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Insurance 101 - E51

January 29, 2024 / 32:14

This episode of the Best Interest Podcast covers personal finance topics related to insurance, featuring guest Brock Buckles from BC Brokerage. Jesse Kramer discusses the importance of understanding different types of insurance, including life, health, and pet insurance.

Jesse shares his personal experiences with insurance, emphasizing that while insurance protects wealth, it does not grow it. He quotes Ben Carlson, explaining that insurance is essential for safeguarding against significant financial risks, such as medical bills or property damage.

Brock Buckles provides expert insights on various insurance products, particularly for young professionals. He highlights the importance of term life insurance and disability income insurance, explaining how they can protect one's financial future.

The conversation also touches on the complexities of whole life insurance and why it may not be suitable for most people. Brock advises listeners to consider their long-term financial plans when choosing insurance products.

Listeners are encouraged to reach out to Brock for personalized advice and to learn more about navigating the insurance landscape effectively.

TL;DR

Jesse and Brock discuss essential insurance types, focusing on term life and disability insurance for young professionals.

Video

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welcome to the best interest podcast
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where we believe Benjamin Franklin's
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advice that an investment in knowledge
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pays the best interest both in finances
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and in your life every episode teaches
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you personal finance and investing in
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simple terms now here's your host Jesse
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Kramer hey guys what's up welcome to
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episode 50 of the best interest podcast
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my name is Jesse Kramer it's kind of
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funny we're bombarded all the time with
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insurance advertising right every day
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just ask uh you know Jake from State
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Farm Insurance is an important personal
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finance topic it's not one that I tend
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to spend much time on and maybe that's
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just because I'm not at a point in my
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life where I've had to buy that much
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insurance yet I've bought some but then
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I thought you know what what a great
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topic to cover answer some questions so
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let's give a quick primer on insurance
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today I'll tell you some stories I'll
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give you some of my opinions
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and then we're going to bring in an
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outside expert Brock buckles who owns BC
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brokerage to give you some of his
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Insider knowledge so first and foremost
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I'm going to quote Ben Carlson here
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great writer if you're a fan of the best
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interest odds are you've seen me talk
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about Ben Carlson before and Ben has a
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good quote about insurance that I 100%
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agree with the idea is quote Insurance
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protects wealth it doesn't grow wealth
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end quote so let's break that down the
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first part Insurance protects wealth
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right the fundamental idea behind
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insurance is that it protects you from
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Financial downfall that you couldn't
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cover yourself with the assets that you
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have okay so for example could your
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current assets cover a 50 or
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$100,000 medical bill and only the
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answer for me is no and for that reason
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it makes sense for me to have
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catastrophic medical insurance that can
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cover a bill like that if my house burns
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down could my current assets cover the
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whatever $200,000 replacement cost again
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the answer is no so in that case
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Insurance protects my wealth by
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providing me the funds needed to replace
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or to fix whatever problem life has
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thrown my way of course there's a
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tradeoff there right insurance has a
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cost insurance has usually monthly
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premiums something like that maybe an
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annual premium this bill that you have
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to pay where you're trading some money
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right now for protection against some
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big risk but there are some cases where
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doesn't make sense to have certain types
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of insurance so I'll tell you a quick
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personal anecdote Kelly and I recently
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cancelled our dog sades pet insurance
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now some of you might not even know that
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pet insurance exists it does and for a
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while we were paying about $45 a month
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for pet insurance that basically would
