YOUR INSURANCE CONNECTION

Announcer 0:00
This is a KU NB studios original program.

Wesley Knight 0:05
The following is a paid program sponsored by your insurance connection. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. You

Donald Marquez 0:25
Good morning. This is your insurance connection. I'm your host. Donald Marquez, on your insurance connection, we talk about saving money on auto insurance, homeowners insurance, yes, and we talk about life insurance. Welcome to the show you.

Donald Marquez 0:46
Good morning, listeners. My name is Don Marquez. This is your insurance connection. Broadcasting right here at K, U, N, V, 91.5, jazz and more. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm a licensed insurance broker, and I have a special guest today. She is not only she's a great friend of mine, but she's a client as well. Her name is Cheryl Lightfoot. Welcome to the show, Cheryl,

Cheryl Lightford 1:09
thank you for having me. I am so excited to be here. Thank you.

Donald Marquez 1:14
You excited to be here? Well, I'm excited to have you here so we could talk about we could talk to our listeners about your experience with your insurance connection coming in and I insured your family. Thank you so much. Yeah, you did. Thank you. And over the many years, insuring many, many different households, I like to talk about the experience that you had with me when you came into my office, and how long ago that was, and, you know, just give them a snapshot of your experience dealing with me, with your family's life insurance.

Cheryl Lightford 1:51
Well, first of all, just let me say that you provided me. First of all, you made me very comfortable. So I want to say thank you for that I didn't feel intimidated or anything. Because you know when you're trying to get information about something you're not familiar with, it can sometimes be a little intimidating, but you made me very comfortable. You were able to explain things to me about different the various life insurance policies that helped me to make a choice on what would be good for me, so I will definitely want to say thank you for that. But if you don't mind, I just kind of want to tell you how this really happened for me. So both of my parents were in their late 70s, and they allowed their insurance to lapse, and by the time the siblings and myself discovered it. We were really worried and concerned, because we really didn't think that we would be able to get them insured. And I came across you, and I gave you a phone call and made the appointment, and I had 100,000 million questions,

Donald Marquez 2:59
more like 200,000 but I think I asked, I answered most of your questions.

Cheryl Lightford 3:04
No, you answered every single question, but you answered the question so that I could understand. And so my parents, you guys, in their late 70s, with health conditions, Mr. Marquez, was able to get them insured. And when I tell you it was a load off, it released a lot of pressure, not just for myself, but for my siblings, because we know, and I still like to say if, but I know it's when that time should come that we would be able to grieve properly, that we would have the time to be able to grieve and not have to be so concerned about how are we going to pay for this? Who is going to pay for this? Because funerals are not cheap.

Donald Marquez 3:54
No, they're not. Today in today's market, Southern Nevada, funerals range anywhere from 15 to 20,000 even people talk about cremation with the ceremony as well. You know, it could be 10,000 or more with the cremation, depending on type of ceremony and not to mention the repass. That's another additional expense. It is not inexpensive to bury a loved one today. It's just not. And for people to procrastinate, to say that, you know what, I don't want to talk about it at this point. I want to wait. That's to your disadvantage, because the insurance rates are based on you your age has a significant, you know, premium adjustment according to your age. Now, once you receive a policy from me, it's locked in for the life of the policy. Even we have a life insurance policy. I just came aboard with a new company called Americo, that if you are currently a smoker, they will rate you, we will rate you for the first three years as a non smoker, right as a non smoker. Now, if. You stop smoking for 12 consecutive months, then you know, on your 36 month with the company, and you have stopped smoking for 12 consecutive months without a cigarette, you get retested, and your rate stays the same as a non smoker. It gives a smoker an opportunity to get a non smokers rate with the with the with the gold, that you will stop smoking, so you can smoke for the next, first two years, and then for the third, for the third year, stop smoking. I think it's a wonderful program, because, you know, smoking, it really causes problems to the body. I try to find programs that find stability for people, the peace of mind to have life insurance, regardless of their health, underlying health conditions,

Cheryl Lightford 5:46
yeah, and you were able, again, to do that with my parents, who were in their late 70s with heart with heart conditions, with dementia, you know, heart attacks, everything. And you were able to really come through and give us a peace of mind that we really needed. And in all honesty, there were other companies that could not do what you did. So I thank you.

