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Welcome to Stars Country. We are proudly broadcasting in the principal Toyota Memphis studio. And what a great day it is in the Mid-South. It's going to be beautiful later this afternoon. It's already good looking outside, but we're heading up to highs in the 70s today.
It's going to be really, really nice. Chamber of commerce weather here in the Mid-South.
So enjoy it while you can. By the way, some programming notes. As you know, the Mighty Die 90, we are the proud broadcast home of the Briarcrest Saints and the Saints in the football playoffs. And we'll be broadcasting the big playoff game coming up Friday. It's going to be huge, and you'll be able to listen to Walker Boudry as he does the play-by-play.
Walker's been doing a terrific job covering sports for us along with Parker May over these past couple of years.
So that's coming up Friday. Also, we're going to be broadcasting our entire show. Friday morning from Dales in South Haven. We would love for you to come out, and there's no excuse, there's no excuse for you not to know that we're going to be at Dales. We've been talking about it for a while.
It's going to be a wonderful time. And we want you to come out and show some love and support for Dales and grab some delicious food as well. It's going to be a lot of fun. 7 o'clock at Dales in South Haven. All right, coming up in just a little while, we're going to be talking with Justin Johnson, our good friend in Collierville.
A huge event tomorrow for state Senator Brent Taylor. Also, later today, our good friends from Strategic Financial Partners are going to drop by. Those guys are so incredibly smart and brilliant when it comes to financial issues. And they are here to help our great audience. I know many of you have questions about finances, retirement, savings, things of that nature, investments.
And our friends over at Strategic Financial Partners are going to be along to help us through that. Before we get started into the big news today, I've got to give a huge, huge shout out to the students at the Collierville High Schools FFA, the Future Farmers of America. They have one of the top FFA programs in the nation. A lot of people may not realize that. It's sort of the hidden gem here in West Tennessee and in the Mid-South.
But we have a lot of farmers, and we have a lot of farmers who listen to K-Wham. And we love those guys. And you know why we love the farmers here in West Tennessee? Because they feed us. That's the reason why.
Without them, well, we'd be in a world of hurt.
So, congratulations to the Collierville FFA. It turns out that one of their very own, Nicole Branford, received an American FFA degree. It is the highest honor an FFA member can achieve. Get this: Nicole earned over $10,000 through her supervised agricultural experience and volunteered more than 50 hours. Serving our community.
She graduated in 2024, and she's a former chapter president.
Now she's studying at UT Martin. She's majoring in agriculture business, and we just could not be prouder of the great work that she is doing and really the great work that's happening, and the kids that are a part of the Collierville FFA chapter. We're going to try to get Nicole on the show because she's good people, and we love celebrating the great things that are happening across the mid-South.
So, congratulations, Nicole, for Nicole Bradford, for winning the American FFA degree, the highest honor an FFA member can achieve. All right, if you are on our Facebook live stream, you've already seen. The first topic of discussion today, and it is it's a weird one.
So the the city of Memphis has launched a new program. And they're offering Free bus service. Just like Zoron Mamdami is going to do in New York City. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. And when they say free, it means that your tax dollars are more than likely paying for this nonsense.
So starting on Sunday, you are going to be able to ride a bus, a trolley, whatever is available in the transit world in Mada. You're going to be able to ride it for free. Starting Sunday, the city council launching a 90-day zero-fare pilot program. And the whole point is to s it to is to help writers save money. and increase ridership.
Well, that's all well and good, but if nobody's paying for it, what the heck? The bigger issue is who is paying for it and how much is this costing the taxpayers here in Memphis and Shelby County. That's the question, and City Hall hasn't answered that question just yet. We have reached out, and as soon as we find out, we will pass along that information to you. But we do want to know exactly who is responsible for funding this and how much it's costing the taxpayers.
Now, the other question is: will this actually work? I mean, if you have, let's just say the issue was. And Mayor Young, and the way Mayor Young put it is that this opens the door for people to get jobs and go to the doctor and go to school.
