[Rick Lee]

This theme has been hammered home every hour of every day at work this week. I sell final expense life insurance and the lowest/fixed income demographic has a near religious belief in this stuff. So I get regular, up-close doses of socio-economic real life in my day-day work.

A lady has been blowing up my phone every day about her latest payment (auto bank draft) bouncing. She gave me cash for the initial premium and I bought a postal money order with it and mailed it in. She says I got one of her checking account number digits wrong (for future payments). Nope. I took a photo of it on her bank statement. She reauthorized a redraft this past Tues. (after eating that $35 NSF fee). That payment hasn't bounced (yet) or been confirmed, but she was so impatient from seeing the money still sitting in her account, instead of calling me, she called the insurance company and gave them her debit card # for the same payment. Most insurance companies charges a 6% premium for using a card. So that upped her payment $9. But wait! The debit card payment goes through instantly, so that pending draft from Tues. is going to bounce now and she'll get hit with another NSF fee. I told her that and she said, "Well, they said they only charge $35 for that, so it's ok." This is why they're poor.

Met a guy three weeks ago who was still paying on a policy he took out in 1971. He said he had a $2000 loan against the cash value, but was adding $20/mo to his payment to cover that. We called the company, turns out the loan is $7k and his $20 doesn't cover half the interest, let alone the principal. So his cash value is getting devoured like termites. He was better off cashing out and starting over, even though he's 50 yrs older now. This is why he's poor.

Met a guy on Mon. who has a $2000 Colonial Penn policy he's paying $40/mo on. He's one year into his two yrs wait. I was able to get him $5k for $18 more, but he said he'll stick with what he has. I explained that, once that two yr wait is up, he has two more year before he will have paid into it as much as it will ever pay out. He'd be better off with a money market account. This is why he's poor.

Met a couple in a trailer park who smoke 3.5 packs a day between them, on food stamps, looking for assistance to keep their electricity on. $900/mo on smokes, which they buy per pack at the corner gas station. I mentioned buying cartons at the nearby Indian reservation and how much that would save them. Nope. This is why they're poor.