It seems like every month there is a campaign or cause designed to make us aware of a disease and to donate to help find a cure. This month is National Prostate Cancer Awareness month. Next month is National Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Awareness campaigns are good because they remind us of our own mortality and perhaps motivate us to act by getting a check up as nearly every one of us has a family member or friend that has died of a disease. The point is, none of us knows how long we’ll live or if we’ll be stricken with a disease or die in an accident (the 5th leading cause of death) .
So then the question become; “How will my family manage financially when I die?”
That is why the non-profit LIFE Foundation has declared September as Life Insurance Awareness month.
Too many Americans do not have adequate life insurance protection. In fact, 95 million adults have no life insurance at all. Here’s the bottom line: A majority of families either have no life insurance or not enough, leaving them one accident or terminal illness away from a financial catastrophe for their loved ones.
LIFE Insurance Awareness month is designed to make people aware of the facts about the cost and the need for life insurance such as:
- 80% of Americans over estimate the cost of life insurance
- Those age 25 and under think life insurance is almost 10x its true cost
- 1/3 of people wish their spouse or partner had life insurance - or more of it
- 52% put expenses such as cell phones and cable ahead of buying life insurance
- 59% haven’t bought life insurance or more of it because of “other financial priorities”
- 30% haven’t bought life insurance or more of it because they “haven’t gotten around to it”
Life Insurance can do some pretty amazing things for people. It can buy loved ones time to grieve. It can pay off debts and loans, providing family members with the chance to move on with a clean slate. It can provide for a college education for your kids. It can keep a family business in the family. It can provide a stream of income for a family to live on for many years. But it can’t do any of these things if you don’t own it- or don’t own enough. That is why awareness is not enough. You must take action, because Life Happens.
And because life happens, now is the time to take 2 minutes and learn how much life insurance you may need by going to the online calculator at www.lifehappens.org . Then give us a call so we can help you provide your loved ones with financial security through the most powerful financial tool ever created: LIFE Insurance.
Will Adamczyk is a Certified Financial Planner professional with Ramsburg Insurance & Financial Services, He focuses on Retirement and Income Planning for the Baby Boomer generation.