Well, I thought we already had something called school buses, but let's set that aside for just a moment. Again, the mayor seems to think this is going to solve many of the city's problems by forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for free bus service for people. And it again and if that's the case, let's just say and they're trying to figure out why people don't want to ride the buses. It could be because the buses keep breaking down and are always late. I mean, that could be a reason why.
But I am curious if, in fact, you are a rider of Mata, Is that the reason why? Is the fare too high? Is that the reason why people. Are are not jumping on the buses. And now there are some people talking about a rapid transit system.
In other words, some sort of a light rail system that would connect the suburbs to downtown Memphis. Whitehaven, Hickory Hill connected to Collierville and Arlington and Lakeland. I don't see that happening at all, but there are some people that are literally suggesting maybe we just need to ditch the buses and go to some sort of a light rail system. That did not work out very well in the city of Atlanta. And I will just say, in many instances, if you talk to people in Atlanta about MARTA, which is their light rail system, And they've got really trains, it's really not light rail.
But if you talk to people in Atlanta, they will tell you that all that train system was really good for was transporting criminals from one part of town to another part of town and then giving them an easy escape route after they've committed some sort of a crime.
So I don't think that's the answer at all. Anyway, our telephone number this morning, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Another story we're following: last night, President Trump did an interview. With Laura Ingram on Fox News Channel.
And this interview actually impacts. many of us here in Shelby County, because we've been hearing reports that FedEx has been laying off longtime veteran workers and staffers, and they're replacing them in some cases with H oneb visa holders. And a lot of people around the country are really getting upset with this. And the argument is that there's no reason why. These Americans should be losing their jobs.
Well, President Trump was asked about this last night, cut number one. There's never going to be a country like what we have right now. The Republicans have to talk about it later. And does that mean the H-1B visa thing will not be a big priority for your administration? Because if you want to raise wages for American workers, you can't flood the country with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of foreign workers.
We also do have to bring in talent. We don't have plenty of talented people. No, you don't. No, you don't. We don't have talented people in the world.
No, you don't have certain talents, and people have to learn. You can't take people off an unemployment, like an unemployment line, and say, I'm going to put you into a factory where we're going to make missiles, or I'm going to put you in the middle of the- Why did we ever do it before?
Well, let me tell you when you and I were. I'll give you an example. In Georgia, They raided because they wanted illegal immigrants out. They had people from South Korea. That made batteries all their lives.
You know, making batteries are very complicated. It's not an easy thing. It's very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a lot of problems. They had like five or six hundred people. Early stages to make Batteries and to teach people how to do it.
Well, they wanted them to get out of the country. You're going to need that, Laura. I mean, I know you and I disagree on this. You can't just say a country's coming in, going to invest $10 billion to build a plant and going to take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked in five years, and they're going to start making missiles. It doesn't work that way.
All right, so you heard the president of the United States, and it sounds like he's doubling down.
Somebody is in his ear saying that the H-1B visas are important, and he's doubling down on it. I don't think you're going to change the president's mind. But I'm curious: do you agree or disagree with the president? Our telephone number: 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.
Coming up, we're talking to Justin Johnson about a major event happening in Collierville. But first, we have to check in with Commander Chuck for a look at your traffic. Americans have a big health care problem. Over 100 million citizens carry medical debt while paying for overpriced and complicated health insurance. As Christians, we don't have to pay for a broken system.
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All right, 44 degrees here in East Memphis this morning. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Starnes Country Broadcasting of the Principal Geoda Memphis studio. Already getting hate mail. I knew it.
That's Starnes. He's a rhino. He never was a Trump supporter. No, look, you can disagree with someone, and that doesn't mean that you've turned against them. I'm sure President Trump disagrees with me on a lot of stuff.
But the reality is, I'm an America-first guy. That means putting Americans first. And I truly believe that Americans are capable of doing any job that is needed to be done. Any single job, no doubt about it. And the entire point of the H-1P Visa program, the entire point was to bring in the super brilliant people into the country.
