A Guide To Life And Health Insurance During Divorce

Welcome to the D shift podcast, where we provide inspiration, motivation and education to help you transition from the challenges of divorce to discover the freedom and ability to live life on your own terms. Are you ready? Let's get the shift started. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the D Shift podcast. And today we have a true expert on the show that everybody needs to be aware of what Lorena is going to talk about. So, welcome. This is Lorena Tomasini. And she is got a really unique company that I think we want to talk about a little bit too because she's part of a mother daughter company that is called M. A L. M, Life and Health Insurance. And so Lorena, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate this.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I'm excited to talk about these topics that often don't come up unless something's going on. But it's good to be informed.

And I think the thing is, is people need to be aware there are options in insurance. And there's ways that insurance can also be used to potentially build a protection in a divorce situation for all people involved. So and you are the expert on this. So that's why I'm so happy to have you on here today. So but before we get into that, I am dying to know how did you get started in a company with your mom? Because that's a wonderful collaboration, I would think.

Yeah, so we got started working together, back around 2006, I would say. And so I was working. I was I was studying at school at the time, FIU University, and she needed an appointment setter, and I had had experience working over the phone. So I said, Sure, I can help you set some appointments, you know. And then one day, I just decided to go with her. She had been in the industry since before I was born, so very long time. And so I just went with her one day, and I saw I'm like, well, this isn't hard, I could do this. It's just, you know, filling out paperwork and talking to people. And that's how we got started basically like that. And it's like always, you know, you always know what your parents do. But it's not the same as like, going and seeing what it is that they do.

Yeah. And I always think you know, when you think of a family business, a lot of times people automatically think is maybe a husband and wife, or maybe you know, a parents, but this is a mother daughter. So that's really I think that's really unique and original. So any I think it's wonderful things that sticks. So, so let's let's talk a little bit about maybe before we even start about divorce, let's talk about some some of your recommendations that people anybody should consider to have as sort of basic divorce coverage. Or basic divorce. What am I saying basic insurance coverage? I apologize. See, I told you.

It's okay. I figured I'm like maybe she means insurance. Yeah, basic insurance

coverage. That's what I was trying to say.

Yeah, so I would say some, some basic insurance coverage that everyone should have is health insurance, of course, because it helps protect your pocket from unexpected medical expenses, right. And then the other foundation, I would say is definitely life insurance, whether that's a term policy or a permanent policy, but having something in place, because we always say that, you know, we're alive. And we don't know, when when that day is going to be that we're going to pass and there's always bills, just from the very basic burial expenses, rights, and maybe other things that might need to be taken care of that life insurance can provide that immediate financial peace of mind. You know, and I think both of these are crucial, because I see often, many people creating GoFundMe pages, when really, if they would have been protected, protected in time, they wouldn't need to have somebody go and make a GoFundMe page, whether it's for burial expense, or maybe something unexpected, like cancer. Yeah.

And, you know, if there's anything that we have all learned over the last few years, there can be health things that just come out of the blue that you have no control over, you know, where, you know, even if you're even if you're not seriously impacted by something like COVID You know, probably somebody in your family was so hey, there's these things are these things are happening around the world. So having that protection is always important. So let's take a little bit of a well, there is something you use an interesting term, and I'm older than you. So I think it used to be called something different in the past permanent health insurance is that what used should be called Whole Life coverage. Is that the same? Or is that still dead?

Yeah, yeah, so a permanent, there's really two types, there's Whole Life coverage, which is the traditional one. And then there's also universal life, or it's really, the most popular one now is indexed universal life. They both serve the purpose of permanent coverage, meaning, you know, coverage that should last your lifetime, if it's properly funded, and so forth.

Now, just the does the price on that change. So I know like a term life, so you only take it out for like 20 years or 25 years based on your age and all that kind of stuff. That pretty much the policy payment, or the monthly payment is going to be consistent throughout that insurance policy. Is that right?

