Focus on Risk: Amber & Ann Discuss Tips on Longevity, Resilience and More

In today's episode, we welcome back Ann to discuss insurance planning and how she helps clients. But first, we dive into the mindset and a discussion about longevity and how we can shape our futures today.

She shares two amazing client stories.

The first story is about a Physician OBGYN who had to go onto disability due to a virus of "unknown origins" and how her client handled being told he was disabled and that he had to go on claim. He had Own Occupation so was able to be on a claim and still work.

If you are working with a team for your planning, please consider working with someone that can explain all the riders and although it is a complex topic, consider riders like the "Future Purchase Option."

We discuss Future Increase Options and Future Purchase Options and how people can be underinsured. Luckily, her client had the provisions that he needed.

The second story is about her client that had a brain tumor and she explains the story about getting the call. This was a big wake-up for Ann. She explains she is sure to talk with her clients about all types of products that a family may need. Thankfully, her client had life insurance when he passed. Her client's spouse says that although she has lost her best friend, she was financially safe and that helped her through that time.

How to find Ann? You can reach her via email at ann@afpgroup.com.

The AFP Group
602 Sawyer Street, Suite 120
Houston, Texas 77007
713.626.9820

Thank you for listening!

Transcript

Amber 00:01
Welcome back to the Amber Stitt Show. I am your host Amber Stitt, and today we have an Ann Ronn Baker Ronn back if you haven't met her before on one of the episodes previously, I have linked her bio and other information and below in the description box or show notes wherever you're finding information and analytics they are talking about just helping clients in the business we talked a little bit about protecting your families and individuals and things that they people can do to really have some resilience with obstacles that may come our way. So and thanks for coming bearing the show..... And let's dive in.... That's funny. My grandmother is modeling her house. She's 90

Ann 0:41
That's amazing.

Amber 0:45
We text message and she'll text inspirational passages from books and we will text around 8pm at night

Ann
Great... where does she live?

She lives in Nebraska so, I'll be talking about her because she did a really cool estate planning idea. I wrote a couple of blogs on that and I'll be talking about what she did. I don't think I can get her on the podcast. She's a little too shy for that. I

Unknown 1:09
think amazing if you could get

Unknown 1:13
so I've kind of she's given me some documents that were part of the plan it was about over 10 years ago, but it's a really cool idea. 

I'll share it with you too because it's something that your clients can do. Or actually, I mean, I suppose we can talk briefly about it. Now let's see where it fits in. But what she did is she worked with my uncle to put together an estate plan (kind of like a concept of the trust) or like I guess it was part of her estate planning. My grandfather passed away. I think my uncle had this idea and she modified it basically giving each grandchild $10,000 to support higher education, starting a business something to make you better. 

And you had to write to Grandmother about the qualifying like I want to do this and you have to prove to grandma that you qualify for whatever it is if it was $1,000 thing, you have to put 10% in which will give you $900 And you do $100...you have to have skin in the game. 

And then you have to tell her about it throughout the process and then you know you have your amounts up to $10,000. 

So that's really how I got all my credentials and all my credit qualified. The other thing is we have cousins in Norway or like other and traveling internationally to meet other family members qualifies. I do have a sister that hasn't used hers yet and I was like you need to talk to Grandma's because she did put a time clock on it. But when I went back to her last year about it, she goes "no," I'm going to extend it. I think it's okay like she's free thought and she goes you know people had their families. She wouldn't allow it for like babies and anything like that it had to be for business, education, something for higher learning. 

But I think that's part of the reason why she's so amazing at 90 and so sharp-minded because she's using her brain and she's participating and she's not alone. She has things that she does and she knows who she is, she loves to read and she dabbles in different projects throughout the house and she has the different people she has lunches with, but she's happy, happy...

Ann 3:26
One of my best friend's mothers just turned 90 and she happened to have the same birthday as my mother they were different years and years apart and they grew up together and so now since my mom isn't here anymore I exchange birthday cards with her on her birthday and she is incredible, she literally... her social life...she goes to dinner almost every night. Because she's 90, most of her friends are in their 60s and 70s because sadly because a lot of her friends have already passed away. 

She came when my uncle just passed away. So there's the Jewish tradition called Shiva so she came to the house and she brought a picture of my uncle and her husband and all has been like all these boys who are in this sports club in high school anyway, and she's just incredible. Like she has so much energy. She is like your grandma and she's just I think she worked up until like last year. Or two years ago. I mean, it's just incredible.

Amber 4:32
That is kind of part of why there are a couple of things that have really transpired to create the Pathways of Peak Performace and some of the people in my life or become in their 40s that might be in their late 60s or 70s (and I'm not talking to clients, but I'm just saying in general).... I do a lot of speaking to my grandmother because of those reasons. We're connected by sharing business and she's always like my biggest fan. But I look at some other people that I know and then some other family members and they almost feel like life is going to be it by 70 to 80 years old,  just part of building this "Pathways" framework for me is to say we can: 1) really get super organized, 2)  know who we manage our money and 3) based upon our how we perceive money, 4) how we comprehend money, 5) work with our partners or spouses on the same page understanding that we're different, but we have common goals that we're going to be approaching the goals differently and being okay with each other being different and having a little bit more grace with each other. And then having a community is really great for longevity and some of this you know, think about mental health and just being happier. So I always say like, create your own happiness. I feel like if you really work on who you are, start with yourself because it's really foundational. Then it can really trickle into all pieces of your life. 

