Financial Finesse with Carolee

I'm sure you read that title and thought, "WHAT does gardening have to do with Life Insurance?"  Stay with me and I'll explain. As I was gardening one day, I started thinking about just how beneficial gardening is to our health - physically, mentally and spiritually!  Planting a garden involves a lot of exercise. It could involve roto-tilling the land, lifting and distributing soil, and weeding.  Gardening can be quite a workout!  Gardening is great for our mental state as well. While tending to plants, the mind often wanders. It might be a private moment with God, or a time to think and make plans. Perhaps it's just a short respite from the chaos of family life. Whatever the reason, gardening eases the mind, thus reducing stress and anxiety. Then there's the bounty! Fresh, nutritional fruits and vegetables! Fresh, not days or even weeks old as a result of being shipped from another state or even another country! The savings are enormous. I did plant a garden

Although obtaining a life insurance policy is the most loving act you can do for your family, you should be aware that there are certain situations where a carrier MAY NOT pay out a death benefit. 1) You pass away during the contestability period - If the insured dies within the first two years that the policy is in effect, the insurance carrier has the right to do an investigation. They are, in other words, contesting your case. This means they are looking at your medical records and other information you provided on your application. If it is found that you failed to provide pertinent information, or lied about certain activities you are involved in, you can be denied EVEN IF you died from a cause that had nothing to do with the misrepresentation. For example, if you failed to be truthful about cigarette use, but you die in a car accident, you can still be denied. 2) Exclusions in your policy - most policies have several instances where they will not pay out a benefit. Suicide is of

If you remember, in my blog post regarding things that may affect your Life Insurance policy , you learned that smoking is probably THE biggest "red flag" to an Insurance Carrier.  To understand why a carrier would be leery of smokers, you have to consider that cigarette smokers are a liability for them. If you smoke, chances are you may become ill and pass away at a younger age than a non-smoker. That increases the possibility that the carrier would have to pay out a death benefit sooner rather than later.  Smoking can cause a range of different Cancers including: *Head and neck *Esophageal and Lung *Leukemia  *Stomach *Kidney *Pancreas Other health problems created by smoking include: *Stroke *Blindness *Gum infection *Aortic Rupture *Heart Disease *Pneumonia *Hardening of the arteries *Asthma and chronic lung disease Were you as surprised as I was by the number of illnesses cigarettes can contribute to? I'm glad I quit around 23 years ago! When I was a teenager, my mo

Back when I worked for a social services agency, I had opened up a 403B in hopes of saving SOMETHING for retirement. A short time later, I lost my job. My total contribution to the 403B had been $660 up to that point. Not a huge amount, but I was sure if I ignored it for a while, it would grow exponentially.  Fast forward a year or so and I finally opened one of my quarterly reports. I was a bit shocked to see it had barely increased. I knew it was time to look into other options.  Ironically, this was right around the time that I learned about PHP Agency. I needed to do something with my money, and I needed a new life insurance policy. PHP fulfilled both. When I heard they were  also hiring agents to work from home, I was all in! After going through training for my life insurance license and learning my different options, I decided to put my money into an IUL. Indexed Life insurance, or IUL for short, is a type of life insurance with a cash value. You will most likely pay a higher pre

 When inquiring about Life Insurance, there are a couple of things you might want to be aware of.  Life Insurance is based on age, health and lifestyle. The three health issues carriers consider risky are:  1) Obesity. If you are obese, you might have a harder time getting a policy with low premiums and a higher death benefit. Obesity is the number one factor in many health problems, so of course insurance carriers are going to cover their risk of you passing away young, thus they will collect larger premiums to protect their interests.  2) Like Obesity, Diabetes is also taboo, basically for the same reasons. 3) Smoking is a big no, no in the insurance world. When we give a "Quickie Quote", the only health question is if the client is a smoker or non-smoker. Of course, once we start paperwork, other questions come into play.  ***If you are a smoker and quit, after a year the carrier may reevaluate your health status and offer you a lower premium. The best time to get Life Ins

Welcome to my new blog. Although I do have a presence on many social media platforms, I believe this is a better avenue to deliver lengthier posts. Hello, name is Carolee Hollenback. I am a mother, Grandmother, and I a have a passion for helping others.  I also have big, expensive dreams for myself and organizations that I want to help. One of my goals is to travel the US in my RV. I needed a professional career that paid well and that I could do from anywhere. Because of my costly dreams, I also needed to learn about money and how it works. It was never taught to me in high school or college, and my parents never talked about it at home. Once I did learn about money, I was excited to share what I had learned with others.      Enter Financial Services. The Financial Services industry was the one that checked off all of my boxes. I wanted something where I could plan life around my time; not have life planning my time for me. Because it is remote, I can work from anywhere. Because I