Correct. So the good thing about a permanent plan is that you lock in the rate at whatever age you bought it right. So if you bought it in your 30s, or your 40s, when you're in your 60s, you're still paying that same rate, as if you were 30 or 40. year old, right? Okay. And there's also ways you can set it up where you only pay for 20 years, or 30 years, and then you keep the policy. Obviously, the monthly premium, there might be a little bit more. But if you're somebody that doesn't want to be in your 80s still paying insurance, right? There's ways to set that up. And so that's one of the good things about permanent policies. You lock in the you lock in your monthly premium or your annual premium, however you want to pay at a younger age, right? Yeah, term is also good. You know, it's not that it's a bad product, do some people talk bad about both products? Right? It's just because they might not have the knowledge, right? Or an ulterior motive why they're talking about about a product, right. But a term policy is good for like homeowners that you know, your house is like your biggest asset. So a lot of times, people will buy like a term insurance to cover the mortgage if something were to happen to them. Right. And it's an affordable way of getting large amounts of life insurance. For for an affordable price.

Yeah, and sometimes really super affordable. Like, it's amazing how affordable it can be if you're especially if you're a young person just starting out, right, getting that. Yeah, yeah. So thanks for giving us kind of that, that basic understanding. Now, here's where the here's where things sometimes go a little bit sideways for people, when you're going through a divorce. What happens to these insurance policies, and I know you're not. And so I want to put this up front for your protection, my protection, everybody's protection, we are not providing financial insurance or legal services right now. We're just having a conversation. So don't make any decisions based on what you hear on this podcast, go talk to a licensed broker insurance broker and get the informations specifically for your case. So with that being said, what do you see kind of are some of the things that happened during a divorce where maybe people don't understand when they're making decisions on their insurance policy? Or they they just they drop insurance, or they fail to cover? What's going on with a lot of these things?

Yeah, so let's see, like with health insurance, right, to bring it down with health insurance. You know, a lot of times, I've seen a lot of people that are anxious and worried about, okay, I had insurance through my spouse, but that's no longer the case. How am I going to be able to afford this health insurance? Now? What about my doctor's I take this prescription, right? So it's people that are very worried because maybe they've always had insurance through through their spouse's employer, right. And so with that, one of the things that we do is we help them realize, hey, you can still get affordable coverage, because it's based on your income and family size, which now might look very different than what it did when you were married. Right? And, and we can always find options with with your doctors. Some doctors, unfortunately, don't take all the plans, or maybe they only take insurance through a group plan that does happen. Those are things outside of our control. But like always, it's important to speak to a professional and not just go on Google trying to find these things, or, Oh, I called the doctor's office, and this is what they told me they take like, no, really, really see what is the reality for your case? Yeah. And then I would say, with life insurance, you know, oftentimes, what I've seen is like, who's the owner of a life insurance policy is really important. So when you buy a life insurance policy, you designate the insured, which is the person whose life you're insuring, right? Then you have the payer, which is who's paying for this policy, usually the same In person, and who is the owner of this policy? And that's really the most important one, because the owner is the one who can make changes to the beneficiary. You know, and that's really important. So I've seen people, you know, that have gotten divorced, and then the owners of the policy was like, the spouse, so then that person can make changes on that policy. Right. But I would say with divorce, something more common is like the court mandated divorce, court mandated life insurance, that a lot of people with minor children are required to get, right. Yeah. So

and that that is really important. And I've also seen that court mandated life insurance, even with people going through what they call the Gray Divorce, you know, the older couples where there may not be mandatory, or there's no, there's no children. But there's still the fact that if there's no life insurance policy, if something were to happen to your spouse who's paying child support or alimony, and they pass away, that stops, like, they're no longer it's gone. So that's what that life insurance policy becomes, it's almost your insurance if they can't, if they're deceased, and cannot continue to pay that support

rational. So there's something really important in insurance called insurable interest, meaning that if this person were to pass away, it would affect me the beneficiary, let's say, in a negative way, right? So if you're somebody that has had alimony is receiving alimony from somebody, right? And that ex spouse of yours passes away, well, how are you going to continue paying your bills or whatever it is that you needed that money for? Right, especially in the older generation, that may be their only living on Social Security and the alimony? Right? So, you know, I think, yeah, it's definitely if you look at it, like as a business almost right. If you're a business partner with somebody, you should both have life insurance on each other if something were to happen. So unfortunately, with divorce, you know, that part is not court mandated that you know, somebody's giving you alimony, and something happens to them. But it should be something that should be looked at, as maybe as part of their divorce settlements are something to bring up, right. Not just looking at it now. But looking at it into the future.

