And that's sort of a black markagainst you because even though
(31:54):
you don't see it, it's out thereand the life insurance
companies, they know then whenthey do their background check
on you that you've been deniedcoverage for whatever reason and
they may just deny you as well.
So sort of unfair, but that'sjust the world we live in
because again, life insurancecompanies, for the most part,
are risk adverse.
(32:15):
Now, the ones that take allcomers, you know, again, not to
throw a colonial pin under thebus, but I guess I am, that they
take all comers because youmight be 85 and have dementia
and they're going to sell youthat policy, maybe.
I'm not 100% sure of all theircriteria, but let's just say
they will sell you that$999policy and you get$3,000,$5,000
(32:37):
worth of coverage.
And in the grand scheme, that'snot too much.
However, When you take out thosekind of policies, let's say the
colonial pen, the nounderwriting type of insurance,
generally there's like atwo-year waiting period.
So you buy this today, you dietomorrow, there's no payout.
Hopefully they will pay yourheirs back what you put into it.
(33:00):
But again, it has generally atwo-year waiting period.
So are you really, again, doingyourself any favor?
Your family, any favors?
No.
So in a traditional policy, theonly two-year waiting period per
se is if you commit suicide.
Now, generally, there's atwo-year waiting period for
that, that if you kill yourselfwithin the first two years, the
(33:23):
policy will not pay out.
Also, in a lot of life, mostlife insurance policies, I'll
say, if you are committing acrime, you go rob a store, you
get shot dead by the police, theshop owner, whatever, they're
not going to pay that out eitherso these are policies that are
designed to pay out because ofnatural causes natural deaths
(33:47):
not because again you've donesome nefarious activity and so
you really need to know what theexclusions are and buy the
policy for the right reasons forthe right amount of time that
makes sense for your budgettoday there you go that's my
spiel get some competent advice.
(34:09):
Don't go at it alone and justtry to do the best you can.
I think that's all we can do.
And hopefully there is atakeaway from this that you
learn something from it.
I'm going to post a littlechecklist online.
I think there's one out therealready called baby steps, but
I'm going to post onespecifically to life insurance.
(34:29):
So again, you have something totake a look at.
You can download it or just viewit online, share it, what have
you.
Speaking of the website, I'mjust going to mention I
mentioned that I'm still makingtweaks and adjustments to it.
So it's always a work inprogress and there's always
things that I'm changing andneed to adjust, but it's getting
better and better.
So I'm happy about that.
(34:49):
But there is a blog that I'vebeen updating on a regular
basis.
And that is a very loose type ofthing.
It's not always related exactlyto any financial topics.
I think there's one out thereabout head of household, which
is taxes about taxes, how, youknow, you.
claim yourself on your taxreturn.
(35:10):
But I've also posted variousthings out there.
I think there's a really goodvideo by a gay creator.
I think I pulled that off aTikTok as well that I just
absolutely adore.
I think it's fantastic, but it'smy ability to just do sort of a
brain dump on whatever topiccomes to mind and I'll post it
out there.
So it's just either funny orinsightful or just maybe just
(35:30):
useful.
Hopefully you find it useful,but I would appreciate anybody's
feedback, you know, or thoughts,comments, or There's even an
opportunity that you can contactme.
And, you know, if you have aquestion or you want to
criticize me and say you'reabsolutely on left field and you
know what you're talking about,whatever.
Okay, whatever.
I'll take it.
(35:51):
I'm a big boy.
I can take it.
But hopefully there's more goodcomments and bad, but it just
comes with territory likeeverything, right?
We always get disgruntledpeople.
And, you know, speaking of that,I mean, every company, you know,
they have their fair share ofdisgruntled people as well,
right?
You go on to Yelp and there'salways people They're the worst
waiter I've ever seen.
This is the worst restaurantI've ever seen.
And other people are like, thisis the best restaurant.
(36:13):
They have the best service.
And I have the best food andbest of everything.
So you just kind of hopefullytake that all with a grain of
salt and decide that there ismore good than bad.
And then you go have yourdinner, et cetera.
Same thing in this case.
There are going to be probablynegative reviews about every
company.
But are there more negative thanpositive?
And you just take all that intoaccount.
(36:34):
Again, using those ratingsystems is a good way as well.
And again, the experience ofsomeone like Chris at Big Blue.
I keep talking about him becausehe was really fantastic and I
really enjoyed working with him.
So that's really it for metoday.
Season six of this podcast isgoing to be coming up fairly
shortly.
I think I'm going to drop seasonsix beginning November one, I
(36:57):
think is my time frame, maybeOctober one, if I really get my
act together.
But that's kind of it for me.
And I will talk to you later.
Next time.
SPEAKER_02 (37:18):
I went to see the doctor today Cause ever since
you've been gone I had a
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
pain
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
deep down inside He says there's nothing really
wrong with me I'm just missingmy man So honey, please Come on
home as soon as you can Doctor'sorders say There's only one
thing for me Now I'm going homehe can do cause only you can
(37:54):
cure me since me and myconditioned love
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