But again, I stand alongside the American workers, ladies and gentlemen. What about you? 901-260-5926. Our telephone number, there is a major event. honoring our good friend State Senator Brent Taylor.
It's happening tomorrow, and our good friend Justin Johnson joins us on our Patriot mobile newsmaker line to tell us all about it. Justin, hope you're doing well today. Hey, good morning, Todd. And I'm going to second you on that. If MAGA is going to be American first, you have to be the American worker first.
So I know I didn't call in about that, but I just want to give my support to you for that. I'm glad you did because you're the one who actually brought to my attention this whole issue involving the FedEx workers and what was happening, the influx of migrants into Collierville. And again, we welcome all law-abiding legal immigrants. That's not the issue here. The issue is that Americans are losing their jobs and they're being given to cheaper labor that's being imported.
And I got a big problem with that. Yeah, same here. As bad as our economy is, you think we would put the American people first before we would other countries.
So, you know, if Trump doesn't get on the right side of this, I think MAGA will walk away from him if he doesn't put the American worker first. A thousand percent. And this notion of bringing 600,000 Chinese students in, and the president said without them, some universities would not be able to survive financially. And I say, fine, shut the doors. I don't understand that at all.
That to me is 600,000 potential spies. Yes, and especially since a lot of our American universities have become breeding grounds for basically hate groups, some of them probably need to close down so they can lose 600,000 Chinese students. one thousand percent. But you're right. If we don't get a handle on the messaging here, the midterms are going to be a disaster for the Republicans.
Let's talk about this exciting event that's happening tomorrow. Yes.
So tomorrow, doors open at six, event begins at seven. I'm personally throwing a grassroots campaign kickoff For Senator Brent Taylor.
So, this started really over two years ago. Senator Brent Taylor has done so many good things for Shelby County and just putting a spotlight on the problems here. But one of the biggest ones where I got to know Senator Brent Taylor is There was a group of grassroots citizens that included the Germantown moms, you know them, Todd, that we started raising a fit about parts and school boards and what was happening in our suburban schools, which has been atrocious of the woke ideology. And Senator Brent Taylor was one of the only elected representatives to stand up for parents and traditional values in the schools. And so out of that, the whole grassroots started banded together.
They flipped the Republican Party.
So now we have a conservative, principled Republican Party. And we're going to throw a campaign kickoff because we're going to make sure that Brent Taylor has all the support that he needs going into twenty twenty six so he can get reelected. But Brent Taylor is the leading person to me on the ticket out of Shelby County that people aren't going to show up for.
So if we can get his district to show up and show out, I think it could impact all of Shelby County.
So you're on the list of talk, Todd. You're a grassroots guy. You've been there since the beginning.
So I just want to invite everybody out. This doesn't cost anything. This is at the Coyerville BFW at three hundred forty seven South Center Street.
So it's right down the street from the Coyerville Town Square. Doors open at six. Event begins at seven. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're posting the link to this, folks, in our live chat over on the Facebook page.
But again, all of this kicks off tomorrow, 7 o'clock. Doors open at 6 at VFW Post 5066. It's right there on Center Street in Collierville. Plenty of parking. And it's, folks, we need to show up.
And if nothing else, thank Senator Taylor for the incredible work he's done because this man has led the charge, Justin. And at times, he was the only voice leading the charge. And I'm so happy that other lawmakers got on board. Had it not been for Brent Taylor, I just really shudder to think what the city would look like right now. Yes, Brent Taylor has been the voice of truth that Shelley County has probably needed for the last Uh thirty years.
He's told the truth about Crime that's here so much that you were behind that too. But the president sent the National Guard because Brent Taylor was wearing out and being a voice for us in the Tennessee General Assembly, but he was also talking to Senator Marsha Blackburn, and that made its way all the way up to the White House.
