Sitko Agency

Something keeps coming up in conversation for me lately....its how when you have a bad experience, your opinion about similar things is already tainted.

Since learning about how our brain and our body work to keep us safe, it makes sense to me. Our brain is always assessing are we safe or unsafe....and it determines this based upon the information that our nervous system send to it. Our body sends about 80% of the information to the brain and the brain communicates the other 20%. So, you might be wondering how the brain makes sense of what the body sends to it. We come pre-programmed by our genetics....grandma is afraid of spiders because she got bit..spiders=unsafe/ grandpa got up early and listened to the birds as he began to work his beloved farm=safe. Then, we learned things in the womb and in early childhood...fell off the slide...high up=unsafe....mama giggles and gives me hugs....giggles=safe. And then we keep making new ones as we go in life and our subconscious often takes over and so we don't even remember the experiences that created the programs sometimes.

So, that's why a bad experience can sour a whole bunch of similar things for us. Our body experiences the signs that are similar and then suddenly we get a sense that this isn't such a good idea. And we just don't like something even though we don't know why.

It's a system that's meant to protect us but sometimes it goes a bit overboard. Our bodies can't tell what experiences in our world are life or death and what is simply preference.

I realized that I had this experience with insurance before I became an advisor.

I am not easy to anger and don't use bad language very much if ever. I had just gotten a new job and my doctor was not covered by my new insurance plan. So, I just chose a close doctor....now, this will show how ancient I am. When it came time to use the doctor they assigned as my primary, I looked her up in the phone book....remember those? Well, this particular doctor had been part of a larger practice and since the phone book was printed a few months prior, had moved out and opened her own solo practice. I did not know this and called the number listed in the phone book. I made an appointment, went there and had the appointment. When I gave them my insurance card, they saw the problem. They told me to call the insurance company and change my primary to them retroactively.

So, I called as soon as I got home and explained everything to the person. They told me that they could not change the doctors and I needed to pay for the appointment out of pocket. After going back and forth, explaining that I had not used the insurance yet, had no history with either doctor and it was just a phone number in the phone book issue, they were still unwilling to change it. I was shocked when I heard, "prick" pop out of my mouth....and suddenly it could be changed.

To be honest, that made me angrier because it just reinforces mean and rude behavior to get what you need.

There are oodles of similar stories about health insurance within my family that fit in along the same lines.

So, when I became an adult, I got the life insurance that the credit union and my employers provided. But, I did not seek out finding a professional to get some life insurance that also built cash value and you could take out a loan against if you needed it.

I didn't want to talk to a person who I thought that I would need to insult to do what I needed and what was reasonable.

Later, down the line, I am regretting listening to the programming of my nervous system and not exploring it more.

My family's life would have been much easier if we had learned that even though my brother had cancer in his infancy, there were policies that would have been available to him. It would have helped pay his final expenses and given us a cushion to help care for his son.

It would have been helpful for several members of my family during serious illnesses to have something with living benefits which are opportunities to access money to help get you through health challenges while you are still alive. Some even waiver payments if you are unemployed so you don't loose your policy if you loose your job.

And the last thing that made me soo annoyed was that I thought that all insurance was ultimately a rip off. I mean how much money I paid for my health insurance(plus employer contributions) and car insurance was so much greater than what I actually used.

So, why have another bill that I pay into and won't actually use?

Well, here's why, all of us will eventually need to have our final expenses paid for and 6 months to cover expenses to give your family time to grieve and take care of your stuff. If you have that much saved, great! If you don't, then maybe you should do something about that.

I am going to be straight forward with you and share that a term policy could be another one of those insurances that you don't use. You can get a lot for a specified amount of time and then it ends but its at a cheaper rate.

A permanent policy will be there when you need it as long as you keep it in place by keeping up with the payments. There are many different types, its best to get with a professional and find one that best matches your needs and what you will qualify for.

And here's another thing...if you are young and healthy, you get the best rates. I thought, that's where they get ya. So, a few weeks ago, I did the math and you save a huge chunk of money getting a policy young. If you want to see the math, message me and I will send you the numbers.

Lastly, because this has become a long monologue that I am sure you will tire of reading as much as I am tiring from writing....

Financial advisors will guide you to get a term policy and invest the rest. This is what is best as you have the possibility of making more money. Yes, you can use a financial advisor or study the market on your own and come out better. I think this is spot on advise for some and terrible for others....here's why.

Let's say that there is this car that's a great price but there are little quirks about it. A mechanic can easily tweak the quirks and keep the car running smoothly. A person who is not at all mechanical will have a great deal of issues and end up spending a lot of money on getting the quirks fixed. Therefore, the great price is no longer a great price.

The same can be said for investing. You don't need to be an expert but you do need to be knowledgable enough to know if they are doing a good job. If you know that, this is not something that you will do, a permanent life insurance policy is a good option for you.

One of the nice things about having a policy, is that you and your loved ones know exactly what that money is meant to do for you. Sometimes with investments especially if you become ill or need to go into care, things can be rerouted in ways that you did not intend.

Since having these conversations, I am more aware of how many things I have categorized as not good after 1 bad experience.