Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Luke Harrison with Olin & Associates, Discussing Niche Markets

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Luke is a value-added consultant for Medicare, Life Insurance, Annuities, and Ancillary products lines.With a 15-year background in the Senior Healthcare field, Luke has helped thousands of seniors and continues to be a guide today for thousands more.Learn more: https://olininsuranceadvisors.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-luke-harrison-with-olin-associates-discussing-niche-markets

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of influential entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with this Luke Harrison with Olin and Associates and we'll be talking about niche markets. Luke, welcome back to the program. Hey, Mike. Thank you for having me back. You know, in business, I know that a niche market is something that's really, really, really specialized and unique.

So I'm excited to hear about some of the unique things that you are able to bring to your clients. So get us started with what is a niche market? Well, niche markets are going to be your very specialized markets, the ones that generally speaking, somebody falls into that market because nowhere else would have them, right? or sometimes it could be a market that is so specialized. You've never heard of it before, and oftentimes it's because of an ill-informed agent or just somebody that never heard of such a thing. And those are the kind of markets that we'll dive into. Some of them are also things that maybe fill in gaps or maybe you never explored those ways for, say, on a Medicare side of things or even life insurance. So we could discuss Medicare, we could discuss life insurance.

There's a lot of, or even say cancer, heart attack and stroke. There's lots of different things here that I would like to talk about. And it's hard to really discuss them all. Those are just some that, you know, it comes to my way. Yeah, some of the more, you know, recognizable ones. So it sounds to me like there's some things like I didn't even know that existed. And also there's some things that, hey, if we just added this piece to your policy, that will make it perform even better. So it's the old, you don't know what you don't know.

Well, we're going to dive into what you don't know. So get us started with, you mentioned Medicare plans. Talk about some of those extra benefits that people might not know about. Oh, sure. Well, let's see. One that comes to mind immediately, and it's on many, many plans across the country. And that is Silver Sneakers. Okay, so most people are familiar with what Silver Sneakers is.

And it is a program that allows an elderly population individual. So 65 or older, right? they can go to a slew of gyms and there's about, I believe, 15,000 right now across the country. So most people are familiar with that aspect of this. However, not many people are familiar or are familiar with the Silver Sneakers tuition program. So that would be one that comes to mind and it's oftentimes a part of a Medicare Advantage plan because you have Silver Sneakers paid for through that. So let's break down what that means. First of all, it's again, zero dollars.

already have this as part of your plan. And by just signing up for the tuition program, they're going to start giving you points. And those points are a one-to-one ratio. One thousand points is $1,000. Those points are to be utilized for a college tuition fund. And that can be a blood relative or adopted child, grandchild, you know, somebody that is in your family line, you are going to be able to build up a college tuition, simply to the gym or participating in anything that says, hey, we're going to give you points just for a going to the gym and checking in or doing a class or something like that. What does that actually equate to? Let's say that their average is $35 for just showing up to the gym. So you don't have a gym membership. You go, you check in, and they'll pay you up to

seven times a month just for doing that. On average, it's about, I believe, $35 every time you do that. So if you do the math here and do this every month, you know, steadily seven times a month, and over, let's say, 15 years, you know, how much money do you actually build up? If you really break it down, a lot of times people can build up upwards of $50,000 for first year college tuition. And there is an enormous amount of schools that you can elect. This will be done in the junior year of school for the, let's say, grandchild or child. that you are trying to help go to college. So they elect the college they want to go to as long as it's part of the list. It's an ever-growing list as well, and there's quite a few on there.