I'm seeing actually, I'm seeing it come up quite a bit in divorce mediations where the the parties are both agreeing to carry life insurance, especially if there's children involved. Because, you know, even if it gets a little complicated, trying to explain it, but even if I mean, if I'm caring for my children, and I pass away, my spouse is now my ex spouse is now most likely going to be the person responsible for caring for those kids. So now, where are they going to? Where's the money to raise the kids gonna come from for them? So having those mutual policies, which can be again term until the kids get to be 18? I mean, it doesn't have to be ongoing. So there is one thing I want to talk to you about, and that is the dreaded Cobra. So I don't know if everybody on here probably understands crowbar. Can you tell us a little bit about Cobra and why it may not be the way to go?

Yeah, so Cobra traditionally, is an extension of goop coverage when somebody leaves the employer. So what it does is, I believe it's 18 months, I could be wrong about that dates, but I believe it's 18 months after you leave that job, or your spouse's job, right, that you can maintain that coverage. But usually, it's very cost prohibitive for a lot of consumers. Because it's about, let's say, your premium regularly is $500, you will need to add on like another 20 to 30% to that premium, right. So an alternative might be like a plan through the Marketplace, or what's known as the Affordable Care Act, right? Because that's going to be usually more affordable than Cobra. Because of the tax credits that many people are eligible for.

Thank you for explaining that. Because I get people all the time saying, Well, I'm just gonna go and from my understanding 18 months, I think is correct. I think if you have dependents, it might go up to 36 months, and I think that may depend on where you are to, you know, but one thing I do want to say, and correct me if I'm wrong, okay. Larina because I may be wrong. But my understanding is it's not that your spouse doesn't want to keep you on their plan. It's their employer says no, if she or he is not your spouse, we are not paying for their insurance. It's so your partner doesn't have any choice in the matter whether or not you come off an employer plan, it's based on the employer saying, we're not paying for this individual if you're no longer a family.

Right, and I mean, most employers don't even pay for the family, right for the spouse, and the dependents premiums. So it's like everything.

Yeah. Yeah. So. So this is this is a lot of information. Where Where else do you see maybe people don't think enough or think things through on their insurance? If they've, let's say, let's start this over, let me start over. Let's say I'm buying insurance for the first time as a single woman after divorce, let's pretend I don't have kids or anything, because that's a different thing. But so I just want to know, what are some of the things I should look for? And let's, let's go with that with the life insurance because health insurance is, you know, really dependent on what conditions and what kind of health you're in? Let's talk about life insurance. What should I be looking for? If I'm a first time insurance buyer?

Well, you should definitely not be looking to buy insurance online. So there's a lot of companies out there now that tell you, Oh, hey, you can buy insurance? Just answer three questions, and you'll get immediate coverage today, right? Reason being because those companies don't have something called term conversion, which is really important. When you're purchasing like a term policy, let's say, that's a provision that comes in the majority of insurance contracts, that allows you to convert all or part of your death benefit of that term policy into a permanent one down the line. And that's really important, because we don't know what might happen to our health in the future. And it's important that if I bought this 20 year term, well, that at some point, I can at least transfer enough for burial expenses. Or usually it's for burial expenses, right into something permanent, so that once that 20 year term, for example, lapses at the 20 years, I still have permanent coverage, at the rate that I got it when I converted it, right. So that's definitely one thing, because it's important to read the fine print and not just, Oh, I got this anyway. And it was super affordable, right? There's reasons why those plans are maybe more affordable than other companies, right. The second thing I will look into asking is, hey, does this policy have living benefits. And that's really important, because as well, there's been many changes in the industry. For the past few years, a lot of insurance companies offer living benefits. And what this does is it provides peace of mind to the consumer, that if God forbid, they have something like a critical illness, like cancer, heart attack or stroke, it's more than that, or a chronic illness, where they can't do activities of daily living, like walking or bathing, that they can use part of that death benefit to help them pay for other things, right. Because like I say, diagnosis of cancer nowadays is not really a death sentence as it might have been a few years ago, right? But there's still the bills still need to get paid. You might need to hire somebody to help out with the housework, right. And more than likely, that person or a family member might have to take time off work to help them out, right. So it's really important that whether you're buying a term policy or permanent policy, to make sure that it has those living benefits, and it doesn't cost a lot. It's not like you're adding it as a writer, they come built into the policy. And it might be like a $5 difference. There may be another life insurance policy that doesn't have those living benefits. I think those are the two most important things. And and I would say third, maybe adding specific writers to that life insurance policy, like a waiver of premium writer. And what that does is it also provides peace of mind that if they become disabled, which is different, right? They become disabled, that policy will continue to pay for itself, as long as that person is disabled. So it's not just thinking about, Okay, what do I need to do now? But what are all the things that might happen along the way to make sure that what I'm doing is also protected?

