Greeting friends and family and anyone else that finds their way to my blog. It has been awhile. Some might expect that the new year brought about a renewed desire to share my life with strangers and nonstrangers. The answer is no...I think. It is hard for me to discern if my desire to come back to blogging is motivated by the changing year or if I simply think I have enough interesting things to tell people to get back to blogging.
Personally, I believe it is the latter, but either way, I am back.
I am back and better than ever (credit to the great radio show Mike & Mike in the morning, may it rest in peace). Near the end of 2018, I started working for a financial marketing company that sells various types of insurance and other financial services. The name of the company is Primerica. I know most of you are now trying to figure out how you will avoid the phone call or text message you get from me asking if you want to meet and talk about your money.
I get it. I understand. I would probably do the same thing if I saw that someone I know started working for a company that fits the description I just gave you. I also ask that you would trust me, and the reason that I got into this work is because I know how little I actually knew about money. I have learned so much in two months and I very much desire to share what I have learned with people that I care about. If I call you, it's because I want to help you, not because I want to make money of you. I promise.
I will assert to you now that I will never try to deceive you. I will never advise you to do anything with your money that doesn't benefit you or that I wouldn't do myself.
The primary services that Primerica agents focus on are helping clients develop plans to pay off debt effectively and efficiently, educate about the two main types of life insurance (whole life insurance vs. term life insurance), and create a FIN (Financial Independence Number).
My job is to sell you on the idea that Primerica wants to help and more importantly that I want to help. Once I do that, we work on creating an FNA (Financial Needs Analysis) using a computer. We plug in numbers and I show you the math. I am not going to tell you that this company tried to rob you or that company is out to screw you over. I am going to give you numbers and help you understand them, so that you can make the connections on your own.
Our debt stacking plan comes from the common idea of debt repayment from Dave Ramsey. It is called snowballing and our FNA will create the most efficient way to pay off the debt. When Claire and I plugged our numbers in, it told us that if we continued paying off debt in the way that we presently were, it would take us 21 years to get out of debt. The debt stacking in our FNA cut that down to 15 years and 4 months and saved us almost $30,000. That debt includes the student loan debt of a woman with a doctorate degree and a $200,000 home that we just bought last July. Miracles people, miracles.
Truly diving into the differences in life insurance and why Primerica is the best life insurance company in the country requires an entire blog post, but I will briefly discuss the most important idea. One of the defining financial ideas that Primerica utilizes is "buy term invest the difference." Term insurance is life insurance that has a set period of time that the insured is covered. That time limit can be in multiples of 5 year increments. Whole life insurance is life insurance that will last for the entire life of the insured or until the insured turns age 100.
Whole life insurance was created with the intent to provide insured people with an opportunity to put money away for savings while also providing a death benefit should they pass away. In theory, it sounds like a great idea. So you are asking this life insurance agent of two months, what's the problem? The problem is that whole life insurance is significantly more expensive than term insurance. The excess money is then invested into some kind of account to help increase the amount in the savings portion of the policy. However, most people don't know that they will almost never see that money.
Individuals (really the beneficiary of the policyholder) who purchase whole life insurance will only ever see one pile of money. If the insured dies before they turn 100 years old, their beneficiary will either receive the face value of the policy OR OR OR the cash value that has accrued. Whichever number is higher.
This is why Primerica agents will encourage clients to buy term and invest the difference. You can get significantly more coverage for less money with term insurance and you can invest whatever else you would have spent on whole life insurance in a retirement account. That way you can get BOTH your death claim and this big pile of money you have built up over the course of your lifetime. You also are going to almost always be able to find an account that grows your money at a faster rate than the accounts that your whole life policy will be invested in.
Finally, the FNA will help to determine your Financial Independence Number. The software will calculate the lifestyle you want to live when you are retired, when you want to retire, and take into all kinds of other things like inflation. It will then give you an amount of money you need to save at a particular percentage to ensure you have that money when you retire 10, 20, 30, 40 years down the road.
I know that is a lot, and many of you may have stopped reading. For those that didn't, please don't be afraid to answer my call or my text. I want to help you, I promise. I want to help the people that you care about. Maybe you will like what I have to say enough that you want to work for Primerica yourself.
It is good to be back.
