Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation, or needs, and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Welcome to Take Pride in Retirement, the podcast dedicated to helping members of the LGBTQ community protect and grow their hard earned money. Get set for a show full of education and insights with your host and advisor, Matt McClure. We recognize every family is unique. The goal of the show is to help you achieve financial freedom so you and your loved ones can have the retirement you've always dreamed of. A retirement you can take pride in,
[00:00:48] Speaker C: no matter who you are, where you're
[00:00:50] Speaker B: from, or who you love.
So now let's start the show. Here's Matt McClure.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Hello there, and welcome to another edition of Take Pride in retirement. Matt McClure here with you, your host, your, your friend, your pal, and your confidant. Yes, I am all of those things, and I hope to live up to that each and every time we get together. And thank you so much for being a part of the show this time around and every time you join. But, hey, if it's your first time, welcome. Whether you're listening to the podcast on all of your favorite podcast apps or any of them, or all or more than one, or I don't know how many, or if you're watching us on YouTube, hello there in YouTube land. I appreciate it so, so much. You are the reason that I do this show and so I appreciate that. Help us spread the word, like, subscribe, do all the things, send links around, you know, you know, send them, I don't know, carrier pigeon if you have to, pony express, whatever, whatever, you know, kind of strikes your fancy there. Just get the word out about what we're doing here, and I really would appreciate that. This is the show where we talk about retirement planning through an LGBTQ plus lens, getting you to and through retirement. That is my goal here, and I appreciate you being a part of it.
We're going to talk about different retirement strategies that reflect the reality of being a part of the LGBTQ+ community. It's what we do every time. We're going to do that here today, and we're going to have a big talk about life insurance here today as well. It's going to be the kind of the main focus of the show. When you say life, life insurance, I thought that was just, you know, after I am no longer here the beneficiaries get money and they don't pay taxes on it. Well, that's a part of it, but it can be a very useful retirement planning tool as well.
So, you know, it's not the old school version. It's not your, your dad or your granddad's sort of in not even investment vehicle. I guess if you're thinking about the old school kind, this is really how life insurance has changed. It's going to be a big focus of the show, but, you know, it's, it's not the check after the funeral version. Today we're talking about how life insurance can protect you while you're still living.
And for LGBTQ retirees, this is super important because a lot of people in our community may rely on chosen family. They might not have that, you know, traditional family structure that serves as kind of that safety net. Right. And more people in our community are likely to age solo than the general population. And so the question isn't just, do you have life insurance? The real question is, does it protect you and your loved ones for the life that you're actually living now and in the future?
So that's what we're going to talk about. Go to the website. By the way, take pride in retirement.com. take pride in retirement.com is that website. Once again, you can do a couple of things there. One of the things is you can click on get your plan and you can get your plan.
It's not just a fancy name. You can get your plan. Uh, when you go to take PrideInRetirement.com, you can reach out to me, we'll schedule a one on one conversation. And in that conversation, I'll get to know a little bit about you, your goals, all of the things, your current situation, and then we can go on to, you know, doing a plan, putting together a recommended plan for you, and you can compare that to what you have now and see which way you want to go. That is generally how it works. When I meet with you one on one and in that conversation and in that meeting and all of those things, when we work together one on one, I'll be operating in a fiduciary capacity. And that means acting in your best interests. And that really is the core of what I do, because I believe that anyone who you're working with, especially in some advisory role to you, should be working in the best interest of you, not in the best interest of their pocketbook or their wallet.
So that is always my goal.
And if that sounds like Something that you want to explore, go to take pride in retirement.com or call 8552-4692-1185-5246-9211. Again, is that number. All right, so life insurance has changed quite a bit, as I alluded to over the years.
And it really kind of starts with, with a shift in mindset for us sitting here right now in 2026.
