José and Theresa Olivieri

Meet José and Theresa Olivieri from Ohio!

José is a truck driver and has been driving for JB Hunt the past 18 years. As a local driver, he rarely leaves the state. Typical loads consist of retail goods, fertilizers, “Pretty much anything except poisons or explosives.” He also hauls rail containers usually from California occasionally from China and sometimes to Puerto Rico. He enjoys the freedom his work allows him, “In my truck I’m in command of my own time. I have freedom to stop and eat, listen to what I want and learn while I’m driving. And I’m outdoors all the time. I love it.”

Back in his 20s, José and his wife, Theresa, were sold a life insurance policy. But other obligations came up, debt accumulated, and they could no longer afford the policy. They tried many ways to get a hold on their finances but couldn’t. They tried Dave Ramsey’s debt free idea but couldn’t make it. It was frustrating. At one point José felt this struggle would last the rest of his life.

Then he found a video by Tom McFie. In the video Tom explained how to use life insurance as a financial tool. He shared the video with Theresa, saying, “Honey, I think this is going to work in our life. Can you look at it and see if it makes sense to you?” Watching more videos, things started clicking and José contacted Tom to start a policy.

The beginning was difficult. “We really had to learn to put the money aside and save it. Once we had that fundamental fact of saving, the next thing was where do we want to put these savings where they will work for us the best? Once that clicked sending our premiums to the life insurance company every month is the best place because I see the value of putting my money in a place where it will be protected in a way I can’t find anywhere else.

“It offers so many benefits. Not only now but in the future. When you retire, you’ve already put money aside which you can use for supplemental income. It’s here for you either now or later. There’s no money thrown away. When you die, which is a matter of WHEN, not IF, your beneficiaries are going to receive what’s left over.”

The first thing they used their policy’s cash values for was supplemental income. “When we had a slow week and were short on funds, we took little policy loans.” Eventually they began using it for vacations, Christmas and major home improvements. “The last project we did was to replace our furnace and AC. That was really exciting.”

José and Theresa are working on capturing more of their debt. Every week they have formed a habit of putting money into their money manager account. In the next couple years, they will send that money to the insurance company to decrease their loan and interest due each year.

“After our first few years of learning how to use a life insurance policy, my outlook on money has changed. It has brought so much hope, freedom and peace to my wife and I.” José jokingly adds, “I finally have financial peace without the university!”

Last October José and Theresa welcomed their first grandchild. “There’s a proverb that says ‘a wise man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children’. My wife and I decided we were able to start a policy on her. The potential freedom our granddaughter is going to have when she comes of age is really exciting. I’m just blown away we were able to do that for her.”

Schedule Strategy Session »

José wishes he would have been taught these financial principles, “when I was 20yrs old at least. If people in their young age would really understand and follow this way of living things will change dramatically for them in a short period of time.”

“I remember times in the past when a dead battery was a financial emergency. I didn’t know where I would get the money from. Now I feel God has given us a second opportunity and we’re trying to be alert for opportunities to help people who need those things and say, ‘here you go. I’ve been helped in the past. This is a way of us paying it forward to someone else in need.’”

José and Theresa like to ride bicycles when the weather is nice, watch movies and José is a big video game fan. For their anniversaries they like to get out of the house, stay in a hotel and just spend time together.

Sources: The Olivieris,  Living Richly May 2021