I feel like because of my grandmother and her attitude. When I told her I was going to talk about her on my blog, and my podcast. She goes: "Well, that's wonderful...." And if you can hear her voice she says Marjorie, marvelous Marjorie. 

She's like, "Oh, sweetheart, that is wonderful. Now I know what I'm going to do for the next 10 years." We can talk about and we talk about all these books and different things, but she's excited to be part of my journey. And she's like, that's what the next 10 years are going to be about. So I hear this from her and then I hear other people in my life that are in their 70s going well. I probably get another 8-10 years...

Ann 6:34
which is what you will have when you say that, that's exactly right....

Amber 6:39
I know and I just go Gosh, I wish I could have the ability to make people feel more like how my grandmother feels, but I feel like it really can't really get there unless you really dive into personal development. So I know that's kind of off-topic with insurance planning, but I feel like part of why you and I do what we do is want to help people take the pressure off. So, I know that we were going to talk today about a client that actually had to use the coverage and the one that didn't have coverage and I feel like if we want to have a long life that we can control we can control, maybe it is our mindset. So if we put some steps and measures in place today, to then take the pressure off, then we can go about our lives to deal with the obstacles and little things that might pop up and if our health is otherwise great, maybe we will have longevity because we're not stressing out about these things that we wish we would have done. 

No regrets. So I know that I'm because I know that I'm wanting to help clients with that. I know as I hang out with you, we always talk about planning and how we love being able to serve clients. So I think the audience would love to know how some of your stories because as you share them with me, it always inspires me to be like, Okay, people need to hear this so they will take action. I always talk about taking action today. It doesn't have to be something by could be a mindset. It could be getting a little more organized, taking the pressure off, that you should be loving anyone If anyone loves you, you have a responsibility to take care of them. And that starts with you as an individual. So I'll leave it there and you can dive into some more of like your case studies with the audience. So

Ann 8:29
the first one that I love to share is my individual my physician had a very strange illness that was really never diagnosed. He went to a conference and he got very, very sick. And he came home he was in the hospital for about six or seven days and they called it a virus of unknown origin. They literally and he was a very active, very energetic OBGYN. He loved what he did. He planned to work into his late 70s, early 80s. And unfortunately, the virus and it ended up impacting his kidneys. So he went from earning a salary salaries went on disability for me was getting about 5500 A month or 5000 a month. And he was very lucky because he could still work so he continued working as long as he could. And then he noticed that his hands are part and kind of having a weird feeling at that and he went to a physician. I mean, he went to you know, a physician to ask them what was going on and he said, Do you have kidney damage? He said, Yes, I do that well.

Unknown 9:46
So there's tingling or tremors happening and

Unknown 9:49
he basically said I'm sorry, you're not going to be able to practice because obviously part of your practice is delivering babies. No, he was extremely upset because he had a real passion for what he did. And he really did not want to go on playing. He just kept procrastinating and procrastinating and I would call him you know every few weeks and say look, we really need to do this. And the good news is he is on claim he does have Own Occupation on his policy, which means that he can be on the claim and doing another job so he's working another job full time which he also enjoys and he really in my estimation hasn't stopped living the great life that he was living before. His children live out of the country and they go visit their children at least once or twice a year. He is working full-time. He is getting about 11,000 a month from his policy income tax-free. And you know, one of the things that he said to me is that he really regrets that he didn't take advantage of what's called a feature increase option. And all that is is as your income goes up, you're allowed to increase your benefit without proving your health. You just basically, you know, right show your pay stub. And he said, You know, I always looked at this insurance as like a fire insurance policy like I paid for it every month, but I never really thought that I would benefit from it. And so he said I just you know, I could be getting 15 or 16,000 a month tax-free instead of 11. So I wish that I had done that and so I like to share that story with my clients so that they know when this feature increase Off option has the opportunity don't just quickly say no but really consider what this guy is. But he's very active. He's, you know, very happy with his life right now. They were able to actually pay off their mortgage with the disability payments that they got. So now when I guess he's not retired, but you know, that was something that was a huge blessing to him was to be able to pay off his mortgage so that he didn't have that looming ahead of him because he actually became disabled later in life at age 62.