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cover any sort of vet medical bill
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except for there was a $1,000 deductible
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so if you do the math we had to pay
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roughly 600 bucks a year in premiums and
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then we'd have to pay the first ,000 of
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medical bills and after those first,
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Insurance could kick in so I kind of sat
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there and I asked myself what kind of
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risk am I protecting against here if
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let's say STI had something bad happened
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and she needed a $33,000
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surgery I could cover that with my own
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assets I wouldn't necessarily like it
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but I'm not sure it's worth spending
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$600 a year to protect myself from a
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risk that I could pay for anyway so
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that's the kind of calculus that goes
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into Insurance math and granted I just
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read an article because I was curious
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some of you pet owners will find this
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interesting I'm not sure everyone will
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but I thought to myself what if stie had
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something really bad happened to her
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what if it was a $10,000 surgery I hate
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to say it but there does come a point
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with pets where even though you love
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them and they might consider them part
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of the family you have to ask yourself
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doesn't make sense to pay for this at
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all right okay that's gets into a
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philosophical conversation there and
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maybe if you're the kind of person who
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would pay anything to keep your pet
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alive maybe it does make sense for you
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to have pet insurance because you might
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be protecting yourself against a 105
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$20,000 stay at the Vets office but if
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you cut the line a little bit lower then
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pet insurance might not make sense for
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you again simply because those expenses
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are things that you might be able to
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cover out of pocket cars is another good
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one I know some people who they have the
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car insurance that protects other people
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on the road right Most states if not all
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states I think they mandate that you
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have insurance that can protect other
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drivers in case you're at fault and you
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need to pay for someone else's car
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replacement or you need to pay for
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someone else's medical bills from an
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accident that you costed but you don't
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have to have insurance on your own car
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for your own car's replacement value and
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I know many people out there they don't
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have that kind of insurance cuz they say
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you know what if I get in a car crash
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and I need to replace my car just going
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to do it right I'm just going to Pony up
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and pay for a new car that way so that's
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how Insurance protects your wealth but
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then the second part going back to Ben
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Carlson's quote is that insurance
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doesn't grow your wealth and some of you
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actually might not understand where that
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part of the quote even comes from like
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why is that necessary to say of course
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it doesn't grow your wealth all the
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examples that Jess's talked about right
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here involve paying premiums which are
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expensive and they only help you if
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something bad happens to your life how
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could Insurance ever grow your wealth
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and the answer is there are some
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insurance products out there that we
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might get into later with Brock one
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example is is a whole life insurance now
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this is an insurance product life
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insurance is a great one we haven't
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talked about that yet so let me talk
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quickly about life insurance and then
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I'll talk about whole life insurance
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life insurance of course protects your
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loved ones in case you die that's what
