When its time to play for keeps

A bit of a depressing topic, many people think of life insurance as something that is really rather dull and not something that you should spend much time on. Due to this manner of thinking, the fact that many people don’t even have adaquate life insurance should come as no huge surprise. How much is adaquate. Aye, that’s the rub, isn’t it? If you are going to ask an insurance salesperson, you will need a couple of million dollars worth of coverage. But if you ask a rather egotistical (if a little funny) doctor, you might be told “None. You’re never going to die!” So with two answers like that, how do you manage to start coming to a reasonable conclusion?

Looking To Our Friends Abroad…

One man in the UK figured that he needed some coverage because he was getting on in years; the man was over ninety years old! So I guess that he figured he might die soon and therefore started to look into making some arrangements. Obviously, at this stage of the game, he wasn’t really that concerned about getting a huge sum for his family to live on. Realistically, his family was already living by their own means. So instead, he opted to figure out a way to handle the problem without traditional life insurance: a bet.

In simple terms, the man bet that he would die. And if the bet succeeded, the company covering the wager would be obliged to pay a sum of money; this was money that he would use in order to have his family able to cover the inheritance taxes associated with his estate. If he lived, however, he would get nothing and the bookmaking company would keep the money.

“If you win, its your funeral”

Its not really my style personally, but in simple terms, this is exactly what life insurance is: a bet that you (or the person insured) will die within the term of the policy. This seems a bit harsh, but no more harsh than the idea of this ninety-year-old man taking a bet out against himself. So consider your life insurance policy. Make sure you’re covered. But realize as well, if you get too much, you’ll spend a bucketload to put yourself in a lose-lose situation.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/4643731.stm