4 EXCUSES of not getting a policy

“I’m single and I won’t get married anytime soon yet. It’s expensive, my salary is just enough for me, I’m still young and healthy”. Why do I need to buy Life Insurance? This was my thinking before I got my first Life Insurance policy.
All my friends know that I am “tight” in terms of my finances. I always make sure that my money is well spent. So I really asked myself not just once but several times, is it really worth it to get a policy at this stage of my life?
I was really eager to know why do all Financial Advocates encourage people to get an Insurance. I just didn’t get it. All  I knew is that, it’s just an unnecessary expense.
I studied and researched online because I wanted to know why  Finance experts would always encourage people to be insured. I attended seminars and met some financial Advisers to find out what’s really in it for me when I get one for myself. I kept on asking why do I need to get an insurance and I kept on educating myself with an open mind.
Now I am very glad to share with you all the answers to my questions.Let me enumerate some reasons why you too should get one for yourself by answering some of my objections before I got mine.

1. I am still single.

Yes I’m single now but I will eventually have my own family in the future. I am still single and that’s the more reason why I should get started. I realized that when I start to set aside for my Insurance it will lessen my load in the future (by the way, the policy that I got has an Investment part so it’s like a savings plan). So since I’m not yet paying any mortgage, sending someone to school and supporting my parents, I think it’s a smart move to get one for myself and start little by little.

2. I don’t need it. My parents are still earning.

It’s only now that I realized that Insurance could also be an instrument to manifest my love to my family. I don’t want them to be burdened in case something happens to me – whether I get into an accident, be disabled, suffer from a critical illness or die. I want to have money to be able to take care of myself. In case I die, they won’t have to pull out money from their pockets for my funeral expenses because it’s well taken cared of.

3. I am still young and healthy.

Life Insurance is a risk-sharing business. You are contributing small premiums with the promise of being covered for a huge amount. So if you’re too much of a risk for the company, then you may not be able to take advantage of this. Once you’re old, the probability of getting insured is less and the older you become the more expensive it gets. You may be healthy now but what if you’re not tomorrow? No one can claim what the future hold.
There would always be a “need” to have one because we are always at risk of life’s uncertainties.

4. It’s out of my budget. I have other priorities and besides my salary is still low.

I asked myself, why do I do what I do? What is the most important thing in this world to me? Then my priorities suddenly changed. Insurance is not only for myself  in case I got sick or disabled but most importantly it’s for the most important people in my life. I didn’t get an Insurance because I have to die but because my family has to go on living.
If you compare it to not having  insurance and having to pay a huge amount  for hospitalization all of a sudden or if the bread winner passed away, that’s a huge financial loss and if you don’t have insurance then that is what you’ll be confronted with and if you compare what’s more expensive, the small premium or to pay without any savings, then the cost is very much justified.
So again it all boils down to prioritization.
By the way Insurance doesn’t have to be expensive. It will mostly depends on your needs and capability of saving. You’ll be surprised how affordable it is when you ask and explore.

IN A NUTSHELL:
I got my own policy because I wanted to protect myself and my family in case I get into an accident, be disabled, suffer from a critical illness or die. I got my own my policy so that when the time is ready for me to have my own family, it’s all settled. I wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. I got my own policy because there’s someone and there will be someone who will rely on my income. I got my policy so that I could discipline myself into saving. I want to build this habit of saving and delayed gratification towards Financial freedom. More so, I got an Insurance because I wanted to have security, protection and peace of mind.

Do you think that Life Insurance is an unnecessarry expense?

“My budget is just enough for our daily expenses”, “I couldn’t fit my budget, I’m sending my children to school.” I couldn’t afford to get one, I still have debts, it is just an unnecessary expense”.
Let me share you a story.
Marie is a young mother of a 3 year old boy. She’s an undergraduate HRM student and a beautiful young lady. Her  husband is working as a butler in a hotel earning around 18k/month.
She has a young and beautiful family. Life was not awesome but it’s comfortable in a way that they could provide for their basic needs and some of their wants. Until…..
September 2013
DASMARIÑAS CITY, Cavite – A young father died  while his companion was seriously injured when the motorcycle they were riding on accidentally hit a dimly-lit boundary welcome sign post on Aguinaldo Highway.
Marie’s husband died. She was devastated. Aside from the emotional burden from the loss of her husband, she is now doomed facing the reality of surviving alone. She now has to think on how and where to get the burial and funeral expenses, money to pay for debts and personal loans (housing, motorcycle, etc.) and fund for raising up the baby herself.
After a week, when she was clearing some of her husband’s things she found out that her husband is covered with P1M insurance. She then asked someone to help her with the claims that she used to recoup all the expenses she had incurred.
By the way, the Financial Adviser who sold this Life Insurance to Marie’s husband is a good friend of mine.
So let me asked you again, Do you think Life Insurance is just an unnecessary expense?
Not if you know what lies ahead in the future. Not if you are  indebted and not if there is completely no one relying on your income.
You think it’s hard to squeeze it in your budget because your salary is just enough? If you and your family are having a tough time now getting by on your own salary, how can they possibly get by without it?
This is what I have realized after hearing this story. Life insurance  does not take away money from your family. It assures them money for future delivery at the time they will need it most. So if you are one of those who says, “my family means the world to me”, would you still think that setting aside for your insurance is unnecessary expense?

