Pretty much every health insurance company insuring individuals requires someone 50 or older to have had a physical with bloodwork done in the last 2 years.  No physical? Case closed.  Period.  No insurance. It’s too much of a risk for the insurance company. Plenty of these so-called healthy folks will drop dead tomorrow! Do you really have to think for more than a minute to come up with the face of a  fifty something friend or c0-worker that “seemed to be in good shape”, that collapsed with a heart attack or stroke?

Geez, if you already have insurance, a preventive physical is FREE as a mandate of health care reform.  And even if you forget the wise old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, if you are in the market for health insurance for yourself…you won’t get coverage without a physical!

So suck it up you wimps that fear all doctors.  What? You’re TOO BUSY! Heart disease and cancer thrives on people who are just “too busy”.  And stop being so self-centered, it’s not all about YOU.  I have a hunch some people you know might also have an interest in you getting a physical.  So what are you waiting for? Make that appointment!

While waiting to have my oil changed I picked up today’s Lancaster newspaper.  My wife Lori is a native of Lancaster County and has obviously influenced me…as I felt myself opening up to…no, not sports…no not the local section…but rather to the… obituaries section!  All Lori cares about (being Lancastrian to the core) is who died, who got divorced and who had a kid. Period.   Debt ceiling? What’s a debt ceiling?

Anyways, it sure seemed like a lot of “young” people in the obits today.  Of the 19 listed, 8 were 63 or less. 63?  My in-laws are that age.  My sisters are already that old.  Wait, aren’t we supposed to retire at 65?  How can we die before we got to live the good life in retirement? Don’t men live to be 78? And women, 80?  Of course those are averages.  I am surprised at how many make up the “less than average” group.  Now this is a small sample on a given day, however…

Last month I looked at 2 consecutive weeks of the Sunday paper, which reprints the obits for the whole week.  1 in 3 did not make it to age 70.  Since that discovery, I mention it to every couple I meet with.  I ask, “At what age do you think you will retire?  How long do you think you’ll live?”  Minus the jokes we all make, the retirement number is mid 60ish, and the life expectancy is 80+ (surprise, nobody thinks they are average!)

Statistically, 1 of the 3 of us at the customer’s dining room table will not make it to 70. Not a happy thought.  This brings me around to life insurance again.  That measly $26/mo. policy I just wrote for a quarter milliondollars for 30 years on a 31 year old guy, might just get paid out.  I hope not! But…

So what age do you think you’ll be when YOU retire?  Here’s hoping you make it!  And here’s hoping you’re insured even beyond that.

How sad is the story of Shannon Stone, the 39 year old firefighter who tragically died while reaching out for a baseball at a recent major league baseball game?  Incredibly sad, especially as his 6 year old son was by his side.

I imagine through his work his son and other family members will benefit from his life insurance.  Though often the only life insurance one has is through their employer.  Do you know what a dollar a day buys in life insurance for a 39 year old man?  It could be a million dollars in term life for a healthy non-smoker.

What’s a dollar a day to you?  A coffee at Turkey Hill?  A bottled water at Wawa?  A candy bar from a vending machine?  A scratch and win lottery ticket?

I’ll bet you don’t have to think to hard to come up with the name of someone you know who died unexpectedly.   My gut aches when I see people doing fundraisers for a family that lost a parent too soon.  God bless the goodness of those who sell subs, hold a car wash or set up a golf tournament to benefit the family.  But really, how much can that do?

When you add up the final expense costs, medical bills, lost income and other financial obligations, like mortgages, college educations and consumer debt, the number is often well into high six figures or low 7 figures.  Most families struggle to make ends meet with 2 incomes, how can they do it with one income?  A dollar a day.

Everyone’s situation is unique, and maybe a dollar a day won’t buy a million dollar policy.  What if it was only 100,000 dollars?  That’s still enough to have enormous impact.

What about you?  Do you have life insurance?  Do you own some outside of work?  Do you have enough?  Can you spare a dollar a day?

Unemployment gave me 6 months as a Mr. Mom and a special introduction to fatherhood.  I certainly wouldn’t trade that time for another meaningless 6 months in radio. 

12 years later a recurring theme is readily apparent.  12 years of work, selling beds, cars, loans and insurance have been fun and occasionally fruitful, but really…almost meaningless.  Suffice to say I haven’t changed the world.  All of the above was a means to an end, supporting a household.

