Prevention is Better Than Cure

I tend to get frustrated when people simply refuse to listen when I start talking about life insurance. I just do not know why there is such a bad perception about life insurance. My only suspicion is that people view insurance agents as just mere salesmen who are out there to make a sale. So when they hear about insurance, they immediately associate it with an expense which they will never benefit from. It's as though the only person who will benefit from the insurance is the beneficiary who will enjoy the benefits at the expense of the insurer's death.

Actually, I am also guilty of this perception... until I became a financial planner. Then I was able to see the value of insurance as a tool for risk management and not just a product that are being sold by salesmen who are out there to make commissions. The first talk that I heard about insurance came from a preacher who does not sell insurance. I guess that was the factor that made me a believer.... that the speaker was trying to sell an idea and not a product. And it was funny that the second talk I heard about insurance came from someone who said "don't tell me you don't believe in insurance because insurance is not a religion." That struck a sensitive cord in me. And finally, when I finished the financial planning course, I came to realize the value of insurance not just for the living beneficiaries but also for the insurer.... i.e. you do not need to die in order to benefit from your life insurance coverage.

I affiliated myself with an insurance company in order to dig deeper into the many facets of life insurance and the different types of life insurance with the sole purpose of finding the right insurance for me and my husband. Again, I am guilty of having a lack of trust for insurance agents. I wanted to see and study the products for myself. However, in the process I got a first-hand experience of my own behavior towards life insurance agents when I got the same response from my friends when I started to talk about life insurance. It was truly frustrating. As a financial planner, I know that some of my friends are treading on dangerous grounds with such a lack of foresight and a limited knowledge about risk management. It's as though they are immortals! Then I realized that perhaps it is because they do not know the different types of life insurance that are available in the market.

Term insurance will provide for their beneficiaries if they die young at a cost that is very affordable. Whole life insurance has the the cash value which they can use while they are still alive. Variable universal life insurance gives them the option to invest in equities and securities at the same time have the protection they need in times of untimely demise. There are other living benefits which some life insurance packages offer such as total disability benefits, female and maternity benefits, critical illness benefits, hospital benefit. These vary from one insurance company to another.

If you are as paranoid as I am, then sign up as a life insurance agent in one respectable and stable insurance company so you can study the products for yourself. Insurance is a real preventive measure for financial disaster and it can really protect a family from such an unfortunate event of untimely death of the breadwinner. You do not need faith to know that this is true, you only need common sense.