This is a bright, sunny day for me, and it makes me think of a song by Huey Lewis & the News, it goes “The Future is so bright, I gotta wear shades”. The reason I am out here at a construction site today is because I want to talk about foundation building. This is something that often is very un-sexy. What typically is sexy is the building that is put together afterwards: what goes on the outside of the building, what goes on the inside of the building, and what happens in the building. When you really get down to it though, it is the foundation that holds everything together. When an architect does their work, they begin with the foundation. How deep must they go? How much digging will they have to do? What is it like in the layers under the ground? You want to have the appropriate base and subbase so that when you put in the forms, when you put in the cement that will become concrete, when you put in the metal and when you build this, there will be strength in the rest of the building. If not done correctly, the first time there is a heavy rainfall or a large storm, everything will just topple over.
Most people today are influenced by the “sexy” investments that they see, whether it’s from CNBC or the trade magazines. Bitcoin was all the rage a while. Sometimes, it’s gold. Sometimes, it’s silver. Stocks. Bonds. All that stuff. When you get down to it though, don’t you want something that is going to be secure? Don’t you want something that you know is going to and has lasted through the test of time? Would you like to have an asset that you can literally go back centuries and see how it did? Something that would have a contract in place to make certain the foundation that you are looking at putting together will actually do as it is intended to do.
Nowadays, there are so many people that recommend young adults to right away, right after school, to begin investing, to plan right away for their retirement. How do you tell a 21-year-old, 25-year-old, 30–35-year-old to do that and to take on that kind of risk? The type of people that can afford to take on that risk are those that already have cash that is safe, sound, and secure. If somebody doesn’t have cash that is safe, sound, and secure, they should not be taking risks on things that are possibly here today and gone tomorrow.
With the uncertainty of what is going to be happening in the future, you need some sort of certainty in your life. There is a product that can do that. It can provide security not only for your family, but also for yourself. It can provide an opportunity fund for those opportunities that find you because that is exactly what happens when you have cash; opportunities seek you out. What about those emergencies? Have you ever had an emergency? If not now, then when, because you will have an emergency some day in your life, and you will say to yourself, “if only, if only I had money, if only I had cash, if only I had accessibility”. Instead of praying that maybe you can get it from a friend, a bank, a neighbor. Maybe? Probably not because in the real world that is usually the way that it plays out.
May I suggest that you consider purchasing my book, Investments Don’t Hug: Embracing the Life Insurance Asset. Here’s why:
Term Insurance is a very important product, which I have had a lot of during my lifetime when it was all that I could afford and all I could do was take care of the security of my family. If I own a house, I want to have the security that if that house were to burn to the ground, I want the replacement for that house. Term Insurance does the same thing, but it does it over a term of time. Sometimes year by year, sometimes month by month, I have coverage available for the next month. Then hopefully the next month, if the premium is paid, I have coverage for the following month.
I eventually graduated, as people should to make certain they have something that is long and enduring over their lifetime so they can plan out something more monumental in their life, more possibilities, to whole life insurance. I’m suggesting to you a whole life insurance contract that has a couple of elements coming in to play. Not only do I have life insurance for the whole of my life, whole life insurance will last until I am 121 years old or until my death, whichever comes first, it also builds equity. Similar to a house building equity, this will build equity. It’s guaranteed that whatever amount of insurance that I purchased on day 1, at the end of the contract whatever the amount of guaranteed cash value that was going to be there, will be there and it will be that same amount that the contract said would be there. It could be more, but minimally it will at least be that amount that was guaranteed on day 1.
I don’t have to worry about the uncertainties that come with universal life, variable universal life, or index universal life, which is kind of a Hodge podge of maybe term, maybe permanent. Where you have to do it right, and do exactly what the contract says, but if you miss something just 1 month, then all of the guarantees go out with the bath water. Instead, I want something that I can count on. When you have a proper foundation of whole life insurance, it’s something that you don’t even notice after a while because it’s covered over by the reality of other things that we do get in to at some point in time. When we get into investments. When we get into real estate. When we get into those other things that have uncertainty in our life, but we know that everything else has been built upon a foundation that is there for you well into the future, for the whole of your life.
One of the additional things that whole life insurance does, if properly programmed, is that in the event of a disability, the insurance company not only keeps the life insurance in effect, but the premium, the money that you’ve been setting aside and putting in to the policy that has been building up equity, the insurance company will continue to put that money in to your plan. Unlike a 403B, unlike a 401K, unlike an IRA, unlike a Roth, it continues on without your contributions. Instead, the insurance company is writing the check, and they are placing the money inside of your policy. Isn’t that a foundational thing.
What about an accelerated death benefit? Now, I do not want to accelerate anyone’s death, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a product where in the event that you would become terminally ill, you would have your own make-a-wish foundation. The insurance company would write you a check so you could live your life with dignity. You can do those things you’ve always wanted to do before you depart, and then once you're gone, the balance goes to the ones you love. That is the best of both worlds. Wouldn’t it also be wonderful to have a product where if you got some sort of critical illness that you don’t have coverage for, that your medical insurance won’t cover, the whole life insurance company would deliver when you need that extra money? Again, to be able to live with dignity instead of having your hand out.
But you and I don’t think about those things. We don’t want those things to happen. In fact, prior to death, most people think the likelihood of those things happening is minimal, though I have seen it happen time and time again in my career. So, let’s plan for the big and the bold and the unique things that we can take advantage of. If we can build a foundation today, we will be able to take advantage of unique opportunities in the future. In fact, I like to think about it this way: are you tired of those individuals that have an unfair advantage over you? Here’s the deal: today is the day that you can create an unfair advantage for yourself. Then, when you need the money, it’s going to be there. If there is a business opportunity, the money is going to be there. If there is a real estate opportunity, the money is going to be there. In the event of an emergency, you can live your life with dignity because the money is going to be there.
My book is titled Investments Don’t Hug: Embracing the Life Insurance Asset. If you would like to listen to it, go to Audible or iTunes. I recommend that you purchase the book, that way you can write in it and highlight. Learn more about what the life insurance asset can provide and then do those things for yourself. You can go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble to purchase your own copy today. If you would like to learn more about my book, more about me, or more about foundational building for your lifetime, or if you would like schedule a visit with me and my team, explore more at my website, www.investmentsdonthug.com. Today is the day for you to build your foundation.