Donald Marquez 6:13
Well, I research, and I try to find a need for for people with underlying health conditions, you know. And a lot of Cheryl, a lot of times, people come to me been turned down because of diabetes, lupus, a history of cancer. And what can I do for that? For them, you know, my policies start anywhere from 1000 into the millions. You know, people like, Well, what do you have? I have, what I represent, multiple life insurance companies that is affordable, that will fit in your budget. But you know the fact is, when you come to me, just keep in mind, what is your budget? How much can you afford to pay each month to keep the policy in force? So they want be a lapse in coverage. You want to make sure this, this is, this is for lifetime. When you purchase a life insurance policy, they're saying you you care. You want to give your family the peace of mind when that day comes and it comes for all of us, they can grieve properly, like you said earlier in the conversation. Well, they don't have to worry about how I'm gonna pay for this. This is a very expensive funeral, and funeral costs go up every six months. Every six months there is an increase in funeral costs from the funeral homes. I just learned recently that they, the funeral homes, get the caskets

Cheryl Lightford 7:28
from China, China, so that's raising the price of funerals,

Donald Marquez 7:32
right? So I had no idea. I thought we made caskets right here in the United States, yeah. But, you know, come to find out, know that we get our caskets from China. And you know what's going on with, you know, the China, with the with the tariffs and everything. So that's an additional cost, and the costs just keep rising. Family members, I try to encourage you to purchase life insurance, because what it does for you, it gives your family members the peace of mind. Now, people talk about, well, I could save money. It's very difficult to save money and to pay for a funeral, pay for a mortgage, pay for all the expenses you have. It is hard, because when you save money, you get no interest on the money, so it doesn't really compound or slowly compounds over time, but less than 1% today, you know, the bankers take your money, they give you less than 1% but they making 20, 30% off your money. And it should be laws against that, but this is what they do. So Saving money is fine to have a savings because things do come up. Maybe you might have to car repairs, air conditioner go out on your home, but your life insurance policy is also a savings account. It's a special savings account. It is your it is your guarantee that when, when the day comes, and it comes from all of us, your family members, has that money set aside for your filing expenses and to close out your estate

Cheryl Lightford 8:56
Absolutely. And then I just want to add to that. So we talk about the funeral, we haven't even talked about the real estate the cemetery, because that's totally separate. Yes, it is. And when you're dealing with the cemetery that's opening and closing, that's a container, that's all of that, and it's expensive, it's a headstone. And you mentioned, you know, there are people out there that are saying, Oh, I can just save some money. I'll put a few dollars to the side, to be honest. How many people can really, really do that? How many people?

Donald Marquez 9:34
It takes a lot of discipline. It

Cheryl Lightford 9:36
takes a lot of discipline. It takes a whole lot of discipline. But when you have that life insurance policy, and when that time comes, when I tell you guys, it made such a big difference, just the entire process was so easy and so smooth for us. Yes, it was very emotional, but we were. We were able to, and as crazy as it may sound, we were able to be able to be in those emotions without having to worry about, how are we going to take care of this? Because, let, truth be told, it's the one with no money that's at the mortuary that wants the cream of the cream and don't have a penny to offer, right? And you

Donald Marquez 10:23
know, and that's the disheartening part about it, not not only you know when they find out there's no money, there's no money to to to pay for this funeral for certain loved ones, it may come down to one individual or a couple of individuals to pay for a final expense. When I say final expense, keep in mind, to close out one estate, we're talking about anywhere from $60,000 on up. And how do I get to that number? A funeral that costs, let's say, $15,000 right? And you still have a car payment of $20,000 that's left. A car loan is $25,000 left. Now we're already at $40,000 we have $40,000 you have credit card debt, up to $15,000 in credit card debt that needs to be paid. Now we're talking about another 15,000 we're at $55,000 and mortgage payments, rent payments, moving the family members out of the home, flying from out of town, taking time off from work, the list of expenses just piles up and continues to close out one estate. And it's just not only the funeral you have to pay for, it's other expenses too, as well. I try to encourage people to get enough insurance to pay for all of it. Now, there are times when they have underlying customers come in to see me, you know, they just, I just want to pay for this funeral the you know, and the funeral homes do give you options to buy their, you know, pre need package, but with that pre need package, there's no additional money left over. Now, life insurance is a tax, tax free benefit. Let me say that again, no matter how much money you get from a life insurance policy, it's a tax free benefit. You can get 100,000 or a million dollar life insurance policy. I don't have to pay taxes, no taxes on that money. Why