So if I had to pinpoint one person. that was responsible for the turnaround of Shelby County and putting us on a different path. And really saving this county, it would be Senator Brent Taylor. Please, let's show up. Let's show our support for Senator Brent Taylor.
And you know what? Let's encourage other candidates. To be the same model of Republican that he is about not wanting a seat at the table, but wanting change around here. I think it's a great point, and that's really a brilliant way to frame this: is that we need future lawmakers that are coming up through the ranks to adopt this same sort of messaging and ideology that Senator Taylor has, because it's a winning philosophy. I think when you see this new Republican Party, and I know there are some factions out there that are trying to fracture the Republican Party, but the main Shelby County Republican Party is unbelievably strong and energetic.
And the new leadership, I think, has really transformed politics here in the Mid-South. Justin, you may disagree with that. I'm curious to get your thoughts. Yes.
So I think Brent Taylor should have a candidate school one on one train old and new to show them the right way to do things because if you look back to the twenty twenty two election, this This whole moderate wanting a seat at the table, you know, that's what got his Steve Mulroy. And that's what also, Republicans stay at home in the suburbs. Like Republicans in Shelby County are hungry for leadership that Brent Taylor has displayed.
So if you want to keep fracturing, if you don't want to keep, if you don't want to get behind Brent Taylor, you know, I don't see 2026 being any different than 2022. You know, our past is an indicator of our future, so we have to change our ways.
Well said. All right, Justin, well done. And thank you for putting all this together. The grassroots campaign kickoff again tomorrow at the VFW Post 5066 in Collierville. And we want everybody to show up.
Just come out, show your support, bring your kids to and let them see what politics looks like, conservative politics looks like. Justin, thanks for calling in this morning and thank you for putting all this together. You're welcome, Todd. All right. I love that.
Justin Johnson out in Collierville and the Republican Party of Shelby County. That's a Republican Party I'm a member of, and that's the real Republican Party here in the area. And we just appreciate the incredible work that the Republican Party of Shelby County is doing. And Justin Johnson, wow, what a great thing.
So come on out tomorrow. It's going to be a lot of fun. By the way, I'm buying somebody breakfast tomorrow or Friday at Dale's. And we're going to throw out a trivia question. I'm all, I was watching Andy Griffith last night.
I had to decompress. Here is a trivia question. If you get this right, I'm buying you breakfast at Dale's. All right, Barney Fife, we need to know. How many bullets did Barney Fife have in his gun?
How many bullets did Barney Fife have in his gun? If you know the answer, give us a call, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. A little post-Veterans Day trivia for you. Barney Fife.
How many bullets did he have in his gun? 901-260-5926. Hang tight, everybody. Got to take a quick break. This is Darn's Country in the principal Toyota Memphis Studio.
Americans have a big healthcare problem. Over 100 million citizens carry medical debt while paying for overpriced and complicated health insurance. As Christians, we don't have to pay for a broken system. Christian Healthcare Ministries is an alternative to health insurance at half the cost. Plus, you can enroll at any time.
Stand up to health insurance with a biblical solution. Join CHM today by visiting chministries.org/slash wellness. That's chministries.org/slash wellness. Mm-hmm. All right, 44 degrees right now at Memphis International Airport.
Hello, everybody. I'm Todd Stearns. Welcome back. Phones blew up. A lot of people wanting to weigh in on the trivia question.
Let's go to Don in Lakeland, Tennessee. Don, how's it going this morning? I am great because Jesus lives.
Well, amen to that, brother. And so do you, which is good. I. Every day above ground is a good day. It is.
So, Don, we're going to try to I'm going to try to win you breakfast at Dale's on Friday. And we're talking Andy Griffiths show, and we know Barney Fife. We need to know how many bullets was he allowed to carry? He was only allowed to carry one, but he usually kept it in his left hand pocket. He had to take it out and load his gun.
That it was one. All right. Yep, that's correct. He had one bullet.
Well done.
