Did you know September is “Life Insurance Awareness Month”?
We here at The Harrin Group recently shared a video on social media about just how critical acquiring life insurance can be, as our founder: Barry Harrin, recollected how his mom had dementia and as a result, her life insurance policies lapsed. Barry did not find this out until it was too late and it came as a shock to him and the immediate family. What followed were years of financial strain and family arguments, which all could have been avoidable if life insurance had been properly in place.
Sometimes we assume that life insurance is just for those older folks and this is a very big mistake. You see, life is unexpected to put it mildly. We truly never know what the future may hold, good or bad, and all of us at The Harrin Group have seen first-hand, many colleagues and people we know that suddenly lost their life at a very young age. Take for instance a young 33-year-old, married football coach in New Braunfels, Texas that suddenly had a stroke on the football field during a normal practice. After being rushed to the emergency room, he was informed he had suffered minor paralysis, due to the stroke. Although there were hopes of improvement for the young football coach, things took a turn for the worse with a major relapse and he lost his life that Summer, leaving behind his wife and 2 children. What made matters worse was that even though his school district in New Braunfels, Texas offered employees a small life insurance policy, it was barely enough to cover the burial, yet alone the ongoing expenses for the family. Oftentimes, we think that our employer-offered life insurance plan is all we need, but it truly makes sense to have an independent policy from work, in case we move jobs, or the amount like in this case, is not nearly enough to cover the expenses for a family ongoing.
Some additional points to keep in mind with life insurance, is that generally speaking, the younger we are, the healthier we tend to be, which makes it the perfect time to consider acquiring life insurance. As we age, rates increase and if we acquire any significant medical conditions, we might be unable to get the kind of policy we desire. Speaking of young people, we may not realize it, but any debts such as student loans do not simply disappear when we pass away, they fall upon immediate family members as a new responsibility. Life insurance can ensure that your family is not left in financial ruin.
Also, the life insurance products of today, are not what you might think. What we mean is that there are policies now that offer living benefits, rather than just death only, such as receiving a percentage of the lump sum, if we have a critical illness or what not. Also, products like indexed, universal life insurance (IUL) can be used as an addition to your retirement portfolio, where one can access their accumulating cash value in their policy, tax free, to purchase their first home or pay off student loans for example. Lastly, there are life insurance plans that are guaranteed issue, meaning they have to accept us, no matter what conditions we have.
Simply put, life insurance products have evolved over time but the need for life insurance coverage has remained a constant in history.
We hope you found this blog post on “Life Insurance Awareness Month” insightful, courtesy of The Harrin Group. If we can ever be of assistance to you or anyone in your family, we are here for you! Contact us today for a no obligation analysis of your situation today!
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