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I have to start my story with something of a confession: I was one of those people that thought life insurance was something that was completely unnecessary. I believed that I would be smart enough to plan out my life in such a way that my family would be cared for because of the financial decisions I made, rather than depending on a life insurance company to hand over a check after I was gone. I learned my lesson the hard way, but I did so in enough time to make sure that my kids would learn from the mistakes and presumptions that I had made.
I grew up in a perfectly normal family setting, or at least normal in the fact that our family followed the traditional format. My dad worked his way up as far as he could in his company, putting in long hours and sacrificing time at home. He worked hard so that he could provide a nice home for myself and my mom, who just so happened to always be around. I don't remember my mother ever holding any kind of job other than that of cook and cleaner in our home and of course the hardest job of all: being a mom!
My mother passed when I was 16 years old, leaving me and my father devastated. I disappeared into my school books and my father spent more time than usual at work. Our relationship, which was never great to begin with, grew even more distant. I went off to college, got my degree and met the woman of my dreams in the process. We got married, bought the house with the white picket fence, and completely ignored the fact that all of it could be taken away at a moment's notice.
It didn't really occur to me that my life was very much mirroring that of the one my father led when I was a kid, but I soon found out there was one major exception. I lost my job during the global economic collapse a few years ago and had real difficulty getting a new one. We quickly burned through the savings we had and the bills started piling up. My dad became very ill around about the same time, with the only real positive in that period being that we rekindled our relationship.
He told me during that time that I should enjoy my family and stop worrying so much, that everything would work out fine. It wasn't until he passed that I fully realized what he meant. He had taken out a large life insurance policy on the very day that I was born. After my mom passed, he made me the beneficiary, with the money from that policy basically solving the financial problems of my family overnight. I would much sooner have my father here than have that money, but it also taught me a valuable lesson. All those years that I believed he wasn't present and didn't care, he was actually working hard to ensure the future of his family. I now have a 1life life insurance policy of my own, and I take the time to tell as many people as possible my story, so that they too can prepare the way my father did.
Credit:articlesbase
