Uuuuuugh, Let’s Talk Life Insurance
Okay, I’ll admit, this isn’t the funniest topic to talk about, but I believe in it on a very deep level, and I hope you either do or come to as well.
One day, hopefully that is far off in the future, your life on this Earth will come to an end.
Whoa
Slow down now Nickk
I know, I’m sorry, especially if this is the first that you’re hearing about it.
It’s a downer, to be sure. And not just because you’re a Cowboys fan and you have a real concern that you’ll pass before they ever win another Super Bowl (I mean, there is a non-zero chance that that will be the case for any Cowboy fan of any age, again, sorry).
The thing is though, outside of your death coming at what could possibly be the season finale of 2020, an asteroid, the earth will continue after you. The people that you care about and provide for will carry on with their lives. They will live, laugh, love, and because none of us know when that time will come, we need to prepare for it.
I know I know, that doesn’t sound fun at all. And maybe there isn’t a way to make it so, but that doesn’t mean that we can just ignore that possibility. One of the absolute best ways to prepare is life insurance.
Again, ugh. I KNOW. Trust me, I know. It’s lame and boring and can feel like a waste of money. I mean, to you personally it absolutely will be. Either you outlive the term of your policy, in which case you pay every month and no one gets anything out of it outside of the insurance company, or you die and YOU don’t get a payout on it. I mean, really, it seems like a pretty bad deal for anyone personally.
Though of course we know that that’s not what it’s about. No one can replace you, especially to those that love you. And often, it’s not easy, or perhaps impossible to replace the financial contributions that you provide to your family. That’s where life insurance comes in.
Again, I’ll make the note that I am not making any money (outside of the possibly 17 cents that this article will generate on Medium — not something that I need to plan on replacing for my family). This is just me sharing what I know provides me a bit of peace of mind, and that I know others wish that their loved ones had before their untimely and unplanned death.
Shortly after I turned 30, I started to be concerned what would happen to my wife and children if I was suddenly not around (and not in the sense of whatever came over Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind when he just up and abandoned his wife and 3 children to hop aboard a spaceship — that is one odd and long movie).
Thanks to commercials on talk radio (this was in the dark times before podcasts came into my life), I contacted a company called SelectQuote and asked them to find me a quote for insurance. I don’t know if this was the best route, but it was the easiest, at least for me. What SelectQuote does is that they go to a bunch of different companies and find the best rate for YOU. Depending on your age, and health, different companies will offer you different rates and different levels of coverage.
Because I was in my early thirties and have what some would describe as “the body of a Greek god” (hey, if I say that, that counts as some), I was offered a 20 year term policy for $500,000 in exchange for $22/month.
In order to get that, the insurance company did send a registered nurse out to perform a mini-physical on me at my house. But after a short delay, they came back saying I was good and while they didn’t mention the whole Greek god thing, I could read between the lines.
What that means is that if something happens to me in the next 20 years (term), they will pay my beneficiaries $500,000 as long as I continue to pay them $22/month. The 20 years was based on wanting to ensure that if I passed before my children were adults, my wife would be able to continue to take care of them and get them to college. It would also pay off the mortgage on the house, and ensure that all of our monthly bills would be covered.
Everyone’s situation is unique, maybe you need more than that. Perhaps you need less. The number I had always heard was to make sure that your life insurance amount was at least greater than six years of your salary, and this qualified.
I still remember when I got the letter saying that the blood work came back good and that I was covered for the next twenty years. It was as if a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I immediately bought a motorcycle. Kidding, kidding. But, that letter did produce a massive sense of relief for me, and my family.
Again, I know this isn’t a fun topic to talk about, but it is important. Anything can happen at any moment, to anyone. Pandemic or not. You can’t prepare for everything, but you can prepare for this. And for the cost of a 40 count nugget and two large waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A a month, you too can have the peace of mind knowing that your family will continue to be taken care of by you, in the event that you pass.
Stay safe out there, and take care of your family.
