On October 25, 2015 my healthy, happy, and handsome 32-year old husband left our house to run a race. Never, in a million years, would I have thought he wouldn't make it home. Our daughter was two weeks away from her third birthday, and our son was just five months old. Like a lot of young families we were living paycheck to paycheck, and we didn't have much in savings, because we figured we had time for all of that. Mike was the breadwinner in our family, and his paychecks supported us. Clearly, when I learned of his passing, paying the bills was the last thing on my mind. But just ONE WEEK later, I got a notice that if I couldn't cover the full cost for our health insurance, now out of pocket, it would be canceled.
When you die, there is no severance package. There are no more paychecks. But the world around you continues on. The mortgage, car payments, and bills, are all still there. So now, not only did I have to figure out how to just get out of bed to take care of our children, but I also had to figure out how to get expenses paid so we could just live. He did have a life insurance policy through work, which was equal to just one year's salary. A large portion of this immediately went to final expenses, and the rest allowed us to stay in our home and figure out the next steps.
Today, it has almost been two years. That insurance through Mike's work was there when we needed it, but is now gone. The kids and I still have a lifetime ahead of us. Thankfully, Mike had some additional insurance in place. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a life insurance policy and plan that you own yourself-in addition to whatever you have from work-to make sure that your loved ones are protected in case of such an unexpected tragedy. Don't wait. You never think this is going to happen to you, but when it's too late, it's too late.
