Life Insurance Awareness Month 2023 - LIAM Podcast

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Ready for it.

Speaker 2 (00:01):

Life Insurance Awareness Month 2023. All right. Welcome everybody to this edition of the Alliance Group podcast and we have the most special guests with us today. Joining me in the studio, the Alliance Group, C E O, Mr. Lee Duncan Lee, what's up man?

Speaker 1 (00:17):

Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. I flew in this morning from actually a national life insurance company. I took a 6:00 AM flight to be able to do this podcast and

Speaker 2 (00:27):

Dedication,

Speaker 1 (00:28):

Running on caffeine. Let's go.

Speaker 2 (00:30):

So we're here on the Eve, right on the Verge of Life Insurance Awareness Month 2023. So all September long there is an organization called Life happens.org that many of you are probably familiar with, and they've been doing Life Insurance Awareness Month for now. This is the 20th

Speaker 1 (00:50):

Year. 20th year. This is the 20th year Life Insurance Awareness month. And so it just gives us a reason to market and spread awareness about the value of having life insurance for protection in a family and a business.

Speaker 2 (01:02):

Absolutely. So every year we basically piggyback off of this message from Life Happens, which is basically the mission, Lee is just to do what we at Alliance Group and all of our agents out there are trying to do year round,

Speaker 1 (01:17):

Every day,

Speaker 2 (01:18):

Every day, which is make people more aware of really the need for life insurance, right Lee?

Speaker 1 (01:24):

Yeah, the need for life insurance is great. And so what our jobs are on a day-to-day basis, this is not new for us to talk about life insurance awareness in the month of September. We do it every day like we said, but the need is great and the education around life insurance needs to, we need to be doing more of it and that's what we're here for at the Alliance Group.

Speaker 2 (01:49):

Well, it's something that you always say, and it's something that we always say and as a result is education is what leads to empowerment. When somebody is educated about something and the reasons why they should be doing something, they feel empowered to make a decision and that really is where Life Insurance Awareness Month is coming from. It's coming from that education perspective to educate consumers about the different needs for life insurance and to really correct some misconceptions that are out there. One thing that I've noticed, Lee, as we've gone through life Insurance Awareness month several times and every year we always take the opportunity to study the newest facts coming out from LIMRA about life insurance, about consumer attitudes towards life insurance. One of the things that I keep seeing year after year after year after year as a reason that people don't own more life insurance is because they have this false belief that it is more expensive than it is.

Speaker 1 (02:46):

And I think that's part of our job is to show clients, hey, that it is not that expensive and that for pennies on the dollar, you can protect your family with a policy that if something were to happen to you, that there's a large sum of money that would be there to make sure that your dreams still happen for your family life insurance. True life insurance is not for you as an individual that's buying it, it's for the people that are left behind. It's the people that are there after you pass away and helping people think about that for the cost of what they're spending on coffee a month for the cost of what they're spending on things that are way lesser value and lesser need that they could have this protection and have that peace of mind.

Speaker 2 (03:31):

Well, I think, okay, so we did talk about that and there are stats that show that the average person literally overestimates the cost of life insurance by something close to a hundred percent. I mean, it is drastic. So number one, we are encouraging people, Hey, stop assuming that you know how much your life insurance is going to cost, get a quote, find a life insurance professional that whether it's a friend or somebody, you might have a professional relationship with an

Speaker 1 (04:00):

Alliance group agent.

Speaker 2 (04:01):

Absolutely sit down and actually have that 20 minute conversation, go through a needs analysis and get a quote. And Lee, I think that the really important part of that, what I just said is getting the needs analysis done, right? Yes, absolutely. People don't know. We always joke if you ask the random person how much life insurance do you think you need? For some reason the number $250,000 comes up a lot as this generic answer that people give. They really don't know how much they need and they don't know how much it costs. So if

Speaker 1 (04:32):

Someone, and those are different for everyone, I think it ties into what the income is that's coming into your family. Do you have a dual household income? What kind of debts do you have? What are the things that you want to happen if something happens to you like college for your kids, down payments on houses after they get married, things of that nature. There's all those kinds of things that tie in. If you have a business, it adds a whole nother layer of questions that need to be answered to determine what that amount is that you actually need and should have.