Why did I get a Life Insurance?

Why did I get my own Life Insurance Policy?

You might be asking, “Dave you’re still young, you don’t have any dependents yet, you’re parent’s are still earning, why do you have to get a life insurance? Don’t you think it’s just an unnecessary expense on your part?
Saving and budgeting is out of my mother’s dictionary. She’s the typical “one day millionaire” spending and buying things that she likes without  prioritizing what’s really needed. She would even borrow money just to get what she likes. So every month, she would pay half of her debts to the people she owes( most of the time, she’s only paying for the interest) and then she would borrow again for our monthly expenses. What’s worst is that she would even sometimes lend her money and ending up borrowing money to someone with interest if the money she lent was not paid on time.
This spending habit continues until we really got buried into serious debts. My father is working abroad as a seaman for almost 25 years now, and the house that he was slowly able to build up was forced to sell as they were not able to prepare for our college education. Now they are just renting in the province striving to meet their needs without any sense of financial security.
You see, I came from a family which you could say ordinary for most of the Filipinos. Ordinary in a sense that, we are just living paycheck to paycheck vulnerable for all of life’s uncertainties. Ordinary in the sense that planning their future finances is the last of their priority and delayed gratification is out of their context.
I came from a family who doesn’t value the importance of saving and I want to break this cycle.
Here are some of the many reasons why I got my own policy.
1. I don’t want to burden my family in case something bad happens to me.
Yes, my father is still earning  but I still have two siblings who are still studying. My parents are not getting any younger and whether I like it or not there will come a time that my father would stop working and he’s income would be limited. I couldn’t imagine what  their lives would be if something happened to me. My main fear is that one day when my parents no longer have a job that I’d lose my job, get sick with no savings and burden my family for my care. My family means the world to me and I would do everything to prevent this thing from happening.
2. I want to secure myself.
I got an insurance not only to protect my family but also to secure  myself. Let’s be realistic, life is a risk. Life is full of uncertainties. No one knows what’s gonna happen tomorrow. Everyday hospitals receive patients who had no thought of going there 24 hours before they were admitted.  I surely don’t want this to happen and regret in the end. As they say,
”I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.”
What if I got disabled or suffer from a life threatening disease? Does that mean that life for me is over? In life, we have a lot of options, but if you don’t have enough funds to support those options, then you’ve got no choice.
3. I want to build the habit of saving.
Contributing premiums every quarter, twice a year or annually is a “forced savings”. You’ll be obliged to save unless you want to put all your hard earned money into waste. Now I know that the fear of many is that when they save through an Insurance and the time that they could no longer contribute until the agreed year of contract their money will just be gone. Not necessarily. ( I will shed some light and make another article about this soon.) I know a lot of people who is having a hard time budgeting and saving their money. I know where are they coming from because honestly, I myself is struggling on this. We all know the importance of saving. This idea is deeply rooted for most  of us since we were young. Yes, I know that I should at least save 20% of my income and should consider saving as a “pay” for myself. And that a healthy budget is “salary-savings=expenses”. But all of these are easier said than done.
Earning money is easy. Managing it successfully is hard”
Now I realized that owning a policy made me a better “money manager”. Saving is difficult. Yes I must agree. But it’s only in the start. Once you’ve built that habit of saving it will be automatic just like you’re breathing. People tend to fit-up what’s left or available.
4.  I want to build a retirement plan.
Like most people, you probably think that you’re too young to prepare for your retirement. But for me, retirement is simply gaining financial freedom- the ability to do the things you want to do without having to worry about money to support your needs and wants.
Many of my friends told me that I’m too young to prepare for my retirement. Yes I agree I’m still young, however age doesn’t really have anything to do when should a person can plan for the future. In fact, I see it the other way around. The best time to plan is now while I’m still young, strong and earning. Why would I wait for the time when age is the reason for my limited earning? Take note, only 2% of our retirees are financial independent and the rest are just relying on their family, government or are still working. Unless you want to be a burden of  your children or the society then with all means, spend everything that you have now. Remember the money that you are saving now will be the money that you’ll be using when you retire.
IN A NUTSHELL:
I got my own Life Insurance plan because I want to have savings, investment, and retirement income. But most importantly, I got a policy because I want to have a sense security, protection and peace of mind