Allow me to share some reasons why I am proud to sell life insurance—and why I think it’s important that you own it. Think about what we, in the life insurance industry, do each and every day: We create money where none existed before. We create dollars for future delivery, dollars for pennies a piece. We create security for a spouse or a family.
With just a piece of paper and a drop of ink we can create more money for more people than any other person in any other industry. Think about it. If you are a 40-year-old male (for example) who doesn’t smoke, you pay a $1,000 annual premium for a $100,000 permanent life insurance policy. That’s 1% of the face amount. Where else can you “buy” money for 1% per year?
With life insurance, we create security, dignity and peace of mind.
When a client dies, I am the only one who brings money to the family. The other advisors—the accountant, the attorney—and heirs all have their hands out. Only I walk in with the money created from the magic of life insurance.
But in order to truly receive the benefit of this magic, you should own an amount of life insurance that is appropriate to cover your human life value.
After 9/11, the federal government determined that the average person who died in the attack on the World Trade Towers had a human life value equal to 15 times their annual earnings. Are you insured for 15 or 20 times you annual income? If not, why not? If someone offered to pay you in cash the amount you have your life insured for and said you would now work for them for the rest of your life with no additional income, would you take the offer?
If you answered no, you are underinsured. Don’t know what your “human life value” is? Use the Human Life Value Calculator to run your own calculation, and then be sure to get the coverage you need