Well done, Don. Congratulations. Were you a big Andy Griffiths show fan? Yes, I was. You know, every time I'm just having an insanely busy Newsday, I go home and I watch one of the old episodes.
And it it's it's better it's better than taking blood pressure medicine. Oh. True, true, true. Don, congratulations. We're going to put you on hold.
The lovely Miss Cassie is going to get your information, and we hope to see you down at Dale's. It is, I'm telling you, it is really an amazing restaurant. You're going to love it. We're going to have a lot of fun. Dale, congratulations, and thank you for playing trivia this morning.
Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, let's put them on hold here, guys. And I want to bring in our good friends who were chomping at the bit. They were coming up the stairs.
With the correct answer, Adam Martin and Chris Loftus, our good friends from Strategic Financial Partners. Guys, were y'all big Andy Griffith fans? Big time. I really considered coming in here and whistling the intro tune. Oh, well, favorite episode.
Andy's son, and I'm blanking on his name, but he broke his bike. He wrecked his bike. And you know what? What about Opie? Opie.
That's right. That's right. Sorry. I'm on. Wait, wait, wait.
Longtime fan of the show, and he doesn't know Opie.
Okay. You know what? You know what? I'm doing my best. What's going on here?
But Opie was a famous producer. Yes, he was. Yes, I actually didn't know that. Ron Howard. The episode that I was thinking of, he actually wrecks his bike and he runs away to join, guess what?
The Navy. And, you know, in the spirit of Veterans Day, Adam Martin, who is a Navy veteran, so figured he'd get a kick out of that.
So, you know, we were inviting Justin Johnson on, who is down at the VFW there in Gauerville. We invited him to come on the show yesterday. I didn't hear from him all day. I was getting a little worried because normally he's so responsive. And he said he apologized because the day before, I guess they had had one heck of a Marines' birthday party.
So I don't know what was going down. But anyway, yeah, Happy Veterans Day. And I didn't realize you served in the military. Yes, it was a good time of my life. Definitely what I needed in life.
And I'll never forget it. And encouraged many, many people to go and serve something greater than themselves.
So after Andy Griffith, I was just, again, I was just decompressing. And Netflix has a new series called The Marines. And it's a documentary. And I didn't realize the banter, the cordial banter between the Marines and the Navy sailors. You know, it's funny.
The Marines or Department of the Navy, and they'll be the first to tell you that they're the men's department. And they won't let you forget it either. No, I can imagine.
Well, guys, let's talk about something called whole life insurance, which I haven't ever heard of.
So I'm going to be learning something new today. And by the way, Strategic Financial Partners.com is the website, folks.
So, first of all, what exactly is whole life insurance?
Well, you know what's interesting, Todd? Whole life insurance actually used to just be called regular insurance.
So, this whole thing, the term insurance conversation, the whole life conversation, whole life used to be the only thing out there. Whole life has a lot more functions than term insurance. And we'll talk about the expensiveness of it. We'll talk about what those functions are, what it can specifically do for you. But it's a permanent insurance solve, specifically looking at the longevity of your financial needs and your financial plan.
You know, I look at it as the name says it all. For your entire life, your whole life.
So when we have conversations around people and their legacy planning needs, A term only Is a certain portion of your life, and that may not fit within your legacy planning needs.
So, Whole Life offers you that permanent insurance solve so that you can plan for your legacy. But it is a little bit more expensive, is that right? That's right. I mean, and the reason being is that the insurance company is taking on more risk by insuring you for a greater amount of time.
So, obviously, two things certain in life: death and taxes.
So, if we're covering you for your entire life, we know inevitably there's going to be a death. What age would you say, on average, are most Americans jumping in and saying, Yeah, I've got to get this whole life insurance policy? That's a good question because insurance is based on your attained age and insurability.
So, naturally, younger and healthier, the cheaper the premium cost is going to be.
