“Hey Lenny. Tell me about yourself.”

At 23, I had a math degree and no idea what life insurance was for.

In 2000, I graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics. It's a math degree. Finance, accounting, econometrics, how money moves and why. I could figure out how to price an ocean liner of freight to the penny. I could figure out how a bank loan needs to be structured to meet profitability.

A few weeks after graduation, I was at an insurance agent's office getting my brand new used car insured. The agent said, "Hey, you should start a life insurance policy so it will grow in cash value."

I didn't know what he was talking about. None of that was in the program. Nobody at UK ever said, Hey Leonard, this is why you need life insurance. So I said the only thing a guy of my stature could think: "Why would I want life insurance to grow in cash value?"

He took good care of me, but he did what any reasonable person would do, he shrugged his shoulders and went back to typing. I was 23.

In 2019, I got my property and casualty license. That same year, I learned why I should have started that life insurance policy back in 2000. Well, actually two reasons. One was Baby A and the other was Baby B. Twin boys, born almost 8 weeks early.

If something happened to me, what would happen to mommy and those precious boys? I had my P&C license but life insurance was still a mystery.

In 2022, I went and got my life and health license. Having a fishing license doesn't mean you know how to fish. I still had a lot to learn.

Then it clicked. What that agent tried to tell me 22 years earlier was a simple concept. Some policies build a cash value, not as an investment, but so the cost of the policy doesn't go up as you get older. You pay more upfront than a term policy so that it costs you less than a term policy when you're much older. It's compound interest used to help people's families get better off.

If I had started paying into a policy back in 2000 like that agent suggested, I wouldn't be paying nearly as much as I pay now.

So here's what I decided. When someone talks with me about whether life insurance is right for them, they're not walking away without understanding what they need to understand. They get the education, they get the consultation, and then they decide what's right for their family.

That's why in 2024, I earned my CLU from The American College of Financial Services. The people who choose me as their guide deserve every advantage I can give them.

If you have diabetes, a heart condition, or something else that made another agent tell you no, call me. Most agents won't work with health conditions because it takes more effort to find the right carrier. I will, and I know which ones to call.