The comforting aroma of dinner drifting through the house.? Just-came-home-from-work greetings.? Memories of dating, our wedding day, and beginning to establish our home together.? Our lives and plans and dreams stretching out before us, like a good book yet unread.? These are things that we take comfort in.? Like most young married couples, my husband and I enjoy thinking about our life together, but we don’t like to think about planning for tragedies and situations where on of us might no longer be around.
Several years ago, a dear friend of mine lost her husband in a terrible car accident, where he died immediately. They had only been married eight months, and my friend was pregnant with their baby daughter. The young husband had not gotten around to getting life insurance yet, and my friend and her unborn child were left with nothing. Heartbreaking situations like this remind us of how important it is to consider preparing for the future and ways of making sure our loved ones are cared for if something similar should happen to one of us.
Even when we have examples like my friend and her husband, it can be difficult to talk about this preparing for such tragedies. I found this video from LearnVest very helpful. It outlines some talking points and offers suggestions that can be used to have a meaningful, beneficial conversation about and planning for the future.
There are a lot of options and choices to be made when figuring out the best way to plan for the future and what life insurance is. It can be a very confusing process. It is really helpful to be able to refer to a resource such as Genworth to help guide the process. Having all of that knowledge and information available through a reliable, trusted source enables the process to end in a careful, prudent choice.
Some very important advice we received was to not put off this kind of planning for the future. To a young married couple, it can seem like one of those things that can wait. However, like we saw with my friend and her husband, you never know when tragedies will happen, and it?s smart to be prepared.
What about you? Have made plans for how your loved ones would be cared for if something were to happen to you? How have you planned for this?
This post was inspired by Genworth?Financial. All opinions are 100% my own (always). For more information about caregiving, visit the?Genworth Financial?website.
This is a great reminder that everyone should heed. I have recently lost 3 loved ones and one of them had no prior plans for anything related to death and the expenses that his wife would face. It was certainly an eye opener.
Great reminder.
People don’t realize how important life insurance is. Not just for the main breadwinner in the family but for both people. It’s not just enough for a funeral but you also need to prepare for the future. Lost income or income that is now also going toward child care needs to be replaced.
That is so sad. :( I’ve known a few married couples myself that were faced with an uncertain future because of losing their spouse a young age and not being prepared financially.
That’s awful. I can’t even imagine.
I can’t even imagine what she’s been through. Thank you for the reminder of how important is is to have life insurance.
I am so sorry for your friend’s loss. Planning for the future is SO SO important!
Life insurance is SO important!! I used to work for a financial adviser, and I can tell you that the life of your loved one can be completely ruined by lack of life insurance. Even though my husband and I haven’t gotten around to writing a will yet, we both have life insurance. It’s a MUST-HAVE if you have a family!!
So many people find life insurance off-putting because it reminds us of the reality of our mortality – and I get it! However, the last thing anyone wants to do is leave family behind in a bad situation…it’s so important to have life insurance to take care of those you may leave behind.
Hubby and I took out life insurance when we bought our first house together. That said, we’ve been together 17 years now and never reviewed it. Thank you for giving me a reminder!
Getting life insurance is definitely on our short list! It’s such an important thing but it’s too easy to put it off until it’s too late.
How tragic for your friend! We have life insurance for Hubs thankfully, but need to get some for me.