The Benefits of Life Insurance In a Down Market

When we think of life insurance, often the first thing that comes to mind is protection. That protection extends to both good and bad markets - and not just death benefits but living benefits as well.
Given the recent financial news, here are some things to consider.

• Tax free death benefits can protect an insured's income and assets from market volatility during their working years and beyond, and provide a legacy when markets recover. 
• Income tax-free withdrawals and loans may be used as potential sources of emergency funds, or to help meet liquidity needs.
• Life insurance cash values can be accessed during a down market to avoid selling other assets and "locking in" losses.

Different types of life policies offer other advantages. Give us a call and we'll discuss with you over the phone.

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, as well as a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient. 

How To Be Socially Distant and Get the Life Insurance You Need

After 9/11, there was a huge increase in the amount of life insurance policies sold nationally. Seeing thousands of people dying on their televisions brought people to the reality of their own mortality. And they also saw the faces of the family members who were distraught and confused, not knowing what to do next. Empathizing with the images in front of them, many took a hard look at their own situations and asked what would happen to their own families if a sudden tragedy fell upon them. 

Now we have the deadly coronavirus at our doorstep and people are just as concerned. They realize that this is a serious health threat, and also want to make sure that their families are going to be able to continue to live in the same fashion as before if they should die suddenly, whether from a virus or another cause. Insuring that a family can stay in their home and that the kids can continue to plan for their college education is imperative. 

However, there's a new wrinkle to consider. Given that the virus is contagious, we as a country have adopted a new norm, "social distancing", or literally not going near each other. How can we take care of the things we need to tend to in our day-to-day lives if we can't conduct business face-to-face? Hopefully, we have found some solutions that may make life and business a bit more bearable. 

Luckily, we have web applications at our disposal. As a life and health agent, I've been using web apps for years, helping clients over the phone with their insurance needs. It helps tremendously when a client is out of town or even in another state. Through the web we can get all of a client's information and submit it directly, and securely, to the insurance carrier. Additionally, the advantage of the web based application system is the lack of mistakes and missing information that can happen with paper applications. 

Many of our clients have said that this is preferable because of the convenience to them and it speeds up the process by days when an application doesn't have to be mailed in. I had one client who was visiting her grandkids when I took her application over the phone. Her policy was issued in less than a week. It doesn't get much easier to buy insurance when you can see the ones you are protecting while getting coverage.

As we do our best during this epidemic to stay apart from each other, remember that applying for life, disability or long term care insurance can be easy and convenient. And we are just a phone call away. Visit our website at www.SurfFinancialBrokers.com and fill out the Contact Form. We'll set up a time to call and discuss your insurance needs. Or if you would prefer, you can now take a look at our appointment schedule and schedule a time yourself. 

During this pandemic we realize you have a lot on your mind. Work, school (or should we say homeschool), and caring for our loved ones can keep us all preoccupied. Making sure that your family is taken care of if something should happen to you can be affordable and painless. We are working hard to make the process for covering you and your family as easy as possible. Keep a smile on your face and stay healthy!

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

The Life Insurance Check Up 2023

Hopefully, you go to your physician once a year for an annual checkup. The logic behind this is to make sure you are in good shape and if there is a problem it can be dealt with before it gets out of hand. The same is true of your "financial wellness". 

In that vein of thought we at Surf Financial Brokers ask, "Have you had an annual life insurance check up?"  It only takes a few minutes and could save your loved one a lot of pain down the road.

First, make sure you have enough life coverage.  Many people think they can get away with a small policy through work, but it's probably not enough to keep your family in their home and retain their lifestyle if something were to happen to you. And if you in a two-income family like many other Americans, your income definitely helps pay the bills. A quick and easy way to determine the amount of life insurance you need is with our calculator.  It only takes a few minutes to plug in some numbers and get a pretty accurate amount of coverage.  Make sure you have enough coverage to pay off debt, cover education costs for your kids, replace income and costs associated with death, such as an extended hospital stay.  Don't forget to include final expenses, like burial or cremation fees, funeral expenses etc.

Second, make sure your beneficiaries are who you want.  When you took out your policy years ago, you picked out who you thought were the right people to be your beneficiaries. We recommend that you take another look at whom you have chosen and make any adjustments that may be needed. An irresponsible adult child or a deceased loved one may not be as suitable as you thought originally.  Have your agent get you the correct forms for beneficiary changes. Keeping your beneficiaries up to date will save your loved ones a lot of time and expense. 

This was the case when my father passed away this year. He had three life policies that had not been looked at in years, even though I asked. One policy had his father and mother listed as the beneficiaries.They had died in 1970 and 1992 respectively. Another had my mother listed as the primary beneficiary, but she had died in 2011. The third policy was the really confusing one, as he had listed his business as the beneficiary. Again, the business had been shut down years earlier. 

