As you probably know by now, this is my FAVORITE month out of the year! I want to make “Insure your love” month more personal than just saying “if you love someone you need life insurance”. My goal for 2023 is to help more families than before understand the immense impact their life can have on their family and those around them.
I want to share personal stories, and stories from my friends, family, and clients. Life and death unfortunately are not an easy subject to broach, and for many of us we have fresh memories of the trauma of losing someone close to us. The past 3 years have been especially hard but have brought to our attention just how fragile life can be, and that every day we get to spend together is a blessing. I have lost dear friends, and clients and trust me, that call from the family never gets easier. These calls can go one of 2 ways, this can be the horrible news of “I’m sorry, but you Father/Mother, Husband/Wife never started that policy we talked about” or “I’m so sorry for your loss, when you are ready I am here for you so we can start the claims process”
The one silver lining that I can bring to the tragic event is the benefit of life insurance- this can mean different things for every client I meet with. During our consultation I get to know you, your life, and your dreams. What do you want your policy to do for you?
Life insurance to me means, my family will still have income, still be able to pay bills, able to stay in the home they are comfortable in, provide future funding for retirement or college education, but less commonly thought of, my policy will even be able to help while I am still alive.
Some policies come with hidden “super powers”, my policy can pay a benefit for medical events like stroke or heart attack. Yes you read that right. Even while you are alive you can receive benefits that can help you pay for time missed at work, or medical bills.
Once such story that hits close to home is my own family. Everyone involved is still alive and well, but I want to share this to illustrate how not all coverage is the same.
Nearly 8 years ago, I was just beginning to grow my family. I was sitting on the couch with my newborn only about a month old at the time. I received one of the most shocking calls of my life. My Mother was on the other end “your father is dead!” nothing from that point on felt real. I didn’t believe what I was hearing. My Dad could not be dead, he was only in his 50’s and I had just become a father myself. The whirlwind of emotions was overwhelming. The conversation with my mother became more and more frantic. I have 2 younger brothers that still depend on my parents. The youngest of them Douglas has autism and will likely rely on a caretaker for the rest of his life. My Mom quickly went from emotional shock, to despair of what the future would look like. “how will I take care of your brothers, how will I pay for the bill, or the home. How will I get to the hospital, I don’t have socks” by this point her mind was racing and apparently not thinking clearly. This went on for what seemed like forever, but in reality was about 10 minutes.
My Father was at a Church Softball Practice, and while up at bat, suffered a major cardiac event. Immediately collapsed, and was unresponsive, no pulse just gone. He is still with us today because of some quick cation, and nothing short of a miracle. Two of his team mates preformed CPR for over 15 minutes. The EMT’s that arrived have said to this day that they did not anticipate being able to resuscitate someone in his condition. We are all extremely grateful he was given a second chance and is still with us today.
I did not own my own agency at the time, and did not know what life insurance if any he had in place. Unfortunately he did not have a plan that could aid him in this event, such as one with a living benefit. After an event like that, not many insurance companies want to extend an offer of a policy to you either.
Everyone in my household now has a plan in place, even down to my youngest 5 month old. I want to make sure the choice to hold a life insurance policy is never taken away from them because of an unknown, or uncontrollable medical condition. We never know what day we might face a similar event, but I pray that before this happens to you, we make it our goal to review your plans, and make sure we are as prepared as we can be.
I have something to ask you, if you have a story that you are willing to share, please let me know. If you want to make a plan or want more information, please don’t wait until later, call or email me now.
-David Moliterno
Moliterno Insurance
234-254-5661