Speak with an experienced advisor! (800) 208-4575Many people have a life insurance policy at work so they don’t think they need another life insurance or burial policy. Here we will talk about some of the reasons why the policy at work just may not be enough and is important to have another life insurance or burial policy in place. This will not be your typical article filled only with facts and figures even though it does contain some very important facts for your consideration. This is a true story and a very personal one. I hope it helps many of you as you are looking for life insurance or a burial plan for you or a loved one.
Hello my name is Rita and I am a life insurance professional and work alongside my husband, Chris. We work with potential clients on a daily basis and one of the common reasons people will use for not purchasing a life insurance policy or at least for delaying their purchase is that they have a life insurance policy where they work.
An employer will offer life insurance policies and sometimes make available other types of policies as benefits to their employees. Some of these benefits along with life insurance may include health insurance, disability insurance, retirement, etc. In most cases the employer pays a portion of the premium payment and the employee pays a portion. These types of plans are a part of large group and is offered at a discount to the employee. Although these are great benefits to the employee, the problem lies in the fact that many employees are not aware of some risks or disadvantages when they rely on these plans being the only plan they have.
These types of plans as we already mentioned are discounted as part of large group plans and in many cases the employer pays a part of the monthly premium as a part of the employees benefit package. The owner of the policy is not the individual but the employer. Therefore, the insured, the employee, even though they pay all or part of the premium, they have no control over the policy. If the employer decides to stop paying his portion of the payment, this leaves the employee paying all of the premium or dropping the coverage. If the employer decides to drop coverage, change plans, insurance companies, or coverage amounts he can do so because he is the owner. If someone, we will use you for example, lose your job for any reason your policy doesn’t go with you with everything remaining the same. For example: they will give you the opportunity to keep the plan but you will not be a part of the large group any longer. Therefore your rate or the amount you pay will go up. If the employer was paying a percentage he will no longer do so because you are no longer his employee, so not entitled to those benefits. Usually the premium will double, triple or even be as much as five or more times higher. In most cases people just simply can’t afford to keep the same policy because it is outside of their budget. So they go without coverage or begin their search for their own policy.
There are cases where someone works for an employer and have paid on a policy for many years but when they finally retire they are now searching for a policy because the employer owned policy was not their own. Now they are retired with a smaller budget, they are older and their health isn’t as good as it used to be and there are may even be a negative health history that may or may not affect the type of plans they will or will not qualify for.
Life insurance companies will look mainly at an individual’s sex, age, health, prescriptions drugs and amount of coverage requested to determine the cost. The large group plans do not look at each individual to determine the price the individual pays. They have computer programs that averages of the large group determine the price. Because individual plans look at the individual it is wise to purchase a plan when you are younger and your health is still good, in order to lock in the best possible rate. If you happen to be one of those who have waited until after retirement it certainly is not too late to protect your family from the financial and emotional burden of you not having a life insurance policy. The agent will go to work for you to help you find the best plan at the best rate you qualify for. Call us today at 800-208-4575. We want to serve you and give you peace of mind that you have a plan in place to protect your family from a financial burden.
Now to the personal part of my story. My first husband was a hard working man who loved his family and did his best to provide a good living for us. He had a good job that offered benefits of health and life insurance at a huge discount to the employees. The employer paid the larger part of the premium, so my husband signed up for the maximum amount offered so he had a large life insurance policy for a very low premium withheld from his checks. Because he had this large policy he never would talk to life insurance professionals about having something else in place. He, unfortunately, was one of those that would say, “I’m good, I’ve got life insurance at work.” He would tell me that it was good enough until he retired and he would get something then. We didn’t know then the importance of owning your own life insurance or burial plan.
After a few years on the job he sustained a back injury and was deemed by workers compensation a high risk employee so the employer terminated him. He received no financial settlement from workers compensation and lost all his benefits from that employer. So after paying the premiums for several years for health insurance, life insurance, etc. there was nothing: no health insurance, no life insurance, retirement or other benefits. Six months after the loss of his job and of unemployment he went to the doctor with what he thought was acid reflux and bronchitis and was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
This was not only an emotionally stressful and life altering event but impacted us financially as well. I was a stay at home mom with a part time job so there wasn’t much available for the quality of health care that my husband needed. There was also our two sons to take care of and provide for. They were 12 and 16 years old. This was only the beginning! Six months after my husband’s cancer diagnosis and six months of a blur of doctor’s appointments and things we don’t even want to recall he passed from this life into heaven.
Our lives were forever changed! Our precious loved one was no longer with us. No longer did we have him in our lives to laugh with, go to church, ball games, hunting, fishing with, all the things we used to do together but he was no longer there as the primary provider. His income was forever gone! No life insurance to help provide a more certain future for myself and our sons. An even more immediate need was the funeral expenses!! Oh, what were we to do!?!
Remember, the life insurance was gone when he lost his job and he didn’t have a life insurance policy or even a burial plan of his own. I found out quite firmly that the funeral home doesn’t take payments. They need money! Cash, check, credit card or life insurance policy, it doesn’t matter the form of payment as long as it is paid:
the funeral can be scheduled.
We were one of the “lucky ones” we had a church family that started a fund for donations so that the funeral expenses could be paid. Not all families have this support or safety net. Many will start Go Fund Me accounts, family member’s and friends will pitch in to help, or they will borrow money from banks or credit cards. Some will even start trying to sell things even at a major loss just to be able to have a decent funeral. Some will have to forego a traditional funeral and instead go with a cremation only, even when this isn’t what they really wanted, but the only choice because it is the lowest available cost available.
After the funeral, there was still all kinds of expenses and living expenses I was unprepared for as a widow raising two sons. They grow up real fast and our lives were forever changed. What a difference life insurance would have made. We not only had to deal with the loss of our husband, father and fishing buddy but the loss of the primary income earner and the life we had grown accustomed to. It was a struggle with fears of losing the home, not having enough money to meet our needs and of the future and all the hardships that we were to face because we were unprepared and unprovided for.
A life insurance policy or a burial plan would have been a great relief from many of those burdens we faced. If you are still reading this show your family you love them enough to plan for their future today. Give us a call at: 800-208-4575 and we will help you find a plan you qualify for and fits your needs. We will put our experience in life insurance and burial plans to work for you and those you love. Most of all we have compassion and concern for the families and loved ones of those we serve. Don’t wait! Call us today at: 800-208-4574. Give your loved ones a more secure future.