Speaker 2 (05:03):

The other thing you say a lot, Lee, is things are only expensive in the absence of value. And I think that's the other problem. It's not just a misconception about how much it might cost, but it's also a misconception that, oh, life insurance is just something I buy so I can make my family rich when I die or something like that. When someone goes through a proper needs analysis with an actual professional, such as an alliance group professional, what they actually find is that they find out through that needs analysis where every single dollar of a life insurance policy is going, it's going to pay off debts, it's going to replace income, it's going to pay off the house, it's going to pay for final expenses obviously, and you'll also be able to maybe fund your kids' education. So once, I mean my experience has been, and I know that you've shared in this experience, Lee, that once someone goes through a proper needs analysis, they feel so much more confident because they see the value in what they're getting. It's not just a life insurance policy. It is something that's going to pay off all of those

Speaker 1 (06:03):

Things. And they understand that then of what it's covering and it's not just a number. And I think that's a hard part for people to understand of a million dollars. Sounds like a lot, whenever you're talking about replacing 10, 15, 20 years of income, a million dollars is not, it could be a very small amount when it comes to replacing that risk and covering that risk.

Speaker 2 (06:26):

I mean, a million dollars replaces exactly 20 years of a $50,000 salary and then that's it. And then that's not even to speak of all of the other needs that a family might have besides just replacing income.

Speaker 1 (06:41):

Absolutely. That's one of the things that we do and we love to do with families is to really help 'em understand all that, answer all their questions, help them understand the difference between all the different types of products. So there's term products, there's temporary products, that's what a term product is, and then there's permanent products and the need for both. We're not a one size fits all organization, and I truly believe that a combination type approach with different types of policies are the best way both economically and from a risk management basis to protect that family and that business.

Speaker 2 (07:20):

And what I think that we are always encouraging people to do is just look, if you sit down and kind of rip off the bandaid, sit down with a professional and go through the process, we promise you will feel better at the end of it knowing that you have done the planning, you have done the work to make sure that your family, the people that you care about most are protected no matter what happens. And of course, Lee Alliance Group, we specialize in living benefits, life insurance. So you get to check those extra boxes so that not only are you setting up something that is going to make sure your family is taken care of, God forbid you pass away and the worst happens. You've also got something in place in the case of having a living benefits policy that is going to make sure that you yourself are financially protected if you suffer and survive a major illness like cancer, heart attack, stroke, something like that. So you're checking all of those boxes and if you sit and you go through the process and you get a plan like that in place, you are going to feel better. You are going to feel confident that you have done this work and you are going to see the value of putting something like that in place for yourself. You'll frankly just feel a lot better than you did before.

Speaker 1 (08:28):

Yeah, absolutely. And so one of the things that we're doing at Alliance Group is creating a campaign around the fact that this is not your grandma's life insurance. This is not your granddad's life insurance. So these policies come benefit rich with so many different ways that you can access that policy and protect your family in the event, like Sam said, that if you get diagnosed with a heart attack, stroke or cancer or a chronic illness, and that's one of the big concerns that people have today going into their retirement years, is what's going to happen to me if I get sick and I need somebody to take care of me? Well, these policies not only provide that protection if you die, but also if you have one of these illnesses to help you in that situation to get access to money to help you cover those expenses and that decreased income that comes along with those.

Speaker 2 (09:14):

Right? So as you kind of referred to there, I mean every year in September we do piggyback off of Life Insurance Awareness Month, which is presented by Life happens.org. We always encourage our agents to go check out Life happens.org. They always put together some really great resources, the things that you can share on social media, they put on different campaigns every year. This is their 20th year doing so, they're awesome people over there. What we also take the opportunity to do on the Alliance group marketing team side is we go ahead and we create some content as well that helps our agents market this idea throughout Life Insurance Awareness month and spread awareness hopefully so that they will reach a lot of people and those people will reach out and ask to sit down with them and get this box checked and get their life insurance set up. So not your grandma's life insurance is something that Travis has kind of come up with and put together. These are hilarious. I know that you've seen them. They're these awesome images that reach out and grab people's attention. Some partying grannies, dressed in ridiculous sunglasses and hats.

(10:22)
You got to see 'em. I think what we might pop 'em up on the screen right here, a couple of

Speaker 1 (10:26):

Examples. Absolutely. And this is one of those ways, and I love the marketing team that we have here at Alliance Group. Kudos to them and the things that they're doing and the things they're creating, the ideas that they're coming up with. But one of the things I love about 'em is that they represent the population that actually is the ones that are the least likely to own a life insurance policy today. The Gen Zs, the Gen X, the Gen Ys, the next one, the Gen Alphas that hasn't started yet, but that population, they own life insurance policy less than the average population in America. So what we're trying to do is grab their attention on the platforms that they're currently hanging out in. So Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Well actually not Facebook

Speaker 2 (11:13):

Actually. TikTok. Yeah, man, Facebook's old news apparently. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (11:16):

Old news.