Decisions on employment could be second guessed eternally, but the underlying consideration in all judgments was my kids.  I wanted flexibility and freedom to be an active and willing participant in their lives.  I work hard and enjoy work, but I am not a workaholic.  After losing my own Dad at 13, I couldn’t bear the thought of being the guy who looks back on his life and wishes he spent more time with his children.

Those 3 am feedings and changing poopie diapers was not just for Lori.  Bathtime and bedtime were playtime.  If it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, it will be the piggyback rides that do me in.  There’s pages of stories in my noggin between peek a boo and training wheels, and just as many from that first bike to the first lacrosse practice just  3 months ago.

I’ve made mistakes as a parent and would welcome some do overs, but that’s life.  I guess my most sincere hope is that I’ve set a good example, as they learn so much more by seeing and experiencing than they do from hearing me lecture about life.

In 6 months I’ll turn 50.  By then I’ll have a teenaged daughter and a 9 year old boy.   Exiting college I imagined great things for a 50 year old Bri.  I’d have logged decades ruling the radio dial from behind the mike in some major market.  Perhaps I’d have retired triumphantly and gone into station ownership.

Alas, I’m just a guy making a living in Anywhere, USA.  Yet I feel wealthy as hell, because I AM LUCKY TO BE A FATHER, SO BLESSED to have Kate and Nathan.  Time invested in them always brings great returns.  They are my pot of gold.  So greetings from the end of the rainbow on another great day, that just happens to be called Father’s Day.

Brian Weems Williams 

This blog is a one stop for keeping friends, family and clients informed.  Whether it’s news about Lori & Me, Kate & Nathan, Health Insurance or any hobbies or interests, you’ll find it here.  Just updated for May 2011

Just in case you’re not sure you’re in the right place…though I tell people I’m from Rochester, I’m really from the lovely town of Honeoye Falls, NY.  (Picture Bedford Falls in It’s A Wonderful Life).   I’m the youngest of 8 children, the baby of Al & Grace’s family.    Two great parents that gave me all I need, but left me wanting more, only because they left this world too soon.

I don’t know that I learned everything I need to know in Kindergarten, but surely by age 10 I knew I loved playing basketball and golf, listening to music and the radio, eating cheeseburgers and making people laugh.  What you love at 10, you love your whole life.

As summer faded in 1980, I traded the only address I ever knew, 14 Maplewood Ave, for the Weinstein Dorm at NYU.  I never moved back.  I probably told you I have a degree in Communications.  I don’t.  I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Radio, but that sounds like I got a degree in the mail for 500 bucks and 2 Cap’N Crunch Box Tops.  It seems all my time was spent at WNYU.  Radio was my “bombers, my dexys, my high.”  I interned brieflyat the legendary WABC and later spent a long time at the subsequently legendary CBS-FM.

What began as the Weems Noise Company in high school, evolved into a long string of dj gigs in the worst and darkest of city dumps with liquor licenses.   With a handful of scratchy 45’s and a milk crate of warped lp’s this young soul rebel plugged his own belt drive turntables into jumbo watt amps and splattered the platters that mattered.  From the basements of forgettable restaurants to bars gone gay, from blarney stones and poser lofts to hotels in Times Square.  Sounds were found and spun round the town.   Friends were made and bonds were formed, but none more fonder than those united as the Empire State Soul Club.  Keep the Faith.

My commercial radio career as was launched paying oldies on the Mighty 1290 WGLI in N. Babylon, LI in the Fall of ‘84.  It was far from mighy…if NYC stations were blow torches or flamethrowers, this was a matchstick.  No worries, I was so sure I’d just be spending a few years in the “the boonies” of small market radio before coming back to glory in the Big City.    As Hurricane Gloria trashed LI in September of 85, the phone rang as the sunny eye blew through.  On the line was a program director from WLAN in Lancaster,PA (wherever that was) looking to hire this oddball known as Brother Weems.    I said “If I live to see tomorrow, let’s do lunch!”

The orange-red 72 VW Squareback was packed Clampett style for the exodus from the Greater NY area before dawn on a Tuesday Morning.   By 9am that same morning with a belly full of scrambled eggs and scrapple (whatever that was) , I was moved in to a spacious dirty apartment across the street at the ridiculously low price of 200 bucks a month.   Heck my Salary at ‘LAN was 325 a week!  I was rollin in the dough!!!

Nearly got fired for my antics in the first month.  And the the second month.  And the third month.  Would have, but ratings were too good I guess.  Moved to mornings in 86.   The Weems Team was THE thing to listen to in Lancaster for a long time.  Good things don’t last forever.  Neither do good ratings.  In 1991, after run ins with Hershey Park, The Secret Service and infamous Woolworth’s castration homicide case, I was fired.

