In this eye opening episode of ABOUT THAT WALLET, host Anthony Weaver dives deep into the world of life insurance with financial coach, hotel owner, podcast host, and life insurance producer, Acquania Escarne. They discuss the importance of life insurance, especially for the black and brown communities, and how it can be a game-changer for financial stability and wealth building.

Join us as we discuss:

• The critical role of life insurance in providing for your family after you're gone.
• Why life insurance is essential outside of work and how it can change the trajectory of a family's life.
• The different types of life insurance: term and permanent, and how to choose the right one for you.
• How to leverage life insurance policies for investments and emergency funds.
• Strategies for ensuring your loved ones are financially secure, regardless of your marital status or whether you have children.
• Whether you're new to life insurance or looking to review and possibly increase your coverage, this episode offers valuable insights and practical advice to help you make informed decisions about your financial future.

=|| Chapters ||=

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:15 - Importance of Life Insurance for Black and Brown Communities

00:05:45 - When to Get Life Insurance

00:08:30 - Types of Life Insurance: Term vs. Permanent

00:15:20 - Leveraging Life Insurance for Investments

00:20:00 - Financial Checkups and Beneficiary Updates

00:22:10 - Final Four Questions

00:30:00 - Where to Find Acquania Escarne

Discover more about Acquania Escarne and her work:

• Instagram: @thepurposeofmoney
• Website: https://thepurposeofmoney.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquaniaEscarne

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

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DISCLAIMER: The content in this audio is for educational purposes only. Conduct your own research and make the best choice for you. If you need advice, contact a qualified professional.

Episode 271

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But over time, that builds up into

thousands and thousands of dollars of tax

free money that can be accessed while

you're alive. So my husband and I, for

example, we took 40,000 out of a, uh, life insurance

policy and we invested in real estate. And

we started out with residential real estate and rentals,

but now I invest in commercial real estate, like

hotels and apartment syndications.

So that was how we used it. But I've had

people use the cash value in their policies for

emergency loans. I've had them use them for

investments in their own businesses and other

things that they needed for their family. So it is a

nice additional source of money

when you want to get creative and you don't want to go

to traditional lenders for whatever reason, um,

you can go into your insurance policy. So that's the

simplest way to explain how it works.

Welcome, everybody, back to another exciting show with the about

that wild podcast, where we help you

find that confidence by, uh, building strong

financial habits so that you can actually talk

about money, spend money, and actually

enjoy your money. Today I have a

wonderful person who's gonna help us with our

insurance. And one of the things about insurance is

that a lot of us really don't know about it. But this person

is a financial coach, a hotel owner,

podcast host, and also a life insurance

producer. Today, she is

committed to helping people find financial freedom

and build wealth. As a financial

coach, she equips her clients with

outside the box finance tips,

payment plans, retirement planning, and

so much more. With her advice, clients

can exceed their financial and personal goals.

Welcome to the show Aquania. How you doing today?

I am awesome. Thank you so much, Anthony, for having me

on the show.

Yeah, you're so welcome. Actually, this is the

first time we actually did a pre recorded. So instead of

you coming in with my live shows and we be kicking it

and just laughing just about everything.

And so you've been doing quite a lot lately,

and one of the things that I do

appreciate what you've been doing for the financial

community is constantly giving us

actionable tips and how that we can

be better at our finances. And not just our

finances, but our estate planning and

really looking into how we can outline our

features. So I really wanted to bring you on.

It's about life insurance. And why is it important

for the black and brown community?

Oh, man, this is super, super important

because people need to understand

that there are two things in life that are

guaranteed. Death and taxes. And so

let's prepare for death because the taxes we really

can't get around. So I really want to

tell people, think of life insurance as

the way to provide for your family when you're no longer

here. Because if. If you think about it any other

way, it gets a little. You know, people get

nervous or scared, and they don't like to talk about death. So

I like to talk about, you know, would you want

your family to be okay financially if you weren't

here? And if the answer is yes, then you need

life insurance. And so that is why

I really go around and I educate people about it,

but also encourage you to get it. And it's really important

that you have life insurance outside of work.

But more specifically, when it comes to

communities of color, this is critical

because it can literally change the trajectory

of a family's life. It can also be

what makes or breaks the family after a primary

breadwinner passes away. So, being

the fact that 52%

of Americans have life insurance, which is

great, that's more than 50%, most

of them don't have enough or wish they got it

sooner. So for those who don't have

insurance, I hope this encourages you to get it and

understand why you need it. But for those who do have

insurance, I hope this conversation encourages you to

review what you have and see if this is a time

to get more.