Cheryl Lightford 12:13
don't you have life insurance? Then, honestly, like, why don't you have life insurance? And you mentioned Donald, you mentioned closing out one's estate and how expensive it is, but let me throw a monkey wrench in that for you. What about those minor children that need to be taken care of? Well,

Donald Marquez 12:30
that's the thing you know, with a life insurance policy, an hour for policies that would allow you to put your young children 17 years or younger, on the life insurance policy as a child writer. Now, with as child writer, there's no, you know, health examination. I can write a policy up to $450,000 term, Universal Life, whole life, index, up to 104 $150,000 without an examination. Yes, and I just recently came aboard with a company, Americo. I'm really excited about it, because not only if you're a smoker, you can smoke for the first 24 months and be rated as a non smoker, and then your 12 months stop smoking, or stop smoking altogether. Well, we're gonna rate you as a smoker when you initiate a non smoker, as you initiate the policy, whether you smoke cigarettes or cigars, we'll rate you as a non smoker for the first 36 months. You stop smoking for a consecutive 12 months, and we'll continue the policy after that as a non smoker. Rate. That's one of the benefits. Another benefit, I can write a term policy up to $450,000 without a physical that mean I can write that policy in less than 20 minutes, and you're insured day One day One coverage. My name is Don Marquez. My office located on the corner of Sahara Rancho in the US bank center on the eighth floor. My business hours are Monday through Friday, from 10am to 5pm my contact phone number is 702-236-2624 702-236-2624, I want to thank the listeners that have contacted me over the of over the many years, right here at KU m v 91.5, jazz or more that's came in and purchased home auto Yes, and life insurance. I talk about life insurance a lot on my program. I think we we put too much emphasis on auto insurance and make our life insurance a non priority where it should be one of our first priorities. If you have a life insurance policy and you've had it for a while, it's time to get a life insurance review, get an update on your policy, to make sure your your policies in place. Now you do on your life insurance policy have a page called an illustration page. You can review that, but if you don't quite understand, because they have a grant guaranteed section and the non guaranteed section with the illustration. Page, and where do you fit now your insurance agent may have retired over the many years of having a policy, or or or you purchased the policy without an agent because you purchased the policy online, or something came in the mail that looked really attractive, and you purchased the life insurance policy by way of mail without an agent to go over the policy with you, line by line. I offer no obligation. Reviews. 702-236-2624, you bring your policy in. I do not charge you a fee to come see me, regardless if you purchase the policy for me or not. Now is the policy less without it, without an agent? No, it's the same price because the rates are based on you, your age, your health, the medications you're taking. But as an insurance professional in the business, almost 30 years come November. 30 years come November, wow. I don't know where the time went, but 30 years come November, I'm gonna guide you through the process to make sure this is the right policy for you, that fits your lifestyle. It fits your budget. Number one, it has to fit your budget. And when you do get a life insurance policy, all my all my customers tell me this. Cheryl, oh, I should have did this long time ago. You know, it's like a you know, they exhale and say, you know, I should have did this a while back. But the fact is, I can write a life insurance policy from $1,000 in coverage into the millions. So it's not about what I can offer you is I want to know what's your budget. Let's start there first, and then we could talk about the medications you're taking. You know, what? What you know? What are you trying to accomplish? You know? And it will take a step by step. By Step. When I'm so happy, what you said I made you feel very comfortable, because I keep it life insurance can get kind of complicated. I try to keep it as simple as so you can understand it. It's just a matter of you coming in to see me, or we can do everything over the telephone, 702-236-2624, I can write life insurance over the phone, homeowners, you know, auto insurance over the phone, or you again, if you would like to come in, if you don't want to get in this heat, or you don't mind traveling in this heat. My again, my office location is on the corner of Sahara Rancho in the US bank center, eighth floor. I work by appointment. 702-236-2624, 022362624, Cheryl, I mean, the experience you've had and you've lost those adult parents, right? I have Yes, yeah, and so it's very stressful time, and I've know, I know what that feeling is like, having that feeling myself, losing parents, a spouse, loved ones, and unfortunately, they all had insurance. They all had life insurance. It just made it, just made it a lot easier when that time came, does

