I wanted to just blog a bit about life insurance since September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. I've thought about sharing this with my insureds in the past, but couldn't bring my heart to a place where I could talk about it. I suppose I haven't been ready, but this year I am.
Admittedly life insurance has not been my focus and for that I am truly questioning why I've been so quiet when I have so much to share on the subject. In December of 2011 my family suffered an unspeakable loss through the unexpected death of my Aunt. She was without a doubt a figurehead of our family and part of the core of what we were as a family. In the days that followed we were all in shock and in unbelievable pain it was unmanageable pain really. My Aunt was younger than most who pass and had one child in college and one in high school. My Uncle in one day became a single, one income parent. My Step Father and I are both insurance agents and within 24 hours we were already wondering if they carried life insurance beyond what they had at their respective jobs. We were terrified that the only insurance might in fact be with their employers and we knew it would not be sufficient for the needs that were in front of my Uncle. It was agonizing to even think about for him, but my Dad asked him and it seemed as though our deepest fears were on target.
On the evening of the visitation service a local agent approached my Uncle and let him know that my Aunt had taken out a life policy with him just a few years prior and that when he is ready he'd like to meet with him. She did this?? Really?? When?? Thank God were the only words I could even think when my Dad told me about the additional life insurance. There was no blessing in the situation my family suffered, but this preparedness made the world that was falling apart around us have one thing that would not add to the incredible suffering and worry that was on all of our minds and hearts for my hard working Uncle. For sure life insurance does not soften the blow of any kind of loss it is more like this one thing you don't have to worry about so your heart can begin the first steps in healing. So your heart and mind can stay focused on life and surviving the loss.
That was the life insurance lesson I learned as an agent. When anyone tells me I have $25,000 with my employer I cringe and secretly want to scream...NO NO NO NO don't you see!!! You have the immediate loss of your full salary, the loss of future preparedness for your children's college, your mortgage, you funeral, every single thing you have grown in life. The one thing you should insure above all is your life for the sake of those you could leave behind. I mean just how hard would you want to make it on those you leave? Ask yourself do I have enough life insurance for them to survive if I don't? Yeah it's scary to discuss or think about and likely may not even happen until you are a ripe old age, but what if? Would your spouse have enough to cover all debt you have accumulated together without you? Could he or she afford college for the kids without you? Is there enough to bury you on top of all of that? Is what you have right now sufficient?
So, this month I'm just going to lay it out there and be honest about how I as an insurance agent really feel about life insurance and why. We are all ships in this sea of life. If you have a hole in your sails you are not moving in any direction. Life insurance is the patch that can put the wind back in your sails and set you off in the right direction; which in life is always forward.
Heather Swank
Brookson Insurance
