09/18/2026
Meet my family and let me explain why and how most Americans are under insured or in some cases have no life insurance.
For many years my wife (Miranda) and I only had life insurance through our employers and had no coverage on our kids.
I switched jobs about three and half years ago hoping like we all do for more pay, responsibility and a new opportunity. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out and I found myself with no coverage.
While studying to enter this industry I became ashamed of myself. I was uninformed on the cost of insurance and what it can actually provide while WE ARE LIVING!
Today, my wife and I have maxed out the coverage our employers offer and have private life insurance too.
Why? It’s pretty simple really, most employer covered policies cease when employment ends and if you are fortunate enough to retire from a company, at that point the cost of private insurance is substantially higher and in many cases not obtainable due to health.
So what did we do? We took out private term policies that we pay between $20-25 a month for that would pay off our home, replace lost income and coupled with the coverage from our employers would allow the surviving spouse to raise our kids. Folks, in today’s world that is one less trip to a fast food restaurant a month to make sure your family is protected.
Many believe term policies are simply a life insurance policy that is for a set number of years and a claim can only be filed if the insured passes away. That’s not true! Our policies have living benefits meaning if you have an event that reduces your lifespan, you can access a portion of your death benefit while living to take care of medical expenses to prevent a financial bind on the family.
Additionally, we took out Index Universal Life policies with the hope that we out live our term policies. These policies build cash value that can be accessed tax free while maintaining a death benefit. Even better, these policies have the option of adding a long term care rider that will help pay for long term care needs, if they arise, later in life. IULs offer a flexible premium that allow us to contribute more if/when our financial situation changes to build an even larger next egg.
Arguably most importantly, we took out 20-pay whole life policies on each of our kids. These policies are similarly priced to term policies ($20-25 a month) and are paid up in full in 20 years. That means when your child is a young adult they have a paid up life insurance policy FOR LIFE! These policies grow cash value and continue to accrue interest each and every year. These policies can be used to help fund weddings, a down payment on a car, education, etc. Even better, our juvenile whole life policies come with a guaranteed insurability rider. What does that mean? Regardless of your child’s health, we will guarantee your child the ability to buy more coverage as an adult, if needed. It’s not required but if your little one today grows up and gets married, has a child of their own, goes off to college, etc. they will be provided a guaranteed opportunity to acquire more coverage.
The greatest gift you can provide a loved one is the gift of financial stability. It’s what we all strive to do each and every day. Don’t allow a passing of a loved one to go from mourning to fear of keeping the lights on.
If you have read this long, I’ll leave you with this.
If you or a loved one needs life insurance, call a life insurance agent. Life insurance companies that specialize in life insurance coverage can provide more options, better prices and the knowledge you deserve.
If I can ever be of assistance, call (276) 393-4857. We serve Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia with local agents.