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it's there for a good example might be a
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young parent with a mortgage on a home
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and if that parent were to Die the
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question is how much money would the
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family need today to replace that
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parent's future income and another very
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smart question to ask is how much money
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would the family need today to perhaps
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pay off the mortgage on the house right
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to pay off the debts that that the
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family has so term life insurance is a
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life insurance policy that all that does
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all it does is you pay in a monthly
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premium and it pays out in the event
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that you die simple very simple and
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straightforward but then there's a
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product called whole life insurance and
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the way whole life insurance works is
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yes it has that feature where there's a
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payout if you die but what whole life
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insurance does it says you know what
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we're going to take some of your monthly
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premium and we're actually going to
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invest that on your behalf so that by
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the time you're older let's say you pay
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insurance premiums from the time you're
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25 till the time you're 60 and you live
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that whole time you never die so you've
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paid all this money in but you've never
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actually used the insurance agreed and
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by the time you're 60 you might look
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yourself in the mirror and say you know
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what I don't really need life insurance
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anymore my kids are out of the house
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college has all been paid for my wife
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and I have this really comfortable
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retirement Nest Egg I don't really need
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life insurance I don't need to protect
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myself against that risk what whole life
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insurance has done is they said great at
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that point in your life you can actually
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withdraw money from your insurance
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policy because we've been investing it
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on your behalf and some of you right now
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are listening and saying to yourselves
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that sounds pretty good however the math
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behind the scenes tells a much different
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story whole life insurance charges you a
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very high monthly premium and the
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investing side of the product isn't that
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good you'd be much better off if you
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bought a term life insurance policy for
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much much cheaper and then simply
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invested the difference in monthly
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premiums off on your own you don't need
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a whole insurance policy to do your
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investing for you you should separate
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your insurance and your investing
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function
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insurance through a cheap Term Policy
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and then investing somewhere else
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through say a lowcost Index Fund or a
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diversified
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portfolio Okay so that's why getting
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back to Ben Carlson's quote he says
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Insurance protects your wealth but it
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doesn't grow your wealth right what he's
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saying there is that products like whole
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life insurance or universal life
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insurance it goes by a few other names
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annuities are a version of an insurance
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uh investment product these products all
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have
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substandard investment sides to them and
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therefore they don't grow your wealth in
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an effective manner so some of you
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listening might own whole life insurance
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or annuities I don't mean to offend you
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some of you might even sell whole life
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insurance or annuities I don't mean to
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offend you either I'm just here to
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explain the math and the math is very
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straightforward and it says that these
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insurance policies that claim to have
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Investments tagged on to them they're
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suboptimal okay so that's a bit of a
