Hi, I'm Billy Gwaltney and this is the CYA podcast. This show is for the physician who understands the importance of protecting everything you've worked so hard to achieve. Each week I'll bring you tips and advice to help you cut through the clutter and misinformation and show you exactly what you need to preserve your income and way of life. If you're ready to achieve the peace of mind that only financial security can bring let's get started.
Welcome to today's episode of the cover, your assets podcast. This is Billy Ganey, and I was always, I'm happy to be with you. Today we're gonna answer the question, does what my broker or agent says matter at all. And that's a good question. And another way to ask that is how much should I rely on what my broker or agent tells me? And so the answer to the question does what my broker agent says matter is actually yes and no.
(00:56): yes. What your broker tells you matters and that it greatly influence your decision, right? I mean, if you are talking to a broker and you're asking them questions and they answer those questions, a lot of times that can influence the direction you go. Trust is huge. Be sure you trust your broker or agent in working with physicians across the country. Thousands of physicians in this particular niche, the specialty disability coverage for physicians, where they're maximum discounts, the best definitions the details really matter and trusting what your agent or broker tells you is very important because that's gonna lead you to the confidence that you need as to whether or not they'll be an advocate for you throughout your career. If you ever need a favor with the insurance company, if you need an exception, if you need help with something that might be a little bit outside the box your agent or broker is who can potentially move the needle for you and get that done.
(01:55): And also, you know, advocating at time of claim helping, helping make sure that things are going the way they're supposed to. Generally your broker agent can be as involved as you want 'em to be. And so you want them to be good. If you don't get a good feeling from your broker, there's a good chance that the insurance companies that they deal with may not get a good feeling either. And so that goes a long way. So think through that, that you're not just thinking about, Hey, I just need to talk with somebody for a few minutes and then I'll never interact with them again. And if you, the role of your broker or agent they're compensated with a small piece of the premium you pay for the life of the policy as long as that remains in effect could be 30 years.
(02:34): And the point of that is to incentivize them to try to keep you happy. That's the role I play as a broker. Hopefully you'll be happy to work with me if not, then whoever it is, just make sure that somebody that you do trust because yes, they are gonna influence you and perhaps help you in a, in a positive or maybe not so positive way in the future a as needs arise. The other part of the answer of does what my broker agent says matter is no. And, and by that, I mean, it, that at the time of a claim, the result of whether or not benefits are paid to you will be based pretty much exclusively by what the contract says, not what your agent told you. So, so if you haven't verified what the agent's telling you and you're, you know, they tell you, it has the true specialty on occupation definition.
(03:27): They tell you it has a recovery benefit. It has a, a residual benefit. They tell you the premium can't change, or they tell you it's an individual policy and it's, and it's a group certificate like certain association policy, then whatever it actually is, or whether or not those definitions are in there are gonna be dependent on what the contract includes and what the wording of the contract is. And so at the time of claim, the claims people are gonna pull out your contract and just go by what that says. And even the top disability carriers have a lot of different variations of contract. So you can have the right company and not have the definitions that you should have. And so don't just think that, oh, if your coverage is with so, and so insurance company that you're covered as if all the policies that company issues are identical, because that's not true.
(04:14): Your broker confirms those selections on the application and, and it's detailed in the contract. And so I hope you found this helpful the point in this is to let you know that yes, what your broker says matters from the standpoint of qualitatively and how much they're gonna impact the ultimate decision, but at the other end what ultimately matters is the contract language. It is about the contract and whether or not it's in there it's contract law. So if the definitions are there, then the contract will confirm that. So if you don't see it in writing, it does not exist. So ultimately default to what the contract says, have a copy of all your disability policies, the full contract, not just the marketing piece or the cost summary or the premium summary, or either annual statement, get the full contract and make sure that it says what you want it to say. I'd be happy to answer specific questions for your situation. Please feel free to text me anytime to arrange a conversation. My number is 7 0 4 2 7 0 2 3 7 6. Again, that's 7 0 4 2 7 0 2 3 7 6 until we meet again this is Billy Walton and thank you as always for your time.
(05:32): This is ThePodcastFactory.com.
