Condolences Don’t Pay Funerals

Tragedy. No eye in the room was dry and the voices were right at a whisper. All the people in the room had lost. The parents lost a son, the siblings lost a brother, others lost their baseball coach and I was part of the group who had lost a friend. Raul* and I became friends during kindergarten– which feels like yesterday, and now, gone way, way to soon. To complicate the matter, the family was struggling to get together the $15,000 needed for the funeral. They had placed a small deposit down but had no idea if they could pay the rest. They were looking at either a funeral loan or (worse) the neighborhood loan shark.   

I felt an empty pit in my stomach. Dealing with the loss was already hard enough, the financial part just added to an already difficult situation.

Get Life Insurance, Now.

There are two main types of life insurance: Permanent Insurance (Whole Life) and Term Life Insurance.

What’s The Difference?

Permanent Insurance (Whole Life) – as the name implies, this insurance is meant to be carried throughout your entire lifetime. This type of insurance has a cash value component which can be accessed as a loan and can grow tax deferred. At the time of death the face value of the policy is paid to the beneficiaries. This option does tend to be more expensive and terminating a policy can be costly. This option may be better if you are looking for a permanent option with a guaranteed cash value.

Term Life Insurance – this option is less complex and pretty straightforward. Coverage is for a specific term (usually between 5 to 25 years). There is no cash value and upon death, benefit is paid to the beneficiaries. This option cost a fraction of whole life, however coverage ends when policy expires and premium may increase with age. This option may be good if you are young, healthy and still building assets. For longer policies you can use the time to build wealth and eventually become self-insured while still protecting your family.

My Experience

Years ago Mother had a policy with a “Patriot Signature” company. She was paying $800/yr for a $15,000 whole life policy. No longer meeting her needs, she decided to shop around with the intention of transition to a term-based policy. Surprisingly, she obtained a 20 year, $250,000 policy for about $1,000/yr. I also decided to get myself a policy, 20 year, $100,000 for $115/yr. My strategy is to build assets through investments and once the term is up no longer require coverage.

Death is coming for us all, guaranteed. Memento Mori, (Latin: “remember that you will die”) is the practice of reflecting on mortality as a reminder to not waste time on the insignificant, trivial matters and not to take our most precious resource, time, for granted. Get Life Insurance NOW. You don’t get life insurance for yourself, you get it for your loved ones. While grieving the last thing they want to worry about is the cost of a funeral, and it prevents you from having to ask for donations on the internet.