Business Innovators Radio - Episode #43-Life Insurance Month-The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcast-With Mark Triplett & Troy Westendorf

Episode Date: May 25, 2023

We believe that every dollar has a purpose and a timeline. When and how your retirement assets will be used should be understood before making important financial decisions.The Triplett-Westendorf Purpose and Timeline 5 Step Planning Process (PT5) begins with Discovery.Understanding where you are now, and then defining where you want to go (Your Purpose) and when you want to get there (Your Timeline), programs your financial GPS. Our Purpose and Timeline 5-step process (PT5) programs your financial GPS.Learn more: http://triplett-westendorf.com/ | https://mypt5.com/The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/episode-43-life-insurance-month-the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast-with-mark-triplett-troy-westendorf

Welcome to the 15-minute financial feast podcast, bringing you 15-minute segments to help you retire with purpose on time. We're serving up food for thought and bread for the head. Are you hungry to learn? Here are your hosts, Mark Triplett and Troy Westendorf. Welcome to another episode of the 15-minute financial feast. Today, you are listening to the audio from a live television interview where one of our favorite local news station anchors ask us questions about a financial topic on the minds of many hardworking folks in our community who are trying to make good decisions and get ahead.

All right, everybody, let's talk about a topic. I know it doesn't get a whole lot of excitement, but it's an important one to be discussing life insurance. It can be intimidating. Maybe that's why you don't want to talk about it. But did you know September is Life Insurance Awareness Month? So we want to check in with financial professional Mark Triplett from Triplett-Westendorf Financial Group, who's here to kind of explain why now is the time to kind of get serious about exploring your life insurance options. We know it's not a sexy topic, Mark, but it's one that we definitely need to

be discussing. So it's also been changing in the last few years, especially kind of post-COVID. How have we seen a change in the way people that view insurance? Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me this morning. So, Jackie, there's two things that are really certain in life, death and taxes. And I think the pandemic really really. got folks thinking about that first one, thinking about their mortality. And frankly, we've seen an increase in mortality insurance companies paid out a record $94 billion of death benefit proceeds in 2021, which is about 28% more than they did pre-pandemic in 2019. And so it's on the minds a lot of folks. We're saying that just the insurance industry as a whole is reporting more applicants

coming in and folks who's just on their mind because of what they've experienced. the last few years. Which makes sense. So people want to be prepared. They want to make sure they're doing the right thing. But let's just break it down, first of all. Are there different types of life insurance things we should be thinking about in the back of our mind if we want to bring up this conversation with our families? Oh my goodness. We could spend hours talking about all the different types. But there are really two main categories. You have term insurance and permanent insurance and from there all sorts of subcategories. But term insurance is going to be generally more affordable. you're basically covering a specific dollar amount of death benefit coverage or benefit amount

paid to beneficiaries during over a certain period of time. So you're really protecting against loss, financial loss, maybe, you know, somebody who's a breadwinner or something like that. And then permanent insurance can also play a similar role, but generally you're going to hold on to permanent insurance throughout your lifetime. The insurance company is planning on paying out a death benefit, and so they're going to charge more for that. But the different types of life insurance for different needs. They're just financial tools. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Makes sense.

Okay, so let's break it down to the basics of why is it important to have life insurance? Why are we talking about this today and having a whole month of awareness based on the subject? Well, generally, we think of life insurance as protecting loved ones. So, for example, if I'm not able to earn an income and generate revenue for my family, then they may have to move out of the neighborhood that they're in. My child may not be able to play with the kids in his neighborhood anymore. I may not be able to go to the same school anymore. Maybe college is now off the table.

So you're protecting the loss against financial or income stream from somebody who's generating income. That's one of the primary reasons why you buy life insurance. That benefit is generally tax-free to the beneficiaries. And then that can help uncover immediate expenses like final expense, things like that, but also mortgages, medical expenses associated with maybe why the person passed away in the first place, that kind of stuff. Another benefit could be tax benefits. Life insurance is an important part of an overall financial plan. Those tax benefits come in a couple of different ways.

We talked about the death benefit being tax-free. But there's also life insurance you can use while you're alive, where you can accelerate the death benefit to cover costs associated with long-term care through long-term care benefit riders or chronic illness benefit riders, things like that. And some life insurance can even be used as a cash accumulation tool when they're properly structured and funded, even to supplement retirement income. So a lot of different ways to use life insurance, and that's why there's so many we can spend hours on this topic. Absolutely. So let's talk about if people, you know, they're realizing they need to start this conversation.

It might not be the most happy topic to have, but it's an important one to have right now. As we've explained, many people have been having that conversation. How do we get it started? Is there a way that people can reach out to you to maybe get some tips on where to begin? Because I can imagine, you know, answering the questions, like how much should I even get? and what is the best term and all those things, how can they get started? Well, the first thing I would remind everybody is that life insurance is a tool. It's a tool to be used in a financial plan.

So before you start buying anything, any financial product, including life insurance, have a good understanding of why you need it and what you're going to use it for and only buy as much as you need. Then work with an independent insurance professional that has your best interest at heart because insurance is sold on commission generally by an insurance agent. So make sure that they're working for you and not working for the insurance company. And folks want to want to learn more about our firm. They can go to tripletwessendorf.com, triplet-wesdustendorf.com and learn more about our firm. Just make sure that you're working with somebody who's looking out for you.

Makes a lot of sense. Thank you for that guidance today. Like I said, I know it's not an easy topic to cover, but it is an important one and one we wanted to cover on this month where we're trying to just bring awareness to something that's very important to many people. Thank you for your guidance today. Thank you for having me, Jackie. You've been listening to the 15-minute financial feast podcast. Remember, every dollar has a purpose and every dollar has a timeline.

If you have questions about today's topic, schedule a call with a team member. Visit www.mip5.com. Until next time, be sure you're taking steps to retire with purpose on time. Triplett is an investment advisor representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Nothing contained in this program should be considered an offer to buy or sell securities. Different investments have different risks associated with them, and not all investments are appropriate for all investors.