You know, a lot of people just think of life insurance as something that you buy maybe when your kids are young, something that you cancel later in life, something that you only keep for a certain period of time just in case something happens, you know, an income replacement. Like if you, if something were to unfortunately happen to you, if you are, say, the primary breadwinner of the family or whatever, you know, familial unit you find yourself in, because you can name anybody as your beneficiary on that policy, but no matter what happens to you, you know that the family or that familial unit is going to be set right. You want to replace your income with usually a lump sum of money after you're gone, that is tax free money that then gets them through that period of time of a big adjustment of having to, to do without you.
And so that is the, the crux of things. And that made sense decades ago, that sort of mentality and mindset. But today, longevity really is the biggest risk that a lot of retirees face because people are living longer. We're not planning for seven years worth of retirement anymore. We're planning for 25, 30, 35, even beyond that, years in retirement. And modern life insurance has really evolved into something that, yes, that death benefit is at the core of it and is really a big part of just your basic life insurance policy.
But it's not just protection. You can actually think of it as a financial asset these days.
You know, think of it like this. You know, your home isn't just a shelter. It isn't just something that keeps the rain out and the wind out and that kind of thing. It's also an asset that you have. And life insurance can kind of work that same way.
It can provide stability, it can provide liquidity, tax advantages, of course, legacy protection, of course. It can also provide a lot of peace of mind as well. Just like your house, you know, if you, if you look outside and it's pouring down rain, you're like, well, thankfully I'm not out there and you know, not getting wet because I have this house that gives me a lot of peace of mind. I can rest easy, and if it's cold out, I can turn the heat on and that kind of thing.
And so the thing too, that when you think about life insurance, you think about legacy. That legacy piece that I just mentioned, protecting your legacy for LGBTQ retirees, though, that, like, flexibility matters.
I said a little bit earlier, you can name a beneficiary basically, within reason, whoever you want it to be. Like, you can't name Mickey Mouse as your beneficiary unless that happens to be your, you know, spouse's name. And then, hi, Mickey, you're so fine, you're so fun. You blow my mind.
But legacy doesn't always mean children in the LGBTQ community as well. You know, a legacy might mean your partner, your best friend, a sibling, even a charity that saved your life or made a big difference in your life.
And so if you've ever looked at life insurance as part of your retirement strategy, now really is a great time to do that. Like, if you've, if you've never done that before, it's a great time to do that right now. No time like the present, right? You can schedule a complimentary conversation with me anytime. Once again, Take PrideIn Retirement.com is that website. Take PrideInRetirement.com and so one of the things, the easiest ways to kind of understand, kind of wrap your head around life insurance and kind of the different types of policies a little bit is the way that I'm going to say right now.
It's like renting versus owning, right?
So you think about the two different main types of life insurance. There's term insurance and then there's permanent insurance.
Term is like renting.
Permanent is like owning.
Right? So let's think about term insurance for a second.
It is temporary.
It's inexpensive. Usually the premiums for a term policy are going to be a lot less, quite a bit less most of the time than the premiums for a whole life policy, for example, or, you know, some other type of permanent life insurance.
And it's designed for specific needs. You know, it's great when, like if you're on your group life insurance from your place of work, that can be a good little tool there to have in your back pocket to report to be that, you know, income replacement that I talked about a few minutes ago.
And it's great, you know, maybe when you're raising kids, you're paying off a mortgage, you're protecting your income, doing all of those things because of the cost to benefit factor. Right. That I just mentioned.
But there is A catch here, because most term policies expire right around the time that you finally start thinking about legacy planning. You know, and by then you're a bit older, your health may have changed, your coverage options may have dwindled or become more expensive.
But, you know, permanent insurance, though, is different.
It. Over time, no matter what we're talking about. I mean, if you're, if you're looking at a universal policy, whole life policy, whatever, there is a cash value that, that gets built up there and it stays with you for life. Now you can have the option to exit the policy and all that thing, type of thing according to the terms of the particular policy.