You can read this on Silver Sneakers website, and I'd recommend that you do so, especially if you're active in the Silver Sneakers program and going to gyms. About 40% of individuals enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans do utilize Silver Sneakers. And so I would say this is, again, one of those niche programs. Many people don't realize that they can be taking advantage of, and they really should be. that's amazing because what grand if you have grandkids and you're in the silver sneakers program and you just don't know that this exists and now you know that you've got money building up month after month year after year to go toward tuition that's a huge gift that you're able to do without having to take money out of your accounts oh absolutely and i've had people ask me well why

would they just give money away and here's the reason by you going to the gym your medicare advantage plan most likely has to pay less for your health care. If you're active and taking care of your own health, then they say, okay, why don't we pay them for that? Right. And so that's why this program was designed is it's trying to keep, you know, the other population healthier. And in the same time, you're able to help a grandchild or a blood relative or somebody in your family line go to college. I think it's a really great way to encourage yourself to get out and be active. and definitely one of the niche programs that I would say one in maybe 24 agents actually knows about. Yeah, that's amazing.

So what else is helpful to understand that we might not know exists? Well, on the Medicare side, I would also say maybe hospital indemnity plans. That could be one that's a little bit trickier. We'll dive into that. One of the niche market side of life insurance that I'll point out quickly, just because I want to make sure I discuss that. I do have certain carriers and one in particular. I won't say who it is.

If you want to find out, get a hold of me. So this would be a carrier that, let's say you were diagnosed with some of the following things. I'm just going to name some and pay attention to what I say afterwards. Let's say you have uncontrolled diabetes or uncontrolled high blood pressure. Maybe you've had a stroke or paralysis, congestive heart failure, heart disease. Let's say lung disease, COPD. emphysema, liver cirrhosis or failure, kidney failure, maybe even chronic end stage kidney disease. And that includes dialysis.

If you try to talk to a life insurance agent and see if you're able to get coverage, their answer most likely will be no due to the underwriting. They don't want to take on somebody with those conditions or issues. I have a company, though, that will tell you, hey, we'll insure you. And not only will we ensure you. Most companies, even if they do, they'll put a limit and say, well, you need to wait two years. And in the first two years, if you pass away, we'll pay back, you know, all the money you paid in and 10% on top of that. Still a great deal for many people that can't get day one coverage. But what I'm discussing, and again, very niche product, somebody that has those conditions, I just stated, can still get day one coverage.

From the first premium payment, they have coverage. And that is extremely powerful. I know a whole lot of people that have been told, nope, you're uninsurable with day one. You need to do a two-year waiting period return of premium. And then on the 25th month, you'll have your, you know, 10,000 or 15,000, 20,000, you know, 30,000, whatever it is in life insurance at that point in time. Until then, though, if someone does pass away, you know, and this could even be utilized for somebody that's had an amputation. That's another one. Oftentimes you can't get day one.

Or what about cancer? Someone has cancer, as long as it hasn't come back. I can write this. So this is, again, a niche product that I think people need to know about. But it's very, very important that I go through those questions on a one-on-one basis with somebody and make sure that they're able to get day one coverage. Because people with those conditions might just assume or have been told by one person, you can't get it.

And they're like, okay, done. But you're able to find potentially, in some cases, some amazing, saved there. Absolutely. Yeah, as long as they are having, you know, those things treated or they're seeing a doctor, they're good to go. And I think that's very powerful. This is something that I've never seen in my career until very recently. And in fact, I'll even say his name, Vern Henry is the gentleman on our team that brought this to our attention. And in 52 years of himself writing life insurance, he has never been able to write people with those conditions with day one

coverage until this year. Wow. You know, it's kind of like when you find a really powerful solution for people, it's like, we need to get the word out. That's amazing. Absolutely. You know, and when you think about coverages like that, the burden of co-pays is huge. And people on fixed income, you know, a copay might not be a big thing for someone in the workforce, but, you know, having those co-pays are really a big burden. What are some of the opportunities that you have, um, that there that can help. Oh, sure. Yeah, and this is where like hospital indemnity plans or like I just mentioned some scary words like, you know, cancer or what if you've had a heart attack or a stroke, right? Okay. So the co-pays in a Medicare Advantage plan are something that many people are going to be

