The Family I Protect

The Family I Protect
The Family I Protect

Friday, January 18, 2013

Real LIFE Family Stories - My Personal Story - By: John J. Lebeau

Friends, the following is a personal story I recently wrote to include on the "Real LIFE Family Stories" page of our company website. It illustrates the importance of insurance, and how the absence of it has just this past year affected the family of a very good friend of mine.

In February 2012, I lost my best friend of almost 20 years to cancer. He was 49 years old. 

Like me, Charles was a single father raising a boy and girl completely on his own. That is one reason we bonded so well over the years, sharing the stories and the struggles of single parenting.

We enjoyed a lot together with our kids in tow; offshore fishing, camping and a myriad of other activities. Now that has ended forever, and truthfully, his death at such a young age has been very hard to fathom, and a wake up call that it truly could have been me.

However, my hurt will never compare to the pain his young son and daughter still feel every day. In addition to losing their only parent before graduating from high school, the house they lived in their whole life is now in jeopardy of being lost to the bank. His daughter is now attending the much more affordable local community college rather than attending a 4-year university. His son will undoubtedly face the same scenario. And they both have lost in numerous other ways as well. Now they live apart from one another with separate relatives, each in no financial position to take on the challenge of another teenager in the family.

For years I urged my friend to protect his family with Life Insurance. He was extremely healthy and could easily afford the modest premiums his age and health would make possible. However, it was exactly for this reason that he always said,

"Hell, I'm as healthy as a horse and have never been really sick. By the time anything happens to me, the kids will be out of the house and on their own with their own families, and all that money I spent on premiums would be wasted, that I could have spent enjoying life or doing things for them."

Not wanting to push the issue with a "hard sell" to my best friend, I always acquiesced, and dropped the subject until the next time I thought I could broach it again. Despite several conversations over the years just like this with his best friend, an insurance broker, my friend never really saw the value in purchasing Life Insurance.

This is the problem with any type of insurance. It is sometimes hard to see the value in insurance, or anything, when you have nothing tangible to show for it.

Sadly, when Charles was first diagnosed with a rare, incurable form of cancer called clear cell sarcoma, one of the first things he said to me was,

"Sure wish I had listened to you about the life insurance!"
Then, half jokingly and meekly he asked,
"You don't suppose I could qualify for it now do you!?"

Friends, I can honestly say that aside from the loss of one of my own parents, this moment was one of the saddest of my life; knowing how much that insurance protection for my friend Charles could have provided to his family that was now completely out of reach and impossible to obtain for them.

Over the years since I met Charles, if he had paid Life Insurance premiums consistently from the day I met him (even for 20 years), the premiums paid would have been a tiny fraction of the benefits and lifetime financial security his family could have been blessed with.

Instead, his children face years of financial struggle without their father while they do their best to process the emotional struggle and pain of losing him.

Friends, don't let there be any chance this could happen to your family!

Call our office today at 561-337-8000 to schedule a review of your family's all-important personal insurance plan.

In the meantime, don't miss these other real-life stories below!
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The New Year Ahead

For most people, with the New Year come reflections of the past as well as hopes and aspirations for the future. We dream, set goals and make ambitious plans for the year ahead. Obviously, since we cannot change the past, it makes sense to focus on the present and plan for the future.

So, right now, take a brief moment to be thankful and enjoy the present, whatever that may look like for you. Remember, it could almost always be worse, and somewhere in the world someone or many the world over may call you lucky.

Next, take a real hard look at your life as objectively as possible. Think especially of the people in it and closest to you... your loved ones. For most people that is their family. What does the future hold for each one of the family members? Only God knows for sure.

It is just this uncertainty of the future that anyone with dependents must address and manage. Risks must be identified and mitigated, future liabilities funded, etc. This is usually not a complex planning process, and is often executed with the placement of insurance on the lives of those whom others depend upon.

So, with nearly the full year ahead of us, set the time aside today to review your personal insurance portfolio and plan, especially if you have had life changes such as a marriage, birth of a child, job change, parent needing log-term care, etc. since your last review.

Done properly, this review and planning process with a professional insurance advisor could literally be one of the most important financial planning steps you can take in your entire life.

To schedule your personal review and consultation, call our office today at 561-337-8000

Best wishes to all, for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013!