Insurance, insurance, and more insurance… But why so much insurance?
Insurance comes in many forms and for many reasons. You can even purchase a health insurance policy on your pet. I’m not quite sure how that works, but I do know that there are types of insurance products that are essential to you, your family and your legacy. Two of these are Life Insurance and Long-Term Care Insurance.
Life Insurance, as most of us know, protects our family from the most devastating event anyone can experience. The death of a loved one, a business partner or a key person within your organization. So, let’s begin by talking about protecting your family.
In today’s family unit, for the most part, there are two individuals that are generating an income which are equally as important. Then, somewhere into the mix we add children.
The two parties, whether they are married or significant others, have bought a home, bought, or leased a couple of cars and have accumulated the normal amount of debt as prescribed by today’s society. Everyone is living the life and suddenly an unexpected tragedy occurs, one of them passes. In most scenarios where the couple are married, the total debt falls on the surviving spouse. At this point it is normal to see depleted savings accounts and personal bankruptcy and/or foreclosure may be inevitable. When we add children to the component, the impact is exponentially greater.
That is why Life Insurance is so important, because it helps a family to financially bounce back from the loss of a loved one. Life insurance can help you plan for your children’s college, payoff your home and eliminate pending debt. And if programmed correctly, some Life products could even help carry you through retirement while both parties live a long and healthy existence.
Types of Life Products
- Term – 10 to 30 years – This policy will expire at the end of its Term period making it an inexpensive way to begin your Life Insurance Experience or to accompany a more robust permanent product.
- Permanent Products
- Universal Life
- Whole Life
Permanent Life Insurance is meant to help you plan your future beyond retirement. Coupled with a Term product, Permanent policies can become an important part of your investment strategy.
- How important is your business to you?
In most cases, a business is nothing like a job. A job is a place where you go every day, complete an allotted task for eight hours a day, and at the end of the pay-period you receive remuneration for your work. A business, on the other hand, whether created for the sake of entrepreneurship or the love of a particular service or product, the word “passion” is always in the mix. So, if you have turned your passion into a business, why would you let your legacy end with your death or that of your business partner’s? Buy-Sell agreements, along with a well-funded insurance policy, can allow your legacy to continue and your family can be taken care of for years to come.
- I’ve heard of Key-Person Life insurance, what is it?
Is there someone in your business that is irreplaceable, other than you or your partner? That individual could be a Sales Manager, a CFO, or a COO. As is bound to happen, we may have our plans, but life tends to go its own way. Which means that any one of these individuals could prematurely pass, leaving a management void within your business. Unfortunately, there is a tangible cost to replacing your top-level executive. That expense could range from paying out stock options to the family or paying a staffing agency while searching for a qualified replacement, to a sign-on bonus for the new executive.
In short, a Key-Person Life policy is placed on your top-level executives having the company as the beneficiary which, in case of death, should cover most expenses associated with their replacement.
Long-Term-Care policies, aren’t those for the elderly in a nursing home? Yes, and no… Don’t you just love these ambiguous answers?
We hope and pray that these types of policies will only be needed when we are well into our golden years, bed ridden and in a nursing home. Yet, LTC policies are much more than an insurance company paying for your nursing home. The health issues triggering the use of these types of policies can come in all ages and gender. Especially in the stressful times that we are living today. Regardless of age, these policies offer the individual the opportunity to freely choose where they live out their golden years regardless of their physical impairment. Whether at home, an ACLF or a nursing facility, the LTC policy gives you a choice.
The most common triggers in LTC policies are: Medical Necessity; Loss of Functional Capacity; and Cognitive Impairment. But all you need are two of the six benefit triggers which are bathing, dressing, toileting, eating, transferring and continence to trigger the policy. Although logic may suggest that the best time to invest in a long-term-policy is in the 60’s, reality tells us different. These policies are underwritten according to the age and current health experience of the covered person. So, it stands to reason that the older the individual more health issues may afflict them. Translating into higher premiums as the individual gets older. If it is not in your budget at age forty to invest in an LTC policy, then you should budget for ages 50 to 55. Or just call me and we can discuss available options.
Whether you have a family, a business or are looking to secure your own future, Life Products need to be a part of your present.