By Jeff Bennet
My Story
My children are 12 and 10 years old. After my daughter was born, their mother and I bought a home and purchased Life Insurance. I was working as an Investment Advisor at the time within the wealth advisory division of one of Canada's largest banks. I had my insurance license and was a Certified Financial Planner. I asked to meet with my branches Insurance Rep. He sat down with us and presented the usual list of insurance options. Term 10, Term 20, Universal Life and Whole Life. He presented our options via a series of excel spreadsheets which laid out the cost and benefit of each option. Premiums, benefits, coverage all laid out year by year via a series of numbers and spreadsheets that I was more than qualified to read.
LDA Turns confusing illustrations into visuals that help you communicate insurnace solutions.
The Result
We purchased 20-year term policies to cover our mortgage and protect us in case something were to happen. I hold those policies to this day. Why the 20-year term? Looking back I realize it was due to two factors. Cost and not being able to visualize the benefit of the other solutions presented to us.
Fast Forward
Fast forward 11 years. Would I do anything differently? I would. I did not give near enough consideration to the possibility of purchasing a Participating Whole Life policy on my children. Even having the considerable amount of financial education I did, when someone suggested I consider purchasing a Participating Whole Life policy on my infant child I thought it a crazy suggestion. To me, that was money I could have spent on upgrades to my new home or invested in the stock market.
It was only three months ago that I started to think I had missed an opportunity. What happened? I plugged a similar scenario into the Insurance comparison software at www.lifedesignanalysis.com. The result. I was painted a picture. A very clear picture of how powerful and beneficial it can be to purchase Whole Life Insurance on a young child. The software laid it out in a format that was very different from the pile of raw data I had pondered over 11 years ago.
It showed very clearly that by putting $200 a month into a Whole Life Policy on my daughter, it would have given her a significant level of security for the rest of her life. By the time she's 19 there would be over $40,000 worth of cash value in that policy that she could take a policy loan against to help fund her education. Or she could do it in her 30's when there would be over $120,000 worth of cash value in the policy. A potential down payment on a home. Or she could simply leave the policy be, and by the time she's 60 years old she would be insured for over $1,000,000. Without ever having to apply for insurance, pass a physical or lift a finger.
All because her dad had the foresight to put $200 a month into an insurance policy for her over the course of her childhood. I'd be done paying when she graduates University. Or her Grandparents could have made the payments. However you set it up, it's a powerful enough option that it at least warrants serious attention. Yet I didn't consider it. Until now. Until I discovered that the most important element of a great idea is how it's communicated.
Technology is bettering the way we consider the options available to us. I was so impressed with LDA's ability to communicate insurance options with pictures and concepts people can easily understand, I decided to actively promote the company. Investment Advisors and Financial Planners need to present all the powerful options available to their clients in a manner that allows them to understand and feel in control of the situation. I wish I could have a do-over. I'm sharing my story in hopes you can avoid feeling the same way.
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