When should we start looking into m getting life

insurance?

You should get life insurance when you have

someone who depends on you for income. And

so I try to tell people that has nothing to do with your

marital status, and it also doesn't have to

do with the fact that you have kids or not, because,

truth be told, a lot of our people are

also primary breadwinners for their parents.

And so if your parents are financially

dependent on you, you need life insurance. If you

are financially supporting siblings

or even other members of your

family, you need life insurance. And then, of course,

if you have a spouse or children, you

definitely need life insurance, because they are,

um, depending on your income while you're alive. And if you

don't have life insurance, they won't have money

to prepare or pay for their finances

after you're gone. So, um, think outside the

box, guys. Like, don't just think, I'm not married. I don't

have kids, because parents might also be a reason to

get insured. Um, and the same

goes for parents who might want to consider

life insurance on their kids.

So, um, it's not something you

want to think about, but you also want

to prepare your children for success. So, like, I have

gotten insurance on my children so that they're

covered because I just don't know what's going to happen

when it comes to their health. And I want to make sure they get covered

when they're young and healthy. But at the same time, if you

have adult children who you're still either

supporting, contributing to, you may also

want to make sure the two of you have life insurance.

So if something happens to your adult children,

um, you're able to cover their final expenses, their

student loan debt, especially if you co

sign for it, and any other things that can come

up that come with being a parent of an adult child.

Right?

Yeah.

Like, they never, ever are not our

responsibility, if that makes sense.

It does. And, um, because there's so many different flavors of

insurance. There's like term insurance, whole

life insurance. What is the,

can you go like, just kind of vaguely talk about

the different types of life insurance?

Absolutely. And I'll give you something that'll help you

remember. So I like to break insurance

into two categories. There is term m life

insurance, which you just mentioned, and then there's permanent life

insurance. Permanent sounds exactly like it

says. It doesn't go away. Right. But

let's talk about term first. So I like to kind of use the

analogy. Term is like an apartment lease. It

is a contract that you have with an insurance

company, and you get that lease

for the amount of time you choose. You can do one year,

five year, 1015, 20, and sometimes even

30 year leases. But what that

contract says is, if I die in the

time in which I have asked for

coverage, the life insurance company will pay your

family the check. Right. If you get a million dollar

term policy for 30 years and you die within

those 30 years, they write a million dollar check to your

family, and that check is completely tax

free because life insurance proceeds are not

taxable. However, if by the

grace of God, you live longer than the 30

years at, uh, year 31, if you

pass away, they don't write any checks because your

contract expired or your lease was up.

And the only way to continue coverage is to get

another policy, um, or request. And when you

have is extended. Right. So

apartment leases are great temporarily,

right? But eventually you want to get your forever home.

So that leads me to my second analogy, which is

permanent life insurance. It's more like your forever

home. Once you get permanent life insurance, you're

covered for the rest of your life. As long

as you pay your premiums and

it doesn't expire. It could last you another

50 years or another ten years.

However long you live, it's going to cover you

and it doesn't matter how old you are,

but permanent life insurance has a lot of

different names. Whole life is one of them. Index universal

life variable universal life fixed life.

And people, uh, get confused because whole life's

like the oldest one, so everyone just calls permanent

insurers whole life, but it's actually, that's one type of it.

But the best thing to think about is one. It's your

forever home. So you really

may not need more, unless you have a need for more

insurance, like you didn't get enough the first time or your life

changed, you got more dependents, or you have a bigger

estate. Um, but it's also more

expensive, right? Term is cheap because

mathematically you're not expected to die.

Most people do not die. Only 2% of term

policies are actually paid out, and that's why

they sell them at a low cost, because the insurance

company is betting that you won't pass away.

But permanent insurance, it's

100% guaranteed. You're going to die, everybody's going to die,

so they know that there's 100% chance

they're going to pay that policy unless you default on your

payments. So they charge you more for permanent

insurance to be able to cover those

costs. Um, so I always tell people,

if you are in a financial position where

cost is of, ah, important

essence and you don't have a large budget, go with term,

because it's the most affordable way to protect

your family, and you can get a million dollar

policy for pennies on the dollar, depending on your

health. But when you either have

lower need for insurance or

um, want to be more strategic with

how you use your insurance, then permanent life

insurance could be a good option for you. Um,

what I normally recommend for my clients

is convertible insurance. So that's

like a term policy that starts out inexpensive and

cheap, and then you have 1015 or

20 years to turn it into permanent insurance.

