Bill Boersma: On Life Insurance

Things to keep in mind.

While some insurance carriers are implementing virus-driven underwriting changes, I’ll focus on other issues to think about during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding life insurance. Most, if not all, of these issues are applicable during normal times, but it might be easier to get attention now.

Cash Flow

I recently read a statistic about the percentage of people feeling a cash flow crunch as a result of layoffs and the disruption of business. It’s to be expected, even for the most responsible of us. Even those not in a real crunch now are choosing to delay mortgage payments and discretionary purchases simply because there’s too much uncertainty moving forward.

What should policyowners keep in mind now? If they’re in a cash crunch and life insurance premiums prove an undue burden, there may be

options, but they need to be understood and enacted appropriately. Many life insurance policies can handle not having premiums paid for some period, but policyowners better be sure, and often they don’t know if that’s the case. Also, and this might sound strange, depending on the kind of life insurance, they better not pay the premium the right way. For full post, click here…

Can the current situation help us focus on priorities?

I don’t think of myself as a prepper, but not everyone agrees. My truck has a toolbox, fire extinguisher, jumper cables, flares, extra oil and antifreeze, a medical kit, tow straps, a water filter and more. Some might roll their eyes, but when something is on fire, literally or figuratively, they tend to look in my direction. Yes, my Wrangler looks like an apocalypse response vehicle, my basement has its share of home canned goods, and people joke about heading to my house during a disaster, but it’s only a joke until it isn’t.

I’m not racing to the store now to stock up on anything, and that’s a nice feeling. What does this have to do with life insurance? Quite a bit. Why am I thinking about it now? A year ago, an executive I met started asking me about his life insurance as his term policy was close to expiring. Life gets in the way, and I didn’t hear back from him for quite a while. After he reestablished communication, I learned he was prompted into action after his 50-some-year-old brother-in-law, a professional himself, died suddenly leaving a wife and three children at home … and no life insurance. I see this more often than I care to say. For full post, click here…