familiar with. And sometimes it's as simple as your specialist co-pays when you go to see a heart doctor. That might be $30, $30 or $40, depending on your plan, you know, some common ones. But what if you go to the hospital and you're there for five days and your plan says, well, you need to pay, you have 200. I'm just throwing numbers up, by the way. It's $200 a day. And this is actually a pretty conservative one. Some are higher than that. Some are a little lower. But $200 a day for your hospital stay. How many people do you know that don't really have $200 a day for five or six days? How many people do you know of that if they get diagnosed with cancer, they can't afford the co-pays that are associated with that? It could be sometimes upwards of 20% for treatment that they have

to go through in certain specialty medications that maybe they need to take it home. These things can get very expensive. So there are plans that you can show to somebody. Some of them pay out lump sums. That would be like your cancer heart attack and stroke plans if you're diagnosed with, say, cancer heart attack stroke. They're going to pay you up front immediately, oftentimes within 48 hours. And you can elect what you want that payment to look like if you ever have a diagnosis. Some plans you can even say, I want recurring payments if you get diagnosed in the cancer spreads or it comes back.

they'll pay you again. I don't have someone on my team. I won't say a name for confidentiality, but he had one of these plans, was diagnosed with cancer. And 50% of men, by the way, are in the United States, will be diagnosed with cancer. One in three women will be diagnosed. So I think this is something worth really researching and understanding that this is a need. I think everyone should have one of these, especially for the cost. So that cancer plan paid him, $40,000 when he was diagnosed. And that was in his bank account, he told me in two days. Now, this was a plan he paid on for maybe 10 years.

He used to sell them to a lot of people and he wrote himself one. And thankfully, he did because that $40,000 paid him. And he has the recurrence. So guess what? If it comes back, he'll get paid $40,000 again. Wow. So, yeah, and it helps pay for the treatment costs and, you know, all kinds of things. And that's a scary thing whenever you,

hear that, you know, you have this new diagnosis and the costs associated with that. Also, what if you can't work? I mean, these are the things to think about, you know, what are you going to do? This can be used for your income replacement. This can be used to help you get through this tough time. And I would say that's, you know, extremely important. And then switching gears outside of the cancer heart attack and stroke plans. And it's the same thing, whether it's cancer heart attack and stroke. There's set amounts if those things happen. They, you know, pay you, which is very nice. And then the hospital indemnity plans, the reason I started with cancer heart attack and stroke,

hospital indemnity plans can be set up with a package with those cancer heart attack and stroke plans as well. And so let's say you want to fill in the gaps. If you go to the hospital, you want to be paid the 200 or maybe 250 a day while you're in the hospital. That way you don't have to pay out of pocket. That's where you do a hospital indemnity plan. It fills in the gaps for these little co-pays and things that can really add.

up and become thousands of dollars. And whenever you have somebody, let's say on a Medigap plan, you know, that's something that is more all inclusive. But, you know, this year coming, I got to be careful on what will I say there because of illegality. But I can say this. Medigap plans are a good option for somebody that, you know, historically has not worried too much about the cost of what that will be. It goes up every year, though. What if I said there's another option now, though? You could get a Medicare Advantage plan with a hospital indemnity. And now all of those little co-pays you're worried about are going to be taken care of with the hospital indemnity plan that, by the way, is not going up every year. So that could be a cost savings up front for somebody that's

used to the hospital, sorry, the Medigap plan with original Medicare. And now they're saying, well, hey, how come my cost, you know, next year going to be maybe 1,500 or 1,500 more than they're used to, right? maybe more than that even. And again, this comes back to the Inflation Reduction Act, which I know we discussed on another podcast. So the thing is, again, there's some little niche things in everyone's situation is a little bit different. But I can say one thing that's common to everybody. In the end, what is left in your wallet matters.

It really does. And I don't care who you are, how much money you have. You're trying to be smart with keeping that money in pocket. And this is the way to do that. And also to take away a little bit of the fear of what the cost could be for having, you know, being co-paid to death. We've heard that before, right? And, you know, what if you don't have a plan set up like this? What does that potentially look like for you if something, you know, does have?

