I was just sitting outside on my deck this Labor Day having a nice glass of Pinot Noir after grilling on the barbecue for Terri and Brian when I reflected on Scotty and Laura who are both away today. I was reading that September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. It reminded me of Scotty, six years old at the time. He came in from the yard one day yelling at the top of his lungs for his mother. Naturally, this distracted me from my work in my office (I spent too much time there anyway). Scotty upped his yell several decibels and just then Terri came down from the second floor where she had been running the clothes dryer. She said, “What do you want, Scott?” He replied, “Nothing; just wanted to know where you were.”

I’ve told that story hundreds of times because it shows why I pay the premiums on the life insurance policies that I have. I may have never left my three children an empire, a block of real estate or a huge stock portfolio at the time, but I was going to leave them a priceless gift: a fulltime mother. Because of my life insurance, all three could come yelling for their mother knowing she was somewhere around the house, even though she didn’t answer.

Another time I was sitting in the recliner reading the paper when eight year old Laura slipped her little brown haired head under my arm and wiggled onto my lap. I kept reading and then she said those few words that have helped me sell millions of dollars of life insurance. Looking at me with big, sad eyes, she said, “Daddy, if you won’t ever leave me, I won’t ever leave you.”

I couldn’t understand what prompted those words, but I immediately thought: “Well, dearest, I would never leave you, but if the Lord should rule otherwise at least I’ll never leave you without.”

Years ago I learned there were two kinds of dads, the see-kind and the have-kind. The see-kind says, “I want my family to have everything I can give them as long as I’m here to see it.” The have-kind says, “I want them to have it whether I’m here to see it or not.”

I mentioned earlier that September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. Consider giving your family the gift of long-term financial security. I’d like to review your life insurance program to make sure your coverage is up to date from their perspective. Just click here and we’ll contact you to arrange an appointment.

When it comes to showing our love, we sometimes go over the top with a crazy, silly or extravagant gesture. Other times we express our love in a quiet, tender act. But why all this talk about love on a life insurance website? Is there anything “loving” about life insurance? Actually, life insurance is all about love. The main reason we buy life insurance is because we love people and want to make sure they’ll always be protected financially, even after we’re gone.

Click here to learn more about life insurance and how it can protect the ones you love.

Warmest Regards,

Marty Higgins
Founder, Family Wealth Management Advisory, LLC

Why do people buy life insurance? More specifically, why do you buy life insurance?

Without life insurance, a financial plan is just an investment plan that will die when you do. People dream dreams. Without enough life insurance, your dreams will probably die when you do?

Most people have either an estate tax problem or an estate size problem. What does that mean? When you die, your estate will be subject to income taxes and estate taxes. Life insurance can provide the money to pay the taxes rather than liquidating other more valuable growth and income-producing assets. On the other hand, most people have an estate size problem. Life insurance helps creates wealth that they have not had enough time to accumulate themselves.

I’ve heard it said many times that if people truly understood life insurance, they would be lining up to buy it. Life insurance is a commonsense cash cushion to fall back on during your lifetime or for your family when you die. Think of it in this context. How would you feel about a bank savings account that pays higher interest than the bank over the long haul, and where the interest is either tax-free or tax-deferred, depending upon the degree of tax planning done? In addition to that, there is a tax-free death benefit. Over the long haul, it will quite probably substantially outperform the bank.

Buying life insurance is a reflection of common sense, caring, commitment, and character. It is about doing the right thing for yourself and your family. General Norman Schwarzkopf said, “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do.  The hard part is doing it.” This statement certainly applies to life insurance.

Life insurance only makes sense if you are going to die. Coming to grips with that fact is not so easy for everyone. No one has a lease on life. If you don’t die before age 65, you will die after age 65. It is bad enough to die. Don’t do it for free.

Most of us understand that we have a responsibility to our families. It is easy to say you love someone. Buying life insurance means putting your money where your mouth is. As General Schwarzkopf said, we know the right thing to do. As he also said, we need help doing it. That is why most people need a life insurance agent to help them do the right thing.