Tamekia Mckinnie, Life Insurance Agent

About Me

Hello, I'm Tamekia, your neighborhood life insurance advisor. Protecting loved ones is one of life's most important decisions, and I specialize in finding plans that fit your needs and your budget. Let me handle the research while you focus on what matters most — your family.

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Q&A with Tamekia Mckinnie

Can you have multiple life insurance policies from different companies?

Answer: You can have more than one policy. Some companies do have limits on how much but one way to get around that is to add several types of policies- IUL. WL. TERM plus Cancer, Chronic, Accidental, Hospital Indemnity-LTC etc all are types of plans available. So Stack!! You can have what is affordable!

What questions should a first-time life insurance buyer ask their agent?

Answer: How long will this last!? Term ends at a term, so how much will I pay if I want to extend ? If I want to increase, how do I do that? Does this increase in value ? Does this go up in price over the years?

How do I know if my life insurance company is financially stable?

Answer: There is a rating assigned to each companies performance. Past performance indicators are strong when A plus or and A is the letter grade- and likewise a D might be more telling. Of course there are not full guarantees or absolutes and many companies have failed in the past or been acquired- so their track record and reputation is a great indicator.

How do you help a client decide between term and whole life insurance?

Answer: I recommend both. Term is less expensive but it doesn’t last as long as WL. WL has benefits of being there once the term ends. It is most affordable while we are young and healthy- and you don’t have a whole lot of it at ages 70-100, so get enough for your legacy goals by balancing both types. IUL is like a Hybrid of them both and has some strong features and benefits to consider as an alternative strategy also combined with WL. If you can’t afford what you want, remember some thousands are better than no thousands and nobody knows from the payout if it was Term or Perm. But if you don’t pay, they won’t pay- so get what you can actually and realistically pay. Also WL can be paid in lump sums or in a time frame, still lasting the whole life, I think people miss on this option, but it makes sense to just have, what if you live to be as old as Moses, 120, WL will always be there!

What happens if my life insurance claim is denied?

Answer: There are few exclusions to deny right out, so if the contracts stipulations weren’t met it’s more likely to be because of those exclusions- suicide is one and misrepresentations like age or gender are others, and most importantly criminal activity- all of which the insurance company won’t pay- if they get the payment every month as agreed and there aren’t any major exclusions reported then they will pay.

What should you do with your life insurance policy when you retire?

Answer: People really need to consider portable, private life insurance aside from the work coverage- when we retire at Full Retirement Age of 67-70 we aren’t as young and healthy as we were when we first started working at 18. The insurance from the job doesn’t come with you when you leave, sure the insurance may offer you something but it won’t be what you once paid and it will be at the new age and health rating. There are some ways to protect you like guarantee insurability riders but typically it’s higher and out of the affordability range for retired fixed incomes. Put something in place now that won’t go up and doesn’t matter if your work or not, it’s still in place!