So, we have the conversations. We don't shy away from having those conversations at an early onset age simply because it can be a great solve and we can get it at a more affordable cost. But, heaven forbid, and I was reading something yesterday about a, I believe it was someone in One of the first responders who got injured and is out, can't go back to work, and the city will not cover long-term care. If this person would have had a whole life insurance, would they have been covered under something like that? Would they be taken care of?
So, long-term care is a situation in and of itself. There are riders that can be attached to whole life policies.
So, just buying standalone whole life life insurance, that is just for the end-of-life death benefit play.
Now, if we added a long-term care rider to that, then that could give him a benefit for any kind of assisted nursery, nursing home needs or in-home needs and stuff like that. A lot of people are pinching pennies, and so they're looking at a whole-life insurance policy. It is a little more expensive because it's for life. Is it really worth the cost?
So, here's what I tell people: the whole life insurance is a tool in the toolbox. It could be the right solve for you. It may not be the right solve for you. That's the importance of having a plan and having a conversation. But at the end of the day, depending on your personal financial goals, it could be the right solve.
And whole life provides a lot of flexibility in the retirement, too.
So, if let's just say we get outside of our working years and we've become self-insurable, we've built up a really good investment portfolio, and we decide we don't need this life insurance for the death benefit anymore. We could turn the cash value into a supplemental retirement income stream. Oh, that's nice. Chris, real quick, because it's almost like building a financial plan is kind of like putting puzzle pieces together.
So, how does whole life insurance fit into the overall, the broader financial plan?
Well, to give the lawyer an answer, it depends. I would say it depends for everybody and everybody's a different situation. I see personally with a lot of my younger clients, younger couples, they don't have kids, they just bought the house, there isn't really a lot of immediate need. We'll start them out with a small whole life policy with a paid-up additions writer that is going to grow on itself over years and build that cash value. We've got other people who, hey, they've got a few kids, but their kids are starting to get out of the house, and they start wanting to say, Hey, I want to start seeing a, I guess, what do we call it, Adam, a non-market correlated asset, basically, where it's going to grow regardless because it's being vested back into the company that you're buying it through.
This is important because you actually. Have something that's growing for you, but you don't really have to worry about it because it's functioning still the same as any other life insurance policy. You have that death benefit that's growing that cash value that you can use for virtually anything. And let's talk about the benefits here because there are some benefits of having a whole life insurance policy that a lot of people may not realize. Yeah, so here's one thing that I tell people all the time: when I get the rebuttal of, oh, well, I could take the money that I would pay for it.
uh permanent life insurance and put that in the market. The one downside to that strategy is you're basically timing the market right when you need a death benefit for your legacy planning needs. The market corrects 20%. How does that make you feel?
So you're counting on there being half a million dollars there, but we correct 20% and there's only 300,000. How are you going to feel?
Well, for you, it may not be an issue because you're no longer here, but it's going to leave a big burden on your family right when you need those dollars the most.
So we have the conversation about what is your dollar amount that you non-negotiable need to have if something were to happen. And here's the flexibilities. If we don't need it when we get out into retirement, then we can use that for other things.
So, Chris, folks have lots of questions. I'm sure if they go to the website, strategicfinancialpartners.com, what information are they going to find there? They're going to find our team and they're going to find the expanse of our team. And by that, I mean you have guys on there like Adam and I who we have the experience with different people in different financial situations that we can provide that expertise for them depending on what their situation is. Whether you are just starting out in your career, you're starting your family, or if you are.
You know, going into your twilight years, you're saying, Hey, I'm slowing down in my job. I want to spend more time with the family. I want to figure out what my priorities are and what I want my life to look like. Whether it is cashing in some permanent life insurance, making sure your family is protected from a legacy standpoint, or if you just want to make sure you're in a good spot where you are today in your 40s, your 50s, your 30s, we're going to meet you where you are. And that's what they're going to find there, especially specifically where to find us and where to call us.
And, Chris, give out your phone number real quick here. That is 901.
So, yeah, yeah, yeah. Two four one four. All right. And uh Chris Loftus. Yep.
