Will You Live Long Enough To Retire?
The headline is a loaded question. Many ways to answer, but here’s what I’m getting at…
While waiting to have my oil changed I picked up today’s Lancaster newspaper. My wife Lori is a native of Lancaster County and has obviously influenced me…as I felt myself opening up to…no, not sports…no not the local section…but rather to the… obituaries section! All Lori cares about (being Lancastrian to the core) is who died, who got divorced and who had a kid. Period. Debt ceiling? What’s a debt ceiling?
Anyways, it sure seemed like a lot of “young” people in the obits today. Of the 19 listed, 8 were 63 or less. 63? My in-laws are that age. My sisters are already that old. Wait, aren’t we supposed to retire at 65? How can we die before we got to live the good life in retirement? Don’t men live to be 78? And women, 80? Of course those are averages. I am surprised at how many make up the “less than average” group. Now this is a small sample on a given day, however…
Last month I looked at 2 consecutive weeks of the Sunday paper, which reprints the obits for the whole week. 1 in 3 did not make it to age 70. Since that discovery, I mention it to every couple I meet with. I ask, “At what age do you think you will retire? How long do you think you’ll live?” Minus the jokes we all make, the retirement number is mid 60ish, and the life expectancy is 80+ (surprise, nobody thinks they are average!)
Statistically, 1 of the 3 of us at the customer’s dining room table will not make it to 70. Not a happy thought. This brings me around to life insurance again. That measly $26/mo. policy I just wrote for a quarter milliondollars for 30 years on a 31 year old guy, might just get paid out. I hope not! But…
So what age do you think you’ll be when YOU retire? Here’s hoping you make it! And here’s hoping you’re insured even beyond that.
Is Your Life Worth A Dollar A Day?
This message is relevant any day of the week, for any man woman and child across our great nation…
How sad is the story of Shannon Stone, the 39 year old firefighter who tragically died while reaching out for a baseball at a recent major league baseball game? Incredibly sad, especially as his 6 year old son was by his side.
I imagine through his work his son and other family members will benefit from his life insurance. Though often the only life insurance one has is through their employer. Do you know what a dollar a day buys in life insurance for a 39 year old man? It could be a million dollars in term life for a healthy non-smoker.
What’s a dollar a day to you? A coffee at Turkey Hill? A bottled water at Wawa? A candy bar from a vending machine? A scratch and win lottery ticket?
I’ll bet you don’t have to think to hard to come up with the name of someone you know who died unexpectedly. My gut aches when I see people doing fundraisers for a family that lost a parent too soon. God bless the goodness of those who sell subs, hold a car wash or set up a golf tournament to benefit the family. But really, how much can that do?
When you add up the final expense costs, medical bills, lost income and other financial obligations, like mortgages, college educations and consumer debt, the number is often well into high six figures or low 7 figures. Most families struggle to make ends meet with 2 incomes, how can they do it with one income? A dollar a day.
Everyone’s situation is unique, and maybe a dollar a day won’t buy a million dollar policy. What if it was only 100,000 dollars? That’s still enough to have enormous impact.
What about you? Do you have life insurance? Do you own some outside of work? Do you have enough? Can you spare a dollar a day?