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Spiel on insurance now there are many
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different types of insurance a lot of
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them you've heard of some of them we've
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talked about today some of the more
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important ones life insurance right if
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you were to die and you were to leave
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your loved ones in Lurch you might need
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life insurance you might need insurance
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to replace your salary for a number of
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years you might need insurance to pay
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off your home like I already mentioned
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now you can do a lot of this math on
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your own own you can do some rough
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estimating on your own if you have a
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trusted adviser of some sort it could be
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an accountant it could be a cfp
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financial planner or a wealth manager
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financial adviser it could be the
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insurance salesperson themselves if you
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trust them ask them through their
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opinion on how big of a policy you need
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it's important that you don't undercover
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yourself you need to have a big enough
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policy to actually cover your Financial
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Risk but yeah lean on some experts in
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your life for that auto insurance very
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straightforward like I said before you
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can buy insurance you need insurance
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most likely to protect other people on
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the road right because that's a pretty
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big risk and and you need to many states
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say that you need to protect other
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people on the road through your
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insurance policy and you might choose to
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protect yourself as well homeowners
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insurance renters insurance in my
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opinion a great idea renters insurance
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sometimes it's mandatory sometimes it's
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not meaning legally that is and whether
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you actually need it from a mathematical
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point of view it kind of depends on your
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asset base I could see a situation where
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a $110,000 renters insurance policy
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doesn't really make sense because you
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have $100,000 in cash in your bank
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account and you can just cover that
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expense if something bad were to happen
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I get it health insurance pretty much
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mandatory very few people have the kind
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of asset base where it makes sense for
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them to self- insure and you'll hear
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that term I don't know if I've used that
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term yet today I should have used it by
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now self-insuring is this idea of just
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saying listen I've got a lot of money in
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the bank I don't need outside Insurance
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my own nest egg can cover me for that
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Financial Risk the next two one is
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long-term disability insurance now
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that's an interesting one that I haven't
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really dug into too much I think the
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need for long-term disability insurance
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which again it protects you against the
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risk of not dying but getting in some
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sort of terrible accident where you are
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disabled long term and I really think
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it's a function of who your dependent
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are you know if you have young children
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if you need to pay off a mortgage if if
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these things are going on it might make
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sense for you to have long-term
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disability insurance the next one
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long-term care insurance this one
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applies mainly to older listeners people
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who are approaching a age where they ask
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themselves am I going to go to a nursing
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home who's going to pay for that how do
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I pay for that it's interesting I'm not
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an expert on long-term care insurance
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but of the reading that I've done my
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understanding is that it can be
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difficult to actually enact your
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long-term care policy meaning you can
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own the policy you can pay your monthly
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premiums and then when time comes for an
