[B]Life Insurance: Now More Than Ever [/B]
Recession, layoffs and falling stock and bond prices seem to be knocking over the pillars of our financial security, one by one. Many of us have either lost a job or have a friend or family member who has. All of us have been hit with painful losses in the value of our homes and in our savings and investment accounts. One source of financial security still stands strong, however, and that’s life insurance.
While so many aspects of people’s financial lives look bleak at the moment, life insurance continues to do exactly what it was designed to — serve as the foundation of your family’s financial security. If you own a term life policy, the death benefit it would pay if you died tomorrow is unchanged from a week, a month or a year ago. If you own a whole life policy, your death benefit is also guaranteed and your cash values have actually grown over the past year, not declined. In this tumultuous economy, you can take comfort in knowing that life insurance — whatever type you may own or intend to buy — can provide some certainty and stability at a time when both are in short supply.
While it may seem difficult nowadays to look beyond the bills that are due at the end of the month, you should consider buying life insurance or adding to existing coverage. It will provide an anchor of stability to your family finances, ensuring that your loved ones will be financially secure when you die.
Real life example:
Ebony and Shanna Blanchard - A Mother's Wish
W hen Jackie Blanchard's husband died at a young age, with only enough life insurance to pay for his funeral, Jackie vowed that her young daughters, Ebony and Shanna, would be financially secure if anything ever happened to her. To keep this promise, Jackie immediately scheduled an appointment with insurance agent Virginia Acosta, FICF. "She said she wanted the best insurance she could buy, and I made sure her family would be protected," says Virginia.
Two years after purchasing her policy, Jackie became ill with a lung infection and was later diagnosed with lung cancer. Because the illness prevented her from working, a provision in her policy covered the payment of her premiums while the policy's disability benefit helped cover mounting health care costs. Despite her illness, Jackie's zest for life was unstoppable. She took a cross-country road trip with her mom and daughters and even continued to organize parties and dinners for family and friends.
When she found out that her condition was terminal, the accelerated death benefit provision allowed Jackie to access up to 75 percent of her benefits while still alive. She used those proceeds to finance a home and a car for her daughters and parents, and pre-pay her funeral. She even put some money away for college for her daughters.
Jackie died at age 38. But her dreams for the girls are very much alive. Ebony, who graduated with honors from college this year, and Shanna, a senior in high school, live with their grandparents in the home their mother purchased for them. "Jackie wanted the girls to have the best education and the same lifestyle after she was gone," Jackie's mom Veordia says. "That's why she chose insurance, to help them along the way. That was her greatest wish."
Adapted from http://www.lifehappens.org
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