Protect Your Money Machine…YOU!

-by Pocahontas, who continues her series on managing your money as a bride-to-be, newlywed, and beyond.


Let’s say you had a money machine sitting in the corner of your house spitting out 60K, 75K, even 90K a year for you to live on. Would you want to “protect” that money machine from being broken? What about stolen? How about burned up in a fire? Well, guess what? If you have anyone relying on your income, then you ARE a money machine! Doesn’t it make sense to “protect” yourself? Don’t understand what I mean? Then ask yourself this, based on the amount of money you now have saved, how long could your family survive without your income? If the answer is “not long”, then that’s a sobering thought, isn’t it? If you feel it’s important to protect the future financial security of your family, then you need to be sure you and your spouse are properly covered by income protection. Yes, that’s just another name for life insurance. So why do many families not have any? And why is it that the ones who do are UNDER-insured?


There is one main reason for this and that is the average consumer simply doesn’t understand that there are 2 types of life insurance. On the one hand, there is term. Term insurance works just like your auto insurance, homeowners insurance, even health insurance. That means term is pure protection. When a death claim is made, money is paid out. A December 1997 issue of Smart Money magazine said it is “deservedly popular among parents because it offers the most coverage at the lowest cost.”



On the other hand there is Cash Value, which also goes by other monikers such as Whole Life, Universal Life, or Variable Life. Cash Value is any life insurance with a savings attached. Of the Americans who do actually have life insurance a high percentage of them report having this kind. For most of them it is because their agent didn’t offer them anything else (since Cash Value costs more than term hence agents make a greater commission selling it). There are agents who will not explain the differences to you and if you aren’t diligent, you’ll never know.



Don’t let having to face your own mortality keep you from doing what’s right by your family. As we move on in life and into matrimony, this is an issue that should be tackled just like combining households, figuring out finances and dealing with wedding planning stress. You are becoming “one” unit after marriage, which means you are now responsible for another human being. If you don’t come home one night that person is not only emotionally devastated but you may leave them financially in a quandary as well.


If you’ve never witnessed a family where the deceased left no life insurance and they had to “pass the hat” to afford to bury them, keep living because unfortunately (especially in our community) it is more common than you think. Do you really want YOURS to be that family? Remember loving your family is not just SAYING it. It’s doing something about it. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of lip service.

Pocahontas is a licensed Financial Coach and has been in the industry since 2005. If you need help with your finances, don't go it alone. Contact pfslynette@gmail.com for more information.