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owner an insurance policy owner to say
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hey I need $115,000 a month for this
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nursing home it doesn't always work out
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and that is kind of one of the scary
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things in my opinion about all Insurance
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in general is this idea that the
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insurance company they do have a
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financial incentive to very carefully
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understand whether your claim is
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legitimate right I'm paying this
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insurance company $100 a month for
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homeowners insurance let's say and then
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when the time comes when my home burns
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down and I need $300,000 from them they
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have a really strong incentive to say
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wait a second Jesse let's really make
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sure that that your house did burn down
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let's make sure that it truly was an
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accident let's make sure that the value
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of the home was indeed $300,000 and
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that's what we should pay you there's
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often some friction when it comes time
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to make a claim and get paid on your
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insurance policy in general I mean
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that's one reason why sometimes the
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cheapest Insurance isn't the best you
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should try to do some due diligence do
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some research and read up on if your
00:13:46
particular insurance provider has any
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sort of history of making it difficult
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for its customers to actually make
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claims when needed okay little little
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aside there mainly because for long-term
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care insurance I have heard some horror
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stories from some clients of long-term
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care insurance essentially not working
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in the way that they were led to believe
00:14:07
it worked I've seen some people talk
00:14:09
before about Identity Theft Protection
00:14:12
to be honest with you I don't know a lot
00:14:14
about it I understand you know I think
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you probably understand at this point in
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the podcast too what Identity Theft
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Protection protects you against whether
00:14:22
it's needed how it works what it costs
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I'm not sure all I know is that it's
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it's growing in popularity unfortunately
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right because it means identity theft is
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growing in
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popularity and then the last one that
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again is growing in popularity is
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umbrella Insurance umbrella Insurance
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like the umbrella over your head kind of
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has a wide area of protection and it's
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often purchased by people who need to
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protect their assets above and beyond
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what their current insurance policies do
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so for example if someone has
00:14:54
significant savings or significant
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assets let's say someone has I don't
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know 5 million dollar from selling a
00:14:59
business and they cause an injury in the
00:15:02
other driver and that other driver maybe
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sues them takes them to the court and
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says hey you T-boned me at that red
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light caused me pain and suffering I'm
00:15:09
suing you for a million dollars well
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there's a chance that if they win that
00:15:13
suit our main character is going to have
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to pay the million dollars out of pocket
00:15:18
because they cause an accident umbrella
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Insurance can help protect against that
00:15:22
maybe you own a swimming pool maybe you
00:15:24
own a rental property but there's some
00:15:27
things you can do in your life
00:15:29
that present a little bit extra risk and
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umbrella Insurance provides protection
00:15:34
to your assets in case something were to
00:15:37
happen where another person could make a
00:15:39
claim against your assets for pain and
00:15:41
suffering for an injury for whatever it
00:15:43
may be a wrongful death something like
00:15:45
that so umbrella insurance is certainly
00:15:48
something that is growing in popularity
00:15:50
and depending on your circumstances in
00:15:51
life might be worth looking into okay I
00:15:55
think at this point in the podcast we're
00:15:58
going to bring in Brock buckles so as I
00:15:59
mentioned before Brock is a uh he's
00:16:02
owner at BC brokerage meaning he he
00:16:05
matches up his clients he understands he
00:16:07
gets to know their clients and figures
00:16:09
out what their insurance needs are he
00:16:11
then shops around on behalf of his
00:16:13
clients to find the most competitive
00:16:15
rates the most generous coverages the
00:16:18
easiest insurance providers to work with
00:16:21
and then provides his clients with
00:16:22
recommendations based on those kind of
00:16:24
factors cost and coverage and and ease
00:16:27
of making claims so brocky is a a
00:16:30
Marketplace expert and works with people
00:16:32
every day with various insurance needs
00:16:35
so we're going to Pepper him with some
00:16:36
questions and lean on his expertise to
00:16:39
guide us through this insurance
00:16:42
[Music]
00:16:54
conversation hey Brock thanks for
00:16:56