But that permanent life insurance becomes an asset that you can then use and can leverage that. You know, it, it's, and I'm not saying here that term life doesn't have its place. It does and it has its, it has its appropriate situations that you can take advantage of that particular kind of policy in. Again, I said it's. Especially if you're younger, it's cheaper. It's, you know, if you're raising a family, it's cheaper. You can cover, you know, even different members of the family, perhaps depending on what your workplace might offer through a group plan or, you know, if you want to go out on the private marketplace and explore that option as well for term coverage.
And then, you know, other organizations offer term.
I get mailers all the time from places, aaa, for example, or, you know, that kind of thing through. It's like a, basically a group policy, but it's not through work. It's through some type of organization that you might be a member of.
And so that permanent insurance, it becomes an asset and it really does build that cash value over time.
Different types of policies may build cash value differently, and they may, you know, accumulate value differently depending on the type of policy.
And that distinction between the renting and the owning. Right, because, you know, I said earlier, you think about life insurance kind of like a house, it can use it as an asset.
That is very true.
If you have that permanent life insurance policy, if you have a term life policy, you're kind of just renting that. So, yeah, it provides you that peace of mind and that shelter for that time, that one particular time period. But then once that expires, you're kind of done. You got to move out, you got to take, take the furniture with you, you know, unless you rented it furnished. And then that's a nice policy.
But in the LGBTQ+ community, the distinction between term and permanent matters, in my view even more than the overall population. Why? You might say, well, because many people in our community didn't have access to spousal benefits for decades. Maybe they changed jobs frequently so they, you know, didn't get to keep that insurance policy going for a long time. Perhaps they didn't build traditional safety nets because that just isn't you. That just isn't what your life is or what your life looks like.
And so that makes protection later in life more important, not less.
So once again, take pride in retirement.com take pride in retirement.com if you want to learn anything about anything that we're talking about today and maybe how it applies to your situation, you can also call 8552-4692-1185-5246-9211.
So why do you still need coverage today? For example, as an LGBTQ person especially, you know, a lot of people will assume, oh, well, my, my kids are grown, I don't need life insurance anymore. If you have kids, right? That's not always true. In fact, a lot of retirees use life insurance for completely different reasons. For example, like pension maximization.
If you have a pension, you might face a choice like this, like a higher monthly income for life or a reduced income to protect your partner. And life insurance can bridge that gap, right?
It can allow you to take the higher pension but still protect your spouse or your partner. They won't be left in the lurch if something happens to you on down the road.
And then you, while you're still here on this green earth, can take advantage of higher monthly payouts via that pension.
Another big one is estate liquidity. And when I say the word estate, a lot of people like, oh, well, I'm not super rich, so I don't need to worry about anything involving an estate. It just means your belongings. It doesn't matter if it is one cardboard box full of your treasured knickknacks or if it's a big mansion on the coast, you know, full of all your family heirlooms and the expensive stuff that you've bought, it doesn't matter.
But however big your estate is, whether it's that one little tiny box or a huge mansion, liquidity is important. And, and not all assets are easy to divide, right? So you think about things like real estate, what are you going to do? Cut the house in half?
Retirement accounts, Family heirlooms that I mentioned? Well, life insurance creates instant tax free liquidity for your estate planning purposes. So whoever that beneficiary is, you know, you're, you're gone. They get the death certificate, they prove to the insurance company that you are no longer around, and they get the payout.
And for LGBTQ households, this can really be critical, especially when you've got blended families. Their heirs are not biological relatives or legal protections. We, you know, exist, but they vary by state.
And it can also help equalize inheritances.
You know, I mean, you can designate the different beneficiaries, contingent beneficiaries, all of that kind of thing.
And what you say in that policy, that is, that is what happens. It's kind of like even better in a lot of ways than a will, because the beneficiary designations on insurance policies and annuities and the like, that supersedes anything that's in the will.
And so that is just kind of ironclad right there. And it doesn't have to go through probate and all the things.
