Why did I get my own Life Insurance Policy?
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
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