joining me man how you doing doing well
00:16:58
Jesse it's h good to be here with you
00:17:00
man cool cool thanks for coming on the
00:17:02
best interest podcast and I figure Brock
00:17:04
I mean maybe a good place to start is I
00:17:06
let the audience know a bit about who
00:17:08
you were but maybe you can give us some
00:17:10
of your background what you do over it
00:17:12
at BC brookeridge just so the audience
00:17:14
can get a feel for you know the kind of
00:17:16
insurance the depth of knowledge that
00:17:17
you have and and what your background is
00:17:20
yeah for sure so for those of you
00:17:21
listening we're going to try to make
00:17:23
this interesting because I know
00:17:24
insurance is not the first thing on your
00:17:25
mind but yeah like Jesse said my name's
00:17:27
Brock buckles I'm based out of
00:17:29
Indianapolis and I'm the co-founder of
00:17:31
an insurance brokerage called BC
00:17:33
brokerage we work exclusively with the
00:17:36
only financial planners across the
00:17:37
country to help their clients with
00:17:39
insurance and you know I like to thank
00:17:41
Jesse that we're we're kind of the good
00:17:42
guys of insurance because it gets it
00:17:44
gets a negative kind of nasty reputation
00:17:46
and everybody kind of thinks of these
00:17:48
whole life selling people that are going
00:17:50
to try to get you to buy products that
00:17:51
you know you don't necessarily need to
00:17:53
buy and so we take a lot of pride in the
00:17:55
fact that you know we Implement things
00:17:57
when it's necessary and we work along
00:17:59
with financial planners to make sure
00:18:00
that it actually is going to fit into
00:18:01
the financial plan long term so that's
00:18:03
kind of a general overview of who I am
00:18:06
and uh what we do awesome that works
00:18:08
really well Brock because the listeners
00:18:10
will have just heard me kind of sort of
00:18:12
talk some smack some some objective
00:18:14
smack about whole life but let's get
00:18:17
into yeah I mean what are some of the
00:18:19
kinds of insurance products that normal
00:18:22
everyday people need especially I'm
00:18:24
thinking Brock some of you know most of
00:18:26
my listeners are probably say 25 to 4
00:18:29
maybe with some young kids working
00:18:30
professionals what are some of the
00:18:32
conversations you're having with with
00:18:33
that cohort of people that's a good
00:18:36
question and the first thing that I
00:18:37
would say is you know make sure that
00:18:39
you're thinking about disability income
00:18:41
insurance and life insurance those are
00:18:43
the two types of insurance for young
00:18:45
people where it creates a lot of
00:18:46
Leverage it can create a lot of ability
00:18:48
to kind of keep the lifestyle that you
00:18:50
want so starting out with life insurance
00:18:52
right and I would say for close to 99%
00:18:56
of the time all you need is is just a
00:18:58
good term insurance policy and what you
00:19:00
need to be thinking about when it comes
00:19:02
to term insurance is paying off debt if
00:19:04
you have assets that you bought together
00:19:06
if you have a home that you bought with
00:19:07
your spouse you going to want to make
00:19:09
sure that's going to be paid off second
00:19:10
thing you're going to want to think
00:19:11
about is kids education a lot of people
00:19:14
want to fund their their children's
00:19:15
education some people had their parents
00:19:17
fund their education so it's kind of
00:19:19
their way of paying it forward and
00:19:20
continuing the process but one of the
00:19:22
things that I always like to touch on
00:19:23
this is a really good thing to think
00:19:25
about is the continuation of Lifestyle
00:19:29
that comes from from how much you might
00:19:30
need from life insurance so if you
00:19:32
weren't here anymore or your spouse
00:19:34
wasn't here anymore obviously that
00:19:35
creates some things maybe the bills go
00:19:37
up because you were paying medical bills
00:19:39
maybe there needs to be you know child
00:19:41
care that's paid for that wasn't
00:19:42
necessarily a concern before so that
00:19:44
last one continuation of lifestyle is
00:19:46
definitely something that would be
00:19:48
important to think about outside of just
00:19:50
paying off debt and kids education and
00:19:52
then you know with disability income
00:19:53
insurance I nobody wants to think about
00:19:55
disability so I always encourage people
00:19:57
to think about it as income protection
00:19:59
insurance and really making sure that
00:20:02
you're protecting your biggest asset I
00:20:03
have conversations with people often and
00:20:06
they say you know I say what's your
00:20:08
biggest asset and commonly they'll say
00:20:10
well my home or my car or my whatever
00:20:13
and I'll say well what if I talked to
00:20:15
you and and told you that your biggest
00:20:16
asset was probably your ability to go to
00:20:18
work and earn income because that's what
00:20:19
allows all of those other things right
00:20:22
and so you know a lot of people see the
00:20:24
premium on a Disability Policy and
00:20:26
there's kind of some sticker shock there
00:20:27
sometimes but it's usually about 1 to 3%
00:20:29
of your gross income to kind of protect
00:20:31
the rest of it so is it a little bit of
00:20:33
a a kick in the butt sure but it's worth
00:20:35
it gotcha so when you know I'm just
00:20:38
thinking of myself so I just got married
00:20:40
in September don't have any kids I was
00:20:43
living in a home that was very
00:20:44
affordable for one person we're now
00:20:46
moving to a home that's probably it's
00:20:48
only affordable with two salaries sure
00:20:51
but I don't have any kits when you hear
00:20:53
that that little story do you think both
00:20:56
term life and some long-term disability
00:20:59
insurance yeah I would say definitely I
00:21:01
mean let's get this out of the way your
00:21:03
chances of being disabled are
00:21:04
substantially higher than your chances
00:21:06
of passing away prematurely not to say
00:21:08
that that doesn't happen but
00:21:10
statistically it's much higher it's
00:21:11
actually about one in four which a lot
00:21:13
of people are dumbfounded to hear about
00:21:16
25% of people 25% of today's 20-y olds
00:21:19
will be disabled for at least one year
00:21:22
before retirement so okay yeah pretty
00:21:24
important to kind of look at so yeah
00:21:27
disability would be huge there and then
00:21:29
you know I would say it's all about the
00:21:31
plan right so people say how much life
00:21:34
insurance should I get I'm I'm 20 I'm
00:21:36
married we're buying a house but that's
00:21:37
really all we have to pay off right now
00:21:39
and my response to that is always you
00:21:41
know term is cheap right so plan for 10
00:21:44
years out don't plan for what you're
00:21:46
looking at right now because the biggest
00:21:48
thing that I hate having to talk to
00:21:50
people about and it's not because I hate
00:21:52
talking about it it's because I hate the
00:21:53
situation that they're in is when people
00:21:56
need more life insurance but they can't
00:21:58
get it because their health has since
00:22:00
declined or they've been diagnosed with
00:22:01
something so locking in that coverage
00:22:03
and getting a good affordable cheap term
00:22:06
life insurance policy when you're young
00:22:09
even for more than you think right you
00:22:10
could get a couple million dollars
00:22:12
sometimes for right around a hundred
00:22:14
bucks a month so it's it's not like
00:22:15
we're paying astronomical amounts and
00:22:17
then if anything does happen to your
