Insurance That Makes Life Possible

Life insurance isn’t a subject many people feel comfortable discussing. Car insurance.  Homeowner’s insurance. Identity-theft insurance. These are necessary, often required, and give needed protection to make life more comfortable and safe. But life insurance isn’t really for the insured; it’s for the benefit of beneficiaries. 

With all the expenses of life—rent, mortgage, car payments, electric and water bills, food, health insurance, medicine—life insurance may be at the bottom of a long list (or close to it) of life’s necessities. We know we should carry some life insurance, but with paychecks barely stretching to cover the necessities and a few extras, it’s often sidelined.

The impact of no life insurance won’t affect the insured as much as those left behind. A Forbes article, “Why I Wish My Mom Had Had Life Insurance,” tells the true story of how difficult life can be without the financial support needed when a parent passes on without any life insurance. The story won the Life Foundation’s $125,000 scholarship award to the children of a parent who passed away without life insurance. The story is a poignant reminder to everyone who thinks having life insurance isn’t a necessity.

Brittany LaComb, the 2012 award winner, shared her story about a Mother’s Day camping trip. She and her two younger sisters and mother went on their annual camping trip when her mother complained of pain in her foot. When it became unbearable, they called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. They left her that night, and when they arrived back in the early morning she had already passed away. 

At the age of 20, Brittany’s life changed from college student to caretaker of her two sisters, aged 15 and 16. Unable to afford a funeral for her mother, Brittany had to settle for a less expensive cremation without even a reception for friends and family to go through the grieving process. A further scrutiny of her mother’s finances showed a lot of bills and $300 dollars in the bank.

Since Brittany was only working part time, she couldn’t meet the financial obligations and lost her mother’s house and the family’s pets. With help from a Catholic charity and an apartment, she works full-time, goes to the University in the evenings and supports her two sisters who are both in high school. She says that you can’t move on from grief, you just have to move through it. Her mother had a life insurance policy from a job, but lost it when she lost the job. Things could have been different for her and her family had her mother planned for the aftermath of death the same as they planned the annual vacation—making plans for something that was going to happen and works out best with some advance planning.

Brittany’s story should be a lesson for everyone and for insurance professionals who deal with clients that are reluctant to deal with the inevitable. Life insurance makes life possible for those left behind. Life insurance can help those left behind move through the grieving process, financially secure and surrounded by familiar surroundings without financial hardship and an uncertain future. 

Photo Source: Morguefile.com