Amber 12:04
Okay, so that's interesting, glad you brought up the future increase option because I typically know that you have once a year you might reach out to your clients or clients we have reached out to me around the holidays, we tend to either exchange cards or check in or an address update, things like that. And then there's this anniversary that happens when you have a disability policy that future increase option. Some types of contracts are available annually and then some are every third year. And so depending on the contract style, and by the time anyone listens to this things could have changed but in general, you have to try to do once a year annual review. And with an increase option, you don't have to do anything. You just have it on the contract. It's kind of a health shield. You can always buy more medical underwriting as long as your income supports that. So I'm sure that OBGYN You know there's net income if you're a practice owner, you'd have to prove different things with the full tax return. But some people skip the step because they're like, hey, look, I don't have to do anything. They don't feel that sense of urgency to really review it I have enough I don't want to spend any more money or whatever the story is. And then they have this increase option that's free for people. So depending on the company, then it's available every third year, but they do actually nudge you with some requirements that are due every third year. Some people don't like the rules. Some people like freedom but with freedom sometimes they might forget to check in and do an income check. And then every third-year plan, they almost have these like rules where they're going to tell you you're eligible for this much. You should have this much in place and then we make some decisions from there. So sometimes that actually gets people to really look at it. So I always work with clients and see what their personality type is. Do they need to be reminded? Do they need the flexibility and an annual increase option because it's just better for their income? But I do feel like sometimes people can be underinsured and they're not paying attention like you're saying, but luckily sounds like he was just being smart. And he was fortunate enough to have the ability to work while receiving his check under their own occupation writer. But that gave him a lot more flexibility to have that mortgage. So having that writer helps medical professionals, certainly

Ann 14:16
not I think he's really he I think he's really enjoying his life. I think he misses his practice. But I think being able to continue working in the medical field is a huge blessing to him. And I think that he's feeling you know, like a lot of satisfaction with his life. 

Amber 14:33
Well, and I think Did you have an unfortunate story with someone once that was underinsured or had no insurance? I know that you mentioned something to me last. So

Ann 14:40
I had a client who really wasn't his issue. It was my issue. Like he was a triathlete. And he ran marathons he cloud climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, I sort of looked at him as Superman you know like nothing can happen to this man. He's bulletproof. So I never talked to him and his wife about disability insurance. I talked to them about life insurance. We did a lot of investment planning. And I remember the evening that I got the phone call from his wife and she said, We just found out that Tom has brain tumors. And I was so shocked that I just started crying like I couldn't believe it. I had just seen them a week before in the office and she said Remember he told us to get all our ducks in a row. Well, now we really need to get our ducks in a row. So the amazing thing was that it was sometimes like I don't know if it was a God thing or what but his boss continued to pay him even when he couldn't provide a service so he couldn't go to work because he couldn't do the physical work involved with his job. But throughout his entire illness, I think he was sick for a year and a half, and he still continued to get a paycheck. And so I often ask people, do you think that if you couldn't go to work every day, would your boss still pay you? And of course, they know that's not going to happen. You know, I'm not going to keep getting paid and I can't provide the service. So but it was interesting, in spite of the fact that he was getting paid and his wife was a full-time worker as well. They still had to have a medical fundraiser at the end of his life to help pay for the cost of his care. So that was kind of a big wake-up call for me like you need to talk to everyone about this just because someone's a triathlete means that something can't happen to them. And that was kind of the beginning of my journey with having a real passion for income protection because I realized that he was one out of 1000 a boss isn't going to pay you because they have to pay someone else to replace him.

Amber 16:45
Well, thanks for sharing that because I know that that's a hard one. I know you originally shared it with me. It's tough.

Ann 16:53
It's sad, but in the end, you know, thank God they had life insurance and when he passed away his wife was well taken care of. She was able to pay off their mortgage she also happened to be laid off from work and about the time he died. It was in 2008 when the economy was extremely. And I asked her I said how do you feel about losing your job? And she said, and I just lost my best friend. So she said it's just a job that she was out of work for two years because of the contract.

Amber 17:23
So this is exactly what I'm talking about. Getting Things Done when life is good. Because we have one less thing to stress about. It can be so powerful to help you get through it. I think. Initially, when I was starting this episode or thinking about our episode today, I wanted you to share stories not to have doom and gloom but to make it relatable because like you said, Okay, I'm doing this job, but then something else happened and oh, I have to talk about this other thing too. Like we have to share the opera, the opera. We have to share the solutions that are available. There are so many types and we can do that for our clients. They also something else is people that might want to get into this industry and that really know where they fit in you you've done a higher bigger focus on insurance planning just like myself, where you've also done financial planning and investments. I've been securities licensed myself and I'm focused now just on insurance planning my choice. Just really dialing into where we're talented where we really find our flow and the group things that we really enjoy. And I feel like with people that are interested in getting into the business, hearing these stories, that this is something that really resonates with somebody, we need more talent, younger talent to come into the workforce to in our financial services industry. So really passionate about building a community and advocating for men and women to get more of a pin in that we trusted, ethical, great independent thinkers in the business, because we need more of us to help people just like these clients, are talking about so I feel like some of your short stories can help people think about do I need to do something else in my family but also people that might really want to serve in this industry. It's great there's so many ways to do it. And that's what I love about this industry, because then I can also meet my colleagues and have fun with people all throughout the nation, all specializing in different arenas where in areas that we enjoy, so I know that you and I could talk about that for days, but I think that's part of your stories, certainly helps people kind of think about outside the box.

Ann 19:37
Well, I think that that's true. I think there are so many opportunities in our business and I hope that these stories do resonate with people.

Amber 19:44
Well, thank you for sharing. I know we're gonna have more in future episodes to share with others. Just things that we see in our business so I really appreciate it and thanks for bearing

Thank you for listening!