00:22:19
health you've already taken care of the
00:22:20
coverage you already know that you have
00:22:22
it and so you kind of have gotten that
00:22:23
out of the way and people will kind of
00:22:25
say well but that doesn't make sense to
00:22:27
me you know I don't need it right now
00:22:28
it's like okay well you're kind of
00:22:30
betting on what your health is going to
00:22:31
look like in the future and that can be
00:22:32
a tough one gotcha so just out of
00:22:34
curiosity I mean what is the average
00:22:36
term what is the average length of a of
00:22:38
term life insurance policy is 10 years
00:22:41
kind of Fairly average no I you know I
00:22:43
would say it depends on age for people
00:22:45
that are in their 20s definitely most of
00:22:47
the time they're opting to do a 30-year
00:22:49
policy because that if you think about
00:22:50
it right if you're if you're 25 and you
00:22:52
buy a 30-year policy that's going to
00:22:53
take you to 55 right that's still pretty
00:22:56
young to not have life life insurance
00:22:58
unless you've just gotten to the points
00:22:59
to where you don't really need it you
00:23:01
have sufficient assets you've been
00:23:02
really disciplined about saving and done
00:23:04
some of those other things but if you
00:23:06
think about it you know a 25y old with a
00:23:07
10-year policy it's going to take you to
00:23:09
35 years old what if something happens
00:23:12
between 25 and 35 and you need more
00:23:14
Insurance you bought a bigger house
00:23:16
you've got three or four kids and then
00:23:18
now kind of up the creek without a
00:23:20
paddle so yeah 20 years is really common
00:23:22
for people that are kind of thinking
00:23:23
about buying it in their late 30s and
00:23:25
40s and you know if you're in your 50s
00:23:26
10e terms become a lot more common
00:23:28
because they just want kind of that
00:23:29
buffer to get them to retirement totally
00:23:32
makes sense so what other kind of Life
00:23:34
events Brock should get people thinking
00:23:37
that maybe they either have a completely
00:23:39
different Insurance need like a a new
00:23:41
style of policy or they need to increase
00:23:44
or lower their coverage for sure so
00:23:48
first one is when you're out you know
00:23:50
getting your first job I'd encourage you
00:23:52
to just get the Baseline package right
00:23:54
just get ahead of the ball start
00:23:55
thinking about it get some term get a
00:23:58
policy that's going to be good you're
00:24:00
going to start paying for it forget it's
00:24:02
there and and be on your way the other
00:24:04
thing is obviously getting married
00:24:06
that's a huge time to be getting more
00:24:08
Insurance because obviously you're going
00:24:10
to plan on doing things for each other
00:24:11
and you're going to make decisions that
00:24:13
you want to you know pursue with one
00:24:15
another down the road so you have to
00:24:18
take into account what decisions that
00:24:19
you guys are making together and if you
00:24:21
still want to accomplish those things if
00:24:23
one of you weren't here anymore even
00:24:25
though that's that's a little bit morbid
00:24:27
and so those those are a couple things
00:24:29
that you want to think about for buying
00:24:31
term insurance or are good times to buy
00:24:32
term insurance sometimes people are
00:24:34
buying you know term insurance down the
00:24:36
road when they're getting close to
00:24:37
retirement and then obviously if you get
00:24:39
into the bucket of permanent insurance
00:24:41
or long-term care or something like that
00:24:43
those are completely different kind of
00:24:44
time periods that you should be thinking
00:24:46
about okay got it well Brock so then you
00:24:49
know one thing I'm always weary of and
00:24:51
you know dealing with whether it's
00:24:53
clients here or readers of the best
00:24:55
interest or listeners is you know what
00:24:58
kind of insurance is overkill or or
00:25:00
maybe another way of saying it is like
00:25:01
what kind of insurance is a bad deal we
00:25:04
already kind of alluded earlier to that
00:25:05
whole versus term debate so maybe we can
00:25:08
start with that and see where it takes
00:25:09
us yeah definitely I mean listen I'm not
00:25:13
going to sit here and say that most
00:25:15
Financial products or types of insurance
00:25:17
or Vehicles don't have a place in the
00:25:20
marketplace or that no one needs them
00:25:23
right but I will tell you if it seems
00:25:25
like you're going to meet with your
00:25:26
financial planner and the focus of the
00:25:29
meeting most of the time is permanent
00:25:31
insurance or converting more of your
00:25:32
term insurance to permanent Insurance
00:25:35
may we just get a second opinion right
00:25:37
it doesn't hurt because I will tell you
00:25:38
you should be doing things other than
00:25:40
that and there are justifications and
00:25:42
purpose behind having whole life
00:25:44
insurance right but here are the ones
00:25:46
that I'll kind of lay out first one
00:25:48
estate planning right you come from a
00:25:50
wealthy family inherited money you build
00:25:51
a fortune you have a lot of money you're
00:25:53
over that federal or state tax threshold
00:25:56
and you need to offset some of of that
00:25:58
tax permanent Insurance can be a great
00:25:59
way to do that right setting up
00:26:01
something like an irrevocable life
00:26:03
insurance trust or an eyet to kind of
00:26:05
minimize the amount that can be taxed
00:26:07
from your estate great idea right so
00:26:09
that that one does make sense the second
00:26:11
one would be for special needs if you
00:26:14
have special needs planning that you
00:26:16
have to do right and so we can't bet if
00:26:19
there's a family member or a child that
00:26:22
has special needs that is going to have
00:26:24
to continue to receive some sort of care
00:26:26
down the road after their caretakers or
00:26:28
the parents pass
00:26:30
away permanent life insurance is a great
00:26:32
way to do that doesn't necessarily have
00:26:33
to be whole life insurance but it can be
00:26:35
permanant life insurance right the other
00:26:37
thing is is if you have completely run
00:26:39
out of everything else and other ways to
00:26:41
put away money right so you're
00:26:42
maximizing your 401k you're putting
00:26:44
money into taxable brokerage accounts
00:26:46
like you're doing everything that you
00:26:47
possibly can and if you don't start
00:26:49
putting more money somewhere else
00:26:50
basically it's just going to sit in your
00:26:51
bank account earning nothing we have
00:26:53
seen you know uses for it there people
00:26:55
do take advantage of it even the fee
00:26:57
only world but again that's once you've
00:26:58
literally maximized everything else it's
00:27:01
not what you should be doing from the
00:27:02
get-go by any means and then the the
00:27:05
last one that I always kind of talk to
00:27:06
people about is long-term care planning
00:27:08
so the vast majority of long-term care
00:27:10
policies are now built on permanent life
00:27:12
insurance chassis which is good for a
00:27:15
variety of reasons quick quick history
00:27:17
lesson here of the long-term care Market
00:27:19
but in the early 2000s basically
00:27:21
companies were coming out with long-term
00:27:23
care and you know they didn't know how
00:27:25
to price them they didn't know how long
00:27:26
to make the benefits anything like that
00:27:27
and so what happened was people that got
00:27:29
in early really great deal but then they
00:27:31
started writing in these Provisions
00:27:33
saying that they could increase the
00:27:34