So, you know, my number, Adam Artin is. Adam, sorry. No, no worries. It's going to be 260. Excuse me.
260. 2438. All right. So, again, Strategic Financial Partners.com. That's the website, Strategic FinancialPartners.com.
Go check out all of the great resources they have. And again, this is all about helping you protect your money and making sure that your financial life is solid and sound. And I know that Adam and Chris are going to do that. Guys, always good to see you. Do one thing.
Yeah. Shout out to the Futures Farmers. I heard that earlier. How about that? And you know, we need those people more than anything, especially right now.
I love eating. I like having food on the table. Thank you for what you do.
So I was, before we go, I was speaking at College of the Ozarks a couple of weeks ago. And first time I'd ever been there. Oh, yeah, work you. Hard work you. That's their slogan.
And the kids do everything. I mean, they have a working dairy farm there, a grist mill, the whole nine yards. And I'm telling you, it was pretty impressive. Yeah, they're good people over there. Very grateful for them.
Love that area. All right, folks. Folks, again, strategicfinancialpartners.com. Go check them out. They're here to help you, Adam Martin, Chris Loftus.
Guys, thank you again. We'll be right back. Ad Martin is a registered representative of and offers securities and investment advisory services to ML Investors Services, LLC, member SIPC, Supervisory Office, 949, South Shadow Road, 3300, Miffstens C-3120-901-767-5951. Americans have a big health care problem. Over 100 million citizens carry medical debt while paying for overpriced and complicated health insurance.
As Christians, we don't have to pay for a broken system. Christian Healthcare Ministries is an alternative to health insurance at half the cost. Plus, you can enroll at any time. Stand up to health insurance with a biblical solution. Join CHM today by visiting chministries.org slash wellness.
That's chministries.org slash wellness. All right, the guys were already running out the door to Dale's in South Haven, and we got a call. And so we asked our good buddies Chris and Adam to stick around for a second. Let's go to the phone lines, John and Cordova. John, first, thanks for listening to K-Wham this morning.
And we've got Adam and Chris here. I know you wanted to say something about whole life policies. Yes, it's interesting. Back in 1971, my family bought for me a $50,000 whole life policy. interestingly enough, after so a couple of decades, The dividends were able to pay the premium, so I did that and then completely forgot about it.
That's been there praying for itself. Then, after about 50 years, I called to find out what the cash value was. and the cash value is almost fifty thousand dollars.
So at that time, the tax burden was at a minimum.
So I decided to withdraw it, pay the burden, and then invest it in the stock market and turn that money into almost three-quarters of a million dollars. whole life with me has been a blessing. And I just wanted to add that to the mix. Yeah, guys, what do you say about that? Yeah, that's I love hearing success stories like that.
And we need more of those anecdotes out there just because that is exactly The benefit of it is it's a fixed asset that can get dividends and grow and give you the flexibility that if you don't need it for the legacy play, you can use the cash to do other things like put it in the market and grow it even more.
So, thank you for sharing. Yeah, thank you so much. And I will say this, there is something else that's interesting about it: the growth rate is substantial. Very. The growth rate is better than what you would get anywhere in interest-bearing accounts, and at that point, even in the stock market itself.
It was very impressive. You know, we often say that these are a good bond proxy. When you think about after taxes on a bond investment, what do you normally net?
Well, that could be anywhere between 3%, 3.5%.
Well, some of these participating dividend whole lives, they're 6.5%.
So, yeah, it's definitely sometimes better than some bond returns. And, John, did you mention, did I hear you say that that was something your family had set up for you way, way back in the day? Yes, I'm 71 now, and they did it in 1971. See, that is so important. Adam and I are actually going to be talking about that exact situation here in about three or four weeks, talking about the gift of a lifetime to where your family can set something like that up for you.
And to your credit, that has been a great success because you have let that ride. You have stewarded that well. And there's a lot of people that don't realize that's a possibility for them.
