Life Insurance Awareness

Pictured: Kurt Cheesbro, Emma Bradford, Chris Yokley, Matt Ruddick, Mike Rice, Dave Wagner

Life insurance awareness is something we at Advocate feel very passionate about. Throughout this blog we want to highlight some key aspects of what our agents see on a daily basis; from the perspective of one of our Partners, Mike Rice. 

By: Emma Bradford
Social Media Manager 

Now is the time

Often times, purchasing life insurance is not viewed as a priority to some clients. There was once a client I met with who understood that he needed life insurance but was more focused on pressing financial needs. For whatever reason he decided to put a hold on moving forward with the life insurance policy he wanted. Unfortunately when he passed...his wife and daughters were still left with having to deal with the mortgage while also dealing with the loss of their father and husband. They were left trying to put together the pieces of the families finances. They were used to him providing for them financially. Now they are trying to figure out how to make ends meet.

Peace of mind 

Single parents have a difficult job. They are responsible for driving their children to various events, making sure they are doing their homework, and financially providing for them. One of my clients is a single mom. She had prepared a will, insuring that when she passed her estate would be handled the way that she wished. The only thing that her estate planning was missing was life insurance.  She expressed to me how she felt after putting life insurance in place to financially protect her four children. ​
"Having the the comfort of knowing, should something happen to me...the kids would be taken care of financially."

Health matters

Many people think that they are too old to put life insurance in place. There is always the excuse of being too this, or too that. Sometimes people are unable to health qualify for the life insurance plan that they want. You can still be young and have health issues and not be able to get the plan you want. It isn't so much that you cant get it...it just becomes more expensive.  If your health prevents you from getting a regular policy that will pay out immediately, you might have to go a different route. You can still get it but the insurance companies will only offer you a special policy where there is a 2 or 3 year waiting period until the full benefit is paid out. Should something happen after that, only then will the insurance company pay the full benefit.

Getting your life insurance through work 

This is a personal story, about my family and I. There was a time where my wife had life insurance through her job.  Unfortunately, her department went through a significant downsizing. Nine out of thirteen people in her department were let go. The moment that they were let go, all of their benefits stopped that same day as well. So at that time my wife was left without any life insurance. It just so happens that we also had an 18 month old child, and my wife was six months pregnant with our next child. She was very worried about not having life insurance and did not want to leave my son and I in a situation where I would be trying to figure everything out after a loss and organizing the finances myself. That was a huge lesson learned for us, to not have all of your eggs in one basket. From then on we made sure to have separate stand alone policies separate from our jobs, that we control ourselves.

Financial Protection

Personally, I find comfort in knowing if something should happen to me, my wife is taken care of. My children will be provided for. It is one thing for a family to have to deal with the grief of a loss one, but on top of that trying to figure out how to take care of the day to day financial things. How to pay for the mortgage, how to get the kids into school, pay for clothes, utilities, and all of those other things. I know that my family will go through enough grief trying to deal with the loss, that I don't want to add onto that by not having financial protection. It is my job as a husband and a father to not only provide for my family while I am here but to do so as well when I am gone. I want to make sure that my wife and children have as much protection as possible. That is what life insurance means to me!

What does life insurance mean to you?