I Don’t Need Life Insurance

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I Don’t Need Life Insurance

How being invincible secures your family’s future

I don’t know if you know this, but I don’t need life insurance. I know you might think this is insane because I am a father of three whose wife hasn’t left him—yet. There is a straightforward reason for this, and it is perfectly sane.

I’m Invincible

It’s true. I got a vasectomy and still managed to have a third little girl. I’m pretty much Wolverine, a genuine product of Marvel. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop all of this greatness. If I were in a plane crash, I would be the sole survivor; I’d walk away as if I were right out of Mission Impossible.

I am the kind of stud that women adore, and men wish they could be. At 5 foot 7 and 3/8ths, I am a freak of nature.

I’m suave and desirable. Even when I asked my wife to marry me, I didn’t get the whole sentence out. I said, “will you…” and she said, “YES!”

When I die, I’ll die of old age, so I don’t need life insurance.

None of this is true. Well, some of it is. I’ll leave it up to you to decide, wink wink.

The fact of the matter is that there is a possibility that I could die prematurely. Hopefully, the probability is low— right, Big Guy in the sky!?

If you clicked onto this blog post, thinking that I was going to make a case for not needing life insurance, all I have to say is HAHA SUCKER!

You’re clearly not one of my clients.

Although there is a 100% chance that you will die, I’ll grant you that there is a small chance that you will come to your end prematurely. I understand that you can’t imagine the world without you. It’s similar to what retirees discover once they leave their 20-30-year career—everyone moves on without you fairly quickly.

Beverly from accounting will be sitting at your desk the very next day. She always thought your office was pretty sweet.

I know it’s difficult, but let’s talk about your demise. As if we’re all in an Indiana Jones movie—

We are going to die!

Life Without You

Consider what life looks like for your spouse and your children if you were to transition from this life. They have to continue on without you, right? Honestly, it’s important to evaluate this annually. Of course, I’d recommend that you see a financial planner for this; however, if you must do it yourself, so be it.

When discussing their death, I usually ask my clients, “will your spouse continue to work?” My favorite answer to the question, especially from a husband, is, “Well, of course, she will work.”

Now, I know most people think that they need less life insurance. If your spouse continues to work, that is probably true.

Think about it, though, the spouse is left to manage the household ALONE.

Managing a household isn’t easy; I encourage you to think long term.

My wife doesn’t wish for my good health because she loves me. Nope. She doesn’t want to be left alone with the CHILDREN. I don’t know about you, but with the two of us, this is a lot of hard work, man. I am tired now, and there are two of us. Can you imagine me trying to do this without my wife or vice versa? My God! Shoot me now! Wait no…. that would be selfish because then my parents would have to come out of retirement to raise more children. I already ran them ragged, so I digress.

Becoming Mom and Dad

In the event of your untimely death, your spouse would have to become the Mom and the Dad. Wouldn’t you want your spouse to have time to recount the stories of how great you were, or would you want her or him to be stressed the hell out?

I am not going to do the math for you because we are all different. However, you need to set your spouse up so that he or she doesn’t HAVE to work. If, for some reason, you don’t care about your spouse, do it for your children.

You have to remember that if your newly widowed spouse still has to work a full-time job to make ends meet that they will also have the added pressure of being a single parent, so all the things you use to do, they still have to do too.

Working after you’re gone

At first, everyone in their circle will be gracious.

Chris: Hey Jill, chill out. You know Steve just lost his wife.

Jill: You’re right, Chris, I’ll do those expense reports for him.

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I don’t care who it is after about a month, maybe two months, the scenario will look a little more like this:

Jill: If Steve doesn’t get those damn expense reports to me! I got stuff to do. I got to pick up little Bobby and get Jill Jr. to dance (I just realized that women don’t usually name their daughters Junior).

Regardless, people got things to do, and your spouse will be expected to perform at the same level as before.

Why not set your significant other up to work part-time? If you plan accordingly, maybe he or she will have enough money to hire help. That way, the mornings are not as stressful, and your spouse will have more time freedom to focus on your children’s well-being. Your children’s mental health will be a top priority because they just lost their mom or dad.

How much do I need?

The amount of your life insurance policy really depends on how many assets & liabilities you have. Do you work with a professional, or are you going at it alone? It also depends on what other income sources you have. Some use the rule that says you should have 7 to 10 times your annual salary. The right answer depends on your particular situation.

I can tell you this, though—nothing about your death will be easy, not for your spouse nor your children. Your absence will change things. Your kids will act out in different ways. It takes some people more time than others; not everyone is made the same way. You might think that your spouse is a rock and that he or she will handle it just fine. Hell, they may even think they can handle it, but no one will really know until it happens.

My advice is to go a little high on the life insurance so that you give your spouse some cushion. There is no need to take chances; your loved ones deserve family planning that outlives you.

If you haven’t already, buy The Financial Effect e-book to get more insight on how to make financial decisions for your family, also subscribe to my blog.

Photo by Federico Fioravanti on Unsplash

*Investing involves risk. Depending on the types of investments, there may be varying degrees of risk. Investors should be prepared to bear a loss, including total loss of principal.