Why I love life insurance!
So, I get it...life insurance is not something you often think about or talk about. It is not something you bring up in conversation and it’s certainly not the sexiest part of your financial plan. Mind you I think it can be pretty sexy!
I kind of think about it like that rain or snow jacket ~ a staple in your wardrobe to protect you when it rains or snows...it ensures that your favourite blouse or dress shirt doesn’t get ruined in the elements.
During National Life Insurance awareness month, I have reflected on moments when life insurance has popped up in my life, what it means to me and why I am so passionate about telling people all about it!
Life insurance in my 20’s
I couldn’t recall a time before my 20’s when I ever thought about life insurance. However, when I started my career as a financial advisor in my early 20’s it was something I learned quite quickly. I had an experience with a client who lost her husband. I vividly recall the fall evening that I met with the client to deliver the proceeds of the life insurance policy to the family. Although I had not personally experienced the passing of a family member at this point in my life, I felt the magnitude of what was happening...the grieving of the family, the loss of a husband, father, grandfather. Thinking about how the family would move forward with their life. I did feel a variety of emotions. We talked for quite a while about her husband, their wonderful memories, and their laughs. I remember her gratitude when I handed her the cheque…yes, a physical cheque. I saw her shoulders relax a little bit and she shared that while this cheque does not bring back her husband, it does bring her much relief - that she can cover the bills for his funeral service, can stay in their family home and manage the family’s expenses on her own. This meant she could live on and move forward in some small way. In that moment I deeply understood why families invested in life insurance.
Life insurance as a single parent
The moment you are alone can be scary. For those that know me, I am a high responsibility, take-it-all-on kind of person - so when I became a single mom I immediately had this immense feeling of responsibility to my young children. To love them, to protect them and to ensure they had the best life I could provide. But this was new territory. How does this work? What can I do to protect them? I worked 2 jobs, sold my house & got a cute 2 bedroom apartment and was super frugal. And one of the things I made sure was in my budget was my cheap and cheerful term life insurance policy (in addition to the life insurance I could get through my employer). And while the amount of the insurance wasn’t large, it was affordable and it was for them. It was one of the ways I could take responsibility for my beautiful family.
Life insurance as time moves on
As time & life moved on it became a practice of revisiting our life insurance needs on a regular basis - especially when we had major life moments ~ a new home, a promotion, a new baby (to name a few!). We adjusted our life insurance to ensure it would cover all of the things most important to us at every stage of our life. For us, our priorities included ensuring that our family could carry on with the life we had worked so hard to build; ensure our savings for our children's education could continue, and ensure our family could continue to make special memories travelling to fun places. Knowing that these important things would be taken care of brings us a sense of calm and peace that, no matter what, our family could move forward in our way even if we weren’t there.
Life insurance in my future
While this part of my story is yet to be written, I know the future is bright! We will continue to think about that raincoat or snow jacket and how it may be able to protect things most important to us & also look at how our life insurance can help to leave a lasting legacy.
And in my role as a Financial Advisor, I look forward to sharing my love of life insurance with others and helping my clients design their own raincoat to protect all things beautiful in their life.
While I have shared these moments in my life from a place of complete gratitude for these experiences, I hope that through my story you may see that boring old life insurance through a slightly different lens.
My final word, don’t settle for a one size fits all life insurance solution. Create one that aligns to your life and let your heart lead the way!