So think about that. Think about making sure that your beneficiaries are updated. If you already have life insurance as well, you know, you can also create a charitable legacy. I mentioned earlier, if you have a particular charity that you love that has either saved your life or made a huge difference in your life, then name that organization as beneficiary of a life insurance policy or one of the beneficiaries of a life insurance policy, and that creates a charitable legacy for that particular organization.
A lot of LGBTQ plus retirees tell me they, they want to give back to organizations that have given to them, and life insurance can make that possible in a very, very powerful way.
And speaking of powerful, this is something that I alluded to at the beginning. It's but. But haven't gone in depth on. And this is super powerful. So if you haven't, like, like, maybe you've been paying attention, but it's just you've been enjoying the dulcet tones of my voice, and you treat it kind of like asmr, and you're listening to, I don't know, Bob Ross or something.
We've got some happy little trees here. Well, hopefully we'll have some happy little beneficiaries, but not only that happy insured person as well, because this is super powerful. So pay attention to this. If you pay attention to nothing else.
Living benefits in life insurance policies could be the most important feature of modern life insurance, because those living benefits, this is where it really.
The things. Things are really different than they were in the past when it comes to life insurance in this way.
So living benefits answer a question that is not what happens when I die?
But it is, you know, maybe what happens if I get sick?
What happens if I can no longer take care of myself?
Or, you know, if you are someone who is partnered or, or married or whatever, what can, what happens if my partner or my spouse cannot take care of me if something happens?
And so a lot of modern policies, not all, but a lot out there, do include riders that, that can be optional, that allow you to access your death benefit early.
And they've got to meet certain criteria. Obviously you've got your chronic illnesses. So these are illnesses that are going to be, you know, you think about like acute versus chronic, right? So acute is something that's just happening to you now temporarily. Chronic is something that you deal with a long time. So is it a chronic illness? And you know, it's got to be qualified as that to trigger access to the death benefit early, a critical illness, something very devastating from a health standpoint, or a terminal illness, you've been given X number of months or whatever to live.
So that means like if you develop say Alzheimer's, that would be a chronic illness and also a terminal illness, really depending on your, the outlook and all that. Because eventually you're not going to be able to function.
A stroke, that would be a critical illness, it may not be something that could be terminal, right? But not hopefully, but it could be very debilitating.
And so that would be classified perhaps as a critical illness.
If you have cancer, that could be classified as a terminal illness perhaps.
And you may be able to access those funds from your life insurance policy while you're alive, put those to good use in case of these catastrophic events like this.
And so this matters so, so much for LGBTQ folks because statistically we're more likely to age alone. We're more likely to rely on chosen caregivers, we're less likely to have traditional caregiving structures.
And so having this type of safety net that really can make a difference while you are still here, not just after you are gone, is just huge.
And you know, I didn't even touch really yet on long term care, but I will.
Long term care is not covered by Medicare.
I will say that again in a different way. Medicare does not cover long term care, period.
And so if you, which, you know, statistically a lot of us are going to have to, you know, rely on long term care at some point, whether it's in home care where like a nurse comes in and takes care of you at some point or you go into a nursing home or an assisted living facility. That kind of thing, no matter what that situation is for you, you want to be able to plan for that.
And long term care is not covered by Medicare.
Traditional long term care insurance is still out there, but it can be expensive or unpredictable or, you know, underused. It's one of those things I think I said on a recent episode where we're talking about health care in general and it was like, if you don't, it's like a user lose it thing, you know, if you end up not needing long term care, well then you've pay the all these premiums and then you don't need to take advantage of the benefits.
But it's better to have it and not need it than need it, not have it. Right. But these living benefits can create flexibility inside these or attached on, I guess I should say, to life insurance policies. And so they could maybe fund things like in home care.
They can help you preserve your independence, your dignity, your peace of mind, and protect your retirement savings as well. So you don't have to dig into that bucket of money to then pay out, you know, out of pocket from those retirement fund savings. You can actually, if there's a living benefit available in a policy, then you can use those funds and maybe you've, you know, gotten that for kind of pennies on the dollar over the years.