So we'll be talking about that here on KWAM here in a few weeks. Have a great day. I enjoy the show. Thanks, John. John, thanks a lot.
And thanks for listening to Stern's Country. Adam, Chris, you guys are on overtime now. But we appreciate you guys sticking around. And we'll open up the phone lines. You never know.
Folks may have a question. And next week, we'll give out the phone number. And if you have a question, you'll be able to ask that live on air with our good friends over at Strategic Financial Services or partners, rather. Again, StrategicFinancialPartners.com is the website. Adam Chris, guys, thanks a lot.
Thanks, Dodd. Have a great day. All right. Good. Guys, there, everybody, and they were kind enough to stick around and tackle some questions.
And we'll definitely do that again next week. By the way, we've been getting a lot of questions about the old Mellow Mushroom building. Anyone remember the round building that used to house the Mellow Mushroom? And that thing had been around for forever. And it's been torn down.
And a lot of people were upset because it was a really cool, funky-looking building. And everybody was trying to save it as some sort of an historic building. That did not work.
So they've torn it down. And now people are wondering: okay, what are they building in place of the mellow mushroom? And we can tell you that they are building a Bojangles. That's right. Bojangles.
And Cassie's laughing. Why, Cassie, why are you laughing about Bojangles? This is serious. Because they're going from pizza to what? What's Bojangles?
Chicken? Chicken. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to cause a chicken controversy here. I think they have the best chicken. It's better than Popeyes.
And that's saying... And mainly because you won't get shot or jump out of the middle of a fist fight. Look, there's a Popeyes right downtown. It's the most. Booming chicken place downtown.
Really?
Well, they didn't had they opened up the Chick-fil-A. They've opened up the Chick-fil-A in downtown. I think it's near Danny Thomas Boulevard. Yeah, I think they it was under renovation.
So now it's booming again.
Okay, well, that's good news.
So they've got the new Chick-fil-A down there. But anyway, apparently the chicken restaurants are thriving in Memphis. And Bojangles actually opened, I think, 1977. And they've got about 800 restaurants across many states. I think they're based in North Carolina.
Don't hold me to that. But I'm a big Bojangles fan.
So that's at least good news. But I hate that they tore down the building. That's what gets me. Maybe we should do a quick trivia contest. Does anybody remember what?
What was originally in that building? Because it was not always a mellow mushroom. What was the round building at White Station and Park? What was it originally? 901-260-5926.
I'm calling an audible here, but if you know, I'm buying you breakfast Friday at Dale's during our live remote, and we're going to be doing trivia tomorrow. I've got, we're buying people breakfast. You guys are going to get a hearty meal on Friday. But if you can tell us what the original, what that round building was originally there at White Station and Park. You're going to win breakfast at Dale's.
Again, our number 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. This is a tough one, but it's a blast from the past. And I will say this: it used to be the home of the American Automobile Association. But before that, it was something else.
Originally, that building was built. for one specific reason. I'll give you a clue. It was a bank. But now that's it.
I'm not giving you any other clues. You've got to tell us what bank it was. All right. Coming up today, we have a jam-packed show for you coming up on the Tod Stern Show. That all starts off at 11 o'clock, three hours of conservative conversation.
It's a great opportunity for you to phone in and be a part of our national audience as we broadcast right here in the Mid-South. All right, let's go to the phones real quick here. We've got Chuck calling. Chuck, what part of Memphis are you calling from? East Memphis.
East Memphis. All right, Chuck. Tell us: do you remember what the Mullow Mushroom Building used to be? It was it was a bank. It was a bank.
Not sure which bank, not sure which bank. Take a wild guess. I'm thinking it was a region bank. Oh, Chuck, no, that is not correct. And, Chuck, I'm sorry, but you know what?
We'll throw it out again tomorrow. Wow, what? I'm ending the show on such a downer now. But, Chuck, thank you for calling in. Folks, we've got to wrap it up.
Get out there. Have a great one.