Which leads us to the last part of the check up.  Let your family know who to contact if they need help at your death.  Unfortunately, life insurance agents come and go.  The trusted agent you purchased your plan from may or may not still be in the business, or they may have gone to work for another carrier.  If your original agent is no longer available to help you, contact the company and request a new agent of record to assist you.  Leave this information available for your loved ones so they don't have to waste time and money trying to file your claim. And be sure to keep documents like life insurance policies where your family can find it, like a safe or lockbox. My sister has a file that her adult children are aware of that has all of her insurance information in one place. 

If you need help or have questions, please let us know.

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

What Coverage For the Coronavirus?

A few days ago I met with some other insurance agents for a nice lunch in Charlotte, NC. Quickly the conversation turned to current events and, of course, the Coronavirus came up. Then one colleague from the Richmond, VA area, asked the group what policy would best cover the Covid-19 bug. This is when our conversations get pretty interesting.

Insurance agents can be a weird lot sometimes. In a nutshell, we sell policies to cover loss of life, income, or other tragedies. When you deal with such morbid topics all day it affects your sense of humor. Not everyone is appreciative of dark humor as many agents are. Heck, there are a quite a few agents who would rather discuss something a bit lighter. 

This was not the "light conversation" group. Quickly and without hesitation someone blurted out, "A Hospital Indemnity plan!" with great enthusiasm. Maybe a bit too much enthusiasm. The rest of the table nodded in agreement to this idea. I like to think of us as "insurance geniuses" and that birds of a feather flock together. 

At this point you're probably asking yourself what a Hospital Indemnity (HI) plan is and what does it do. In a nutshell the typical HI* helps cover expenses associated with:

• short hospital stays
• ambulance trips
• outpatient surgery
• critical accidents
• emergency room visits

For the most part HI plans are sold through companies through work via payroll deduction, however there are a few companies that offer these plans on an individual basis. Our clients like them because they are easy to understand and very affordable. 

Hopefully, your major medical insurance will cover most of the hospital and/or doctors bills if you're stricken by the Coronavirus. And if you think you may need an extra layer of protection to cover the out of pocket expenses that can go with any illness, perhaps a Hospital Indemnity policy is for you. Luckily, we at Surf Financial Brokers may be able to help.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a serious matter and is affecting people differently. I have personally spoken to people who have tested positive but with no symptoms and those that have said it was just a case of the "sniffles". I've also spoken to people who said they were seriously sick and in the hospital and people who have had family members pass away. As a matter of fact, my neighbor's parents both died from the illness within eight days of each other. With an illness like this that we are still learning about, the concern for a supplemental plan to offset medical bills is increasing everyday. 

To see a short and informative video on how this plan works click here. 

Buying any kind of insurance can be a bit stressful, and we all have too much stress in our lives right now. So let us help you. You can pick the time you want us to call you and we will have a short discussion on the merits of how HI works and do our best to make it work on your budget. We can even take your application right over the phone. With the Coronavirus around no one wants an agent to call on them. 

*Please note that not all plans cover all of the above, but you get the idea. Also, not all plans are available in all states.

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

The 3 Stages of Retirement

When we think of retirement planning, we usually think of traveling, visiting the grandchildren or working in our garden.  Looking forward to age 65 is a milestone for a large number of us, but the reality can be quite different.

Did you know that only about 15% of Americans fully retire at 65? Most will just continue working or cut back on the hours they work. And self-employed people, such as business owners or 1099 employees just keep working as well because they know the boredom will set in and want to stay active.

When I talk to groups about retirement years, I go over the three stages of retirement:

• The Go Go Years - This is when we think of retirement as traveling and having a good time.Visiting the grandchildren, going on cruises and days full of pickleball sound great, and if you have some money saved up you can move to a great retirement community. 
  
• The Slow Go Years - As the name implies, maybe we need to take it a bit easier. "Piddling" in the garden and staying closer to home. Sometimes a health related issue or an accident begin this part of the process.
  
• The No Go Years - Serious health problems and aging keeps us in home or a facility. This can also be the time when you can go through most of your savings due to healthcare costs, even if you are not in a facility. As a matter of fact, home healthcare services can cost up to twice as much as a nursing or assisted living facility.
  

Unfortunately, when planning for those retirement years, we fail to plan for the No Go years. Some have their heads in the sand, not thinking it will happen to them. According to the Motley Fool, 69% of people will need long term care insurance. And you're likely to need it from 1 to 3 years. Given that care in a facility isn't cheap, and in-home care is even more expensive, why not shift the burden of the costs to an insurance carrier instead of wiping out everything you've worked your whole life for?

There's a myth that the government will take care of you. Signals from politicians show differently and we don't recommend you rely on it.

Fortunately, there are options and depending on your age and health, you can find something in your budget. The long term care insurance landscape has changed over the last few years. Many insurance are acting as if they no longer want to be in that part of the business by selling off those books of clients to other carriers, while others have changed their policies by decreasing the rich benefits they previously offered for years.

However, there are still a handful of carriers still offering long term care policies. And now we even offer a short term home healthcare policy which is a great way to stay in your own home affordably. In addition to these options, many life insurance policies now offer "living benefits" in their coverage which can help with the dilemma of being chronically ill.