Thank you, so that I did not I haven't bought life insurance in a long, long time. So I didn't even know those. Those things were were available. And now I'm gonna go back and take a look at that policy. But so, one thing I did want to talk to you and ask you, briefly, what's the difference between an insurance agent and an insurance broker or is there a difference?

There is a difference. Yes. And that's a great question. So an agent's works for one insurance company XYZ, okay. And what that means is that they can only sell those products that the XYZ company offers. Okay. So a broker, the difference is, is that we represent a multitude of insurance companies to help find solutions for the client. We're not having to fit people into this one product, because that's all I have to offer. Right. And so that's also good for people with certain health conditions, like maybe diabetes or something like that, right? That we're able to find the company, a life insurance company that is maybe more lenient on people that are diabetics, right? meaning it'll be approved easier than if I go with those traditional companies. Right. And it's not that it's a worse company or anything like that. It's just that that's their focus. Right. And so I've always liked to be a broker because it provides options for the consumers.

Yeah. And and so I do that, that is something that I have heard in the past, I've heard other people say that always, if you can, I mean, shop with a broker. Now, when people come to you, do people generally say I want this insurance policy? Or do they say, I don't know what I need? Can you help me?

Yeah. Usually, it's I don't know what I need. I don't know how much life insurance I need. I just know I should get something right. So that's a lot of one of the things we offer is a financial protection review. And this is where we go over. Okay, what do you have in place? What don't you have in place? You know, what's your income? Are you doing anything for retirement? Because these are all questions to help us come up with with a number as least as okay, this is the minimum, you should have a death benefit.

Yeah, so I really liked that idea of an individual approach where somebody walks you through it rather than, you know, sometimes you read and again, you read online, right? You need to have five months or unique out, you know, 10 years, or there's some arbitrary number, they just create and say, This is how much insurance you need to have. So

Right. So yeah, we can create an arbitrary number by multiplying your income by 10 years, for example, right? But that's not taking into account if you have a mortgage. If you're looking to finance like a kids college, right? That's there's a lot of other things that we factor in for a death benefit. Or at least you should,

yeah, to make to give people that peace of mind that because you're right, if I have one child going through college, and you have four, there's a whole different, different number that goes into that right that people need to be aware of. So Lorena, we have covered a ton of information and a lot of really good information. Thank you. And I am an ounce hate to ask you this, because it's going to be hard to do. What is one thing that you think is the important thing that people need to remember from this conversation?

I would say ask questions. So that way you can make an informed decision. And if you don't know what questions to ask, I will Google something like Frequently Asked Questions for life insurance or health insurance, whatever it is that that you're looking for. Right? And yeah, I would certainly say that ask questions. And, oh, I forgot to mention something else with the life insurance, which I think is really important. I think this is the big takeaway. When you're buying life insurance, if you're looking to save some money, it might be more affordable if you do it with a medical exam than without a medical exam, though, a lot of companies nowadays still give you the really good ratings without a medical exam. But it all depends, right? I would certainly say ask questions, review your beneficiaries regularly. Because there might be changes there as well.

All right. Well, thank you so much for you know, this has been really informative and really helpful. And I've, I've got a whole bunch of information I'm going to be able to use so thank you so much. And if people want to reach out to you to either have you do a financial audit for them, or to talk to you more about life insurance needs, what's the best way to reach you?

Certainly, so I think the best way to reach me is my my phone number 786-244-7079. Sending me a quick text there would be more than enough. Or they can follow me on LinkedIn just by searching my name and social media. Its M A L M INS 22.