I received a text message today from a close friend that simply said “Daddy just died”!
Immediately my heart sunk as my thoughts turned to my friend and his family. My friend’s father had lived a long and prosperous life. His kids were all grown and had families of their own. However, no matter how old, no matter how sudden, no one is truly prepared for the loss of a loved one.
As I left the office to help my friend in whatever way I could, my thoughts quickly turned to my own life. As an Insurance Professional, I help people (and businesses) on a daily basis control the effects of the “what if” scenarios that life can throw. It should be safe to assume that since I deal with these things on a daily basis that the “control” over my personal “what if” scenarios would leave me with no cause for concern. WRONG!
Driving along the highway, and then through the a few country roads to my friend’s house, my mind starting running. What would my wife do if I passed away TODAY? What would I do if my wife passed away TODAY? What would my kids do if both my wife and I passed away TODAY?
Of course, nothing can replace a father, a mother, or a child…but making sure that your family is “taken care of” is crucial! Imagine just how difficult a time your family would have coping with your untimely death. Now, in addition to the mental strain your death would cause, imagine the additional strain that would be caused if you have not properly planned for your families financial future.
A study performed in 2010 showed that only 44{66506b27ca8f5234034d808fc0aabc14bc16ceb45d71027974b073b60f711cfe} of Americans personally own life insurance! While not apart of that study, one can only imagine how low the percentage would be if the study asked how many Americans own SUFFICIENT life insurance. Now, I am not talking about the “type” of life insurance (term, whole life, universal life), instead I am talking about the actual amount of coverage. The truth is, the best type of life insurance anyone can have is the plan that is active and “in force” at the time of death.
So, as after coming to grips with the “what would my ___” do questions, I started performing some simple calculations in my mind about whether or not my family was PROPERLY insured. At a quick glance (using rough number mental calculations) my answer was that I SHOULD be “OK”. Whether my family is properly insured or not is not really the point of this story.
The point (and purpose) of this story is to illustrate one simple point. Life is unpredictable, to say the least. Today you could be a financial success and tomorrow unemployed and bankrupt. More importantly…you could be alive today and dead tomorrow. When planning for your families financial livelihood, you have to view the planning as a living organism. At minimum, you should sit down for 10 minutes (preferrably with your insurance advisor) and compare your life insurance need with your life insurance program.
Unfortunately, there is a reluctance with most humans to take a look at their mortality. Thus, there is a reluctance for most acknowledge the need to review their life insurance (or lack there of). Allow me to let you in on a “Life Insurance Sales Secret”. The best time to approach someone about purchasing life insurance is immediately following the death of someone in that person’s family. Why? Simple! That is one of the few times in life when people will actually look at their mortality.