Do you consider yourself a silly person?
No…
…then why do you make silly excuses for not buying life insurance policy?
Life insurance is a very important part of being a responsible human being. When you die, whether you mean to or not, you pass on a financial burden to those you love, and/or those that love you.
Only a jerk wouldn’t take that burden seriously. Consider the fact that at a minimum your loved ones are going to have to pay for a funeral. In 2010 the average cost of a funeral exceeded $8,000 (www.FuneralWise.com).
I’m going to assume that to the average American family $8,000 is a significant amount of money.
5 Silly Excuses For Not Buying Life Insurance
The following, is a list of five very silly excuses that I hear on a weekly basis when discussing life insurance. I’m not saying there aren’t legitimate reasons for not purchasing life insurance, but I would consider the following five to be Silly…
“I get life insurance through my work.”
What happens when you don’t work there anymore?
Can you take the policy with you?
Does the policy meet your current needs?
Does it meet your future needs?
If you can take the policy with you after you leave the company or retire will your rates remain the same? Do you have to go through the underwriting process again to keep the policy in force?
Your work policy should be considered BONUS life insurance. Not what you are banking your families future on if you are to pass. There are too many scenarios where banking on work sponsored life insurance blows up in your face.
“I don’t have a family yet.”
Do you plan on having a family some day? Certain forms of debt can be passed on to your parents if you do not have a spouse. And your parents and/or loved ones are going to have to come up with the funeral expense (see above).
Additionally, if you are young, the rates that you qualify for now when you are healthy will be significantly lower than if you wait. I know what your going to say, “I may be paying less but I’m paying for a longer time.” Here is a fictional equation for you:
Healthy 30 year-old Universal Life policy $xxx,xxx paid-up at 62:
$70 a month X 12-months X 32 years = $26,880 total payment
Healthy 40 year-old Universal Life policy $xxx,xxx paid-up at 62:
$140 a month X 12-month X 22 years = $36,960 total payment
The numbers are fictional, (And that means NOT guaranteed and do not reflect actual quotes) but you get the point.
By waiting till you “Had a Family” you cost yourself $10,000 (In this fictional scenario).
“I don’t have any debt.”
You mean you don’t ever plan on buying a house? Or owning a car? Or starting a business? Or paying for your kids college? Or buying a boat? Or a engagement ring for your future spouse?
What happens if you lose your job? Do you think you might acquire some debt when there is less income coming into the house?
You never know what life is going to throw at you. No one every said you were cool for being Unprepared.
“I’m healthy, I can wait.”
This is going to sound awful but you could find out you have a life-altering disease tomorrow. I have a friend from college. Amazing athlete, played College basketball, took really good care of himself and at 28 years old found out he had diabetes. Not life threatening with proper maintenance but his life will never be the same.
If he wants to apply for life insurance to protect his family (married and hopefully has kids on the way) he is going to pay significantly higher premiums than if he bought a policy at 27 when he was perfectly healthy.
If this happens to you when your 50 years old, you may have a hard time even finding a policy.
Being healthy is a blessing, not an excuse.
“I can’t afford life insurance right now.”
If someone tells me that life insurance is too expensive or that life insurance is a luxury that they can’t afford it tells me that are naive to the product.
Are there people in the world for which life insurance is simply not an option, absolutely, it would be elitist to think otherwise.
However, for middle America, for those not on welfare or unemployment or minimum wage is life insurance too expensive? Probably not. You think life insurance is too expensive because you are not buying something tangible like a lawn tractor or an ipad.
Its hard to visualize the value in a life insurance policy. You are paying hard earned dollars for something You are never going to use. But that doesn’t mean that the policy is too expensive.
I have a permanent life policy that I will pay ~$27,000 for over the course of 33 years. I will have this policy forever, so when I pass either my wife or my children will receive $250,000. Pay $27,000 to get $250,000, untaxed. That to me is value and a well spent $27,000.
The Rub
All that I ask is that you are honest with yourself. You don’t have to be honest with me. You don’t have to be honest with your spouse. You don’t have to be honest with your best friend.
But please, be honest with yourself. If you don’t want to think about your own mortality, fine. If you think your money is better spent someplace else, fine.
But don’t trick yourself into thinking you are justified in NOT purchasing financial protection for your loved ones because of some silly excuse. Especially when we now both know that it is exactly that, an excuse.
Family first…
Thank you.
If you would like to discuss life insurance with The Murray Group’s Life Insurance Specialist (yes we have a life insurance specialist that’s how important we feel life insurance is…) please call us at (518) 456-6688 or Click Here to Email Us.
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