21/06/2020
My Regret as The Insurance Tailor
Once upon a time in a young boy Shaun, graduated from accounting and proceeded into the corporate industry to climb the corporate ladder. Being from struggling family Shaun vowed to work hard and hardworking he is to provide the best for his family.
And every day Shaun work and work and never gets to see the sun. If the sun is shining brightly up there, he will be either at home or in the office doing his work. To him it is just work so that he could save enough money to provide the best for his family. He is cautious with his hard earn money and spends a frugal living.
Until one day after many years of blood and sweat working for same company. Shaun’s hard work paid off; Shaun was promoted to General Manager.
And because of that Shaun can buy a more comfortable house for him and Lily, his beautiful newlywed wife. Few months later Lily gave birth to a pair of lovely twins.
And because of that Shaun set an appointment with The Insurance Tailor to purchase health insurance policies for the twins. Being frugal, Shaun chose the lowest premium insurance proposal for the twins not wanting to spend too much on higher coverage. The Insurance Tailor also proposed Shaun to get a Life and Critical Illness coverage for himself repeatedly, but every time Shaun politely declined The Insurance Tailor telling him that his company have some form of coverage for him. Since Shaun’s company have coverage for him, he believed that he could use the extra money to invest and to generate more money for himself.
True indeed, Shaun did made some money through his investments. He bought a couple more houses to invest and to give it for his children. He even managed to save about RM 100,000 in cash. He was worry free, having a good career, stable income, good investment, loving wife, and kids. All thanks to his frugal and cautious ways towards money his family gets to enjoy the good things. Until one day, having few months of blood in the f***s, he was Diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer and is required to go 8 cycles of chemotherapy. Shaun remembers that his company provides him some form of insurance coverage. To Shaun’s relief he does not need to dig into his savings and investment returns to cover the expensive medical cost for his cancer treatment.
Until one day Shaun’s boss tells him that under his employment contract only allows him a maximum of 3 months unpaid leave. To Shaun’s horror, he realized that after 3 months he will officially be unemployed and the insurance coverage from his company will also cease as well.
Out of the blue, Shaun realized he is forced to “Retire” early. He now has no income and a huge monthly outflow of cash for his housing loan, car loan, utility bills and the medical expenses for this chemotherapy treatment. Shaun is forced to use his savings and investment returns to pay for his expenses which will only last 4-6 months. Tears rolled down his eyes. What he had built and planned so hard for his family over the years break apart just like that in less than a year. His children’s education fund is being used to fund for his cancer treatment that have little chance for survival. Lily as a housewife got job to supplement the family income and send Shaun for his treatment. Shaun’s whole world collapsed.
Until finally one day on Shaun’s deathbed he requests to see The Insurance Tailor. Shaun tells The Insurance Tailor he regrets he did pay the premium and take up the life insurance proposed to him. The coverage paid out would be many times more than his investments and savings. It would also ensure Lily and the children have a comfortable living after Shaun is gone. Tears rolled down The Insurance Tailor eyes as he apologized to Shaun and Lily over his failure to “force” Shaun to take up his Life Insurance.
Shaun’s story can never be forgotten in my journey as The Insurance Tailor. It is the biggest regret in my career for not being able to overwrite this tragic outcome of Shaun and Lily now with the 4 years old twins must bear the consequences.
As The Insurance Tailor, it never came across my mind that I can really save everybody. I can and will keep on sharing Shaun’s story for the remainder of my journey. In hoping that nobody has to go through the same path Shaun has taken.
Life is fragile and the surrounding is ever-changing
Often our ego makes us believe that we have total control over our actions as long we are hardworking, smart, and well planned.
We have forgotten we are only human. We can only control so little when it comes to the surprise life has for us.
You can save RM 1,000,000 in the bank. But can you guarantee that it will ultimately be yours or your family to enjoy?
I do not know, how about you?