And then when you do that conversion, that's when

the person has insurance that doesn't expire. So

that's a lot, I know, but that's the best way to

think about it. And hopefully the analogies will help

you.

Yes, and we also hear about these

terms, like you hear all the time on social

media that people keep saying, well, you invest all this money into

these whole life insurance, or the permanent life insurance, correct

me on that one. And they talk about

withdrawing money, that you can live on it today.

How is that, uh, possible?

That's a great question. And so this is a part of my

story. So right now I'm going to preface this with, this is

not for everyone, but this is definitely something I've done. So I'm not

just theoretically telling you what's possible, but when

you have permanent insurance and you get it, like my

husband and I did when we were young, healthy, and

didn't have no kids, um, you can

really build a lot of cash in a policy,

because every time you make a payment,

a portion of your payment is going to cover the cost of life insurance. The

rest is going to go into a cash bank. That

cash bank has the potential to earn interest or

dividends, depending on what type of policy you

have. And so everybody likes the word dividends.

Normally they think about it with stock, but it can also be

paid out with life insurance, too. But what that

essentially means is you have money in a

policy that earns money, and all you're

doing is paying for your life insurance every month. You don't have to do

anything. What most insurance companies do,

however, is they take your money or their

money and they put it in the stock market, and then

that stock market money makes money, right?

That's why most people invest. Well, when you have

a permanent insurance policy that builds cash value,

the insurance company is going to share

that profit with you. So they will take

their profits and they will spread them out amongst all the

policyholders. And so you get

interest every year or every quarter.

You'll get a dividend check every year or every quarter, depending

on your insurance company. Right.

But over time, that builds up

into thousands and thousands of

dollars of tax free money that

can be accessed while you're alive. So

my husband and I, for example, we took 40,000 out of

a, uh, life insurance policy, and we invested in real

estate. And we started out with residential real estate

and rentals, but now I invest in commercial real

estate, like hotels and apartment syndications.

So that was how we used it. But I've had

people use the cash value in their policies for

emergency loans. I've had them use them for

investments in their own businesses and other

things that they needed for their family. So it is a

nice additional source of money

when you want to get creative and you don't want to go

to traditional lenders for whatever reason. Um,

you can go into your insurance policy. So that's the

simplest way to explain how it works. But

how much cash you have depends on your

contract, depends on the performance of your life

insurance company and how the market

is going. But most of the policies

are not directly invested in the stock market.

Most, there are some that are, and as a

result, this money is not as volatile as the

stock market. So this is also a way that some

people choose to diversify what they're invested

in, because they'll have their investments in the stock

market, they'll have life insurance to protect their

family, say, a large term policy. And then they

might get a permanent policy to have

additional tax free dollars they can leverage while they're

alive.

Yeah. Cause that's kind of what I do. I have the hybrid

approach. Makes life a little easier for

me, mostly, um, for the way how

my situation is. Um, and I think

that's helpful. And it good to know that people can

actually play around with it, almost like basket robbins. Like, if

you got the money, go for it.

Pick your flavor. Right. But that's why

I tell people, work with a professional life

insurance producer. Don't try to

piecemeal it on your own or call the people you see on tv

commercials because they are promising you cheap

policies for $10 a month or whatever, because

sometimes. Sometimes that one policy doesn't fit your

entire plan. Right. And

finances are personal, so you

have to really look at what is my situation.

You know, how much insurance do I really need?

And if I need a lot and I have a small budget,

what do I need to do to make this all work right?

And so that's why I'm a math person, I'm a numbers

person, but I'm also a big picture person. If

you're honest with me and you tell me what your big picture

is, then we can work on the numbers and give you a

plan that works for you.

Awesome. Now we enter the third segment, which is the

futures. What skills or habits that you feel is going

to take you to the next level?

Ooh, that is a good question.

Well, I love to network, I love to talk, and I love

to teach. And I've been doing that throughout my

life in different stages, phases, and with different levels of

confidence. But I'm proud to say that that's what's

held me down. So I definitely believe in my next

phase, I'm going to be doing more networking,

teaching, um, and teaching, because I. I

love to take complex stuff and break it down.

I love to make things

accessible that used to seem impossible. So

my big thing right now is encouraging more people to

pursue hotel investments and hotel ownership,

because that's a space where we need more people of color.