And if you don't know whether your life insurance has living benefits, that's a conversation worth having as well.
You can actually schedule a free consultation and as part of that we can review whatever life insurance you might have and see if there are, you know, potential advantages there or if there might be something out there that's better for you that we can structure so that you can have a retirement that you can take pride in. That's really what it comes down to with each and every episode of the show. So go to take pride in retirement.com Take pride in retirement.com Click on Schedule a consultation or get your plan. Those are the two main options there at the top of the homepage. And you can schedule that consultation with me. We'll go over what you've got now, what you could have, what I would recommend for you in the future and see how those things stack up. And if there is an option for you that's, that's good out there, I will let you know and then you can decide whether you take advantage of it or not. No pressure.
I'm just in this because I like helping people.
We just did for my, my job on the, on the kind of corporate side of Things.
A. An assessment of, you know, different, like, personalities. It's one of the kind of HR things. And I really, you know, you go into those type of assessments where you take a test and it's like, what would you do in this situation? What would you do in that situation? And you kind of go on these with a big bit of skepticism.
But I actually just took this as kind of like the Myers Briggs sort of a thing. But it's different take on it, more digestible take on it.
And essentially what it does is determine kind of your personality type in a way.
And mine was this is this personality type that loves helping people.
And I literally, like, I sat there and I kind of sort of read the description of this. This personality type, and I was like, yeah, like, after I went through the assessment and it gave me my score and all that stuff, and I read it, like, almost every sentence of the description, I was like, yeah, that's me. Yep, that's me. Okay, that's me. The part that really stood out to me is that you really like helping people. And, yeah, it was spot on with that.
So go to take pride in retirement.com if you think you need or want some help with all these things, because I do this every day. You don't. So get that. That, you know, outside look from someone who does do this every day.
And here's the truth. You know, retirement Planning in the LGBTQ+ community has always required a little bit more intention, as so many things are in life for people in our community. A little more creativity, perhaps, and often a little bit more protection.
Because, you know, some things you just can't necessarily count on the same way that people in the general population can necessarily.
And as I said, life insurance today is not just about death.
It's not just that kind of conversation. It's about independence. It's about your dignity, and it's about protecting the people who matter most to you, no matter who those people might be, don't have to be a spouse. They don't have to be, you know, a person who is an immediate family member, anything like that could be a spouse. It could be a partner or the family that you've chosen along the way.
And so if you want to explore how life insurance could fit into your retirement plan, especially through an LGBTQ plus lens, I would love to help. Call 855-246-921-1855 or go to Take Pride in Retirement dot com. And again, that conversation is absolutely complimentary.
Well, also, I wanted to say just before I wrap up. Do not forget I mentioned at the beginning and I'm mentioning it here at the end. Do not forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel like this video. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcast as well and share the show with somebody who deserves a retirement that's filled with pride.
And I'm sure you know somebody like that, so help us spread the word. William all right, well that is going to do it for this edition of the show. More about life insurance actually next time. Later on in the week I'm going to have a second episode on life insurance and talk about how you can use that for income and more. All right. And tax free income in retirement. Boy, doesn't that sound nice.
All right, well that's going to do it for this time around though. And until next time, take pride in yourselves and take care of each other. We'll see you then.
[00:27:50] Speaker B: Thanks for listening. To Take Pride in Retirement Members of the LGBTQ community deserve to work with a fiduciary financial advisor who puts their needs first. To schedule a free no obligation consultation with Matt McClure and the team at Active Wealth Management, call 855-246-9211 or go online to Take Pride in Retirement Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, llc, bcm. A registered Investment advisor, BCM and Active Wealth Management, Inc. Are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Registered investment advisors and Investment Advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. Please refer to our firm brochure the ADV2A item 4 for additional information. Information provided is not intended as tax or legal advice and should not be
[00:28:49] Speaker C: relied on as such. You are encouraged to seek tax or
[00:28:52] Speaker A: legal advice from an independent professional.