Cheryl Lightford 17:52
you're really able to grieve and you're really able to mourn again. You are not having to be concerned about, how are we going to pay for this? Because, really, it can, and it does in many, many families. It disrupts the family. It breaks up. It breaks up family ship, you know, like, like it really does. And again, it's always the one that really can't help out with anything that has the biggest, the loudest voice. I want this. I want that. I want this. I want that. And it's, and it's unfair. It's a very emotional time. It really is, and it's, it's so much easier when everybody can be on the same accord and get through this. And then I just want to piggyback off something that you said, the different things that you can ensure. And I believe you said lupus and AIDS, HIV, AIDS, diabetes, something else you said, I don't know, of course, any heart attacks or

Donald Marquez 18:55
Well, the underwriting guidelines. I have to go. I have to adhere to their their underwriting guidelines that tell us what we can and can't insure. That's why I use multiple companies for certain cases. Yes, you know, one box may not fit all and and I tell my listeners over and over again, if you receive an offer in the mail for accidental only life insurance, do not fill that policy out and send it in because you're buying a policy that will never pay. They will, and they disguise themselves as a life insurance policy, and they come from well known resources, your banks, your credit unions, even life insurance companies, because they see it's lucrative, because they target seniors, and they send them an accidental, only a tribal life insurance policy from well known companies that you recognize, and you have a lot of faith in this company, but many, many times, family members, even today as we speak, family members, will bring an accidental only life insurance policy into the funeral homes, and they find out quickly that your loved one passed of natural cause. Busses and the policy will not pay.

Cheryl Lightford 20:02
And unfortunately, accidental only insurance, you know, doesn't necessarily cover a car accident. No, it doesn't, you know. So it's a it's a fine line on what accidental insurance is going to

Donald Marquez 20:15
cover. It Well, travel, accidental. It says travel. So you have to be on the airplane, bus or train, not in a car, not in a car. Cars are excluded because a car comes with its own insurance. Keep that in mind, car comes with its own insurance. You have the uninsured motors if they have it and you have your bodily injury. You know that is required by the state, so that comes with its own insurance policy. You know the thing is education, and this program is about education. I am a licensed insurance broker offering auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance. I'm licensed for life insurance in the state of Nevada and also in California, 702-236-2624, I want you to be able to feel comfortable coming in to see me, to be ready to do business, right. Take care of your business. Make sure your family is well protected, and have the conversation with your loved ones to see if, in fact, they do have a life insurance policy, and know where the policy is, yeah, and who are the beneficiaries. So let's talk about simple things like when you lose a loved one, a spouse, you know, it's a very, very harmful, emotional time. For quite some time now, that spouse, that it was lost, may we may, been your primary beneficiary on your policy, you know, and you haven't changed the beneficiary yet. With this happens, and you don't have a continued beneficiary. This is why it's important to have an insurance review so we can update everything that's real simple, real easy. You contact your life insurance company and say, I need to change the beneficiary form. You fill it out and send it in. Or if you have a loved one that's really important, if you have a loved one that has to go into a nursing home, and what you want to do is transfer their life insurance policy, the ownership of the life insurance policy to the responsible individual. So we're going to transfer ownership. In other words, the person still will be insured. Let's say, for instance, your grandparent, right? They will have to go into a nursing home. You want to transfer the ownership of the life insurance policy to, you know, the responsible individual. Now your grandparents are still insured, but now you are the owner of the policy. The nursing home that which I've heard many, many times, they can't take possession of the life insurance policy as an asset. No, I didn't know, because they take it to my understanding, they take your funds, your your retirement benefits, your Social Security benefits to take care of you in a nursing home, and the life insurance policy is considered an asset, isn't it? It's considered an asset. This is News You Can Use. My name is Don Marquez. My contact phone number 702-236-2624, broadcasting, right here at K, U, N, V, 91.5, jazz and more every Sunday morning, from 8am to 830 I do appreciate the listeners have contacted me and purchased home, auto, yes, life insurance. We all need life insurance. Listeners, we all need life insurance. It is time to ask stop procrastinating. You know, so many people like, well, you know, I don't want to. I don't want to, I want to wait. I don't want to talk about it right now. And why not? Why

Cheryl Lightford 23:25
is it? Why is it such a taboo conversation?

