Years ago I use to teach seminars about personal finances and one thing we use to talk about was what I will call the distractions of life. We all live busy lives, some extremely busy, and so we end up living by the rule “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it”. Often we all create our own busyness and the level of “busy” is largely up to us. Yes we have work and family obligations, but we are in control of many of those obligations.

Yesterday I was visiting with a client, we belong to the same social club and he asked about the annual picnic being canceled, since I attend the board meetings he figured I would have some insight. I told him that there simply was not a Saturday in May that worked; too many other functions were already planned. After all May starts graduation season for college and high school, it has the Memorial Day Holiday, and you could also throw in the beginning of the wedding season. Who does not know of someone getting married during the months of May or June?

As a result of our busy lives our personal finances get left to what ever benefits our employer offers and then we simply hope for the best with everything else. It has been said that the average family spends more time planning their annual vacation than their family finances.

The distractions of life seem to come in waves and they are timed just like the waves at the beach, some are larger than others, but they come regularly and timely. Here are some examples:

We start every new year working to get caught up from the holidays, then it is Valentines Day, the world tells us we have to do something really special for our sweetheart and we respond. If we know what's good for us we'd better!

Next is Easter and Tax season, so we say to ourselves and others “I will attend to my personal finances after I finish my taxes.” So lets meet after tax season is over. Tax season ends and…

It is graduation/wedding season and my child is graduating from high school and my nieces best friend is getting married, so out goes May and June - just too busy. Lets meet in July…

Well July comes and we have again the wonderful holiday we call the 4th, Independence Day! (Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be truly financially independent on Independence Day?) And it is also vacation season, with August on its tail. Things will settle down after we return from vacation and we will have time to work on our finances…

Here we are at the end of August and into September back from vacation, but life is so crazy with trying to get the kids settled back in school and the Labor Day holiday, we just can’t find time to visit…

Then October starts and it is the beginning of the fourth quarter, work gets demanding simply because we have to make a strong push for the end of the year, the hours at work are so crazy, maybe it will slow down next month…

Next month is the beginning of the holiday season, with Thanksgiving (my personal favorite). Then Christmas and New Years and we all know how busy the holiday season is so we simply can’t meet then…

Soon enough we are right back where we started at the new year with little to no progress on our personal finances. The waves keep coming. At some point we have to stop and take control of our lives and our finances. It is all a matter of priorities. If we wait until its broke, then often we can’t fix it. If all we do is take what is offered to us as benefits from work, then what happens if we are unlucky and get the dreaded pink slip? Poof, just like that, our benefits are gone.

I have a client in that very situation who was hit by a storm. During his last job, he developed an illness that prevents him from obtaining life insurance. He lost his job and benefits, he always thought that he would have enough wealth so he could as the drive-by’s say “self insure his life”. With the large amount of money he has, he still has two young children, he still needs some life insurance. A little time and planning would have helped a lot.

Don’t put things off, get things organized, see a professional financial advisor, make sure they at least have a professional designation, that requires them to have some level of financial education and a code of ethics, the best are: ChFC, CFP, and CPA. As a ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant) I understand the education, rigorous exams, and practical experience necessary to obtain such a designation, my clients have benefited from this additional training.

Get started today, after all the waves will always come regardless, and so will the storms. Don’t let the waves get in the way of preparing for the storms!

REMEMBER:

"Opportunity abounds in alleged bad times."

"True optimism includes realistically looking for opportunities among bad developments"

~ Howard Ruff

In an effort to make life insurance policies more appealing and fit more of a family’s financial needs, measuring the risk, insurance companies have included insurance riders that cover terminal illness, critical illness, and chronic illness. The idea being, that the insured may develop an illness that causes great financial stress on a family, which could be covered by their life insurance. Should the person eventually pass away, why not accelerate the benefit a few years and pay something now? The policy rider may or may not be a great benefit.

These accelerated benefits, also known as “living benefits” are defined as follows:

— Chronic Illness: an insured is unable to perform two out of six activities of daily living, such as bathing or toileting, walking or transferring to or from a bed or chair.

— Critical Illness: an insured is diagnosed with a major illness such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. Terminal Illness: meaning a life expectancy of less than 12-24 months, depending on state limitations.

Acceleration of Benefits and Policy Maximums

These riders give you the option to access your policy benefits prior to death in the event of terminal or other life changing illnesses, when the need for additional funds may be crucial. This can be done either as a partial acceleration, meaning a part of your death benefit may remain in force, or a full acceleration. If you elect full acceleration, your policy will be terminated.

Generally there are limits on these policies, the maximum death benefit available for someone under age 65 is $2,000,000 and the maximum death benefit for those over age 66 is $1,000,000. The living benefit is based on the insurance amount; should you use the living benefit, you will not be paid the total amount of the death benefit.

How it works

If a 45 year old insured male becomes ill, for example with prostate cancer (common cancer for men), this person is insured with a ten year term policy for $1,000,000. The insurance company will look at how long the policy has been in force, age of the insured, type of illness, chance of recovery, policy death benefit, etc., they will look at everything related to this person and their current situation, then the actuaries will perform an analysis and make the insured an offer. This offer may be only a fraction of the total death benefit – maybe only $100,000 or less; or it could be more. Each person and their illness, stage in life, and how long the policy has been on the books are all considered when making the offer to the insured. In the end, it may or may not be worth it to give up the insurance policy for a living benefit.

Some policies state that they will pay up to 60% of the death benefit, some more, but the bottom line is that it all comes down to what the insurance company will offer considering all factors.

Typically, in the case of a terminal illness, the insured will get a higher pay out because it may be a matter of months until the insurance company will have to pay the full death benefit. The great advantage to this type of rider is for someone in business they can use the living benefit to help settle their affairs with their business partner(s) before death, leaving their heir(s) free of such complicated burdens. They may also choose to use some of the funds to travel or engage in other activities before they become too incapacitated by their illness.

While these benefits may be valuable for many people, they do not solve all the problems, nor replace the need for good medical insurance, long-term care insurance, life insurance or disability insurance. If the rider is used, the policy may be terminated and may end the possibility for a person to obtain additional life insurance in the future. The rider is an important extra benefit hopefully not in a position of last resort.