William Penn Life, 2015 (50. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2015-09-01 / 9. szám
Moneywise with Bob Bisceglia Raising awareness Spreading the word about the importance of life insurance WHEN KATHY MEGYERI interviewed me for a profile piece which will appear in our next issue, she asked me a number of excellent questions about life insurance. Since September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, I thought this would be a good time to answer some of those questions for you. Why is it essential to own life insurance? Life insurance is the foundation upon which any financial plan-no matter how big or small-should be built. You wouldn't build the walls and roof of a house without first constructing a solid foundation, would you? Let me give you an example. Early in my career, the company I worked for started promoting financial planning, encouraging its sales reps to sell more mutual funds and investments. Mutual funds were all the rage, and a lot of agents started to migrate towards investments and away from the fundamentals of life insurance. Shortly after that, I was referred to a client, who I'll call John. John was a self-employed contractor who had recently married and was expecting his first child. I did a simple needs analysis and determined that John needed life insurance. 1 recommended he purchase either term insurance or a combination of whole life and term. This would not only give him the protection he needed but also give him options to increase his insurance as his family grew. Being self-employed, John wanted to put his money into these new things everyone at work was talking about-mutual funds and IRAs. I let him talk me out of the life insurance and gave him what he wanted—a mutual fund IRA with $100 monthly deposits. Sometime later, John came home from work complaining of back pains. He assumed the pain was from working outside and the rigors of his job. When the condition persisted and worsened, he sought medical advice and was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. John passed away within six months of diagnosis. I think I cried harder than most at his funeral, knowing more could have been done for his family. I delivered his widow and young child a check for just over $1,800 when it could have been for so much more. Looking back, that was probably the worst day of my insurance career. I let the client "build the roof before the foundation" and let him talk me out of doing what I knew was best for his family. Since then, I have walked away from sales where the client did not want to start with the foundation, and I sleep better at night knowing that I will never let what happened to John's family happen to another client of mine. LIFE INSURANCE AWARENESS MONTH BROUGHT TO YOU BY LIFE HAPPENS® — Why is owning life insurance appropriate at any of life’s stages? Death is a permanent problem that demands a permanent solution. Clients often ask whether they should buy whole or term life insurance, to which I jokingly reply, "tell me when you plan to die and I'll tell you which you should have." You are probably more "insurable" earlier in life than you will ever be. That's why purchasing whole life insurance for a child makes sense. My wife and I purchased a 20 Pay Whole Life certificate worth $25,000 for each of our children that we will give them as gifts when they are paid in full. We did that to give them a firm foundation of permanent life insurance that can never be taken away (and they better never cash them in). Of course, another excellent option is WPA's Juvenile Term to Age 25 plan. This certificate not only provides the family with necessary funds should the 4 0 September 2015 0 William Penn Life