So I've been doing free webinars and sessions to talk

about that. I've also done a lot to educate on, um,

life insurance, like this show so thank you so much for the

opportunity and then networking. You

and I literally met through a powerful network of

financial nerds, and I plan to do that until

the day I die.

There we go. Uh, is there anything that you want to leave

the audience before we dive into the final four

questions?

Just do your necessary financial

checkups every year, and don't forget

to change or, uh, update your beneficiaries after

major milestones. So, marriage, divorce, and new

kids. And because we have plenty of examples

where celebrities, Kobe

Bryant, Prince, Aretha

Franklin, have not done proper estate planning,

and it has resulted in very costly

probate processes for their families. So

let's just do our families a ah, solid and give them the

gift of peace by getting our affairs in order

ourselves.

Awesome. All right, you ready for the final four?

Yes. I'm nervous. What should

I prepare for?

Number one, what does wealth

mean to you?

Oh, I love this question, because I have a

platform, the purpose of money. And I do feel like

the purpose of money is unique to each person. So wealth means

for me the ability to have the time and freedom

to spend with my family, doing the things I

love whenever the heck I want to.

Number two, what was your worst money

mistake?

Hmm? M my worst money mistake?

Probably not taking risks

sooner. Uh, I started

building for my future and retirement early

at 16. But I did it in a very

conservative way. You know, putting money into a Roth

IRA, but not really investing that money

in the most aggressive options I could at the time,

um, because I didn't know. And

now that I'm in a position where I have wealth and I

have money, that I'm willing to risk investing

in personal ventures, private equity

opportunities, I'm getting access to

more ways to multiply my money

faster. But I didn't take those risks

until now. But I am okay with the timeline because

I feel like that's the way God wanted it to be.

But I could have taken risk probably five

years earlier and been a little further along

at this time.

Yeah. Time and place for everything, right.

Number three, what is your favorite financial

or non financial book?

Okay, so, favorite book

was rich dad, poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki, because

that's what really turned me into a money nerd,

and it is a financial book. Favorite

non financial book. Um,

Pearl Clay. I read it a while ago. A long

time ago, actually. But, um, I actually like any of her

books. Um,

but I'm trying. Why is the title escaping me now?

But it's one of her first books where she writes about a woman

who contracts HIV and how she

navigates love in life afterwards. Um,

it's a great, great book. So, Pearl Clage, if you ever

look her up, look up her book. One of her first ones is

one of my favorites, but now I read nonfiction, so

it's so hard for me to remember the fiction books I used to read.

That's okay. Number four,

what is your favorite dish to make?

Ooh, that's a good one. Um, so

I am a cooker who cooks

out of love, but not that often

anymore. And so when I do cook, I

cook large portions, like thanksgiving dinners for 20 something

people or, um, a lot of food.

So, um, sweet potatoes are, ah, one of

my faves, and my family loves my sweet potato

casserole with the marshmallows on top.

Okay. Might try that out one day.

Yeah, come to thanksgiving.

Uh, the very last question of the show is, where

could people find out more about you?

Of course. Check me out on Instagram. That's my favorite

place to play at. The purpose of

money. The t h e purpose of money.

Make sure the is there. And

thepurposeofmoney.com is my website.

On both platforms, I have an ability to connect with me

for free. So if you guys want to hang out and have a

quick chat, I'm here for it. I'm also,

um, always hanging out wherever

I can on YouTube. So aquania escarnay

is my name. On YouTube. You can check out some old

podcast episodes as well as videos.

Awesome.

Uh, awesome. And thank you so much, Aquania,

for coming on the show and actually providing so much

information. Definitely about life insurance. And if you guys

got anything out of this and you just want to learn more

about quania or if you just want her to have

her, I mean, I can ask her to come back on the

show. We can do a little deeper dive into any of the

life insurance policies or even just talk about her syndication

for real estate and so many other avenues.

Uh, just let me know in a comment. Uh, just even email

me at, uh, anthonyboutthatwallet.com. make

sure you all sign up for the Aboutthatwallet.com

newsletter@aboutthatwallet.com.

newsletter. And I look forward to talking to you

all and have a great time and enjoy the rest

of y'all day. We out.

Thank you.

Peace in the port au foon.

A, uh, prince.

Oh, my gosh, port au prince. You could just say Haiti.

Okay, you start over. Do whatever you do.

All right. The person I'm having on coming today

is, uh, um,

you know, what? We're just gonna go straight

in. Okay?

Anthony, what's my name? Do you remember?

Yes, I know,

Connie. I wanted to say, you know, save you for the last

part. All right?

I.