An important topic, I often ask, "Why do I have insurance. I and my insurance will pay the life insurance for me while I was working here. Why do I have the need for something else? Is a legitimate question, but one that simply to answer. Here are 3 reasons why everyone needs some form of voluntary insurance, especially life insurance.
1 - You may not always be at your current job. How many jobs have you had in the last few years? In recent years, that may be quite a few. With companies closing their doors by the hundreds and people being laid off for financial reasons, those company benefits are sketchy at best. If your sole life insurance policy is wrapped up in the company you work for, you are putting yourself and your family at great risk if you are ever laid off, if the company decides to no longer fund those policies, or if you are between jobs. How likely will a company be to pay a life insurance policy on someone who dies after they leave that company? The answer is...none at all. When someone has voluntary insurance in their portfolio, they are in control. They have the right to some payroll deduction while they work at a company that will accept that carrier, but that person can also take those policies with them at no additional cost and with no gap in coverage.
2 - Life changes. We may be wrapped up in our spouse's health insurance and we may have even gotten some other benefits in a "shared" position. What happens if that spouse loses their job? What would you if that spouse passed away? If everything you have is tied up into a spouse and their job, you will always run the risk of those life changing events happen to you and effecting you even after the event happens. Did you know that even financial issues could keep you from acquiring life insurance? Life changes quickly and all those times you said, "I'm too young" or "I'll do it later" could be too late. How about your health? I see more people who waited until they had diabetes or got a bad report from a doctor before they thought about getting needed insurance for themselves and their families. This is not meant to scare...it's just the facts.
3 - We are not getting any younger. I know we all think we will live forever, but the reality is we will all have another birthday every year we live. Another given is that we will all die one day. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to start thinking about "what if" early on. Why? Because insurance is cheaper to buy the younger and healthier we are. Many times the voluntary policies stay at the same rate you buy them based on the age you bought them. If you do not want to worry about your age causing something negative to happen to you financially, think about these things when you are younger and money issues and your ability to gain those valuable things for you and your family is much less stressful.
There you have it. I could go on but I think you see my point. My dad got a small life policy for me when I was two years old. Guess what happened when I turned three? I came down with a kidney disorder that keeps me...a licensed insurance agent...from getting life insurance by normal and less expensive means. The good part is that my dad was thinking ahead and I will have that little policy forever at the same rate he bought it at when I was a healthy two-year-old. The moral is this...you are never too early, but you can be too late. Start thinking about it now.