Why buy life insurance?

By Steven H. Kobrin, LUTCF
December 15, 2002
Copyright © Steven H. Kobrin, LUTCF.
All rights reserved.

Sometimes, it's helpful to start at the beginning -- to sit down and ask oneself, again, "okay, why am I doing this?" Certainly, with all the consumer details involved in making a smart life insurance purchase, the "why" can get lost in the shuffle!

Please allow me to offer my own insight, from where I'm sitting on the broker's "side of the fence."

Every agent new to the life insurance business is taught this fundamental lesson: you will know what it means to be in this profession when you deliver your first claim check.

That was certainly the case for me.

Greenhorn

I started my career with one of the major companies. Like most new recruits I was handed a group of "orphaned" policyholders to contact. These "orphaned" customers needed a new service representative because their original agent was no longer with the company.

It was a perfect way for a "greenhorn" like me to build a client base.

First Clients

One of my first clients was an elderly gentleman who happened to live in my town. I was determined to give him the best service I could, and I personally delivered all his paperwork. We initiated a good business relationship.

Over the next few weeks, however, his attitude toward me drastically changed. Instead of being friendly and encouraging, he was impatient and sometimes even rude. I knew I had done nothing to deserve this treatment, and was at a loss to explain it.

Two days after a particularly difficult appointment with him, his wife called to break the news that he had died. Throughout our developing relationship, he had been battling a terminal illness that had struck suddenly, quickly overcoming him. By the time the doctors had realized how severe the disease had grown, it was too late.

I realized that—just at the time this poor man was fighting off the reality of his own demise—here I was, the eager-beaver new life insurance broker, reminding him of his own mortality and how to prepare for it.

The Meaning of it All

I will never forget his wife's reaction when I visited her a week later with her benefit check.

She had gone through so much the past few weeks, as the loving companion to her dying husband. To add to her stress, bills were accumulating and financial pressures were mounting. Then, here I come to the rescue as the only guy delivering cash when everybody else was demanding it from her.

She took the check from me and stared at it. Her husband had planned well and the amount was significant. After a moment, she held the check to her heart and with a great sigh exclaimed, "Now I can go to Florida." I knew exactly what she meant.

She could go on with her life.

She had suffered through the illness and death of her beloved husband. In his wisdom and love for her, he had made provisions for her to move on. Now she was ready.