premiums of the policies down the road
00:27:36
and so now you've got people that bought
00:27:38
policies in 2004 that are seeing 30 40
00:27:41
50% increases in their premium
00:27:43
year-over-year which is really terrible
00:27:45
and so these permanent life insurance
00:27:46
product hybrid policies that include
00:27:48
long-term care features have come out
00:27:50
and are better in a lot of ways one of
00:27:52
which is they can't just randomly
00:27:54
increase the pricing for you those are
00:27:56
kind of the the times where I believe it
00:27:58
can make sense to to use permanent life
00:27:59
insurance but the vast majority of
00:28:01
people don't need it gotcha and just you
00:28:03
know rough estimate Brock out of all the
00:28:06
conversations that you're having with
00:28:07
these fee only clients I mean what
00:28:10
percentage does that kind of whole life
00:28:13
conversation at least makes sense to to
00:28:15
bring up less than 5 per. yeah
00:28:19
okay less than 5% I mean really less
00:28:22
than 5% I I would say one but I want to
00:28:24
be careful there uh but but less than 5%
00:28:27
very lit I can say I can safely say that
00:28:29
for sure so
00:28:31
listeners keep that statistic in mind
00:28:33
yeah whole life insurance or or
00:28:35
permanent life insurance products
00:28:37
typically don't make sense for you yeah
00:28:40
and if you've got a guy that's trying to
00:28:42
sell it sell you life insurance as a
00:28:44
bank or infinite banking or some sort of
00:28:47
debt elimination platform or you heard
00:28:49
them on the radio run get out of there
00:28:52
like run to your bunker shut the door
00:28:54
watch a movie clear your head and then
00:28:56
just forget you heard about it because
00:28:58
I've met guys like that they're they're
00:29:00
like the same slickback hair fast
00:29:02
talking guys that you would think they
00:29:03
would be and so yeah stay away from that
00:29:07
agreed and this and it's not personal
00:29:09
and that's the thing it's one thing you
00:29:11
know I've I've come across in in my
00:29:13
career here in Rochester Brock and it's
00:29:15
it's not a personal indictment of who
00:29:16
they are as people I don't begrudge
00:29:18
anyone for trying to put food on the
00:29:20
table sure it really comes down to let's
00:29:22
look at some of the underlying math and
00:29:24
some of the numbers and the dollars that
00:29:26
come in versus is the protection that
00:29:28
the policy gives you or the dollars that
00:29:30
might come out it's just really hard to
00:29:32
justify these permanent Insurance
00:29:34
products in most cases exactly Jesse and
00:29:37
to kind of talk about it from the other
00:29:38
side if you just want to make it apples
00:29:40
the apples and this is why I'm either
00:29:41
the the light or the darkness for these
00:29:43
guys on the insurance side but if you
00:29:46
were to take
00:29:48
$112,000 or call let's call it $50,000
00:29:50
you were to take $50,000 from someone
00:29:53
and put that money into an investment
00:29:54
account you're going to be making very
00:29:56
little money on that right if you get
00:29:58
someone to put $50,000 a year into a
00:30:00
permanent life insurance policy the
00:30:02
first year that you did that the
00:30:04
commission of that is probably going to
00:30:06
be somewhere in the neighborhood of 25
00:30:08
to
00:30:09
$445,000 that goes to the the person who
00:30:12
sold you that product that goes to the
00:30:14
person that sold you that product so you
00:30:16
know you have to question where their
00:30:17
motivation lies if they're going to make
00:30:19
a hundred bucks off your investment
00:30:20
account or they're going to make $45,000
00:30:23
off your you know permanent life
00:30:24
insurance account you can't exactly be
00:30:26
uh completely unbiased I suppose if
00:30:29
you've got that on your plate right
00:30:31
absolutely absolutely I think I might
00:30:32
have used that stat before on the blog
00:30:35
of just how high those Insurance
00:30:36
commissions can be for some of those
00:30:38
products and absolutely Charlie Monger
00:30:40
said it show me the incentives I will
00:30:42
show you the outcomes yep absolutely
00:30:46
Brock I mean if anyone wants to get a
00:30:47
hold of you either to follow you on
00:30:49
social media they have a question for
00:30:50
you or maybe they even want to reach out
00:30:52
and kind of talk shop with you how can
00:30:54
they get a hold of you yeah definitely
00:30:56
so it's Brock buckles again Brock bcen
00:31:00
brokerage.com I'm on Twitter I think
00:31:03
it's Brock buuck and then you can look
00:31:05
at the website bcen brokerage.com I'm
00:31:08
always willing to take time talk to
00:31:10
anybody about any questions that they
00:31:11
have if I can save you from buying
00:31:13
something that you don't need you know
00:31:16
at least pointing in the right direction
00:31:18
that's I'm I'm more than happy to do it
00:31:20
awesome thanks brck we will throw all
00:31:21
that in the show notes listeners so you
00:31:23
can find it there and Brock thanks a lot
00:31:26
for coming on to the best interest
00:31:27
podcast thanks
00:31:30
Jesse thanks for tuning in to this
00:31:32
episode of the best interest podcast if
00:31:34
you have a question for Jesse to answer
00:31:36
on a future episode send him an email at
00:31:39
Jesse bestin interest. blog again that's
00:31:42
Jesse at bestin interest. blog did you
00:31:45
enjoy the show subscribe rate and review
00:31:48
the podcast wherever you listen this
00:31:50
helps others find the show and invest in
00:31:53
knowledge themselves and we really
00:31:55
appreciate it we'll catch you on the
00:31:56
next episode of the best interest
00:31:59
[Music]
00:32:01
podcast the best interest podcast is a
00:32:04
personal podcast meant for education and
00:32:06
entertainment it should not be taken as
00:32:08
Financial advice and is not prescriptive
00:32:10
of your financial situation

Episode Highlights

  • Insurance Basics Explained
    Jesse discusses the fundamentals of insurance and its role in protecting wealth.
    “Insurance protects wealth, it doesn't grow wealth.”
    @ 01m 23s
    January 29, 2024
  • Understanding Life Insurance
    Exploring the differences between term and whole life insurance and their implications.
    “You should separate your insurance and your investing function.”
    @ 08m 24s
    January 29, 2024
  • The Importance of Income Protection
    Your ability to earn income is your greatest asset. Protect it with disability insurance.
    “Your biggest asset is your ability to earn income.”
    @ 20m 03s
    January 29, 2024
  • Term Life Insurance for Young Adults
    Locking in a good term life insurance policy while young can save you in the future.
    “Locking in coverage when you're young is crucial.”
    @ 22m 03s
    January 29, 2024
  • Whole Life Insurance Insights
    Less than 5% of people actually need whole life insurance, contrary to popular belief.
    “Less than 5% of people need whole life insurance.”
    @ 28m 29s
    January 29, 2024
  • Avoiding Financial Traps
    Be cautious of aggressive sales tactics for permanent life insurance; they often don't serve your best interests.
    “If you hear about infinite banking, run!”
    @ 28m 47s
    January 29, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Insurance Primer00:55
  • Wealth Protection01:23
  • Life Insurance Insights06:05
  • Income Protection20:03
  • Term Life Insurance22:03
  • Whole Life Insurance28:29
  • Financial Caution28:47

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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