The Gift That Protects Your Family Traditions Even After You’re Gone

Too expensive. Not worth it. Haven’t thought about it. These can sound like common reactions to your family’s holiday wish list. Interestingly, nearly four in 10 Americans also gave these responses as the top three reasons for not having life insurance in a recent COUNTRY Financial survey¹. In reality, you could create a family legacy by adding life insurance to your family’s gift list.

Planning for your future is always important, and life insurance is an important piece of your financial plan. Unfortunately, younger generations feel less financially secure than their elders and less confident in their ability to retire comfortably, as indicated by the survey. However, having a conversation with a life insurance professional can provide loved ones the protection they need.

Think it’s too expensive?

Think again. You can review options to protect you and your family at all budgets, and because age and health status impact the cost, life insurance will never be less expensive than it is today.

Think it’s not worth it?

Life insurance provides more value than just covering funeral costs. Life insurance can:

• Build cash value with a permanent policy, which you can use later in life (through loans and withdrawals), as long as you’re making payments to maintain the policy.²
• Offer living benefits allowing you to access part of the death benefit to help cover medical costs for chronic and terminal illnesses.
• Provide options like the return of premium rider, which allows you to get your life insurance premiums back if you outlive your policy coverage.³

Haven’t thought about it?

Even if the reasons below are why you haven’t looked into life insurance, consider this information to learn why it is important to look into a policy.

• You’re insured through your employer. You won’t be able to take that coverage with you if you change or lose your job. Owning your own policy brings portability and continuity, helping bring your entire family a sense of security.
• You’re not bringing home a paycheck but provide tremendous value to your family. Consider what it would cost to replace your role for your family –accounting for cost of child care, home maintenance and meal prep.
• You don’t want to think about your mortality. You can find a life insurance professional to help make the conversation easier by providing options and walking you through the process. Life insurance is about protecting your loved ones. Your family could use the life insurance benefits to pay your mortgage, replace income, build a college fund and/or allow family to continue a similar lifestyle without you financially.
• You’re healthy. You can guard against future health concerns that could jeopardize your ability to get life insurance. Some term insurance options allow conversion to permanent without a medical exam, which provides lifelong coverage at a higher premium.⁴
• You’re busy. You may be able to qualify for life insurance options that don’t require medical exams and simplify the entire life insurance process.

Your insurance representative will use tools, and with just a few simple questions, you can have the information you need to understand your options. You help decide how much protection you need and can decide what’s right for you and your family. We can offer recommendations of one or a combination of products for you and your family.

If you also own a business, we know you may have both personal and business life insurance needs. We can help with both.

About the Author

Kirk Gregory Jr. is a Financial Representative for COUNTRY Financial, serving Cook County from his office located at 1401 S. State St., Suite 150, in Chicago.

As the holidays and the end of another year approach, take time to reflect on the changes you experienced this year and what may lie ahead. Consider life insurance as the ultimate holiday gift for your family, and start the conversation with a trusted professional today.

¹ The COUNTRY Financial Security Index® survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, fielded by market researcher Ipsos.
² Policy loans and withdrawals decrease the cash value and face amount of the policy. The decision to purchase life insurance should be primarily based on a need for the death benefit. Policies are not an investment and are not appropriate as a replacement for retirement savings accumulation.
³ The Return of Premium Rider returns the annual premium paid for the base policy and the Return of Premium benefit. It does not return premiums paid for additional charges or optional benefits. See your policy for full details.
⁴ Conversion privilege subject to policy restrictions and availability. Increase in death benefit subject to evidence of insurability. Certain restrictions apply and you should refer to your term life insurance policy or rider, or speak to your COUNTRY Financial representative, for availability and further details.

Life insurance policies issued by COUNTRY Life Insurance Company® and COUNTRY Investors Life Assurance Company®, Bloomington, IL.
Whole Life Insurance: ICC18(WL), WL(FL18), WL(ND18)
Single Premium Whole Life Insurance: ICC18(WLSP), WLSP(FL18), WLSP(ND18)
Chronic Illness: ADBCIDISC(IUL21)
Terminal Illness: ADBTIDISC(IUL21)
Universal Life Insurance: ICC19(UL), UL(ND19)
Term Life Insurance: ICC17(RCT), RCT(ND17), and RCT(FL17)
Return of Premium Rider: ICC20(ROP), ROP(FL20), ND ROP(20)

See more: How to Set and Achieve Savings Goals