If you would like more information about planning for your future healthcare costs, contact us or use our "Books a Free Consultation" tool. We'll be happy to have a phone conversation with you. And as always, stay healthy.

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

Are You Playing Checkers or Chess?

Many people don't have a complete financial gameplan in place.  They buy life insurance, have a 401k through their employer and only insure their paychecks through a work sponsored program.  In other words, they are only thinking of one move at a time. This can be a fatal mistake when it comes to planning for you and your family.

On the other hand, forward thinking folks look at the big picture. They aren't just thinking of their needs for the present, but down the road. They know that their needs will change with time because their situations will change. Kids will be born and need to be raised.  Illness or unemployment can affect a families finances.  When making a financial plan, there can be a lot of landmines.  Just like a good chess player, these people are thinking several moves ahead.

In any game, whether it's chess or football or Monopoly, you have to play offense and defense. Think of offense and making money and defense as protecting what you have worked for. Insurance is playing defense in that sense and can be important in the case of an illness or accident. 

Take life insurance for instance. There are many types of coverage and depending on what your own situation is, you may need to buy several policies over your lifetime. Term is great during your working years, when you are still paying off a mortgage and want to make sure your kids have funds to go to college if they want to. And term life coverage is very affordable. 

As you get older and the house is paid off, you may want to look at coverage that is permanent, like a whole or universal life policy. You probably won't be looking for cash accumulation in that scenario, but instead something to relieve the burden of burial costs from your family. 

Of course, your income (or the incomes nowadays) is how you provide for you family and pay the bills. If you were to unexpectedly get sick or hurt and became unable to work, your family's financial situation could become a nightmare. And unlike the possibility of your death, you may still need care, which could involve paying someone or having a family member take time from their job. Either way, a disability policy could provide insurance for your paycheck. 

Finally there are the costs of aging. We all want to think of retirement as a time to kick back, travel and spoil the grandkids,but we rarely think ahead of a time when our health is failing and we can no longer be independent. The only time we consider it is when we see our parents or grandparents in that predicament. In the case of my father, who refused to go to a nursing home but could no longer care for himself, we had to bring in a private caregiver company. He pension and other small income streams were eaten up quickly each month. Desperate, he began dipping into his home's equity. 

Life happens and bad things can occur at any point of our lives. Planning ahead and making sure you have your bases covered is a sign of "financial wellness". Shifting risk from your own wallet to that of an insurance company (life, disability or long term care) is a smart move.

So the question to ask yourself is, "Am I playing checkers or chess when it comes to my finances?"

At Surf Financial Brokers, we know which plan is more successful.  Let us help you become a chess player.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know and stay healthy!

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, located in North Myrtle Beach, SC, as well as a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient. 

My Own Life Insurance Story Part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, my father's passing was left us in a lurch. It wasn't sudden or unexpected, as he had been suffering from the effect of Parkinson's Disease for years. And even though I have been a life and health agent for years, he ignored any of my pleas to let me take a look at what he had in place. And with him living in Fayetteville, NC while I lived two hours away and my sister living seven hours away, it was more than difficult to keep an eye on his affairs.

His beneficiaries were horribly out of date. Yet he managed to keep these policies up to date, either paid up or still making premium payments. Always trying to impress us with his financial intelligence, he screwed up when it came to something simple like life insurance. 

And worse, he put his family, my sister and I, in a situation that needed to be cleaned up. I can foresee myself spending hours on the phone with these carriers trying to sort out death claims that will eventually be paid to his estate. At this point we would be satisfied to cover his funeral costs, which were in excess of $13,000. (Did I mention he had an equity line on the house that he was using to pay his monthly bills? Another surprise!)

A horrible thought crossed my mind. What if he had died 40 years earlier? His insufficiently low face amounts would have probably forced us to move from our home. College would have been a "maybe" for me. My mother, who was a great home maker but had few marketable skills, probably would have been forced to enter the job market. 

These are the reasons why agents like myself ask a lot of questions when we sit down with a family to discuss life insurance coverage. And a good agent will get an answer and continue to drill down for more answers. It may seem annoying and a bit invasive at the time, but the process of discovery is necessary to make sure that families can stay financially solvent if the breadwinner dies unexpectedly.

Life insurance agents sometimes get a bad reputation. I get it. However, the vast majority of us are genuinely concerned for our clients. We know that people have budgets, yet they also have families who will be in trouble in someone dies too soon. The question to ask yourself if this: If I were to die tomorrow, will my family be okay?

Even though my sister and I are adults and have our own families, we never expected to be on the hook for my father's final expenses. Nor did we think we would be having to sort out a tangled web of life policies. The main problem was lack of communication. My father dismissed our entreaties to go over his finances. We weren't vultures waiting for him to pass to inherit his vast empire. But we did want to be aware of potential landmines that could have been eliminated. Now we are dealing with those landmines.

The moral of the story is as follows. Let your life insurance agent help you. Take into account final expenses and the "cost of dying", as well as any outstanding debts. And even though we hear horrible stories in the news concerning elder abuse and financial fraud, most adult children are caring and should be trusted. 

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!