I believe it’s important to talk with every client we serve about life insurance. This discussion is not designed to sell something to them, though many begin to put up an emotional wall when I raise the subject. My motivation is simply to confirm they have something in place. If at all possible, I want to avoid telling a surviving spouse I never talked about it with their wife, husband, or partner after a funeral.
I met with a new client in the Carrollton area two weeks ago to complete setting up her car insurance. Once that was done, she wanted to discuss life insurance. She has a term policy which is beyond the 10 year term it was written under resulting in annual rate increases. She wanted to know what her options are.
Sheri and I have a blended family. Between the two of us, we have 7 kids and 5 grandkids, the latest arrived Wednesday night at 7:30. She’s beautiful just in case you were wondering! Her arrival reminded me of a question I’m occasionally asked by people who are evaluating life insurance after the birth of a child, and that is, should they get a life policy for their new bundle of joy?
I am a baby boomer. Both my parents are alive and in relatively good health, however, they aren’t getting any younger. I’ve attempted to discuss several of these topics with my dad over the past several years. He politely assures me he has it handled and that’s the extent of the conversation, however, I don’t know what that means nor do I have any knowledge of what he or my mother truly want.
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of their annual study on families and how they’re doing economically. It wasn’t great news! Average household income for 2012 to 2013 is down by $103 to $65,069 before taxes, but their expenses increased by $777 a year to $51,408. Contributing the most to the increase in expenses were transportation costs ($8,999 a year on average) and kids.
Sheri and I have been married for about 5 ½ years. Ours is a blended family, this is our second marriage. I have 3 sons and Sheri has a daughter and 3 sons. We’re not quite the Brady Bunch; all of our kids are adults, live on their own, and there is no “Alice.” We’ve been blessed with 4 grandchildren, so far, and look forward to more!
I met with a young couple six months ago. They were expecting their first child and the husband wanted to talk about life insurance. The arrival of a child is a time when many couples explore life insurance and I was honored and delighted to be consulted to assist them.
I’m helping a couple in the Southlake / Colleyville area with their insurance policies. We redid their home policy and are discussing options on the husband’s life insurance. We began the process by reviewing what he has now and discussing what he wants to accomplish. I ask three questions in all life insurance discussions (see http://50.87.248.161/~wiseinsu/shopping-for-life-insurance-answer-3-questions-first/):
I had lunch with a friend of mine the other day; we’ll call him Bill, not his real name. He needed someone who’d listen and provide some feedback to make sure he was on the right track. The conversation started with him letting me know he’d just gotten laid off from a managerial position he’s had for several years. The pain was obvious as we talked.
There’s one option no term life policy should be without and I didn’t mention it in last Friday’s post: 4 Term Life Options Worth Exploring (http://50.87.248.161/~wiseinsu/4-term-life-options-worth-exploring/). No, I wasn’t sand bagging, but some term life policies automatically include this as a “feature” of their term life policy while others add it as an option. What is it? It’s usually referred to as the Accelerated Death Benefit and what it does can be profoundly important.
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