Speaker 2 (11:18):

We're getting old Lee, we're getting old. You got to be with the Tick and the talk

Speaker 1 (11:23):

Or something in the Instas, I guess

Speaker 2 (11:25):

So. Yes, exactly. It's all about reaching your audience where they are, right? So you guys keep an eye out for that. If you're an Alliance Group agent, you're going to see Alliance Group posting things like that. You'll see things on the agent portal that you can share throughout Life Insurance Awareness Month to help you get that message out there. Hopefully capture some attention from some of these Gen Z and Gen Y folks and encourage them to go ahead and again, get that box checked, do the work to set themselves up and set their families up for a good, well-protected financial

Speaker 1 (12:00):

Future. And I think it's crucial for us to be having conversations with them. They've gone through school, they've gone, most of 'em have gone through college, but this basic understanding of life insurance and financial planning is not something they get going through 16 years of schooling. So they need help here, they need advice, they need a direction. And the thing is, is that they're the generation in the population that's actually putting themselves at risk, even more of something bad happening to them because they're now having kids, they're buying houses, they're taking on debt, and if they haven't stopped and thought about that and put a plan in place, then they're leading with their chin, so to speak.

Speaker 2 (12:43):

And I think calling attention to the fact that, hey, you are still young. This is still dirt cheap for you when you compare to older generations. The thing about life insurance, kind of the paradox is that the older you get, the wiser you get, the more you're likely to do something like wake up and say, oh, I need to get some life insurance in place. And the older you get, the more expensive life insurance gets. So it really is important to get the message across to these younger generations, Hey, you should be doing this, number one. And number two, it's cheaper for you than most people in the world, so you absolutely should be doing it. So

Speaker 1 (13:20):

Lock that pricing in today, just lock, lock that coverage in and at the health you are today too. That's the other thing. It's not just the age, it's the health. Absolutely. As you get older, my knee cracks every day when I wake up, so my body hurts. And that's just what happens in life. And as you get older things, you can get diagnosis of diabetes and high blood pressure and these various things that can keep you from getting a policy or having a decent rated policy. So locking that rating today while you're the healthiest that you're probably ever going

Speaker 2 (13:54):

To be. Yeah, I mean, the question really becomes as simple as, would you rather buy a policy now in your late twenties, early thirties when it's 30, 40 bucks a month? Or would you rather wait until inevitably you realize that you need this policy when you're a little older and a little wiser and pay 150 bucks a month for it? Right? The earlier that these younger generations realize that this is something they're eventually going to need and get it in place, the easier it's going to be to get them in place from a price perspective.

Speaker 1 (14:20):

But less than half of those people in those generations own a life insurance policy. So I think it's 40% in Gen Z, 48% in Gen X. And like I said, those are the individuals that are starting those families. They got kids now relying upon them to bring that income into the household. And just because of everything going on in the economy and inflation and things of that nature, a lot of those households are relying upon two income families. And so the protection is really key because some of 'em are having trouble making it on those two incomes. So take one away. That's the thing to think about. Take one away, whether that's something like a heart attack, stroke, or cancer where you can't go to work or the worst happens, you pass away. What happens to that family? And we've all seen the stories, we've all donated a little money here and there to a GoFundMe or a Facebook post or something like that where something devastating happened to a family, and

Speaker 2 (15:24):

I just did it yesterday. There was a young family who's the husband, I don't know the details yet, but he tragically passed away. And of course the first thing is there's a GoFundMe going around for the wife who has no idea what she's going to do, who did not have life insurance. And even the people starting the GoFundMe for them aren't really sure what this money's going to go toward, but they just know she's going to need money everyone, and they're basically passing the hat. And that's the situation that can happen unfortunately. And that is what we are trying to prevent is putting financial tragedy, inserting financial tragedy into a situation that is already tragic when these things happen and life throws you something unexpected. But as we try to say all the time, crowdfunding is not life insurance, right? Crowdfunding is not life insurance. It has unfortunately become a safety net when there is no life insurance in place. But that is not what it should be designed for. People should

Speaker 1 (16:22):

Get their life insurance in place and best case scenario, if it does work, best case scenario, if it does work, it covers maybe some of those expenses that you're going to have the next 10 days. But if you're looking at a, I have a six year old and a nine-year-old if I was looking at them and then I've got protection for the next 10 days from this crowd fund, what happens after the fact? What do I do now? And that's what we're here for, is really truly to be advocates for the widows, the widowers, the employees left behind, the business partners left behind, and taking the time to put a plan in place today so that if something does happen, boom, you got a plan, you got money, you got help, you got support.

