Last week I "celebrated" my 40th birthday. Whether I liked it or not it came. I don’t feel like I’ve reached this milestone birthday. It feels like just yesterday I graduated from college and moved out on my own.
I also got a call from my insurance agent asking me if my husband and I had decided upon buying more life insurance. Last year I’d inquired about buying another policy for us since we’d made a major land purchase and bought some cows. Life happened, and we really never made another decision. Our agent had called me in September too, and I just didn’t want to face the music.
Well, now 40 has happened. I broke out the pen and paper to total up what our liabilities would be today if one of us died. The number almost made me break out into a cold sweat. Much more than it was a year ago. The total for a home mortgage, a couple of vehicles, some credit cards and a mower was—what I thought—within reason. But adding the land and cows really made me nauseous.
And of course now that I drug my feet for an entire year, my life insurance rate will be much higher since I’m another year older. But, after seeing what went down when my father-in-law died and when my own dad died, I don’t want to see the family strife and struggle that happened. I don’t care how good you get along with siblings, parents, or relatives, someone is going to be upset. They may not show it right away, but things could manifest and stuff will get real. I know, I wrote about it here last year.
Why not be prepared? Why not have a plan? None of us want to die, but everyone will. That’s the process. We all know from the beginning that no one gets out of this thing we call life, alive. Even more so when there’s land and cattle involved, there has to be a plan. An escape route, just so the ones who are left behind to pick up the pieces can have a little solidarity in the worst moment of their life.
So educate yourself. Buy the life insurance. Have a plan. I’m part way through my plan and I hope my family will thank me one day. If not, that’s ok too. I’m just covering my bases. Plan B could always be winning the lottery, and you have to pay to play there and you can’t win if you don’t play!
