I want to give my unsolicited
2 cents on getting a life
insurance policy. This is one of those things we never took care of. I
am not proud of some of choices as parents we have made. This decision is one that I will always regret. I feel I should warn you through my experience, and so I am willing to take the
time to be a venerable sister in Christ for the sake of possibly helping
others.
My husband mark and I have been
married for almost 18 years and have six children ranging from 3 – 15 years
old. We have homeschooled for 11 years and while I have had small little jobs
here and there, my husband has the only “real” job in the family. Having
children can get expensive and we chose not to spend any money on extra life
insurance. My hubby has a policy through his work now where he has around
$20,000 for himself and for me and the kids it’s $5000 each. A couple
times we got really close and almost pulled the trigger on buying extra life
insurance, however for whatever reasons we just didn’t follow through. We always made excuses on why we
should save the money and not put it towards something we wouldn’t most likely
need. Our last excuse seriously, was that the
insurance guy we contacted, (who was a friend of the family) just couldn’t
schedule our visit and so it got forgotten about.
Fast forward to Dec. 29th
of this last year. I was diagnosed with an aggressive type (her 2 positive)
breast cancer. And labeled with stage 3B advanced cancer. One of the very first
things I thought about was life insurance because the doctors were very
concerned about my surviving. I was so mad at myself and my hubby. How could we
have missed out on this? Yes, God is great and He can and does handle our
insufficiencies and meets us where we are. I know He does for me daily, hourly
and by the minute. I know if I die early that the Lord will take care of
everything. I believe in His providence and sovereignty. But, I also believe in
being smart and learning from the wisdom of others and ladies if there is
anything I can convey to you this morning it is please don’t make the mistake
we made. Call Shari or another insurance agent and get life insurance if you do
not have it.
The thing is that most company
life insurance plans are no where sufficient in most life scenarios.
Let’s take me for example. If I were to die, which by the way I am not planning
on doing anytime soon. I am in remission and am doing good right now. Anyways,
if I were to die next year, (we can’t get life insurance now since I have this
cancer) then my husband will most likely have to sell our home and downsize,
put the kids into public school and also add the cost of extra help as far as
after school care, house cleaning, etc. to his list of bills. Realize that my
husband would have to take our children that are being homeschooled and put
them into public school because he couldn’t quit his civil engineering job to
stay at home and school them or afford alternatives. The $5000 we have for life
insurance on me, will just barely cover a funeral.
If I could do it all over again we
would have got the $500,000 – 1 million dollar policies for each of us as
parents. If we had a million dollar policy then my hubby could possibly pay for
a private teacher to come in or private schooling to take my place. The
financial strain to replace our jobs as we are the housekeepers and teachers is
huge! Please think about these things today and seriously go make a call. You
never know what will happen in life and no one knows their expiration date but
God, and so please be prepared for your children’s sake.
BTW – Shari did not know I was
going to write this, but I also want to make a plea for Shari as an insurance
provider. I believe we need to support our homeschooling independent businesses
and especially Christian ones. I would definitely consider getting insurance
with someone that knows our life situation and the financial status as a one-
income homeschooling family over someone that doesn’t.
Thanks so much for hearing my
heart today. If my words can help even one family make this decision, I am
happy to have helped.
Taking care of a family is a big responsibility and that includes not only the present but also preparing for the future. Investing in an insurance policy is a great move to give an assurance that whatever happens to you, your family, especially your kids will have a steady future.
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