I surfaced at Top 40 KXXR in Kansas City for wake-ups.  LOVE that town.  Lasted all but 6 months.  Many memories though.  Halle Berry, Eddie Money, Judy Tenuda.  The Chiefs.  Gates BBQ.  Arthur Bryant’s.  Fired again in Febraury of ‘92.  Not my fault really.  The station changed hands and went Country.  Some survived, some didn’t.  And geez, Brother Weems don’t do Country!

After 6 months “on the beach,”  that’s radio speak for no gig, Brother Weems decided he do Country after all!  Dipped my toe in at WXTU in Philly and cannonballed in at WIOV in Ephrata.  Casey & Brother Weems in the Morning.  With Jeff Werner and his million dollar laugh doing news.  Best job ever.  Became Program Director in 95 and 96.  Worst job ever.  Had a blast with the staff and the listeners for 6-7 years, but was burned out, and thankfully, fired again.

The highlight of the WIOV years was attending the marriage of my Music Director.  The girl at the guest book was blonde and beautiful, with a shy dimpled smile that clutched my heart.  Lori Kowalchick was her name, and she traded in the Polish surname for my WelshIrish one in 1997.   Along came my sweetie, Kate Nicole in 1998, and my Buckeroo, Nathan Joseph in 2002.

After another 6 months on the beach, it was abundantly clear Central PA had hadenough of Brother Weems.  Alas I had no marketable skills outside of broadcasting.   There’s only one way to make decent money with no qualifications…sales.  However selling Craftmatic Adjustable Beds  was not the answer.  How it took me 2 months of selling them to figure that out I’ll never know.  Selling cars at Lancaster Nissan for 6 months wasn’t the answer either, but it was fun at times.  Though the hours are ridiculous.

While “taking an up” at Nissan, a customer came in for test drive.  He worked for a mortgage broker and they were hiring.  All I knew about mortgages was…I had one.  That, and it was getting harder to pay it selling cars.

There was lots of learning and lots of cold calls.  Rates were 8% for good customers and double digits for bad ones.  My first loan was a 2/28.  The rate was fixed for 2 years at 12.24.  That was one of them there “sub-prime” loans you’ve heard about.  My employer, Home Team Mortgage specialized in them. 

Rates dropped slowly and steadily and business was good.  There was something good about this lending thing.  You got to meet people, play with numbers and try to solve problems.  And you made money.  What’s not to like?  Well, we telemarketed people, and you know how that ended.  And the customers were no longer in PA.  They were in MD and FL and UT!  Plus it was almost exclusively refis.  I yearned for local clients and purchase business.

I joined Wachovia Mortgage in Lancaster in January 2005.  This was a great way to create a local client base from the bank’s customer base and begin cultivate referrals from great people all over Lancaster County.

In the summer of 2008 Wachovia was in trouble from billions in dollars in losses from bad loans they inherited from their purchase of Golden West Capital.  This was a signal for me to jump ship and begin doing what seemed the most natural to me…working with folks in my own backyard, Northern Lancaster County.

In May of 2008 I rented office space on Main St. in Ephrata.  In September I joined forces with 2 highly regarded mortgage professionals, Wayne Angelo and Mike Lafferty, at their company Beacon Mortgage in Lancaster.   In the summer of 2009 we welcomed Doris Good to the Beacon group in Ephrata.  Doris was writing loans across the street at 114 E. Main.  In April of 2010 all of us at Beacon became Cole Taylor Mortgage, a division of Cole Taylor Bank.

In the summer of 2009, as I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for my next refi…no one was buying houses…I got licensed to sell health and life insurance.  I love this!  It reminds me of starting out in mortgages, with lots of products, and many ways to help people out.  Mortgages are so cut and dry now, you either qualify or you don’t.  Not that getting everyone qualifed for insurance is a certainty, far from it, but with supplemental products, everyone can get something.

I “retired” from the mortgage business in April of 2011 to devote all my time to insurance: health, life, accident, disability, long term care and supplemental.

On the family side I have put in 9 seasons in coaching Kate and Nathan in soccer, a sport I neither played nor know much about.  It’s fun being with the kids though, hilarious at times, exasperating at others.

I still love music, can’t function without it.  Cheeseburgers are still my food of choice.  I play basketball as much as I can, and would play more golf if I felt better about carving out 5 hours in a day to do it. 

That’s it for now, check the categories for more specifics and up to date information.