And I could tell you the likelihood of having either cancer, heart attack, or stroke happen for almost everybody in the United States, somebody will at least have one of those things. So if you can have those bundled in a plan, take care of your co-pays, and reduce your overall monthly cost, especially if you're coming from a Metagap plan. I would say that's something to consider this year for sure during the Medicare enrollment period. You know, as you were describing that, it made me think of the old proverbial bucket of water and the bucket's your retirement plan, the water is the money in it. But then here is this hole and that hole and another hole. you know, and the holes represent, you know, maybe it's taxes or inflation or, like in this case, some of these co-pays or out of pockets or paying X number of dollars per day for a hospital stays

when some of these life's uncertainties pop up. Well, you can never plug up all those holes. If you've got 10 holes in the bucket, you can't plug up all 10. But you can certainly plug up many and maybe lessen the holes of the others so that more of your money stays with you. So I really liked how you laid that out. Are there any other final kind of thoughts on unique and niche kind of opportunities that people should be aware of? Well, I would say there's so many niche markets and little things.

The best thing to do is if you're curious about just trying to set up your retirement, which I know we've discussed retirement planning, well, how do you keep more of that money in your pocket than we discuss niche markets? How do we make sure you have the right life insurance plan? I'll always start with whatever's best based on someone's health, right? Health and age are what really purchased life insurance. So if normally you're being told you can't get life insurance or you were told the only option for you with health issues as a Medigap plan and if you switch to Medicare Advantage, you're not going to be able to afford all the co-pays, we have solutions for people that were told things like that before.

And that's what I would say the best thing to do is just schedule a time to have a discussion and dig into some of these niche things. Some of them won't pop up until we realize the need, right? Because there's so many. I mean, we could probably be here all day long just discussing different opportunities. But just to name a few to generalize, right? Life insurance, there are applications that we can do to get somebody covered that was told, nope, you know, you can't have day one.

And everyone's an individual. And it all kind of ties together. You know, I love how you laid that out, which is, hey, if you think about retirement planning, well, if you have the right things in place, then you're not going to need to take money out of that retirement account, which then you need in retirement. Well, if all of these things are tying together and you're able to plug up some of those holes, not only is your retirement plan as healthy as possible, but the peace of mind that provides

you on the front end, that's worth its waiting goal. It is, I agree. I mean, you don't want to try to plan in your future because everyone wants to do what. They want to live their life and do the things that they want to do and not be worried about money, right? And if one of these little interruptions happens, it can take your entire plan and torpedo it. And that's what we want to avoid by planning this out properly. So there's, again, retirement planning. A part of that is planning for these other little events that we can't really normally plan for because they're unexpected.

So we do have a way to get rid of that unexpected. expected, you know, scary concept that could really mess up your retirement planning and start eating away at funds that you so carefully earned and set aside. So that's why, you know, again, building a portfolio, there's, you know, building money, saving money, you know, growing and investing money. And then there's also protecting it. So, and on top of that, generational wealth, which I'm sure, again, I'm not going to dive into that, but just creating, creating wealth that lasts beyond yourself is also the other aspect of that. Well, I tell you, it's been so enlightening to hear some of those unknown, you know,

niche type opportunities that are so unique but so powerful. Luke, if someone is interested in learning more, kind of assessing their situations to see how we can plug up or mitigate some of those holes, what's the best way that they can reach out and connect with you? Sure. So one would be just by phone. My cell number, that's 814-2-8.8. 8-8-433. You can also find me on social media platforms, such as Facebook or LinkedIn,

your regular ones there, or to my website. That's www.Olland-insurance Advisors.com. Feel free to look me up on any of the above or text or call. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Luke. It's a pleasure to have you back on and chat with you about these important topics. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Mike. I appreciate you having me back. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www. www.Influential Entrepreneurs Radio.com.