My husband and I bought 20 year term life insurance 10.5 years ago, when our first child was six months old. My dad died of colon cancer at 38 and had very little life insurance. My mom struggled financially to provide for me and my brother and to set aside money for retirement after my father’s death. I knew I’d buy life insurance as soon as I had a child.
My husband and I also planned to ladder our life insurance. We now have two other children besides our oldest who are 5 and 6. The life insurance we currently have will expire when our youngest two children are 14.5 and 16 respectively.
Not good.
There’s No More Important Time to Get Life Insurance Than When Your Budget Is Tight
The plan was to buy another 20 year term life insurance policy for both my husband and I when our first policy was 10 years old. Then, for the 10 years when both policies overlapped, we’d have ample coverage for the teenage and college years.
The problem? Our budget is tight. T.I.G.H.T.!
We’re digging our way out of debt, and Murphy has moved in. During the first 3.5 months of 2015, we’ve had over $5,000 in dental bills and car repairs. Ouch.
When my mom visited recently and I casually mentioned that my husband and I were planning on getting another 20 year term life insurance policy, she replied incredulously, “If your money is so tight, I can’t believe you’d even think of getting another policy right now!”
My husband, echoing my sentiment, responded, “Because money is so tight, we can’t afford NOT to get another life insurance policy right now.”
Life Changes. Is Your Life Insurance Policy Keeping Up?
A lot has changed in the 10 years since we bought our life insurance policy. We now have three kids instead of one. We own a home now and have a mortgage. Our oldest is almost in the teen years, and we’ll need to think about college for him.
Simply put, the policy we have now is not adequate enough for all of our increased financial obligations.
When my mom was married, she and my dad struggled financially. That’s largely why they didn’t buy life insurance. Yet, even living through the nightmare of a spouse dying young with grossly inadequate life insurance, she’s still arguing that we shouldn’t spend the money on it.
A Wake-Up Call Motivated Me To Action
Even though I know we need additional life insurance, I kept putting it off, until recently.
I belong to a number of homeschool groups on Facebook, and several recently shared the plight of the Rogan family from Wisconsin. Niki Rogan was in the car with her husband and her seven children heading to the hospital to give birth to her eighth child. A car hit a deer, and the deer then hit the Rogan’s car and killed the father, Mike Rogan, who was only 42.
Given the dramatic circumstances of Mike’s death, the Rogan family’s story has been shared worldwide. A family friend set up a Go Fund me page for the Rogans, where she shared,
“Niki is a stay-at-home mom and homeschools her children who range in age from newborn to 15 years, and is left with providing for her family aided by only a minimal life insurance policy.”
Because of the worldwide attention, the Rogans’ Go Fund Me page has generated $470,688 at the time of publishing, 17 days after the page was established. It is the 10th largest fundraiser in Go Fund Me’s five year history.
I’m happy that the Rogan family will have the money, if invested well, to allow Niki to continue to stay home and care for her children. However, most people who lose a spouse do not have the media attention and a fast growing Go Fund Me page.
The Rogans likely had a tight budget. Raising such a large family is not cheap. Still, like us, they should have had more life insurance, even if it is tight to fit in the budget. The alternative, for most people, can be devastating financially.
Do you have adequate life insurance, or do you put off applying for or increasing your life insurance because money is tight?
“Because money is so tight, we can’t afford NOT to get another life insurance policy right now.” This is such a true and important statement. The longer you put off purchasing life insurance, most likely the higher your premiums will be. Term life insurance is an extremely affordable option when it comes to protecting your loved ones from financial disaster in case the unexpected happened to you.
Thanks for sharing!
I once tried to cancel my life insurance policies to save the monthly cost…..my insurance agent said he’d be happy to oblige me, if I took one day to think about it after telling me a story. He said he just had a woman cancel the policies on her husband…..and a week later he died of a heart attack. Her financial situation was now a complete mess. I didn’t want that to happen to my family, so……I called my agent back and told him I’d keep my policies. :)
Whenever I think about canceling a policy I think of the story Dave Ramsey tells about how one young man who took his class bought life insurance, and weeks later found out he had an inoperable brain tumor. His family was provided for because he made that decision. Having that insurance can be a huge difference in case your family needs it!
Wonderful post, Melissa! I really appreciate you sharing your perspective. One of my friends lost both of her parents in high school and has little extended family. If it hadn’t of been for her parents’ life insurance, she couldn’t have paid for college and living expenses. Life insurance is so important, and thanks so much for shedding light on this!
I believe having life insurance is wise if you don’t have an equivalent nest egg to fall back on, esp. if you have kids. Could echo what the other commenters have said, b/c you need to know that your family will be taken care of should Murphy show up in a fatal way.
I finally got life insurance about a year and a half ago. I’d been putting it off for awhile because there are just so many other things to deal with.
I’m so glad that I finally got around to it, though. My husband is on disability, and my in-laws live in our guest house. If something happened to me, they could have a really hard time.
Thanks to some health problems, I pay more than most people for a lot less coverage ($50/month for $100k), but it’s enough to pay off the mortgage and give my husband a little breathing room. That peace of mind is priceless.