Donald Marquez 23:29
Well, people think, people don't like talk about death, but, you know, life insurance could be, it could be a living benefit. Yes, it could be a living benefit. You know, there's so many different ways where you know that policy can help you through a struggle. If, let's say, if you need car repairs, that are major car repairs, and you have a cash asset in your life insurance policy, you could, you could, oh, you know what, I have money in my life insurance policy, I can borrow against the policy. I could borrow against the policy. It's a living benefit. If you have less than 12 months to live, you could, you could take out a advance on that life insurance while you still living. You know you could. Or if you want to sell your policy, depending on the policy, depending on your age, you have an option to do that. To my understanding, there are companies out there will buy your life insurance policy. Now, I don't know the name of the companies, but it is a living benefit. My name is Don Marquez, a licensed insurance agent right here in my hometown, Las Vegas, Nevada, you know, let's, let's, let's talk about this with our family members to make sure you're not the responsible person that has to pay for this very expensive service. And along with these other obligations, these, you know, the house payment, the rent, the moving, the furniture, the children, the college fund, I mean, all of that. Who's going to take care all of that. And the thing about losing loved ones, we never know what at what age that may come. Now, if a person said, Well, you know, if we knew when death was going to occur, to come knock on our door and you know what? I would get a lot more phone calls people. Hey, you know what? I got about four more years to live. I didn't call Donald Marquez, you know? And get this life insurance

Cheryl Lightford 25:07
box for sure. But you know what, Don let's, can you, like, dispel some of the myths about life insurance?

Donald Marquez 25:15
You know, there's a lot of myths, I and we can go on and on with the myths. No one's gonna try to kill you. Number one, and that's against

Cheryl Lightford 25:23
the law. I've heard that. How many times have you heard that one? Yeah, I've

Donald Marquez 25:26
heard that. I've heard that insecurity, the what you don't want is to have your family uproot and lose everything and lose everything. I mean, they're accustomed to living a certain lifestyle, and by, you know, unfortunate passing or unpredictable passing, because you never can predict it. Here today, going today so that my uncle Melvin used to say, but you know, you just want to make sure your family is whole, not leave your loved one in financial distress. My name is John Marquez, let's, let's sit down and have a real conversation about planning your future with a life insurance policy, passing on generational wealth versus passing on generational debt. Yeah, you know for sure. 702-236-2624 702-236-2624 Cheryl, thank you so much for coming in. That's

Cheryl Lightford 26:20
for sure. Thank you for having me this. This is pretty nice setup you have

Donald Marquez 26:27
here. Well, I'm part of this amazing machine called KU and V 91.5 I just want to thank Dr Ridley for calling me and offering me this amazing opportunity to come on the air and educate our listeners, my engineer, my main man, West West Knight. He keeps me on time to make sure the microphone checks are right, to make sure the timing is right, and you know the clarity of the station, the listeners. And I want to thank the listeners too, that support K UMB, 91.5 jazz and more. Over the many years I've broadcast here, and I can't thank them enough, it puts me in a unique position no one else is doing this. You know, I've heard a couple of guys on podcast try to explain the importance of having life insurance, the different policies, but with the podcast, it just sounds so complicated. You know, that when I listen to them, they just sound like there's doing a little bit too much information that people Why cannot connect to I just try to keep it simple and easy. Instead of uncomfortable and comfortable, you have to be very comfortable. We like to laugh a little bit, talk a little bit I may ask you, where you from? And listen, if you're from Vegas, we're going to talk probably about 20 minutes before we get to the life insurance, talking about the growth of the town over the many years, what happened to Vegas. Because, as you can recall, Vegas was a little bitty town growing up. Now, look at it. Yeah, yeah,

Cheryl Lightford 27:56
it's huge now, oh yeah, it's a big little town, little city. It is really, well,

Donald Marquez 28:01
we have a little over 3 million people living here, so it's significant. It is big, little city and and we can say that because we were born and raised here, natives of Vegas. And, you know, I attended UNLV. You're graduate at UNLV, I am and, you know, it's a small town, but it's still a big town. Let's talk about your insurance, life insurance. 702-236-2624 Thank you, Cyril. Well, I'll invite you again on my show. Please

Cheryl Lightford 28:28
do I would love to come back. 702-236-2624

Donald Marquez 28:34
My name is Don Marquez. This is your insurance connection. I want everyone to have a wonderful day today. It's still a little hot outside. We're gonna cool off in about another six weeks and get back down to normal. Take care of yourself. We'll do this again next week, until then, just keep it crispy.

SFX 28:50
You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai