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?
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.
A friend of mine is engaged and will marry soon. The fiancé’s dad passed away recently without any life insurance. This put the family in the position of having to pay for all of the funeral related expenses. With the average cost of a funeral running $10,000 or more, this can put a financial strain on the surviving spouse and adult children at a time that’s emotionally difficult
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.
All insurance policies have options: home insurance, car insurance, umbrella policies, health, and commercial policies. Every one of them has options. Even life insurance has options available to anyone who’s interested. Most people are surprised to learn this, but I believe it’s important to cover each one when I discuss life insurance. There are 4 primary life options including …
Everyone smiles when I ask about traffic tickets or accidents. Some have even asked what they have to do with life insurance. Almost every insurance company that processes a life application will run MVR (motor vehicle report) and CLUE reports. The MVR show violations such as tickets and the CLUE report shows accidents.
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