Speaker 2 (17:03):

Alright, so life insurance awareness month. If you are a client or a consumer watching this, just the average American, the thing that you can do obviously is to help spread the word. Number one, make sure you sit down with a life insurance professional. We know several folks at Alliance Group I think that can help you out. But number two, make sure that you are making the people that you love aware of the need for them to do the same thing, right? Make sure that your cousins, your brothers, your sisters, your parents, and even your children have life insurance in place and that you have gone through that process to make sure that they're protected. And of course, if you're an Alliance Group agent watching this, make sure that you are taking advantage of life insurance Awareness month, that you're also spreading the word we have material, not your grandma's life insurance that we are going to put out there. Also, make sure to check out Life happens.org and their resources that they make available every year as well. And just make sure again, that you are leveraging this opportunity in September to get a little bit higher on your soapbox and talk about life insurance with everyone that you know and the need for getting it in place. Lee, anything to add there?

Speaker 1 (18:11):

The only other thing that I would say, just to kind of tie in with this, once again, awareness and education is one of the things that I get a lot of whenever I bring up this conversation with a new prospect or a new client or just in a new conversation is, oh, I got insurance at work and I don't know how much it is. Nobody ever knows how much it is. Nope. Not one person knows how much, but they're going to totally rely upon that insurance at work. And so my only other thing to say along with this is not just awareness about getting it, but make sure you're having an individual policy that you own, that you control, that you take care of, that you're paying for, and that's there for you whether you're working at this job or the next job or the next job or the next job.

(18:58)
And I think that applies especially to that Gen Z and Gen Y and Gen X because it's one of those things where they are jumping from employer to employer to employer and starting their own business. So unless you're providing it to yourself, you don't have it at work. So extra awareness there, don't just rely upon it, just treat that as gravy. That's what I always tell clients is that, Hey, let's do your planning based on what you need individually and that's own that individually. If you have stuff at work, great, but let's not count on that.

Speaker 2 (19:35):

Absolutely. I think that might be the number one misconception out there is people, it's very tempting to want to say, oh no, I have that box checked. I have have life insurance through work. It is checked. Well, you got to know the details behind what is that policy actually going to pay out. Usually it's a smaller amount, I'm talking a hundred thousand dollars or less,

Speaker 1 (19:53):

Maybe one, two times the income, that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (19:56):

It might help with final expenses, but then not much after that. So you do need to make sure what you have and also in what cases it will actually pay out. Lee, we have some people who think that they have life insurance, but it's actually like an accidental death policy or something like that, right? So very important and I, I've asked countless clients to go to their HR department and check and get the actual details of their policy, and almost every single time when they get it back, they realize, oh, I really misremembered about what I actually had in place. This isn't nearly enough. Or in some cases it wouldn't even pay out in a lot of scenarios. So very, except

Speaker 1 (20:35):

For those of you guys that do own life insurance. The other thing, use this as a light bulb to say, Hey, maybe it's time that I look at that policy that I bought and I threw in my safety deposit box and see what it actually covers. And so that's one of the things that we do at Alliance Group. We offer that as a free service to really take a look at your existing planning, make sure it's still accurate in what you think it is, and then if it's not the perfect time to understand that it's not what you think it is is right now, and then putting a plan in place to handle that protection.

Speaker 2 (21:07):

That's a very, very good point. Life Insurance Awareness month, not just for the people who don't have it and need to get it, it's also for the people who do have it and need to be aware of how much they have. It's that reminder every year to kind of take stock of what you have and just confirm that it is still doing what you need it to do and that it is sufficient. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (21:25):

Checking beneficiaries last year, beneficiary paying to the wrong person because somebody didn't update it. So all those things, just making sure that what you have is what you think it is, and if it's not, then taking action to make sure it is

Speaker 2 (21:43):

Happy Life Insurance Awareness month, everybody. We're going to be talking about this throughout September. Make sure that you are doing everything that you need to do to take advantage of this incredible opportunity all September along.

Speaker 1 (21:56):

Excellent. Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (21:58):

Listen to this interview and more on the Alliance Group podcast.

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